Be Concise and Show All
the Positive Impact You Make

You want all of the people who benefit from or assist work – or who might do either one – to understand the full positive impact of all you do. It is crucial to quickly and effectively impart this understanding to your actual and potential clients, constituents, referral sources, staff, volunteers, donors, funders, investors, and promoters. If they all know how great the work is, you will get more and better suited recipients, more and better quality volunteer and staff work, more and larger financial and in-kind contributions, and more and better quality promotion.

Yet all too often nonprofits and mission-based businesses express only the most basic and obvious ways that they make a difference, and don’t paint a vivid picture of the depth and breadth of benefit they provide. Frequently this omission is in the name of conciseness, yet it is possible to concisely describe each level of impact, and it is very worth the space, for it may be the most powerful way to inspire people to come receive or give as much as they can. A concise bullet or numbered list of every level of impact is an excellent piece to use in websites, brochures, donor solicitation letters, social media posts, grant proposals, and more. It is quick and easy to read, and the list format emphasizes that there are many levels of positive impact that people might not immediately see.

Which Should You Appeal to, Head or Heart?
Part Two: How About Both?

The last Flight Log explored the pros and cons of writing to appeal to your readers’ heads or their hearts. Which is the best choice depends on the reader, the situation, … and the way the human mind works. A number of Flight Log readers responded with a request for tips on how to appeal to both head and heart at once; fortunately I had already anticipated the question and drafted this article! Read on for two tips on how to assess your reader and three examples of how to appeal to your reader’s head and heart at the same time.

Which Should You Appeal to, Head or Heart?
Part One: Pros & Cons

Will data do more to forward your work, or will details of lived experience do more? If you want to persuade people to make a donation or grant, or to choose your method and hire you to provide it, should your writing speak more to readers’ heads or to their hearts? Here are some pros and cons to consider to help you decide which method will work best for each audience and situation.

Endings Matter:
How to Leave Behind the Right Impression

Endings linger. They remain in our minds after we look away and move on to check email or cook dinner. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that was great right up until its ending left you feeling completely let down? Most of us have, and I’d be willing to bet that whenever you remember it, you think, “It would have been good, but it had a bad ending.” Yet how much attention do you pay to the ending of the marketing or outreach materials, grants or articles you write to advance the great work you do? Here are two tips on writing good endings.

The Most Common Mistake I See:
Can You Guess it? Are You Making It?

Whether I am drawing from previously written materials to write new content, or editing copy drafted by my clients, I see many people’s writing. In this Flight Log, I will discuss the most common mistake I see, both because it’s possible you are making it, and because your competitors probably are. Excelling in areas where your competitors are weak is a great way to stand out from the crowd and get the attention you want.

How to Write About What Went Wrong

You know you didn’t measure up. Your nonprofit didn’t meet its objectives, or you made a mistake on your customer’s order, or maybe someone even complained to your boss about you. No one’s perfect; it may have been an honest mistake, or there may have been unforeseen circumstances that transformed a simple task into something like trying to fly a kite on a windless day, or sitting on the ground in a perfect breeze, muttering and grumbling as you picked at the knotted mass of the kite’s tail. Whatever it was, something went wrong and you need to write to a stakeholder about it. What do you do?

4 Simple Steps
To Creating a Voice that Connects with Readers

In this world of anonymous crowds overflowing with written chatter until we can hardly pick out a single voice, let alone remember it, people respond to your writing only when they feel a connection with you. To earn their attention, your written voice must show real personality, so they feel another human voice speaking to them – one they want to hear. If you actually sit down and think about what you want your voice to convey and how to convey it, the process is simple and the benefit huge – people will listen.

How Far Can You Take Readers
in Just 1 or 2 Sentences?

You want to bring readers to a specific perspective on your cause, right? Let’s imagine that perspective as a gorgeous view from a mountain peak. You describe it perfectly, instantaneously transporting your readers to this place where the planet is laid out before them like a wrinkled blanket, and you say, “My work is to guide people up this mountain! Isn’t it amazing?”

You wait with bated breath, while they squint at the sun, scratch their mosquito bites, yawn, and finally reply, “Yeah, it’s nice. When’s lunch?” And your heart falls into your hiking boots. Your writing has skillfully depicted the most incredible heights achieved through all of your hard labor, but your readers understand nothing about the mountain beneath their feet.