As I copyedit text supplied by my nonprofit clients, I am constantly removing jargon. While phrases like “capacity building” and “fostering innovation” may mean something to your foundation funders, these terms usually have no meaning to the people you are serving with the grant the foundation gave you. Never cut and paste your grant application…
Much of the battle in helping nonprofits communicate more effectively is in convincing them to put a different spin on what they are currently saying in person, in print, and online. When talking to donors, that spin might be changing the language from the first person (“We, the nonprofit”) to the second person (“You, our…
I have long advocated that one way to make your newsletter and other nonprofit marketing materials more interesting is to share your opinions, not just objective reporting on your work and your issues. Jeff at Donor Power Blog says this is a good idea in fundraising too. Why? Because opinions tend to be more entertaining,…
I asked whether this blog’s readers find that they write too much, too little, or the right amount in their first drafts, and about 60% answered “too much.” Here are six tips for editing your first drafts when they are too long. 1. Drop the first few sentences. Lots of people (including me) need to…
Whether it’s a board meeting, a seminar, or a conference, the events your organization hosts or attends can provide great fodder for newsletter articles — if you highlight the most important points and forget about the rest.When you start writing an event summary, you may be tempted to regurgitate the agenda with a few extra…
I’m interested in hiring a handful of freelance writers/editors who are familiar with InDesign, Dreamweaver, WordPress and/or Joomla to help me get a number of exciting projects off the back burner. You’ll find the details here. Help me find some good help and I’ll be able to double the amount of resources I can get…
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox for March 12 (always a must-read e-newsletter) covers “10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities.” The tips are focused on ROI — return on investment — for commercial sites, but many of the tips are applicable to nonprofits too. Here are a few of my favorites, with some comments. — Publish an email newsletter, if…
Copyblogger is showing people how he would rewrite some of their blog headlines, including notes on why he made the changes he did. I do a similar exercise in my newsletter writing courses and it’s always fun. So, let’s try it here. Either leave a comment or send an email to me at kivi *AT*…
A good newsletter will have several different types of articles in it, and some formats are harder to write than others. Which type of newsletter article is toughest for you to write? Take the poll, or add your own answer. You can also leave a comment on this post. In a week or two, I’ll…
You realize that it is time to publish your newsletter or that your website hasn’t been updated in months, and the dread sweeps over you. “What are we going to write about this time?” you wonder. You can take much of the anxiety out of the publishing process by creating an editorial calendar for each…
ALT tags are the bits of text that you can attach to images on webpages and in email messages and e-newsletters. As I explained yesterday, using the ALT tag is essential when including images in email campaigns and e-newsletters, because if the people reading your email have image blocking turned on, they won’t see the…
Last week I received an invitation to a fundraiser from a local American Red Cross chapter, and it really turned me off. Here is what part of the invitation said verbatim (except for the italics I added). Fine Art Auction The Auction will showcase 5 artists, and we will have a live auction with a…
