We are hosting the August edition of the Nonprofit Blog Carnival, which is a round-up of posts from bloggers in the nonprofit sector on a particular theme. Our theme is “What You Did (or Thought, or Felt) This Summer.” I tend to get more introspective and make big business decisions during two times a year…
Are you telling a bunch of great little stories in your communications that don’t really seem to add up to much? You are likely missing a larger story arc. I’ll be speaking at the 2016 Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in Chicago in November (early bird registration ends this Friday!). I’ll talk about how to take all…
Looking for more CALM not BUSY in your work day, but not sure where to begin? It might help to think about it in terms of the more familiar Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. C is for Collaborative — It’s the WHO. Are your working relationships with people either internally or externally overwhelming…
What’s the real difference between nonprofits with great communications successes and those who can’t get past the ho-hum, just-OK results? Nonprofit Marketing Guide and Big Duck are working together to find out! Might it be . . . Experimenting often and learning from failures? Expertise of individual staff members? Delegation of responsibilities from leadership? Or…
We put our Annual All-Access Pass on sale only twice a year: in December and NOW. We know many nonprofits are on a summer fiscal year, and you might need to use this year’s money in the next few days. Or . . . you might have a new budget starting on July 1. Either…
I’ll be speaking at the 2016 Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in Chicago in November (early bird registration ends June 30!). One of the topics I will cover is what you actually do with the great stories you’ve written. How do you build them into your editorial calendar so you get the most out of them? I…
Puzzling over what makes really good newsletter content, especially in email? It’s really not that hard. People like email content that is Personal, Useful or Timely . . . or PUT. Make your newsletter more Personal by Sending from a real person with a functioning reply-to address. Segmenting your mailing list so you can send…
Is your writing dry and boring? A lot of nonprofit messaging is. Eliminating jargon and overall wordiness is a great place to start, but here are 20 more ways that you can bring your writing back to life. 1. Use more descriptive nouns and verbs. Don’t say child when you can say teenager or toddler…
Wouldn’t you like to more easily find content related to the work of nonprofit communications professionals on Twitter, Instagram, and other hashtag-friendly places? Let’s make it so! Please start using the hashtag #npcomm when you are talking about your work in a professional capacity and want other nonprofit communications pros to see it. Have a…
OK, I don’t really know what I am calling this thing. Smackdown Match-Up Head-to-Head Compare & Contrast Side-by-Side Something along those lines. Whatever we end up calling it, we are planning a series of blog posts and tip sheets that look at the communications of two national nonprofits working in the same space. Where are…
Need some new ideas for your newsletter, blog, or social media? Consider one of these five summer-inspired themes: 1) Summer Heat. How does hot weather impact your services or your clients? Can you offer advice to your readers about anything related to summer heat? Humane societies can offer tips for keeping pets cool. Agencies that address…
In mid-March, I started following 22 national nonprofits online with a fresh new email address and social media accounts. I selected them in pairs — two working on hunger, two international child sponsorship groups, two presidential foundations, etc. (Find the full list here.) It’s no surprise that advocacy organizations like the Humane Society and NARAL…
