Building relationships through newsletters requires stewardship, a wealth of information and just the right amount of ‘ask.’

By Paul Barbagallo

NWF’s e-newsletter audience is slightly younger than that of direct mail, and perhaps more technologically savvy, but the organization does not consider it a starkly different pool of donors and prospects.

“These people have the same interests and concerns about wildlife as any other member. What we’re trying to do here is use good direct-response techniques to build donor relationships for the long term,” McGuire says, “by giving [recipients] news and information on how they could get involved and help us further our mission.”