In part one of this series on nonprofit newsletters, we met Fatal Newsletter Flaw #1: Not using "news-like" language. People crave the new. A newsletter must provide.

In part two, we examined Fatal Newsletter Flaw #2: Making your newsletter hard to skim (dysfunctional headlines are the chief symptom)...and expecting instead that people will read deep, dense prose.

Now let's look at the third, fourth, fifth and sixth (phew!) major reasons why newsletters fail. (For those of you keeping score, I've upped the number of Fatal Flaws from four to six since last we spoke.)

Fatal Newsletter Flaw #3: Your newsletter doesn't use the word "you" enough.

As I point out often, "you" is the most effective word in the persuasion lexicon. Absent true personalization (i.e., using someone's name: "Dear Linda…"), "you" is the most intimate word you have at your command.

And remember: "you" is glue. Every time you use it (especially in headlines) the reader pays slightly more attention...involunt arily. Readers can't help it! They're hard-wired to respond to "you"! It's the best cheap trick I know.

Avoid the institutional voice in your donor newsletter. Don't "we did this" and "we did that." A donor newsletter is really just direct mail in disguise. And as any professional copywriter will tell you, good direct mail focuses on "you," not "we." (See further comments below, in Flaw #6.)

Fatal Newsletter Flaw #4: You rely on statistics rather than anecdotes to move donors.

Statistics are weak persuaders. They're abstract. More often than not, they leave the reader cold.

Anecdotes work far harder. They're concrete, easy to understand, and stir the emotions. Why does the Wall Street Journal start with an anecdote for most of its front-page features? Because anecdotes require no translation. No matter how complex the topic, the reader will instantly understand what's at stake if you start with an anecdote.

Fatal Newsletter Flaw #5: You don't prioritize your news properly.

You confuse readers by putting unimportant information in high-value locations. What would you think of a newspaper that devoted its front page to stories that didn't matter? And yet how many nonprofit newsletters waste their front page, issue after issue, on windy opinion pieces "From the Executive Director's Desk"?

Fatal Newsletter Flaw #6: You lose sight of your real audience.

As I said earlier, a donor newsletter is NOT about how your organization does things.

A donor newsletter is about three things: accomplishment, vision, and recognition. Your newsletter should answer the donor's three top questions: (1) "How have I changed the world because I gave you a gift?" (2) "How could I change the world even more if I gave you additional money?" and (3) "How important am I to you?"