Author: Ann Green

A Website Checklist

Ann Green Communications, marketing, website, writing

This post was featured in the September 2012 Nonprofit Blog Carnival

Ten posts to take your website to the next level

Even in the age of social media, websites are still one of the first places people go to in order to get information. That’s why your nonprofit organization needs one that’s welcoming and audience-centered.   

Does your website pass that test?  Use the checklist below to find out. 

Home page
Your home page is often the first place a newcomer will visit.  Make it an entryway to the rest of your website.  
  • Is it free of clutter and easy to navigate and read? 
  • Does it include an engaging photo and a small amount of text, such as a tagline or position statement?
  • If you are highlighting something such as an event, is the information up-to-date, and is it the most newsworthy item you can feature?
  • Does it include a Donate Now button that’s prominent without being tacky?
  • Does it include a newsletter sign up box and social media icons?
  • Is the navigation bar easy to use?
  • Does it include a search feature?


More information on creating a great home page.

How You Can Create A Welcoming Website – Part One – Your Home Page
Donation page
More people are donating online and this trend will continue.  If you are planning to do a fundraising appeal soon, now is a good time to make sure your donation page is up to speed.
  • Is it easy to use?
  • Does it include a strong call to action with the same messages as all your other fundraising appeals? 
  • Does it show how the donation will be used and what different amounts will fund?
  • Does it include an option for recurring gifts?
  • Does it have a compelling photo?  
  • After someone donates, does it take the person to a thank you landing page and generate a thank you email? 


More information on creating a great donation page.

How You Can Create A Welcoming Website – Part Three – Your Donation Page
The rest of your pages
Now take some time to look at the rest of your web pages.
  • Are they easy to read/scan and navigate?  
  • Do all of your pages have a consistent look?
  • Is the content well written in a conversational style (no jargon), and is it free of grammatical errors and typos?
  • Are your pages audience-centered?  Remember that some visitors know you well and others don’t.  A person visiting your volunteer page may not know much about your organization, so you will need to include a compelling description of what you do.
  • Do your pages contain a clear call to action?  For example, your volunteer page should make someone want to volunteer.
  • Does each page have one or two photos related to its subject matter?  Going back to your volunteer page, you could include a photo of volunteers engaging with clients.
  • Is all the content up-to-date?
  • Do all your links work?
  • Do all your pages include a Donate Now button, navigation bar, social media icons, a newsletter sign up box, and a search feature, so your visitors don’t have to go back to the home page?
  • Are you using analytics to see how often people visit your pages?  If you have pages that aren’t generating a lot of interest, assess why that is happening. You may need to make the page more enticing or take it down.
  • Is it mobile friendly?
  • Is there other content you should include?

More information on creating content for your website.
How You Can Create A Welcoming Website – Part Two – Your Entire Website

How You Can Create A Welcoming Website – Part Four – Writing For The Web
After you have made any necessary changes, have someone who isn’t as familiar with your organization (maybe a friend or family member) look at your website to see if the content is clear and that it is easy to navigate. 

Again, your goal is a website that is welcoming and audience- centered for everyone from first-time visitors to long-time supporters.
Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

Do You Have Good Stories To Tell?

Ann Green brand identity, Communications, fundraising, marketing, writing


Photo by UNE Photos via Flickr
If you are making a difference in someone’s life or in the community, you have good stories to tell. The best stories are ones about the people you serve and not about your organization. You can tell your stories in writing, in a video, and in pictures.

Written Stories
When writing a story use classic storytelling devices. Give it a beginning, middle, and end.  Good stories also include conflict or a struggle.

If you are writing about people, use names to make it personal. You can change someone’s name to protect the person’s privacy if needed.   

You need to grab someone’s attention right away. Your stories should also capture emotion. In the words of Maya Angelou – “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Keep your stories short and limit the use of statistics. You can follow up your story with a statistic, if you want to. Try something like this:

Every Wednesday Sarah wakes up at 5:00 a.m. to catch the #45 bus to try to get to the front of the line at the community food bank by the time it opens. Mornings are hectic and she also needs to get her kids ready for school.

If Sarah misses the bus, the next one doesn’t come for another hour. If she arrives at the food bank too late, she finds the shelves contain slim pickings. Sarah is just one of the X number of town residents who rely on the food bank.
Include stories in your fundraising and marketing materials. You could open your fundraising appeal with a story like the one above and then lead into the ask.  Put stories on your website. This is often a place where newcomers visit, and a story is a great way to introduce your organization.  Include a client story/profile in your newsletter. I used to work for a mentoring organization and we would a feature a different mentor/mentee match each month.

Work with your program staff to find these great stories. They can refer you to people to interview and help get any necessary permissions.

Here are some more tips on creating stories.

4 Ways Stories Can Help Build Your Cause

Six Common “Character” Flaws in Nonprofit Storytelling (Part I)

Six Common “Character” Flaws in Nonprofit Storytelling (Part II)

Put Persuasive Storytelling to Work for Your Nonprofit

Video
You can take some of your written stories and transfer them to video. Showing footage with a voiceover is the most compelling. You could film Sarah’s journey and condense it to a few minutes.  Record action footage of the people you serve, such as kids participating in an afterschool program or tutoring sessions.

You can interview clients and have them tell their story. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. Not everyone is a future TV star.  Find compelling subjects who are good on camera to ensure that you have an interesting video. 

If you are going to produce a video, make sure it’s good quality. Find an experienced person to shoot and produce it. If cost is an issue, you may be able to find someone to a produce a video at no cost.

Most importantly, keep it short. Videos on your website or social media should last just a few minutes. You can create longer videos to use at fundraising or recruiting events, but stick to 10 minutes or less.

Video Resources 
8 great examples of nonprofit storytelling

Nonprofit storytelling tips from the pros

Winners From 2011 DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards
Photos
Photographs can tell a story in an instant. People may not take time to read a story or watch a video, but they shouldn’t be able to miss an engaging photo. 

Every year or two take a set of photos and use them on your website, annual reports, fundraising letters, newsletters, and social media.  It’s okay if you use some of the same ones.  It helps with your brand identity. 

Choose compelling pictures of the people you serve. When using action shots, make sure you can see peoples’ faces and not the backs of their heads. Give some thought to the layout, too. Don’t make it random. 

And make sure they are good quality. Invest in a good camera and photographer. You can often find professional photographers willing to work pro bono, if cost is an issue. 

Here are some tips of what to do and what to avoid.
Photos Rule in Content Marketing for Your Nonprofit
More information on creating good photographs,
Great Nonprofit Design from Save the Children
Two Things You Can Do to Make Your Photos Look Awesome

Nine photo tips for nonprofit storytelling
Again, if you are making a difference, you should have good stories to tell.  Share your stories!

How do you tell your stories?

Finding Quality Donors and Keeping Them

Ann Green donor relations, fundraising, marketing

Photo by roboppy via Flickr

Some nonprofit organizations are very focused on raising lots of money and having as many donors as they can get. Of course, this is important.  Nonprofits generally rely on fundraising for a bulk of their revenue.  But what’s also important is the quality of your donors. You could have one donor who gives you $100 and never gives again. Likewise, you could have another donor who has given you $25 each year over the last couple of years and also gets their friends to donate. 

Many donors give once and never give again. There are several reasons for this. One might be that some donors care more about your organization than others do.  Another is that you are not building relationships with your donors.

Why do people donate to YOUR organization?
Some may be very invested in your organization’s cause. Others may donate because they are a friend or family member of a board or staff member. These donors are fine until the board or staff member leaves, and then they often stop donating.

Others may donate for reasons unrelated to your cause. Let’s say you hold an event where a well-known person speaks. You charge $50 a ticket and raise lots of money, which is great, but some of these donors never give again because they were more interested in seeing the celebrity than in your cause.

Keep that in mind when you decide how you are going to raise money. Ideally, you want to find donors who will donate more than once.

Build relationships
Just reaching out to potential donors who you know will be interested in your cause is not enough. You need to build good relationships with your donors so they will donate year after year.   

This starts with showing appreciation and communicating with your donors on a regular basis in ways in which you are not asking for money.  Send a thank you letter and welcome packet for new donors within 24-48 hours.  In the thank you letter, invite donors to subscribe to your email list and join you on social media.  

Do not add your donors to your email list without their permission.  If you do, you are spamming them. Your newsletter articles and social media posts should emphasize how your donors’ support is having a positive impact on the people you serve and in the community. 

Be known, but don’t be annoying
Send out your donor-centered newsletters once or twice a month. You can also connect by sending out advocacy alerts and brief updates. As a general rule, try not to send out email messages more than once a week. You can post to social media more often, but remember everything needs to be of interest to your donors. And as much as it may pain you to do this, let your donors unsubscribe from your list if they choose to. 
It’s easier to focus on building relationships with your current donors than trying to find new ones.  This is especially true in an uncertain economy.

Easy cultivation tools
Not everyone who is getting your newsletter or following you on social media is a donor, but if you keep sending out material focusing on how you are making a difference, you might be able to convert them into donors.

Again, you want donors who will stick with you for a while. That means not only finding people who are committed to your cause, but also building relationships that show how much you appreciate their support.

Here are some ways to keep your donors engaged all year round. 
It’s All About Your Donors

More on donor relations

Donor Relations
7 tips for welcoming new donors


Choose Quality Over Quantity – Part Two – Social Media

Ann Green Communications, marketing, social media

One of my favorite quotes is this one from marketing expert Seth Godin. “Is more always better?  Sometimes, better is better.”  I’ve been exploring ways this applies to nonprofit communications. In Part One I covered email newsletters. Choose Quality Over Quantity – Part One – Your Email Newsletter Part Two is about social media.

If you are on social media, you know it often seems to be more about quantity than quality.  People will post just about anything, such as what they ate for lunch or that they are at Starbucks.  But to be successful on social media you need to focus on quality.

Social media is social
In this post, I’m going to focus on Facebook and Twitter.  For both of these, the number of followers you have isn’t as important as how good they are.  Some of your followers may not be paying that much attention to you.  How often do people comment on or share any of your content?  If you receive a comment, do you respond back?  Don’t forget about the social in social media.

Putting your face on Facebook
Post content your followers will be interested in. This can include links to success stories on your website, links to newsletter articles that show how you are making a difference, engaging photos, and high-quality videos.   

One of the great things about Facebook is that you can start a conversation. Ask questions and encourage feedback from your followers.  Respond to comments you receive.  Keep the conversation going.

Navigating the Twitter stream
To me the Twitter stream is more like a fire hydrant. A lot of information is pouring out of it. Some of it good – some not so much. Make whatever you send out something that will rise above the waves of constant information.

You only have 140 characters, so use them wisely. Can you make your tweet clear and compelling?  Don’t abbreviate so much that your message is not understandable. Make sure it looks professional and not like teenager’s text message.

Remember that good social media is sharing other people’s content. Retweet messages your supporters might be interested in. You can also use Twitter to engage in a conversation. Ask questions.  Replying to tweets is another way to engage. If someone retweets any of your content, be sure to thank them.  Keep it social.

Think it through
Social media can be an “in the moment” type of communication, but it shouldn’t be when you use it professionally. It should require just as much planning and strategy as your other types of communication. Also, be sure your content is consistent with your organization’s messaging.

Bridgegspan recommends organizations spend between two and six hours a week posting to Facebook and Twitter, and one to four hours a week responding to comments. You can use Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or a similar program to set up posts in advance. But some spontaneity is good, too. That’s why you should try to go on at least once a day to see what’s new and to check if you have received any comments.

You can post several times a day, as long as you have quality content to share. But don’t send out a lot of messages at once.  Spread them out over of the course of the day. 

Be consistent with how often you post.  If you only have time for one or two posts a day, then stick to that. What’s most important is that you have something good to share.  Quality trumps quantity.

Get organized
Use an editorial calendar for all your communication including social media. This way you can keep track of when your newsletters go out, events, and other relevant dates, and use social media to promote these. LightBox Collaborative’s 2012 Editorial Calendar 

In addition, keep track of your engagement. Both Facebook and Twitter have analytical tools to help with this, so do platforms such as Hootsuite.

How to Manage Social Media for Your Nonprofit

Social Media Analytics for Nonprofits: What Factors You Should Track
Still the new kid on the block
Social media is still fairly new, and may not be your primary mode of communication right now. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth investing a little time in creating well-written, high-quality content so you can engage with your supporters.

Quality check
Before you post anything on Facebook or Twitter, ask yourself:

Does it include information our supporters care about?

Is it high-quality?

If in doubt, don’t send it out.

Quality counts!

How does your organization use social media?

Choose Quality Over Quantity – Part One – Your Email Newsletter

Ann Green Communications, marketing

Image by Mark Morgan Trinidad B via Flickr

I’ve been thinking a lot about a quote I read from marketing expert Seth Godin. “Is more always better?  Sometimes, only better is better.”  This can apply to just about anything, but I would like to point out a few ways this applies to nonprofit communications. In Part One I’ll cover email newsletters.

In my last post, I wrote about creating effective email messages and briefly mentioned focusing on quality not quantity. Eight Steps to Creating Effective Email Messages

Subscribers only
One of the most common forms of email you will send out is your newsletter. You might think it’s better to send it out to as many people as you can, but you should only send  it to people who have expressed interested in it. That means everyone who receives it needs to have subscribed to your mailing list. Otherwise, you are spamming people.

Focus on the people you serve
Of course, you need to send out a newsletter with quality material. Focus on the people you serve. If you are making a difference in someone’s life or in the community, you should be able to come up with good content for your newsletters.

Most of your readers are donors or potential donors, so your content needs to emphasize how you are doing good things with your donor’s contributions.  An article about securing new computers that can help the kids in your after school program learn new skills is fine. An article about getting new computers for your staff is not going to interest your donors and other supporters. Always think about what your supporters will want to read.

Get organized
If your goal is to send out a newsletter on the first of every month, that’s great. People like consistency.  But if it’s two days before it needs to go out, and you are struggling to come up with articles, then you need to create an editorial calendar or ongoing article database on your computer, so you have material to draw from.  Profiles of the people you serve make great content for your newsletter.  Since they are usually not time-sensitive, they are something you can do on an ongoing basis.

Creating an annual editorial calendar that includes relevant events and other important dates is always a good idea. Here are some sample calendars you can use 

Sample Editorial Calendars for Nonprofits

LightBox Collaborative’s 2012 Editorial Calendar

Send out your newsletters once or twice a month with no more than four short articles. If you find that you have too much material for a monthly newsletter, then send one out every two weeks with two or three articles. If every two weeks is too much to produce a quality newsletter, then stick to monthly.  Do whatever you need to do to make sure it’s high-quality.

In addition, try to be consistent with when you send it out.  If you have too much going on around the first of the month, try the fifth or the first Tuesday of every month.

Short and sweet
When writing for your email newsletter, once again think of quality over quantity.  Also, think short – short articles with short paragraphs, so it’s easy to read.  Short doesn’t mean terse.  Use a friendly, conversational style, that’s free of jargon and pompous sounding words.  And,while you are in quality mode, make sure your content doesn’t have any typos or grammatical errors.  Create something your supporters will look forward to reading.

Give your newsletter a consistent look and design.  It will not only look more professional, but your readers should be able to recognize that it’s coming from your organization.

Quality check
Before you send out your newsletter, ask yourself:

Does it include information our donors or other supporters care about?

Is it high-quality?

If in doubt, don’t send it out.

Quality counts!

In Part Two, I’ll write about social media. Choose Quality Over Quantity – Part Two – Social Media

Eight Steps to Creating Effective Email Messages

Ann Green Communications, marketing, writing

Email is a fast, easy, and inexpensive way for your nonprofit organization to get a message across to a lot of people. The problem is everyone else is doing the same thing and you are competing with a lot of other sources.  How can you ensure that people will open and read your email messages?  Follow these eight steps.

People must opt in
Every single person on your email list must be there because they have subscribed to it. Even if you have email addresses for your donors and other supporters, don’t add them to your list without their permission.  If you do, you are spamming them. Build relationships first, then your email list.

Don’t worry, it’s easy to build up your email list. Put a “sign up for our email list” prompt in a prominent place on your home page and other web pages, invite donors to sign up when they donate online, collect email addresses at events, invite people through social media,  encourage donors to sign up when you send them a thank you letter, and include subscription links in your email signatures.  Once people sign up, generate a nice thank you response to welcome them.

Open sesame
Your first hurdle is getting people to open your email in the first place.  Your organization’s name should be in the “from” line, so your reader knows it’s from a reputable source.

Make sure you use good subject lines – something short and simple, but effective. Your recipient should want to read more.  Avoid any words that might look like spam. Tell, but don’t sell what’s inside. Some examples might include –  Five Ways to Make Difference In a Child’s Life or Meet Our New Youth Advisors  Here are some more  examples of effective email subject lines 
Examples of Effective Email Subject Lines that Get the Click
Make it personal
Congratulations, your recipient has opened your email.  Now you need to get them to read it and take action.  Email can be impersonal, but it doesn’t have to have.  Include a personal salutation, but make sure it’s the right name.  One organization used to periodically send me messages addressed Dear Michael.

You must look marvelous
If your email message looks sloppy or unprofessional, your recipient may not bother reading it, even if includes great content.

Come up with a consistent, recognizable look so your readers know it’s from you. This can include your logo and organization’s colors.

Use an electronic-friendly font, such as Ariel or Verdana, that’s not too small.  Make it easy to read and scan (for better or worse, most people will be scanning your message) by including bold headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs.

Using a photo or image can be a nice way to capture someone’s attention, as well as to break up the text, but make sure they are good quality.

Content is king
Okay, your recipient is still with you. Now, you must write content people will want to read. To do this follow the 4 Cs of writing good 
copy. The 4 Cs of Writing Good Copy

Is it clear? What is your intention? Do you want someone to donate, volunteer, sign a petition, or attend an event?  Make your point right away and stick to one call to action per message.

Is it concise? Use as few words as possible, but use strong words and leave out any unnecessary adverbs, adjectives, or filler.
Is it conversational? Strive for a warm, friendly tone. Write in the second person and don’t use jargon or any words people need to look up in the dictionary.
Is it compelling? Start with a good opening and keep your reader interested throughout, so they will donate, volunteer, etc. 

Your content should highlight how you are helping the people you serve. 
Be known, but don’t be annoying
Send out messages anywhere between once a week and once a month. If you send out messages too often, people might opt out. Not enough and your supporters might forget about you. Someone is more likely to open and read your email if they are familiar with you.  But, always make sure you have something good to say. Think quality not quantity.

Use an email service provider
These have a lot of great features such as templates to give your messages a professional look, along with ways to personalize your messages, track open and click rates, and segment your lists. 

Go mobile
Remember that some people read email on their mobile devices. Here is an infographic on creating mobile friendly email.  Anatomy of a Perfect Mobile Email

By following the eight steps above, your recipients will be more likely to open and read your email messages, as well as take action.

More Email Marketing Resources

Email 101



Making the Most of Multi-Channel Communication

Ann Green marketing

Photo by 2create via Flickr

We live in a multi-channel communication world. We send and receive messages via direct mail, email, websites, and social media.  Chances are your nonprofit organization is using all these channels to communicate with donors and other supporters.  All of these channels can work and they can work better if you use them together. 

How do you decide which channel works best for you and integrate all channels in your fundraising and marketing campaigns?  Here are a few suggestions.

Go where the people are
Do you have several thousand people on your email list, but just a few hundred Twitter followers?  Then you should spend more time communicating via email until you increase your number of Twitter followers. That said, you can use other means such as email and your website to invite people to join you on Twitter and Facebook.

Once is never enough
If you only mail out a fundraising appeal, your success rate will be much lower than if you also send out appeals through email and social media. According to Convio, dual channel donors give an average of $123.29 annually, which is 46% more value to a nonprofit than direct mail only donors.

In addition, we are all very busy and have to contend with messages from a variety of sources.  We might miss a fundraising appeal when it comes through the mail or email, but have our aha moment when we get a reminder on Facebook.  On the other hand, some people never use social media or email and respond better to direct mail.

Avoid overkill
How often you send out messages depends on the channel.  Because of the cost, smaller organizations may only send out direct mail pieces a few times a year.  Sending out email anywhere between once a week and once a month is the norm. You can use social media more often, even up to a few times a day.

But make sure you have something good to say. Don’t just put something on Facebook because it’s been a few days since you posted anything. This makes me think of a recent quote by marketing expert Seth Godin – “Is more always better? Sometimes, only better is better.”

Here’s a link to an editorial calendar to help you plan your communication strategy. LightBox Collaborative’s 2012 Editorial Calendar 


Keep track
For every campaign, keep track of how many donors come through each channel.  Do the same when you recruit volunteers or hold an event.  Figure out what works and what doesn’t. You may not have that many people responding through Twitter because your supporters don’t use it, you haven’t built up a following yet, or you have a lot of followers, but aren’t using Twitter effectively.   

Stay consistent
When you are communicating across channels, make sure your messages and look are consistent.  If a donor goes to your website after receiving a fundraising letter, your donation page should have the same message, along with your logo.  It’s okay to use exactly the same messages.  Just alter them for each channel – e.g. your social media posts will be shorter. Everything you send out needs to look like it’s coming from the same organization.

All paths lead to your website
Often when you send out a letter, an email, or a social media post, you are directing people back to your website. This means whatever web page you are sending them to needs to be effective. Make sure it looks good (no clutter), has compelling content and an engaging photo, and is easy to navigate.  How You Can Create A Welcoming Website

These are a few examples of ways to make the most of your multi-channel communication.  How do you use multi-channel communication?

To Print or Not to Print

Ann Green fundraising, marketing

Photo by Portland Afoot via Flickr

Nonprofit organizations are doing more of their marketing and fundraising electronically – by email, on their website, and through social media.  It makes sense. It’s more cost effective, good for the environment, and most of us are very connected to our computers and mobile devices.

Does this mean that print is obsolete? No. Print still has a place in your marketing and fundraising. How much depends on your audience. If your donors and other supporters are older, they may respond better to print pieces, although many of us are now connected electronically.

Often you’ll want to use print and electronic mediums together in your marketing and fundraising campaigns. This means all your messages need to be consistent.

Are there times that you should still use print pieces?  Sometimes, yes.  Here are a few examples:

Fundraising letter
I think you should still mail out a fundraising letter. Direct mail fundraising continues to be strong, although online giving is on the rise.  According to a study by Target Analytics, 81% of 2011 gifts came in through direct mail. If you only send out your fundraising appeal electronically, it could get lost in your donor’s barrage of email messages. We get far more email than print mail.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use electronic methods as well. You can send out an email message telling donors to look out for your latest fundraising letter. You can also send out reminders by email and social media and post donation appeals on your website.

Thank you letter
Even if someone donates online and gets an electronic acknowledgement, I think you should mail out a thank you letter or card (within 48 hours, of course). The email receipt is more of a reassurance to the donor that their contribution didn’t get lost in the netherworld.  The advantage of a letter is that you can personalize it with a handwritten note.  A letter or a card is always more personal than email.  
Event invitation
If you are holding a fundraising event, I would recommend a print invitation over an evite. Your higher dollar, older donors may respond better to a print invitation with a reply card. And, and if done well, it can look really classy.

Again, this doesn’t mean you can’t use electronic channels to promote your event.  You can email out a save the date announcement. Of course, you should also have an option for people to reserve and pay online, and you can promote your event by email, on your website, and through social media.

If cost is an issue, you could get a printer to create your invitation pro bono or ask a business to sponsor it.

Brochure
I still think nonprofit organizations should have a brochure or some type of information piece to hand out to donors, potential volunteers, people who visit your office, or event attendees.  It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it should be eye catching and look professional. You could even do it in house.  I realize most organizations have a website, but if you are at a recruitment event and only give a potential volunteer a link to your website, they may not go there.  A brochure can capture the highlights of your organization in an instant.

These are a just a few examples of marketing and fundraising materials that can work well in print. What types of materials do you still print?

Don’t Use Jargon

Ann Green marketing, writing

Capacity building, return on investment, leverage, impactful. How do you react when you see these words?  Do you embrace them or do they make you cringe?

These are just a few examples (unfortunately there are many) of jargon. I think people use jargon because it’s an insider language, and it makes them feel like they are “in the know” in their professional world.  

People need to understand you to connect with you
But what happens when jargon creeps outside of your insular community and into the public?  People won’t understand you. We are all guilty of it. I remember talking to someone about a program and using the terms capacity building and direct service, and the person had no idea what I was talking about.

When you use jargon with your donors and other supporters, you are not connecting with them. You won’t get your message across if your audience doesn’t understand it.

Use fresh language
Sometimes we get lazy and use jargon when we can’t think of anything fresh and original. The next time you are writing something for your organization, look it over carefully to see if it contains words found in these links.  
Jargon Finder
Philanthropy Jargon Generator
If it does, replace them with plain, but fresh language that your audience will understand (see links below for examples). Not all of the words in the links above are jargon. Some are awkward or pompous words and phrases that you should also avoid.

Garbl’s Plain English Writing Guide

24 lazy corporate verbs you need to fire

Get rid of all your jargon
Eliminate jargon from all your written materials including grant proposals. Even if your potential funder might understand some of the insider language, your proposal is one of many being submitted, and will be much more readable if you if to stick to a simple, conversational style. 

It may be easier to catch these dreaded words when you are writing, but also be careful when you are speaking. Do the words that come out of your mouth contain jargon? They shouldn’t if you are talking to a potential funder or someone not familiar with your work. Even if you are speaking to someone in the nonprofit community, ditch the jargon.

In addition, before you put a quote from your Executive Director or Board Chair in your annual report, newsletter, or a press release, check to see if it contains jargon. I’ve seen many that do. Here again, you are trying to connect with people. Speak to your audience.

Don’t get sent to jargon jail
Nonprofit Consultant and radio host Tony Martignetti has a jargon jail on his radio program and sends people there when they slip into jargon Philanthropy Jargon I love that idea.

Let’s all make a pact to not use jargon and to stay out of jargon jail.

What are some examples of jargon that make you cringe?

Image by Gavin Llewellyn via Flickr

How To Get Everyone In Your Organization To Be Consistent In Messaging

Ann Green brand identity, marketing, writing




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If you got your staff or board together and asked them to write a few sentences about what your organization does, would you get a variety of different answers? You would if you don’t have a consistent set of messages to use.
   

Creating a message platform

Your first step is to create a message platform, which consists of a tagline,positioning statement, talking points, and an elevator pitch.  Before you start, ask yourself:


What do you want to achieve?

Who is your target audience?  You may need to cater different messages to different audiences.

What is important to them?

As you create your positioning statement and talking points, ask:

Who are you?

What you do?

How do you do it?

Why is it important?

What makes your organization unique?

What impact are you making on the people you serve and in the community?

Your messages should be clear and include a call to action. They should be conversational, so avoid using jargon. Most people respond better to a human interest story than to a lot of statistics.

If you have five different people writing for your organization, your messages shouldn’t look like they were written by five different people. Come up with a single voice and personality.

As far as I’m concerned, Nancy Schwartz is the nonprofit messaging guru. This link from her website Getting Attention will explain the process in more detail and give you examples. The 4 Cornerstones of an Engaging Message Platform

Using your key messages
Now that you have come up with a set of consistent messages, use them across channels  –  print, e-mail, website, and social media.

Instruct everyone in your organization
Go over your key messages with your staff, board, and other volunteers. As new people join your organization, include messaging in their orientation.

Put your key messages in your organization’s style guide. If you don’t have a style guide, I strongly recommend creating one. It’s a great tool to help you stay consistent, not only in messaging, but in writing style and design. Create a Style Guide for Your Organization

Get your board on board
It’s especially important to make sure that your board knows your message platform. Ideally, you want your board to be representing you the community. They might be meeting with a prospective funder or with the local chamber of commerce. But since board members are not part of the day to operations, they are not as exposed to your key messages. They need to be.

Everyone in your organization, no matter what they do, should be able to communicate your key messages, whether it’s part of their job or if they are having a casual conversation with a friend.

Stick with it 
You need to choose messages that you are going to use for awhile. You can revisit your messaging periodically to see if it’s still relevant. For example, if you emphasize that your organization provides services to children under 12, and you just started serving teens, your messages should reflect that.  

Don’t worry if you get bored with your messages. Your audience is getting information from a bunch of different sources besides you.  Sometimes people need to see your message six to eight times before it sinks in.

If you think carefully about the messages you come up with, they should resonate with your audience for awhile.

Elevator pitch role play exercises
A great way to make sure everyone in your organization is consistent in their messaging is to do an elevator pitch role play exercise with your staff and board. An elevator pitch is a 30 second description of what your organization does. Elevator Pitches and Consistency in Messaging 

Divide into small groups of three or four.
  • Scenario one – You are at a conference and it’s five minutes until the keynote address. The person next to you asks you where you work. How do you respond? 
  • Scenario two – Your organization is holding a fundraising event. You are talking to an attendee who asks you to tell her/him more about what you do. How do you respond? 
Come up with your own exercises and keep practicing!

Take some time to come up with a consistent set of messages and make sure everyone in your organization is using them.
Photo by  Matt Hampel via Flickr