Tom Ahern’s newsletter just landed in my inbox again.

I treat it like a gold-embossed invitation to the attic of good sense and bright ideas. Not dusty. Not precious. Just sharp, useful, and often—like this week—unexpectedly timely. [Subscribe Free here.]

This issue, Tom tells the story of Remo, a Twin Cities artist who leans heavily on ChatGPT (whimsically renamed “Molly”) to write the e-newsletter for his arts district. Remo can’t write “for beans,” he says. But Molly can. With the right prompt, she crafts warm, clear, donor-ready copy.

It’s a sweet story. But here’s the part that matters:

Even the smartest AI can’t save a newsletter that’s still talking about the wrong person.

And most nonprofit newsletters pick exactly the wrong person.

Let me say it straight:  If your newsletter talks about your organization more than it talks about your donor, it’s not a donor newsletter.  It’s a vanity project.

Tom Ahern has written what I consider one of the most essential—and overlooked—books in fundraising: Making More Money with Donor Newsletters. In it, he lays down the law with the kind of precision that makes good fundraisers weep with gratitude and bad ones clutch their pearls.

Your newsletter should not be about your programs.  It should be about what the donor made possible.

That’s the pivot too few organizations make. Instead, they send out “updates” that read like reports to a disinterested city council: lots of acronyms, little joy, zero emotional payoff.

But when you get it right? When the newsletter makes the donor feel like the hero? Things change.

Look at Gillette Children’s Hospital. Their old newsletter raised about $5,000 per issue. After they rewrote it with the donor at the center of every story—cutting the copy, swapping “we” for “you,” showing real outcomes instead of abstract stats—the result was a tenfold increase in revenue. One issue pulled in $50,000.

Let me repeat that: tenfold.

So yes, by all means, use AI. Name it. Prompt it. Invite it to your creative table. But only if you know where you’re going. And where you should be going is straight into the heart of your donor.

Here’s a prompt you can use. It’s not magic. But it’s grounded in Tom’s model and it works:

🛠️ Donor Newsletter AI Prompt (Ahern Style):

                             “You are my donor newsletter assistant. Write like a human. Be warm, grateful, and donor-focused.

                               Your job is to create a four-page print newsletter.

                               Each story must center on what the donor made possible—not what we did.

                               Use ‘you’ language. Begin with appreciation. End with an invitation to continue the journey. Include joy, clarity, and emotion.

                               No jargon. No internal news. Just stories that make the donor feel proud, useful, and surprised.”

Also, don’t kid yourself—email alone won’t get it done. E-newsletters are fine for light touches and reminders. But if you want revenue—actual, measurable, open-the-envelope-and-find-a-check or online revenue via an included QR scan code —you need print. You need to mail it. You need to include a reply device and QR code.

You need to write like your job depends on it. Because in today’s  junk-filled competitive  blizzard of digital nonsense it just might.

Tom calls newsletters the “ugly duckling of fundraising.” He’s right. But done right, that duck lays golden eggs.

You can’t afford to ignore it.

Roger

P.S. If you haven’t read Making More Money with Donor Newsletters, buy it. It’s short, smart, and one of the most practical guides you’ll ever read. Think of it as your newsletter rehab manual.

P.P.S. AI won’t make your newsletter donor-centric. You will.