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Hey Reader,

A development director I know came close to shutting down her newsletter last month.

Her open rates kept slipping. Her will to write had gone with them. Even one of her board members kept asking why she spent so much time on emails when "people use ChatGPT now."

She didn't have a good answer.

Rachel runs the development shop at a family shelter south of the city. It's tough. She'd been experimenting with AI to write her donor emails partly because she was burned out, but mostly because everyone kept telling her to.

The output was decent. Good grammar. Subject lines often needed improvement. Added the right calls to action. But her click rates? They kept dropping and donations were deteriorating alongside them.

She needed to try something different.

So last week after a hard intake, she sat down and wrote about Renee; a mom who'd shown up at the shelter late at night with her two kids, a small backpack, her phone about to die.

She wrote about the night-shift manager who went and made Renee's son a peanut butter sandwich and let him fall asleep on the office couch while they sorted the paperwork. She didn't dress it up. Nor did she end the email with three calls to action.

She shared the story and asked donors to help cover the diapers and pyjamas her shelter buys for kids who arrive with nothing.

That email raised more donations than her last four emails combined. Her inbox filled up with messages from donors saying things like this is why I give to you.

Here's what Rachel figured out, and what I think the rest of us need to sit with: donors don't read your newsletter for information. They can get that anywhere, and yes, increasingly, from an AI.

What they read your newsletter for is perspective. They want to know what you saw this week. What your team wrestles with day to day, like the family that showed up on a random night. AI can summarize the homelessness crisis in ten seconds. But it doesn't know about Renee.

Email continues to do something search, social, and chatbots can't: it shares your voice directly into your supporter's inbox.

Your unfair advantage isn't speed or polish. It's specificity. The detail only you know. The story your team witnessed. Words that sound like a person, never a press release.

You know I'm not anti-AI, not even close. When used well, it's a great tool for getting unstuck: brainstorming subject lines, outlining a draft when you're staring at a blank page, sparking a new creative angle you hadn't considered.

The keyword is assist. AI gives you a great starting point. It can help you when you're in a bind. But the story? The voice? The reason someone opens your email and hits reply with "this is why I give to you"?

That's the part only you can write.

This week, find a moment only you witnessed. Drop the overview. Share names. Tell your audience what they said. Write the story AI couldn't.

If you want a second set of eyes before you send it, hit reply. I read every response, and I'll help you find where your story is hiding.

Kelly

P.S. Email isn't dying. Generic email is. Huge difference.

Link 💜

ICYMI - Revenue from email increased by 16% on average in 2025. The share of all online revenue directly sourced to email was 11%. Crazy stats and more in the latest M+R Benchmarks study on email messaging.

They say that this email marketing platform might be the last one you switch to. If you're looking for a simple tool, Buttondown is worth a look.

It's always good to visit a library, a prompt one that is. Bloomerang continues to grow its library of AI prompts to help your nonprofit create great content, raise more, work more efficiently, and stay focused on mission-driven goals.