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We & Our – Use with Caution [#WordsThatWow]

March 7, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

[This is the latest post in our #WordsThatWow series.]

We. It seems like such a nice word, doesn’t it? Like a big hug. Only it’s a word. A word-hug, as it were. Ditto for ‘our’.

“We are creating opportunities for girls across our state.”

‘We’ implies we’re all in this together. Working hard to make our state a better place. That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Yes, it is, but here’s the thing: often ‘we’ aren’t all in this together.

“We’re putting an end to human trafficking.”

“We make sure every kid can become a great reader.”

“We feed our neighbors.”

When you read those sentences, to whom is the ‘we’ referring? That’s right, the organization. And this where ‘we’ goes awry. It’s not about you and your organization. It’s about the people you serve and the people who make it possible.

Often, when using the word “we”, nonprofits actually alienate the very people they want to include. We, us, our and ours (a.k.a. first person plural pronouns) quickly become an exclusive group, with the organization on the inside and donors, volunteers, supporters looking in. (Hence the cliché “us versus them”.)

The good news is: It doesn’t have to be this way. You can use these first person pronouns as a tool to include everyone who plays a part in helping your organization meet its mission.

Check out the phrases Tessa, our word-erific intern, used in a recent thank you letter:

“We appreciate your commitment to a sustainable future. Together, we will create a world free of environmental injustice.”

Did you catch which “we” was referring to the organization’s staff, and which was including the donor? It’s the same word, but the distinction is in the context.

This is why we, us, our and ours can certainly be used, but should be used with caution. Sometimes, they can be powerful tools to make others feel involved in your cause. But other times, they can make people feel separate from your cause. Pay attention to your context.

We appreciate you reading our blog post. By learning more about language, we can better achieve our missions. (Get it?!)

Retention–Use With Caution (#WordsThatWow)

March 2, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

[This is part of our #WordsThatWow series. We covered which words to avoid, and have been looking at which ones to use with caution, including inspire, impact, and advocate. In this post, we look at another word to use cautiously–retention.]

Retention has been on my radar as a word I worry about ever since talking to Super Smartie Peter Drury a few years ago about his ‘Beyond Cash Fundraising Dashboard‘ (a FREE tool that you can and should download).

Then recently, the ever-wise and insightful Tom Ahern (who has a FREE newsletter that you should absolutely subscribe to if you don’t already) asked if we should be focused on retaining or renewing. Good question, Tom!

In the nonprofit world, we often couple the word ‘retention’ with ‘rate’ to get the all-important ‘retention rate’. A higher rate means more donors are giving a second, third, fourth gift to your organization. This is a good thing. We want more donors giving year after year. The concept isn’t the issue.

The issue is the word ‘retention’ and what it means for the donor experience. When you give to a charity, do you sit back and say to yourself, “Dang, I really hope they retain me.”? Of course you don’t. Retain means to “keep in one’s possession” or “to be able to hold or contain”. Like a plant retains water. Could be totally wrong on this one, but going to go out on a limb and say most donors don’t want to be thought of like house plants.

Tom Ahern’s suggestion, which is thanks to Penny Harris at Renewable Philanthropy, is to focus on renewal instead of retention. Why? Because renewal “puts the focus on the donor’s desire to continue finding meaning through your mission”. That sounds way better than being possessed or contained, now doesn’t it?

As with all the words in the ‘Use with Caution’ category, I’m not saying never, ever use retention again. I’m simply suggesting that you pay attention to when you use it, what it means and, importantly, how the word might translate into a sub-par, donor-as-house-plant experience for your dear donors.

Say it with me: “Friends don’t let friends treat donors like house plants.”

Use These Words With Caution – Advocate [#WordsThatWow]

February 27, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

[This is the next installment in our series explaining each of the words on our 2014 List of Words that Wow. Last time, we covered inspire and impact. Next up in the “Use with Caution” category is advocate.]

Advocate. It’s a word oft used in nonprofit work. Many of us may see ourselves as advocates for certain people or for the environment or for an animal that risks extinction. When asked what we do, many of us could (and would) start our sentences with, “I advocate for…”

When you use the word advocate, you likely want your listener to conjure up images of someone taking action and speaking up. It feels energetic and on the right side of justice.

The problem is, advocate–as a word–doesn’t really do that much for you. Advocate (the verb) means to “plead the case of another”. An advocate, therefore, is someone who pleads the case of another. Setting aside the fact that some people may interpret advocate as a euphemism for lobbying, which nonprofits know potentially gets you into sketchy territory, pleading just isn’t that compelling.

To those not immersed in the world of advocacy, advocating sounds, well, kinda dull.

Instead of being an advocate who advocates, be a champion who champions. It sounds fresh and new because it hasn’t been overused. And that’s really what we’re going for here. To get your cause noticed, you don’t want to talk about it in the same way that everyone else is, right? Right.

If ‘champion’ feels too “I just won an Olympic gold medal”, remember this: it’s always better to show what you are doing than to say that you are doing it. For instance, “We advocate for homeless populations” is not as powerful or descriptive as “We’re fixing the fact that more than 1,000 kids have to sleep on the street every night”.

If you only have a few words to tell people what you do, don’t plead. Say something that will compel them to action.

Three: The Magic Number

February 25, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

Power of Three

During my Catholic upbringing, I was taught that three is a magical number. It took three days for Christ to rise from the grave, God himself exists as three separate entities in one (i.e. the Holy Trinity), and any Catholic church has sets of three everywhere you look.

Religion aside, the number three is a magic number – in communications. Look at the paragraph above. I gave three examples of how the number three is relevant to Catholicism. Look back at previous blog posts I’ve written. You’ll see more often than not, when I use examples, or even adjectives, I use three. This isn’t a coincidence.

I won’t pretend to understand the psychology behind it, but there’s something about three that helps your language flow better, your message be remembered, and your listeners take action. There is evidence to suggest that anything more than three will overwhelm your listener – it’s too much information to take in quickly. On the flip side, two doesn’t give them enough evidence.

Let’s look at an example:

Mindy Cat copy

I love my cat Mindy because she has a soothing purr, adorable whiskers, and the softest fur I’ve ever felt.

I love my cat Mindy because she has a soothing purr and adorable whiskers.

I love my cat Mindy because she has a soothing purr, adorable whiskers, the softest fur I’ve ever felt and a sweet personality.

(I have to work Mindy into my blog posts whenever I can. Let’s try again, sans Mindy.)

She won the award for her clear, concise and compelling speech.

She won the award for her clear and concise speech.

She won the award for her clear, concise, compelling and competent speech.

What do you think about the above sentences? I know at this point it’s hard to be impartial and decide which one you would best remember if introduced to them individually. So you’ll have to trust me on this one. Or trust these guys: The New York Times, Business Insider, Forbes (Really, check out those links. There’s some great additional info there, such as how Thomas Jefferson used the rule of threes).

While this post is on language use, I will briefly mention that the rule of threes isn’t limited to writing and speaking. Designers use it in the number of colors and fonts they choose. Many websites (especially news sites) use three columns to report their stories. Our favorite books and stories have a beginning, middle and end.

See what I did there?

The Beauty of Rhetoric

February 18, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

Last week, I wrote about the various words for love in Ancient Greece. Today, I continue my homage to the Greeks by attempting to revive the honor of a word that often stirs up negative feelings. A word that every marketing professional should be familiar with, including nonprofit marketers. The word is rhetoric.

While studying Public Relations and Communication Theory in college, I ran into the word rhetoric a lot, as well as the negative reactions that come with it. (I also faced a lot of negative reactions to the term “Public Relations”, but I won’t get into that today). Clichés such as “empty rhetoric” have emerged in the political arena and elsewhere. Misuse of the word has made it nearly synonymous with manipulation. Even Merriam-Webster has added a dimension of dishonesty to its definitions of rhetoric.

Let’s put thoughts of spin, trickery and dishonest politicians away for a minute and take a closer look. First emerging as a word in Ancient Greece, rhetoric literally means the art of rhetor, or, the art of oration. Essentially, it is the practice of effective communication. You don’t even have to have persuasion as a goal to practice rhetoric. You can educate. You can motivate. You can commemorate. In short, you can get people to listen to your message. And that’s important when you have a mission you care about; a mission others should know about.

The Ancient Greeks viewed rhetoric as an art form to be learned. While the concept didn’t start in Greece, Greek scholar Aristotle famously studied rhetoric and coined these terms closely associated with rhetoric: Ethos, pathos and logos. You may feel like you are reliving your Public Speaking 101 course here, but for those who aren’t familiar with the terms, this is the breakdown summary:

Ethos, pathos and logos are components to include in speech to make your message effective. Ethos means demonstrating your expertise of the topic on which you are talking. Pathos is an appeal to your listeners’ emotions, to get them to connect to your message in a personal way. Logos means ensuring your message is logical. If your message is lacking one of these components, it is less likely to be remembered, and less likely to be successful if your goal is to change opinions or behavior. While rhetoric’s origin is in speech, these same concepts can be applied to your writing as well.

If you still aren’t comfortable calling your organization’s communication rhetoric, that’s okay. Word meanings change constantly and quickly in our society, and this one may be a lost cause. But I encourage you to remember Aristotle’s advice the next time you are speaking or writing about your organization: 1. Establish your credibility, 2. Include a story or something similar that your listeners can relate to, and 3. Make sure what you are saying makes sense rationally.

While there are many language tools you can use to make your message more effective (some of which I will cover in future blog posts), ethos, pathos and logos are a good three words to keep in mind. And this may be my inner history nerd speaking, but isn’t it cool to know that the same techniques that were used over 1400 years ago are still relevant today?

Use These Words with Caution – Part 1 [#WordsThatWow]

February 10, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

[This is the next installment in our series explaining each of the words on our 2014 List of Words that Wow. We covered the ‘Never Use’ category. Now were moving into the ‘Use with Caution’ ones. It’s a long list, so we’re going to split this into a few different posts. First up, inspire and impact.]

Inspire: Inspirational quotes flood our Pinterest boards, Facebook walls, and desk calendars. Artists need inspiration to create, entrepreneurs need inspiration to succeed, and many of us need inspiration to feel fulfilled in our lives. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, right?

Absolutely. It’s for this reason that many organizations are excited to use it in their mission statements. “We inspire change.” “We inspire hope.” “We inspire (insert group of people here).” I’m sure you’ve heard all these before.

And these phrases sound nice. But stop and think about them. Is “inspiring change” the best way to convey what your organization does, especially if you only have a few words to do it? This phrase could apply to the vast majority of nonprofits out there. It doesn’t make you stand out, or even sound very interesting. Your words should reflect the awesome and unique organization you are.

If you are adamant about using the word inspire, make sure you are not using it as a means to an end. Nine times out of ten, it’s not enough to simply inspire. Be specific about what you are inspiring people to do (and maybe even how you’re doing it). Show how the inspiration you are causing makes a difference in the world. For example, “We inspire youth to become leaders.” can change to “We inspire youth to question status-quo policies and lead their communities to progressive change.” Sure, it’s a few more words, but it’s a much more memorable and accurate description of your organization.

Impact: Like inspire, impact is a word that doesn’t mean much on its own. Your organization is impacting lives. So what? How are you impacting them? When you answer this question, my guess is that you’ll find you can remove the word impact from the equation completely.

So, the next time you’re about to tell someone that your organization is inspiring change or creating impact, stop a moment. What are you really doing?

Stop Using These Words [#WordsThatWow]

February 8, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

When we released the 2014 List of Words that Wow infographic, we promised to explain why each word was on there. So here we go…first up, those in the “Never Use” category.

Some of these words are likely near and dear to your heart. Will it be tough to not use them? Yes.Will it be worth it? Yes.

Capacity-building: Not only does it sound painful to build capacity, it’s unclear what’s better in the world if you do end up with more capacity. Can you feed more families? Will more trees be protected? Will kids be better at math or science or reading or the arts? You build capacity SO THAT something else is possible. In the near term, that something else is often something like sturdier databases, or more functional space, or better trained staff. Sexy stuff. (Not!) It’s what those things make possible that’s compelling. Not the capacity to do it.

A note on that special category of organizations we affectionately call “capacity builders“: We love you. You do the un-glamorous work of making it possible for other organizations to do what they do faster, better, more efficiently, more effectively, more awesomely. You have the tough task of making that work sound compelling. And, to the un-initiated, it’s not immediately obvious why this work is compelling. For most of you, what’s compelling isn’t your ‘what’ (e.g. building websites or revving up volunteer programs), it’s your ‘why’. Even if eventually you get into the weeds of what you do and how you do it, frame that up by talking about why the work is important as it relates the organizations you work with. Talk about their mission and how your work fits into it. Then go into the specifics of the work itself. And when you’re hanging out with other capacity-builders, go again and use the jargon-y term ‘capacity-builders’. Heck, you might even want to have a secret hand shake (or maybe you already do). But when other people are around, stop it. Simply say, “We work with nonprofits so they can do what they do more efficiently and effectively. We do that by…'”

Innovate: “To innovate” means to make new. It does not mean ‘make better’ or ‘spiffy’ or ‘kinda sorta different than everyone else’. It means new. Totally new. The rampant use of the words ‘innovate’ and ‘innovative’ would lead one to believe that there’s a whole lot of new-ness being generated by nonprofits. Here’s the thing–it’s used so much that no one really believes you. Everyone is innovative these days. Unless you can prove it, don’t say it. Instead, speak directly to what makes what you’re doing compelling, interesting, awe-inspiring. Is it how you care for your patients? Is it the types of plays you put on? Is it the method you created to teach kids how to learn outdoors? Explain how you’re making the world a better place, not a new place.

Provide: Yes, I’m still on this soapbox. I may never get off it. Verbs are action words. They are the super heroes of every sentence. There are a whole bunch to chose from. You can do better. I know you can.

Raise awareness: Raising awareness is a means to an end. You raise awareness SO THAT something else happens. So that you’ll have more volunteers. So that you’re current donors will give to you again. So that you have more people take advantage of your programs. And you’re doing all that SO THAT you can deliver on your mission. Now some folks will say that if you’re doing a public awareness campaign–like not texting while driving–your objective really is to simply raise awareness. Not true. In those instances, you’re raising awareness SO THAT people will stop idiotically texting while driving. The next time someone busts out with “Our goal this year should be to raise awareness about our organization,” tell them to talk to the hand. Okay, don’t say that. But do ask what will be better for your organization–and eventually the world–if you do successfully raise awareness. What then? (If you want to make your awareness-raising efforts worthwhile, check out Kivi Leroux Miller’s upcoming webinar. She always rocks it.)

Sustainable: This word is used in two ways: 1) Being able to get by on your own with little to no outside assistance, e.g. not needing donations, and 2) being able to exist in perpetuity, e.g. not sucking the earth dry of all its natural resources so there’s nothing left for future generations. Unless you have earned income streams that mean you don’t need philanthropic donations, you’re always going to need donors. That is, by definition, part of the plan. You don’t want to be independent of them. When organizations say they’re “sustainable”, what they’re generally trying to say is, “We’re smart about how we run this organization so you should feel good about giving us your hard earned Benjamins because we’ll use them wisely.” So say that, or something along those lines.

In terms of the second usage, environmental organizations have been transitioning to ‘sustainability’ for quite some time. And it makes sense. But now it’s so over-used that it’s lost meaning. Getting more specific helps. In what way are you making it possible for the planet and its people to stick around for the long haul? Answer that question and you generally land on something that’s more compelling.

Stakeholder: Stakeholder sounds clinical. Standoff-ish. It sounds like you’d never want to be in the same room with this person, let alone have a chat about how important they are to your mission. People support you because they believe in what you do. Show them some respect, already! They are your fans, your supporters, your donors, your volunteers, your clients, your patients, your partners in making the world a better place! Not some name-less, face-less stakeholder. Sheesh.

Which of these words will you stop using? Which words would you add to the list?

Language Lesson: Equity vs. Equality

February 4, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

Equity. Equality. These two words look so similar they could be related. Actually, they are. They both come from the same Latin root word “aequus” meaning “equal”. So, what’s the difference?

At their core, both equity and equality still involve the concept of “equal”. In equity, the outcome is equal. In equality, the means used is equal.

Confused? Don’t worry. This image helps spell it out.

The image to the left is equality. The same thing (in this case, a crate to stand on) was given to each child.

The image right is equity. Each child received a different amount of crates (0-2), but the end result was that all three children had an equal view of the game.

A mistake many causes and organizations make in their writing (mission statements, value statements, grant proposals, donor appeals, etc.) is using equality when they really mean equity. Imagine an organization whose mission is to make quality education accessible to all school-age children in a community. Each child will have their own circumstances, and some will need the organization’s services much more than others. Some may not need it at all. This organization is creating equity, not equality.

In short, equality is sameness, whereas equity is fairness. Remember this the next time you write about your organization’s work. A few letters can change the meaning of your message.

What do you think? Are there circumstances in which an organization really means equality, and not equity?

2014 List of Words That Wow [infographic]

February 3, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

For those of you wanting to use words to change the world, finding the best words can be super stressful. To get people excited about your work. To get them engaged in your mission. To turn them into super fans who want to make your organization the talk of the town. You want your words to wow!

There are some good resources out there. Lake Superior State University has its Banished Words List. And, of course, there’s the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year (because heck yeah!). But that still leaves the question of which words nonprofits should use/avoid.

We created the following infographic so you would know exactly which words you should use, avoid and use sparingly or with caution in 2014. We’ll explain why each word is on the list in some follow-up posts. For now, print it out. Hang it up. And have fun using your words to wow!

Consistency, Finding Content, and… Kittens?

January 28, 2014 by Erica Barnhart

This scenario may sound familiar to you: You’re sitting around your office’s conference table, brainstorming topics to put in your organization’s newsletter. You’re coming up with nothing. Nothing seems newsworthy. After a substantial pause in conversation, someone chimes in and says,

“We should only issue a newsletter when we have something important to share.”

On the surface, it seems like an appealing thought. We don’t have meetings unless there’s something to meet about, right? Why write when there’s nothing to write about?

The answer is consistency.

Nonprofit communications expert Kivi Leroux Miller explains, “You want people to remember you and look forward to receiving your newsletter.” The key phrase here is look forward to. They can’t look forward to reading your newsletter if they don’t know when it’s coming. Even if it’s infrequent (Miller suggests you can go as long as once every six weeks), you want to be consistent. Consistency also shows your audience that you are an awesomely organized and reliable organization, and you don’t do things willy-nilly. Added bonus!

Your next question may be: How do we get them to remember us, then, if we don’t have good content? You do have good content, you just have to find it.

There’s tons of advice available online and elsewhere about how to write engaging content. A quick Google search will show you that. But any writer will tell you, when you’re stuck on what to write, you just need to sit down and start writing. You have a lot hidden in your subconscious that doesn’t come out until you sit down and start typing. This technique is known as steam of consciousness. Type whatever comes into your head and don’t stop typing. You’ll end up with some nonsense, but I bet anything you’ll also come up with some great ideas.

If need some extra motivation, use this fun tool called WrittenKitten. For every 100 words you write, you get rewarded with a cute cat picture. It may seem silly, but it works. It’s actually addicting; I finding myself writing more just to see what the next cute little furball will look like. And when I’m done, I’m rewarded again with paragraphs of text filled with ideas.

So give it a try – you have nothing to lose and some extreme adorableness to gain.

mindle