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…
I recently read an interview with Jack Hart, the managing editor of The Oregonian and author of “A Writer’s Coach: An Editor’s Guide to Words that Work.” He talked primarily about the writing process, but he also mentioned several qualities of good writing: -It’s tight, with clean syntax. -It’s forceful. -It’s colorful, with lively verbs…
Including personal profiles in your newsletter is great way to tell an important story about your organization, while also recognizing the contributions of a single person. I write a lot of donor profiles, for example, that tell nice stories about the individuals and acknowledge their generosity, while highlighting the organization’s accomplishments — i.e. “Jane Donor…
There is no such thing as the “general public” in nonprofit communications, and especially in fundraising. From the core of your message to how you deliver it, your communications need to target specific people or at least specific groups of people. But if developing a targeted communications plan is a new concept for you, knowing…
I taught my course on writing for the web and e-newsletters this week as part of the Duke University certificate program in nonprofit management. I always enjoy seeing the light bulbs go off over people’s heads as we move through the course and they realize that their websites are missing some of the most basic…
Nonprofits have great stories to tell — and telling them well is what brings in more support, whether it be cash, volunteers, new partners or political help. But writing up all of those stories and formatting them for publication can be time-consuming. To save yourself some time while still gaining all the benefits of good…
“Writing Tips” is a free monthly e-newsletter I publish that’s full of . . . you guessed it . . . writing tips. It contains free advice to help you write better at work and covers grammar, writing style, how to write various types of publications, and more. Here is the table of contents for…
Earlier this week I taught “Strategies for Successful Nonprofit Newsletters” for the Duke University Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management. During the course, several students expressed their frustrations about working with their executive directors on various newsletter issues. Here are three questions they asked and how I answered. Q: We always have to print the “letter…
If you are interested in networking online with other nonprofit writers and editors, check out the new Writers and Editors Affinity Group at N-TEN. It’s essentially an email discussion list, but affinity groups can also produce blogs and wikis. As of today, there are 39 N-TEN Affinity Groups, so you might find others that interest…
In every workshop I teach on nonprofit communications, I always include an exercise on defining your audience, and that exercise always starts with this statement: In nonprofit communications, there is no such thing as the general public! The “general public” includes everyone from my three-year-old daughter to my eighty-year-old grandma. It includes Wall Street brokers,…
I’ve got three online courses beginning Monday, June 5. Since each week’s materials take one-two hours to complete, you can safely enroll anytime next week and not get behind. All of the courses are four weeks long. How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report — This course teaches participants the basic steps for creating an…
