Guest Post by Laurel Dykema

When I started my nonprofit writing career, I was a new college graduate with a lot to learn about nonprofit communications. 

During those first years, I had a great mentor who taught me the ropes of nonprofit communications, but not everyone is so lucky—so I decided to compile some of the best insights I’ve gained over the course of my career for you. I think this advice will be especially helpful for new nonprofit writers, but perhaps even seasoned nonprofit professionals will find something new to consider!

Here are my top 10 pieces of advice for new nonprofit writers:

#1 Learn to Handle Criticism

Receiving negative feedback on something you wrote doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. 

In fact, handling criticism is so much a part of our work as nonprofit writers, it really should be listed in our job descriptions! You must be able to receive negative feedback graciously, ask good clarifying questions, and adjust content accordingly if you want to succeed as a nonprofit writer.

#2 Repurpose Great Content

This might be my favorite piece of advice because it’s so practical! 

If you have great content, put it in as many places as you can so it’s visible to more people. For example, you can turn a Facebook post that performed well into a fundraising email. Use a fantastic photo in your print newsletter, on your website, and on Instagram. 

Use your imagination and recycle your nonprofit’s best content!

#3 Don’t Fill Your Whole Workday with Writing

When you’re just starting your nonprofit writing career, spending every minute of your workday writing might *seem* like the best use of your time. But it can also lead to a lack of creativity! Brains need breaks. Intentionally schedule times during your workday when you take a break from writing. 

Some productive ideas for your non-writing time:

• Ask your interns, “What surprised you most about the population our nonprofit works with?” or “Which one of our programs is your favorite and why?”  
• Browse the content other nonprofits are posting on social media. Make a note of posts that are performing well for them and brainstorm how you can create similar posts for your nonprofit’s social media pages. 
• Google the region your nonprofit works in and read up on the latest news. Bookmark relevant articles, then think about how you can share that information with your nonprofit’s supporters. Would it be best to directly share the article to your social media page? Or could you reference a relevant news story in an upcoming email? (Don’t forget to cite your sources!)
• Attend a webinar for a skill you’d like to hone. (Nonprofit Marketing Guide has great ones!)
• Chat with coworkers who regularly interact with donors. Ask them, “What story has really resonated with donors lately?” or “What questions are donors asking?”

#4 Save Positive Feedback in a “Happy Folder”

When my college professors loved a paper I wrote, they often handwrote positive comments in the margins. I saved those papers in a yellow folder I nicknamed “The Happy Folder.” Whenever I was struggling in a class or having a hard day in college, I pulled out the folder. Flipping through all the positive comments gave me a boost and encouraged me to keep going!

I kept this habit when I began my nonprofit writing career. I created an email “Happy Folder” where I stored meaningful positive feedback from my manager, coworkers, and even donors! 

Make your own “Happy Folder” in a cloud-based storage service or in your email. Save positive feedback as well as information about successful projects in your “Happy Folder” (don’t forget to include numbers!). This is a great place to go when you need a little encouragement. It can also be a great resource to pull from for your performance reviews or wage increase discussions.

#5 Bend (Some) Grammar Rules

Hear me out. I’m not suggesting you start using incorrect spellings or unclear sentences. 

However, you can start a sentence with “and,” “but,” or “or.” Also feel free to use ellipses (…) and em dashes (—). We’re not going for the same formal tone you might have used in your college papers. Bending some grammar rules can make your writing seem more conversational, relatable, and personable. 

Shhhhh … your English 101 college professor never has to know!

#6 Set up Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts to automatically get the latest news from the location(s) where your nonprofit works.

Here are some practical ways you can use the articles you get through Google Alerts: 

• Post relevant articles directly on your nonprofit’s social media. 
• Reference the latest news from that region in your next mass email to donors.
• Write an article explaining how something in the news (for example, a flood or hurricane) will affect the population your nonprofit assists. Even better if you are able to explain how your nonprofit can help. Then, post it on your nonprofit’s website or blog. 

Referencing the latest news helps establish your nonprofit as a leader for information about that region and the population you work with.

#7 Be a Spy

*dramatic spy music* “Duh-duh, dee-duh-duuuun!”

On social media platforms, spy on (ahem … follow) other nonprofit organizations to see which posts are highly engaging to their followers. Use the information you gather to shape your nonprofit’s posts and social media strategies.

#8 Make Your Donor the Hero

This one is really simple but powerful! Whenever possible, point to your donors’ impact instead of your nonprofit’s impact. When you write a story, think about how you can focus less on your organization and make your donors the heroes—because they are! 

One easy way to do this: Replace mentions of your nonprofit in your impact story with the word “you.”

#9 Bring Stories to Life Using Senses

This tip requires you to use your imagination (and maybe some research, too). Including descriptions of sight, smell, sound, touch, or taste is a great way to bring your nonprofit’s stories to life.

For example, if I was telling a story about Ganesha, a woman who lives near train tracks in India, I might write, “Thick smoke pours from smokestacks as trains roll past near Ganesha’s home. But after 9 years of living next to the train tracks, Ganesha is used to the smell.” Another option: “The screeching whistle of the first train of the day wakes Ganesha early each morning.”

#10 Ask Questions

No matter how long you’ve been working at your nonprofit, there are always new things to learn. 

Know a coworker who meets face-to-face or talks on the phone with donors? Ask them what inspires those donors to give or what kinds of questions donors have. Ask the intern what they were surprised to learn about your nonprofit. Ask your volunteers why they volunteer. The answers to these questions can inspire you to create even more relevant and compelling content.

Fellow experienced nonprofit communications professionals, what would you add to this list?

In my first blog about how I use Asana, I outlined how I (who is, again, by no means an Asana expert) use this platform to capture, organize and create stories for our organization. I use these collected stories as blogs, newsletter articles, media pitches, and social media content. You may be wondering how I organize all of this communication. If you guessed Asana, you get the day’s gold star. Pat yourself on the back. Take the day off. Ok, maybe don’t go that far. You have things to communicate!

Today, I want to share how I utilize Asana to organize my social media and communications calendar. Full disclosure. I used to use Microsoft Outlook calendar to manage this. I thought I was being productive, transparent, and organized when I first pitched the idea of adding a “communications calendar” to our organization. However, I soon discovered that I was the only one utilizing it. I would get questions like, “When is this topic getting posted to social media?” or “When is eNews distributed?”

When LM switched to Asana, I explored their existing templates and found that I could easily customize them to fit our communications needs. Here’s how I do it:

Calendar:

This view is straightforward. When planning out the calendar (especially the social media side of things), I find it helpful to map out the subjects of my content and assign it to my social media channels. Each channel has a specific color so I can see what content I post and to what channel. I also include scheduled eblasts and ideas for content (By the way, did you know that NPMG has a helpful monthly content guide? I was not asked to mention it, but I use it ALL THE TIME. So helpful!) As I mentioned in my last blog, I use several views of the same project to keep me on task.

Here is the same project in List View:

Here, I get a clearer picture of scheduled content and ideas that are being discussed among the team.

Let’s move on to the meat of the tasks.

Tasks:

Here, I begin to organize my posts. I decide on the social media channel, the post format (Is it a gif? Photo? Article? Video? Etc.), and the content type. (promotion, engagement/feedback, thought leadership, etc.) I will also assign a person to handle the post and, if I am SUPER organized, the verbiage that will accompany the post. I also love Asana because I can add subtasks. So, if I need to create accompanying graphics, I can add them here, along with any instructions for the designer. This is the perfect place to assign a subtask if you work with an outside designer or team member. In this case, I left off the subtask because the designer is me.

Linked Tasks:

Speaking of working with others, Asana allows you to link tasks to multiple projects. Part of our work includes engagement with Alumni, so I work with our Senior Manager of Alumni Engagement for specific communication items like eBlasts. When she assigns them to me in her Alumni Engagement Project, she will add the task to the Social Media/Communications Calendar at the same time. This way, with one click, I can ensure that this communication fits into my calendar and plan. It will also include the tags established in both projects so that we both stay organized.

Finally, I am a massive fan of workflows in Asana. I configure specific flows that automatically move my tasks from “ideas” to “completed.”

Workflows:

The organizational possibilities are endless. If you don’t know where to start, start with a template. It will allow you to include the critical components and organize them for your organization’s specific needs.

How do you track your organization’s communications?

Kaarmin Ford, MA (She/Her/Hers)

Mission-forward work has been a mainstay throughout Kaarmin’s career. In her role as Senior Director, Communications & Engagement at Leadership Montgomery, she works to create and execute the organization’s communications, branding, and outreach strategy. Prior to her role with LM, Kaarmin spent seven years with the Alzheimer’s Association as part of the outreach and development team. Outside of the nonprofit world, Kaarmin has worked in media, banking, and state government.  A native West Virginian (Country Roads, anyone?), Kaarmin currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area and enjoys trivia, a good cup of tea, and all things America’s Test Kitchen.

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During a recent Nonprofit Marketing Guide training on How to Write Faster (recording available with a Free Membership)  the chat was on fire with participants sharing their tips and tools for what helps them during their storytelling process.

When I jumped in with my tips for Asana, I received questions for further insight on how I utilize this program within our marketing department (of one). In a series of blogs, I will share with you how I (who is by NO MEANS an Asana expert) use this platform to capture and organize impact stories, create our social media and communications calendars, and field requests for marketing materials.

When I started at Leadership Montgomery, our organization didn’t have much of a system for collecting stories. So when I researched how to begin the process, I found this blog that suggested keeping a story bank utilizing Trello. That seemed fine and dandy, but I needed a way to use our existing program, Asana. So, I took what I learned and added a few additional features unique to Asana, and below, I’d like to share how I organize my Story Bank.

My Overall Board

Here, you can see that I separate my stories into four categories: Ideas, Interviews, Stories in Progress, and Finished. When a colleague or I have an idea (more on that later), it gets placed on the first board, where I then organize, create tasks, and implement deadlines needed for moving into the next phase.

The Interview category is where I keep notes from interviews. Stories in Progress is where I keep notes, create deadlines, and begin writing my rough draft. (Tip: If you use Google or Microsoft doc to write, you can attach files right into the task).

In Asana, I can also create tags. As you can see, our organization has many topic areas for storytelling. Here I can apply categories (or several categories), so when I am looking for content to repurpose, I can easily search by category. Plus, how fun are the colors?

List View

Asana has many views. Depending on how my brain works (or how much coffee I’ve had), I may need a different perspective to help me organize. I use different views for different projects to help keep my process in order.

Asana also allows you to create forms that can be distributed to others. Once submitted, the information goes directly into a project and can automatically include tags, dates, etc. Knowing this, I created a story intake form that stakeholders can complete.

Intake Form

Perhaps the most challenging part is getting my team to utilize it. I admit we can be better at this, but I am taking proactive steps to ensure utilization.

First, I mention it at least once a month in our weekly staff meetings. I have also offered incentives (cake, anyone?). Sometimes I will even take a conversation I have had out of the office and quickly complete the form while the details are fresh. The bottom line is that it is my job to put our storytelling strategy top of mind with colleagues. I know that once this process becomes a habit, the stories will follow.

Again, I am not an Asana expert. But I have found these tools helpful in preventing potential stories from getting lost in someone’s head. We know this process will grow and evolve, and I use Asana because its features will allow it to grow and evolve with us.

How do you organize your stories?

Kaarmin Ford, MA (She/Her/Hers)

Mission-forward work has been a mainstay throughout Kaarmin’s career. In her role as Senior Director, Communications & Engagement at Leadership Montgomery, she works to create and execute the organization’s communications, branding, and outreach strategy. Prior to her role with LM, Kaarmin spent seven years with the Alzheimer’s Association as part of the outreach and development team. Outside of the nonprofit world, Kaarmin has worked in media, banking, and state government.  A native West Virginian (Country Roads, anyone?), Kaarmin currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area and enjoys trivia, a good cup of tea, and all things America’s Test Kitchen.