Haven’t quite filled in your content calendar for next month? Use these prompts taken from our Monthly Nonprofit Writing Prompts Email Newsletter for your blog posts, social media updates or newsletter articles. (If you are all set for content ideas in March, sign up for our Nonprofit Writing Prompts email newsletter and you’ll receive April’s prompts later…
Want your supporters to pay more attention to deadlines? Use one of these email subject lines: a race to the finish across the finish line almost over are you in? are you missing out? can we count on you? can you make it by midnight can’t be short can’t wait coming up short days left…
A few weeks ago, in preparation for my Nonprofit Marketing Guide Tweet Like a Boss Pass Holder webinar, I had a wonderful conversation with Kids Are Heroes founder Gabe O’Neill. We chatted about how he became a big fan of Twitter, and then he asked me to look at this section on his website called Share…
Last week, we talked about those wordy phrases you need to trim (and what to use instead). For example, just say “enough” instead of “a sufficient amount of.” Today, we are going to cover redundant phrases. Here are the major infractions impeding your efforts to “cut the glut” followed by a list of other phrases…
Earlier this summer, we started tracking the communications of pairs of national nonprofits working in the same space. Where are the organizations’ strategies in sync? Where do they diverge? What can you learn from their approaches? We are calling the comparisons The Showdown. We will often declare “winners,” but that part is just for fun.…
We’ve all read those mission statements or fundraising appeals that seem to have smart ideas, but when you take a closer look you realize they just have a lot of words. Shorter is nearly always better. Replace these wordy phrases with their concise alternatives. a majority of = most a sufficient amount of = enough…
Our contributing writer Antionette Kerr is working on a new e-book on both storybanking and photobanking — how you collect, store and organize your stories and photos. She’s got some great how-tos and resources pulled together. But it’s missing your real-world stories and data. So we need your help! Can you take this quick survey…
You can’t just add a “Donate” button to your nonprofit’s website and expect it to be successful. Join us this week for Writing a Donor-Centered Website with Tom Ahern. This will be the only time this series is offered in 2016. Many online gifts are impulse purchases. So any number of things can detract a…
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…
Here’s how to ask, train, support, and reward the front-line folks who have the greatest access to 5-star stories! Join me to learn How to Jumpstart Your Story-Gathering Team Thursday, June 30, 1-2PM Eastern Stories are one of the easiest (and one of the most useful) types of insights your team can gather. And, when…
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…
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…
