Introduction If you search for “how to do communications audit for nonprofits” or “communications audit example” you’ll find a ton of results, including: Step-by-step guides Service descriptions Tips & tricks Checklists While all of these resources are useful, they can be overwhelming to understand all at once, especially if you’re short on time. Furthermore, none of it will tell you how an individual nonprofit communications professional will make decisions about your communications. And that is where the value lies with each professional; it tells you what you’re paying for. In this blog ..read more

Lately, I have read a bit more about content repurposing. Yes, I have my share of articles on the topic on my website. But on LinkedIn, there are so many collaborative and thought-provoking conversations about it. They cover what it is and why it’s a useful approach. All over the internet, there are detailed break downs about how to get started. While all of this discussion was great, I noticed that something was missing: No one tells you how to determine if your content is worth repurposing in the first place. So, there’s all this talk about saving organizations time and trying to get the mos ..read more

Introduction There is a common misconception in the nonprofit sector about storytelling that I want to address: It’s that any story that demonstrates the impact of your work should have a neatly tied happy endings. Nonprofit professionals have probably told you that the “success” in your success story has to be happy. I’ve probably written that here on my blog a time or two. However, I want to turn this idea on its head for this post. The idea of happy endings is stopping your nonprofit from engaging in storytelling that is ethical, authentic, and honest. Happy endings (only) are a mistake The ..read more

I created a story bank guide to help nonprofit organizations, charities and companies. It’s for those that want to employ or are already employing storytelling tactics. I wanted to expand on my previous blog post about story banks and why they’re important. Also, I wanted to drive home an important point. When systems are in place to support the work, the work becomes easier. I write about storytelling a lot because it is an effective method for connecting people to your work. It guides people towards your mission and can inspire them to join in on bringing your vision to fruition. Unfortunate ..read more

Introduction Open AI’s ChatGPT is the all the rage in the nonprofit sector, especially when it comes to donor engagement. There are numerous articles about how ChatGPT and artificial intelligence can do things that can contribute to better donor engagement. And they aren’t wrong: nonprofits can finally generate donor communications quickly and efficiently with these rather new tools. Goodbye, response delays! Hello, quick replies (and personalized emails)! But wait: How does ChatGPT work? ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that processes and understands language. It is trained on ..read more

In the nonprofit world, a story bank is like a life jacket. It keeps you: Afloat Abreast Alive But, many nonprofit professionals don’t know about them, don’t use them or don’t know why they should use them. The thing is, we’ve all been in situations where we could have used a story bank: The website blog needs to be updated and you don’t know how to repurpose content The annual report is due, you’re running out of time and you need to show your work That grant application deadline is looming and your stories aren’t really stories If you ask any nonprofit professional if they’d like to avoi ..read more

Introduction Nonprofit strategic communications are an often overlooked part of communications. I want to address this. A few weeks ago, Imagine Canada, a national charitable organization that supports other charities and nonprofits with resources, advocacy, tools and other forms of support, posted a rather interesting Google Doc on their LinkedIn page. The document is a non-exhaustive chart of project-based funding vs. actual core operating costs. Here’s a screenshot of the chart: The purpose of the document is to highlight what nonprofit organizations and charities need to run, what they ac ..read more

Introduction You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to collect missed opportunities when your website copywriting is not up to par. In fact, I can often draw a straight line between the pain points of an organization and the quality of the website copy. No, I don’t have special superpowers. Rather, I understand that all target audiences, no matter how different they are, universally want one thing: Trust. Your target audience wants to trust your organization. The search query led them to your website for a reason. So, when they arrive on your website, they are looking for reasons and opportunitie ..read more