09 | 5 Steps to Write Your Ministry Newsletter So Donors Engage

If you’ve ever sat down to write your ministry update and thought, “What do I even say?” or “This feels like a chore”—this episode is for you.

In today’s episode, I’m walking you through a practical, step-by-step framework for writing email ministry updates that your donors will actually want to read.

We’ll cover:

• Why regular communication keeps donors connected and giving
• The 5 steps to writing an effective ministry update email
• How to craft subject lines that make donors the hero
• Why starting with the problem increases engagement
• One clear call to action every email needs

Plus, I’ll share bonus tips on how to keep your updates skimmable, story-driven, and relational! 

Grab the free guide that goes with it here:

https://www.irisstorytelling.com/guide

Ready to clarify your ministry’s message and engage donors? Schedule a free call: https://irisstorytelling.com/getstarted

👉 Grab your free Ministry Newsletter Guide to easily write those updates that your donors want to read: https://irisstorytelling.com/guide

Connect w/ me:
lisa@irisstorytelling.com
https://irisstorytelling.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Donor Connection Matters
• 0:14 Mindset Shift: Ministry Updates
• 7:11 The 5-Step Framework
• 21:42 Bonus Tips: Skimmable + Story-Driven

Transcript

that connection, that nurturing communication with your donor is imperative to your ministry.

(...)

If you lack in that communication and they're not connecting with you or they don't feel like

caring as much to give them updates and stuff like that, then

dropping off

it comes to

time where they're like really having to tighten the budget.

They might cut the donation to your ministry because well, they don't really have that sense of they're making a difference

or they don't really know

much impact their donation is making. So that would be kind of one of the first things to go.

(Upbeat Music)

to the story driven ministry. I'm so glad that you are here.

(...)

Whether you are listening on your way to work in the car,

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working out, doing chores around the house, wherever that may be. I'm just glad that you're here today. I'm excited to do a little bit more of a practical episode. Something that I can help walk through with you step by step on and hopefully it'll be helpful. So today what we're talking about is how to write your email ministry update.

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Now this is something that maybe when I say that you kind of have this heavy feeling. It's not something that you love to do. Maybe it's one of those things on your have tos.

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Maybe it's the bottom of your priority list. It's just not something that you enjoy. Maybe you just completely forget about it, right? Maybe it's been months since you've done a ministry update and you're like, I know I need to do this. It's just, I'm so busy with all the other things.(...) And maybe when you get to it, you kind of, maybe you're stuck. You don't know what to write, how to start, what to put in the subject line.

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And it just kind of maybe feels like not the most fun thing, but it's a have to thing.

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And let me try to help you by reframing this mindset a little bit because for most of you, those ministry updates are the way or one of the main ways to engage with your donors. That's the way that you're connecting with them, communicating with them. That's the way that they are learning what's going on, what you're doing in your ministry.

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And it's really kind of the place to nurture that relationship with your donors.

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Now without your donors, you don't have a ministry. Without your donors, you cannot do what you're called to do.

your donors, there's no ministry at all.

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And just to think about your donors in a perspective of like, they are the heroes, right?

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They are the ones enabling you, empowering you to do the ministry and to reach the people that you reach.

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So instead of thinking of it as a have to, or I just don't have time,(...) or it's just not on the list of priorities. It's like the last thing.

challenge you to start prioritizing that communication and nurturing with your donors. And that might mean taking these ministry update emails a little bit more seriously(...) and putting a little bit more effort into them.(...) Because again,

that connection, that nurturing communication with your donor is imperative to your ministry.

(...)

If you lack in that communication and they're not connecting with you or they don't feel like you're caring as much to give them updates and stuff like that, then that relationship(...) starts to become more distant.

(...)

And it could mean that they'll start dropping off when it comes to a time where they're like really having to tighten the budget.

(...)

They might cut the donation to your ministry because well, they don't really have that sense of they're making a difference or they don't really know how much impact their donation is making. So that would be kind of one of the first things to go.

(...)

So it's so, so important to really prioritize that relationship with your donors. And that means taking these updates, you know, these emails a little bit more seriously,

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and if it's not the most fun thing, okay, I understand it's not the most fun thing to do, but if you can just put it through, you know, just think of it through the perspective of your donor, then that might help a little bit for it not feeling like such a chore.

Hey, I want to pause for a quick second. If you've ever sat down to write a Ministry Update and thought, "What do I even say? I've got something for you." I created a free resource to help you write email updates that aren't vague, but clear and compelling.

Inside you'll learn how to use the power of story to craft subject lines that get opened, a simple format to follow for every update, and practical ways to engage your donors so they feel connected and a part of what God is doing through your ministry.

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You can download the Ministry Update Guide for free at irastoretelling.com slash guide. That's irastoretelling.com slash guide. Go grab it and start writing effective updates with ease.

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I'm going to walk through five steps with you on how to write these ministry updates for your emails. Okay.

number one is identify the goal of the update.

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Is that this is more than just, well, we want to update our donors with, you know, what our ministry has been up to.

really think of the why, why are you, you know, why are you emailing your donors?(...) What are you hoping to get out of it? Is it just because this is something that you're told to do or it's something that everybody does?

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What is the goal? The one, if you were to specify one main thing of the reason why you are writing an update, what is it? Are you hoping for donor engagement in some way?(...) Are you hoping for more donations?

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You know, are you needing help with a specific request, something that came up in your ministry?

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Or are you nurturing the relationship with your donor?

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I would say that the last one is probably the main reason why you're writing, the main reason why you're writing ministry updates is to nurture that relationship with the donors.(...)

So once you have identified that main goal for what your email update is about, or what the purpose of your email update is,

You're going to keep that goal front of mind as you build out your email.(...) The main goal is to nurture this relationship with your donor, to connect with them, for them to realize that they matter and their donation and their support, their prayers matter.

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two, you're going to figure out what they need to know. So I don't know if you're writing a monthly update, a weekly, I don't know, bi-yearly update.

But think about the updates that your donor needs to know, because you don't want to fill this email full of a ton of information and then just overload your donor with information.

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You want to pick, I always like to go with three because three is such a nice balancing number, but you want to pick just a few things that they need to know. A few different topics, or even just one. I would say like one to three would probably be a great place to start.

So it could be like if you have three different stories that you want to talk about, oh, that would be amazing. Definitely, definitely look for stories to share with your donors because you're the one experiencing those stories firsthand. You're seeing the impact, you're seeing the person giving their life to the Lord. You're seeing their journey and how long it took for them to get there. And you're seeing the fruit of the ministry and like what God is doing, but you're seeing everything and your donor is seeing nothing.

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The only thing the donor can really experience or understand is in you sharing it with them. And how you share it with them matters so much because they can't be there in person to experience it. So they have to hear about these stories, experience these stories through you.

when you do that well, then they start getting that same feeling that you do as you see the impact and you see God working and bringing more people closer to him. And that's super exciting.

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They start seeing little glimpses of that as you share with them.(...) So, so important to,

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super important to be looking for these stories,(...) search them, find them out,

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stories about specific people that have been impacted through your ministry.

Okay, step number three, you're going to pick one main topic or story and use it in the subject line to include your donor and the problem that you solved.

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Okay, so instead of having your subject line being, be something very summarized, instead of it being something vague, instead of June newsletter or update or ministry update or what's been going on in our ministry,

of doing something very generic, something that you think, well, this kind of summarizes the email.(...) You want to just pick one highlight and use it to create a subject line that will attract and hook people and make your donors actually open that email and read it.

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Because if your emails are constantly like October newsletter or ministry update 2025,

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you know,

the subject lines being that vague, it just kind of, it just

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doesn't engage. You know, your, your donor is looking at that and just feeling like it's more of the same instead of picking one story and figuring out the highlight of that story and using it as your subject line to hook your donors in.

going to use a real life example.

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So you know who you are,(...) but let's say you want to talk about ministering to all the provinces of Spain and equipping them with the tools to evangelize.

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Think through that. What is the problem that you helped solve or your ministry helped solve?

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Well, churches across Spain are struggling to know how to evangelize effectively. That is the problem.

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Now don't forget to involve your donor as the hero. So we involve the donor and the problem that was solved and

it would look something like you are equipping churches across Spain with effective evangelism tools

Now that might be a little bit too long for a subject line and then you kind of try to reword things so that's a little bit shorter.

but essentially you use the word you because you're talking to the donor and what they're doing through your ministry. All of a sudden your donor is looking at through their emails and they see that subject line, "I am equipping churches across Spain with effective evangelism tools. Huh, that's awesome. How am I doing that?" And they'll open up and read about it.

be so much more effective because all of a sudden you're reaching into their life, "You are doing this and this is what's happening because of you."

(...)

They're joined in.(...) It's not, "Come read about what we've been doing in our ministry." It's, "You are doing this.(...) Come read about what you are doing and what God is doing because you said yes and you're empowering us."(...) So it's including them.(...) You're part of the team. You're needed.

you want to start with the problem in the copy in the body of your email. So

Step number four, start the body of your email with the problem.

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And I will say, you always want to start with a problem. It might sound pessimistic.

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It might sound, I just don't want to talk so much about the hard things. You must talk about the hard things because that is what God is helping your ministry resolve.

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That's the reason that people are donating to you.(...) That's the reason why you're there to begin with because they are, there are problems that need to be resolved.

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And as you start with the problem and you share the problem, then people are wondering in their mind, how is this problem going to be solved?(...) And they'll stay engaged.

So you talk about you're equipping churches across Spain with effective evangelism tools. And then in the body of your email, you start with churches across Spain have been struggling to know how to evangelize effectively. They're frustrated.

(...)

They're stumbling over their words. They stopped trying.

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That's a real problem. They stopped trying and now the gospel is not being shared.

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So because of your donations,

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because of you and because of your support, we were able to go all across Spain and empower them and do workshops and teach them how to evangelize effectively.(...) And they, you know, and then talk about what happened, the excitement,

of the churches and how they started using those tools to evangelize.

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You see how that kind of works. You start with a problem and then you go through the plan, the how, and then you end with the resolution. This is what's happening. Thanks to you, the donor.

I did want to add that

when you're

the body of your email, let's say you have several updates, right? Maybe three different topics. You start the first one with the problem and then you kind of go through the plan and the resolution. Then the next topic you have, start again with the problem. What is the

What is the challenge? Start with that, then go to the plan of how you're going to resolve it or how you have resolved it. And then the resolution.(...) Always keeping the donor within that, right? Because of your support, because of your prayers, because of you. Always remind them that they're needed and their impact is felt.

Okay. And step number five,

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you want to include one main call to action.

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Search the email or have it throughout your email, one main call to action to keep them engaged.(...) So think about the goal of your email and think about what do you want your donor to do? And sometimes you might think, well, I don't want them to do anything. Just read it.

But I would challenge you and always have some form of call to action. That could be some, you know, as simple as leaving them with a challenge to pray or to think about something, but it could also be, Hey, reply to this email to ask follow up questions.

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You know, how often do you actually write in your ministry update to encourage your donors to email back to reply?

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I think most of us, when we get some sort of email that comes from an email list, we don't think about replying.

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It almost seems like it's just a blog post or it's just something to be read, not engaged with.

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But you know, with the, the goal of nurturing the relationship with your donors, yeah. Encourage them to email back and ask a question.

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Or maybe you have an urgent need in your ministry and something came up that needs to be helped with and you need financial help. Give your donors an opportunity to give more.

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Don't be afraid of asking again.(...) Give them the opportunity to have a bigger impact, to meet you, to be needed more because they want to be needed more. They want the opportunity to give more and impact more.

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You could also invite them to an exclusive zoom call with you. I mean, how cool would it be to be invited to an exclusive zoom call or video call where you actually show up and you're talking to donors and they're asking questions and there's this back and forth.

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That's an amazing way to nurture relationship with your donors.

So always include one main call to action in your emails and it must be specific.

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Okay.

try to avoid vague types of call to actions. Really pick one main call to action and be specific. Don't be afraid to ask for the specific thing.

So those are the five steps. First,(...) identify the main goal of your email. Second, what do they need to know? What does the donor need to know in that email?(...) Three, pick one main topic or story and use it to create a subject line that includes your donor and the problem that was solved in a way that hooks the donor and they want to open and read your email.

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Step number four,

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start the body of your email with the problem.

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Step number five is include one call to action.

Some bonus things to keep in mind. I'm going to share with you. Keep it skimmable. You don't want to have just a bunch of text because people more often than not, they're skimming the email. So you want to have things in bold or titled or spaced out, things that are highlighted in some sort of way. Images, videos to click on,

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things that can be just easy to skim and then having those words that call out to them. Oh, now I want to read more about what it says.

Also use stories, use stories as much as you can. Whether even if it's like an anecdote about your personal life and it really doesn't have anything to do with the ministry, but just something funny that happened to you. It's a great way to start an email or include it somewhere where it just kind of brings in the donor to know you a little bit better and connect with you. It could be something funny. It could be something crazy.

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If you can in some way connect it to the content of your email, it's a great way to kind of feel like the donor is getting to know you a little bit better.

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But of course, always be looking for those impact stories,(...) stories of actual individual people.(...) People that you can name, that you can describe what their transformation journey is like.

That's all I have for today. I hope that that was helpful and you can come back and listen to this when you are actually building out your email and doing those things step by step. And as you implement it, as you use it, I pray that you just see the increase in engagement,

The increase of donor connections and that relationship getting stronger with your donors.(...) And I

I pray that you will be able to really clearly share everything that God is doing through your ministry because of your donors.

Now, if you're saying, "I just wish that you would help me do it for me." I can't do it for you, but I can help walk through it with you step by step. So if you are interested, reach out to me at irisstorytelling.com slash get started.