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Show that you share goals, values, concerns, and attitudes with your readers

May 21, 2013 in Copywriting, Green marketing, Nonprofits, Social responsibility with 0 Comments

[Dalya's Note: This is an excerpt from my award-winning book Writing to Make a Difference: 25 Powerful Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact.]

People are reading your material because they feel that your organization’s core beliefs and aims are aligned with theirs. Your job is to consistently show them that they are right. Connecting with your readers on this plane—appealing to both their hearts and their heads—gets the best results.

Ask yourself: What is the very soul of your message?

Your organization’s mission embodies its passion, sincerity and spirit. It energizes your brand and should shine through in every piece of writing you create. You are conveying not only literal subject matter, but also your organization’s attitude and stance. By the words and methods you choose, you are saying a lot about who you are and why you do what you do.

EXAMPLE:

Say you are writing a brochure that explains the importance of a specific aspect of your work. Your organization promotes child health and safety, and your brochure will explain why and how lead paint should be removed from homes with young children. You understand the urgency, you are clear on what needs to be done, and you want to motivate parents to protect their children from the toxin.

The brochure you write will advance your organization’s brand in that it will reflect:

(1)   Your knowledge about the issue and how to handle it

(2)   Your caring attitude about the pressing nature of the issue

(3)   Your interest in making homes safer for youngsters

(4)   Your unique ability to help parents in your community take positive action

People who read your brochure and can identify with your basic messages will then want to engage with you. And you’re ready to partner with them.

Musings on the 50th Anniversary of MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail

April 29, 2013 in Nonprofits, Social change, Social responsibility with 0 Comments

 This month marks the 50th Anniversary of the Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) written by Martin Luther King, Jr. In it he responded to 8 white clergymen who expressed their objections to recent nonviolent protests. As one of King’s most well-known pieces, the letter served as a turning point for the civil rights movement as it defended the strategy of nonviolent resistance in response to racism.

King wrote the letter in the margins of newspapers (the only paper he had at his disposal) and eventually pieced it together for publication in the New York Post, Christian Century, and Atlantic Monthly. It then became part of huge changes that year and beyond.

King used his writing to make a difference; he clearly understood the immense power of writing and used it to express his passion and inspire huge numbers of people the world over. You can take a cue from him.

On this website, in my presentations and coaching session, and in my editing work, I offer a slew of tools to use when sharpening your writing to inspire change and engage hearts and minds. While we may not find ourselves at King’s level of making sweeping changes at the end of our pens (or keyboards), we can strive to maximize our written words.

Here’s an excerpt from King’s letter, where I highlighted the most famous quote:

“… I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”

Read the full letter HERE.

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month; What are YOU Doing?

April 10, 2013 in Nonprofits, Social change, Social responsibility, WMD Blog with 0 Comments

If you’re at a nonprofit organization, you know that your organization could not possibly accomplish all that it does without volunteers. They may work to further your programs, help out around the office, or serve on your board. They may even be interns or students doing service-learning projects.

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and now is the time to celebrate these extremely generous people! Let them know just how much their efforts are appreciated all year-long.

I thought I would share a few resources to help you explore ways to show your appreciation:

1) My recent book, Writing to Make a Difference: 25 Powerful Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact, offers a slew of tips and tricks for volunteers who want to develop or brush up on their nonprofit-specific writing skills. If they come from the corporate sector, are fairly new to your organization, or simply could use some handy reminders they will appreciate this award-winning professional development tool.

A few readers on Amazon said:

“Young people and seasoned professionals will both find useful information on writing in a way that WILL make a difference.”

“Writing to Make a Difference is a guide for turning a socially committed person into a wordsmith who can spark the sensibilities and move the imagination.”

“I have found Writing to Make a Difference to be a delightful and very easy read. The areas Ms. Massachi covers are so relevant to folks working in nonprofit communications today; it feels almost as if she wrote the book just for me!”

 “As a student, I’ve been assigned a lot of how-to books for my writing classes. But Dalya Massachi’s ‘Writing to Make a Difference’ is one of the first to actually SHOW ME how to apply the techniques in her book. The examples in particular served as great models when I was first getting started.”

Learn more HERE.

2) I recently published an article in the E-Volunteerism Journal under the title “Show, Don’t Just Tell: Writing to Inspire, Motivate and Recruit Volunteers,” and I’ve posted a PDF of it for you. It starts out like this:

Your organization is always looking for great volunteers to embrace your mission, help carry it out and even help spread the word to others. The pool of potential volunteers out there is endless! And you know that many people would love to find a convenient way to help make a real difference in their communities. Volunteering with your organization offers them that opportunity!

There’s just one problem.

How can you inspire, motivate, and recruit those potential volunteers? How can you use the power of your words to prompt a reader, listener, or viewer to move from the armchair to the work site?

Read more HERE.

3) Do you already know about the wonderful resource that is volunteermatch.org ? For starters, check out this blog post on 7 Ways to Appreciate Your Volunteers. They also host a slew of excellent webinars, such as those coming up this month on revising and refreshing your volunteer program.

And IdeaEncore (another outstanding website) hosts their library of resources to help build your capacity to engage volunteers.

4) Speaking of IdeaEncore, check out this Handbook for Knowledge Philanthropists (a.k.a. volunteers).

So spend some time this month thinking about how you can appreciate the volunteers who work so hard for your organization. It’s because of them that you’re able to do so much great work in your community.

Just published: Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation

April 4, 2013 in Copywriting, Fundraising, Grants, Green marketing, Nonprofits, Publishing, Social change, Social entrepreneurship, Social responsibility with 0 Comments

“This book is the primer for social innovation.”— Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Founder of Grameen Bank

Do_Good_Well-book-cover97% of Millennials say it’s important for them to engage in work that has a positive impact on the world. The message is clear: Today’s younger generations deeply value social responsibility.

They feel an obligation to “do good” and solve the problems they see everyday on the news and in their communities. Their drive to make an impact has transformed everything from the way teenagers use their spare time, to the classes college students take, to the careers that young adults pursue.

But many Millennials (and others) struggle with the application and implementation of their idealistic intentions; they want to “do good”, but are not sure how to get started, or how to strengthen and sustain their efforts once they’ve taken flight.

That’s why I contributed to the new book, DO GOOD WELL: YOUR GUIDE TO LEADERSHIP, ACTION, AND SOCIAL INNOVATION
(Jossey-Bass paperback and e-book). Already a #1 Amazon Best-Seller, DO GOOD WELL is a groundbreaking leadership guide that provides a comprehensive and concrete roadmap to making a positive and lasting impact.

I was honored to co-author the chapter entitled “What Works in Fundraising.”

Sonal Shah, First Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, calls the book “a catalyst to help those who want to accelerate social change. It is the ‘go to’ reference on how citizens can make a big impact in their communities and around the world!”

Written with a fresh voice and a dash of humor, DO GOOD WELL offers students and young adults a practical and hands-on way to establish their unique brand of leadership.

The book begins with the knowledge that all impactful change starts from within. Next, it provides a 12-part framework for developing solutions that can break through any barriers to change. This process is simplified into three core principles: Do What Works, Work Together, and Make It Last. The final portion of the book gives readers the tools and step-by-step instructions they’ll need to execute their ideas and maximize their impact.

DO GOOD WELL captures the entrepreneurial and creative spirit of our time by drawing upon the experiences of today’s most talented young leaders. Incredibly versatile, the book delivers a winning combination of interdisciplinary research, case studies, personal anecdotes, practical advice, worksheets, and reflection questions. As a result, it is an ideal partner both as an individual read and in the group setting (managing businesses, nonprofits, or clubs; facilitating student affairs programs; teaching courses on entrepreneurship or service learning; running leadership workshops and trainings, etc.). DO GOOD WELL is the comprehensive must-read for anyone motivated to effect meaningful, sustainable change.

EARLY REVIEWS

“The book we’ve all been waiting for – brilliant and full of energy, this manual provides the tools and step-by-step instructions to transform anyone into a leader of social change. So hands-on and high-yield that it will never gather dust!” — Nancy Lublin, CEO of DoSomething.org

 “A practical field guide for young people wanting to change the world.”  — Nick Kristof, New York Times columnist and Co-Author of Half the Sky

 “An outstanding leadership guide that empowers young entrepreneurs to be the change and take action today. An essential companion for the classroom, boardroom, and chatroom.” — Alan Khazei, Co-Founder of City Year and Founder of Be The Change, Inc

 DO GOOD WELL is also a new organization! Learn more about it HERE.

April Fools’ Day: No Joke!

April 1, 2013 in Nonprofits, Social change, Social entrepreneurship, Social responsibility, WMD Blog with 0 Comments

April Fools’ Day carries a serious message: The huge importance of humor in the social sector is no joke!

Humor is a great way to connect with co-workers as well as have some fun in the midst of working so hard. In the social sector we wrestle with very serious, complex, sometimes abstract issues. But even Superman and Superwoman took breaks from saving the world! Humor lets us step back, get a bit of perspective, refresh our hearts and souls, and be able to return to our tasks with a clearer head.

See what some in the nonprofit sector have to joke about:

1) Nonprofit Humor: This website claims to be the world’s only fundraising comedy site. It includes funny, fictional stories for the nonprofit world.

2) The Chronicle of Philanthropy Cartoons: If you read this newspaper, you already know about the cartoons that often get us laughing (or sighing). Many are by Mark Litzler, whose cartoons also grace the pages of “Writing to Make a Difference.”

Speaking of the humor found in my book, a few of my favorite bits are:

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.” — Robert Cromier

CARTOON 07_WRITERS BLOCK  CARTOON 25_PROOFED BS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How much humor do you bring to your workplace? Does it make a difference in your working relationships? (Leave a comment below with your thoughts.)

Most people find that humor creates an easy exchange of conversation that you might not ordinarily have. But make sure the jokes are appropriate! (Check this out.)

So today, joke away and laugh it up! You may be happy with the results (or at least get in a couple more smiles).

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