Rants & Opinions Archives - Claxon Communication

Vu Le & a Free Webinar

April 4, 2017 by Erica Barnhart

Vu Le & Erica Mills immediately after eating way too much vegan Thai food.

What are you doing on Wednesday, April 26 at 2pm Pacific? I ask because I’m going to be having a candid conversation with the one and only (and very hilarious) Vu Le and I’d love for you to join us.

In case you’ve been buried under a rock in the hinterlands of Siberia, Vu is one of the brightest stars in the nonprofit sector these days.

His blog–Nonprofit with Balls–is a must-read for everyone in the social sector. He’s the Executive Director of Rainier Valley Corps where they are on a mission to promote social justice by cultivating leaders of color, strengthening organizations led by communities of color, and fostering collaboration between diverse communities.

Not that any of my webinars are scripted (as you likely know, me and scripts get along as well as me and podiums, which is to say not well at all…scripts and podiums make me feel hemmed in…eek!), but this one will be particularly free-ranging. In a good way.

You will likely hear us talk about:

Equity, diversity, and inclusion…not just lip service
Using language to build trust
Hummus and unicorns and martinis
Grantee/grantmaker power dynamics
Capacity building: doing it and funding it

And a bunch of other stuff.

What I appreciate so much about Vu is his ability to infuse heady topics with belly laughter. Pure genius and goodness.

So sign yourself up. Then when the day/time arrive, kick back with your favorite mid-afternoon beverage and be prepared to laugh and learn.

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Bust a Move with a Sexy Mission Statement

February 15, 2017 by Erica Barnhart

Just. So. Good. That’s what I have to say about #nonprofitpickuplines, the hashtag that Vu Le introduced us to some years ago and (blessedly) revived for Valentine’s Day 2017.

Thanks to #nonprofitpickuplines, I spent V Day toggling between the clever goodness abounding in my Twitter stream and prepping for a webinar I was going to do on mission statement make-overs (more on that in a sec).

Then a sad, sad thought occurred to me: if nonprofit pickup lines really were that hilarious, we’d likely have way more people getting in on the philanthropy action.

But nonprofits don’t use clever pick up lines to get the convo started, do they? Nooooooo. Instead, they use their mission statements. Or some version of their mission statement that EDs, board members, program folks, fundraisers, etc can actually remember and, therefore, blurt out when the long anticipated moment arrives when someone (maybe a potential donor….deep breaths) finally asks you, “So, what does your organization do?”

Your response needs to be titillating. You’ve got seven precious, fleeting seconds to woo them. To snag them. To hook them. To get them to lean in and say, “Tell me more,” in a way that clearly indicates they will become a major donor. Clearly.

Individual giving as a percent of GDP has been stuck since smoking while making dinner was considered appropriate. Clearly, our mission statement pick-up lines aren’t working.

Really, you’ve got two options:

Keep using that drab mission statement as your go-to pick-up line, thus leaving money and support on the cocktail table.
Come up with a sexier mission statement.

By sexy, I mean one that:

Is clear, concise, and repeatable.
Has a superhero verb.
Is free of jargon.
Clearly communicates what you do and for whom.
Gets people to ask questions.

If you want a sexy, more remarkable, more lean-in inspiring mission statement, listen to the webinar I did yesterday. (Tuning in with a glass of wine or whiskey in hand and candles burning seems only appropriate. But no mood music cuz then you can’t hear the webinar.)

*****

Readability Stats: Ease: 63.2, Grade: 7.3

Stand Out: How to find your breakthrough idea [book review]

January 12, 2017 by Erica Barnhart

Dorie Clark is an inspiration. Insightful. No-nonsense. Encouraging. Prolific. (Does she sleep?!)

Her work is extremely relevant to those of us in the non-profit sector. The opening to her most recent book, “Stand Out: how to find your breakthrough idea” says it all:

“You have something to say to the world. You have a contribution to make.”

Indeed you do! You’re on a mission to make the world better, brighter, safer, kinder. More sustainable and equitable. Heck yeah you’ve got a contribution to make. You’re making one every day.

Dorie goes on to say:

“Yet too many of us shrink back when it comes to finding and sharing our ideas with the world.”

She kind of nailed it on the head there, didn’t she?

As non-profit and philanthropic leaders, we have been trained to not “toot our own horns”. To not draw attention to our work. To put away our soapboxes and megaphones. And, to some extent, that makes sense. It’s not about us. It’s about our mission, our work, the people we serve.

But here’s the thing: if you don’t share your ideas for how to make the world a better place, no one will know about them.

Now, I’m not a betting gal, but I’d lay money on the table that you have some good ideas about how we might do things better. Those ideas would mean fewer kids on the streets, more people fed, more acres of land protected, healthier communities, happier people, etc., etc., etc.

So I’d like to encourage you to 1) read Dorie’s book because it’s great and inspiring, and 2) to reframe how you think about “tooting your own horn”. There’s a big difference between tooting your horn and putting a breakthrough idea out into the world, especially if that idea will make the world a better place. Then you’re kind of obligated to put it out to the world. Keeping it to yourself would be downright selfish. (How’s that for a reframe?)

What’s your breakthrough idea for making the world a better place?

Announcing…Fall Quarter at Claxon University!

June 21, 2016 by Erica Barnhart

All sorts of excited to announce that registration is now open for Fall Quarter at Claxon University!

Wait. What?

You haven’t heard of Claxon University?! Well, let’s get that sorted out right here and now.

Claxon University is where all the cool kids are going to learn how to create compelling communications. (Cool kids like these Claxon U graduates from Yakima Valley. Um, how cool are they? Super cool.)

Claxon University is all on-line. All at your pace. So you decide when and where you’d like to learn (thank you very much).

Why would you, a busy professional with plenty on their plate, take the time to do this class? Because you’re worth it. L’Oreal ad reference aside, you really are worth it.

You work hard, hard, hard every single day. You want to do the very best job you can. Every once in a while, that means honing some mad skillz you already have. And learning some new ones.

So here’s what I want you to do: take a out piece of paper and a pencil (or pen or whatever, but something).

Then write this down: September 12.

Because that’s “Time to Invest in Me” Day, aka the launch of Fall Quarter. That day, you’re going to get together (on-line) with other badasses who are ready to become communications ninjas. Fundraisers who are ready to rock their year-end appeals. People who are ready to unleash their inner awesome.

All the details are right here. The features of the program. The benefits. The dates. The times. All right here.

If you know Claxon, you know how deeply and passionately we care about teaching people how to use words to make the world a better place. Claxon University is no different. It’s all our best thinking, teaching, learning, and doing. All on-line. For one very low price. Check it out.

Because, seriously. You’re worth it.

[Wondering what’s up with all the bolding and italicizing? It’s my way of reinforcing what Claxon U is all about–you, you, fabulous you!]

The Seattle Public Library Rebrand: What went wrong? And what can we learn?

November 2, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

SPL_library card The Seattle Public Library recently went through (or at least tried to go through) a rebranding extravaganza. Unfortunately, it didn’t go very well. They fell prey to some of the most common mistakes nonprofits make when rebranding. Fortunately, all the mistakes the Library made are avoidable, so there’s no need for history to repeat itself.

To be clear, I’m not questioning whether or not the Library should rebrand. Anytime a nonprofit rebrands, that’s a decision for the board to make. Have I helped nonprofit boards make that decision? Yes, many, many times. But even in my capacity as “expert consultant”, it isn’t my decision. It’s theirs. So let’s set that question aside.

There really were quite a few missteps in the Library’s rebranding efforts. I want to focus on two in particular as they are two of the most common and most harmful: 1) writing by committee and 2) soliciting input at the wrong point in the process.

#1 Writing by committee

This effort was about rebranding a library. As my graduate students learn, branding is about bringing the visual, narrative and experiential elements of your brand into alignment. So the visuals matter. But given the organization–a library–and the organization’s customers—library patrons—the words are going to matter. A LOT.

Given the importance of words to this particular rebranding effort, when you put out the following “brand statement” for input, you’re going to get flack.

The Library provides access to knowledge, experiences and learning for all. We preserve and create opportunities for the people of Seattle who make it such a dynamic and desirable place to live. When we’re empowered as individuals, we become STRONGER TOGETHER.

So many problems with this statement, where to start?

First, what is a “brand statement”? When people hear the word “statement” in relation to nonprofits, e.g. mission, vision, values statements, the default is that it’s for external stakeholders, e.g. donors, clients, patrons. Unless the Library says otherwise, this will be the filter through which people assess the statement. They will be looking for something that makes them say, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s why I love the library soooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!” Needless to say, this statement doesn’t elicit that reaction. Quite the contrary.

Second, what are they even saying?! Running it through the Flesch Reading Ease index, we learn the reading is only 46.4. So you can understand some of it. Kind of. But if this statement is meant to succinctly, yet compellingly, sum up what the Library is all about, it needs to be super easy to understand.

Knowing the purpose of the “brand statement” would inform how big an issue the low readability really is. If it’s a guide for internal decision-making, it’s less of an issue. But if that’s the case, then why ask external stakeholders to take a survey and give you input on it?

Third, there’s the writing itself. It’s not good. It’s the Library. The writing matters. Christopher Frizzelle over at The Stranger channeled his inner Steven Pinker and did a fantastic job dissecting the brand statement’s many fatal language flaws (including the lack of a serial comma—ack!). So rather than rehash those, I’m going to focus on two issues he didn’t mention: verbs and length.

Verbs: Based on Claxon’s research on nonprofits and language usage, we know that the top three content verbs used by nonprofits are:

Support
Make
Provide

It is disappointing that an institution known for words didn’t avail itself of the many marvelous verbs in the English language. Instead, they positioned themselves with the preponderance of other nonprofits. As a library, it’s imperative you use words to differentiate yourself. A better verb is out there.

In order to find their verb, the question they need to answer is: What does the Library fundamentally want to be known for?

If it’s no longer just about the books, fair enough. But this statement doesn’t give an alternative. It give alternatives (plural). Is it educating? Preserving? Creating? Empowering? Becoming stronger? Being together?

And this is how we know that writing-by-committee happened. When I work with nonprofits and see things like this brand statement, it is a huge red flag for me. It screams, “As a committee, we had lots of discussion about all this and we winnowed it down a bit, but the truth is, we’re still grappling to really land on what we want to be known for, so we’re just going to list them all and hope for the best.” You can hope all you want, but the statement isn’t going to give you a happy ending.

Length: If you can’t sum up what your organization (or, in this case, brand), is fundamentally about in ten words or less, you’ve still got work to do. Not on the words, per se, but on the strategy that those words are tasked with communicating.

This statement is 41 words.

I can already hear the roar, “But Erica, ten words is preposterous. Our work is so much more complicated than that.” True…and so is the work of almost every nonprofit on the planet. Blaise Pascal famously said, “I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.” Shorter is harder. It forces you to prioritize. It demands clarity and precision. The more words, the muddier.

Maybe the Library’s strategy is clear as Snow White’s skin, and the issue is in succinctly translating it. But this brand statement leaves one wondering where the books went and what has replaced them exactly.

How can you avoid these mistakes? By not allowing writing-by-committee. Things get hodge-podgy really quickly when everyone is adding their two cents to the mix. Be clear from the get-go about who is an inputter and who is a decision-maker. As the name implies, inputters give their input on what the statement (or whatever you’re writing) should convey. The decision-makers should then be left to decide which combination of verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc can do that most effectively. Ideally, you’d have no more than three decision-makers. More than that and, well, see the “brand statement” above for what that gets you.

Mistake #2: Asking for input at the end of the process

Don’t. Don’t ask people—smart, devoted people, e.g. library patrons—to give a thumbs up or down on logos, new names, and brand statements. Ask their opinion at the beginning of the process. Then show them see what you did with their input at the end.

Nonprofits are inclusive by nature. It’s tempting to ask for input at the end. You’ve worked hard. You want people to be excited, just like you are.

This is the same as sharing the name you’ve chosen for your baby before it’s born. If you tell someone that you’re thinking of naming your son Steve, you’ll get comments like, “I dated a guy named Steve once. He was a jerk.” Um, okay. Relevance? None. Or maybe you’re fond of the name Rachel. “All the Rachels I’ve ever known have been snotty.” Again, relevance? None. Absolutely, positive none. But you put it out there, so people gave you their (irrelevant to your decision about the name) opinion.

But what happens if you wait until after the baby is born? You get an entirely different reaction. When you have the baby and then proudly say, “Meet my son, Steve.” Well, then people are happy for you. They comment on his adorable nose and teeny tiny fingers. They murmur things like, “Steve, such a calming name. It’s adorable. Just like he is.” Nary a jerk to be found.

It’s the same with names, taglines, and logos. If you say, “What do you think?” before making a final decision, people are going to try to be “helpful”. They’re going to think of all the ways in which that name or logo or tagline might come back to haunt you. Not because they’re being rude or mean. But because that’s what you’ve basically asked them to do. Poke holes. The responses you get will be riddled with personal opinion (how could they not be?), rather than giving you actionable feedback that will help you make a decision based on the strategic criteria you developed to objectively assess the efficacy of the name, logo, tagline, etc.

And that’s no good for anyone.

In the case of the Library, had they asked for input early on in the process, they could have let them know why they stuck with the singular “library” or changed it to “libraries”. They could have referenced what they learned and heard from folks, and how they factored that in. But do not ask which one “evokes the value of value of communities”, as the Library did in its survey. What does the “value of the community” mean? Likely something different to everyone. So how can that be useful information? It is personal opinion, which isn’t helpful when you’re making strategic decisions for an organization.

Asking for input on such a tiny name change was especially inadvisable when everyone knew the Library had spent $365,000 to make such a seemingly tiny, unremarkable change. It might be a fine idea to change to ‘Seattle Public Libraries’. I can see many, many reasons for doing so. If there are strategic reasons for the shift, then venture forth and do it. No one is going to be up-in-arms about going from singular to plural. They’re up-in-arms that you spent money on what now seems like a ho-hum, anyone-could-have-told-you-that change.

I’m not saying to not get input. Au contraire, get TONS of input. Oodles of input. The more input the merrier. So long as you get it at the beginning of the process. Then take that input, develop strategic criteria, come to decisions, thank people (genuinely thank them) for taking time to inform the process, and let them know the outcome.

Bottom Line

The Library is in a pickle. They clearly want to make a change. And probably should. The logo and website feel dated, and out-of-sync with all the Library offers. But now they will have to go back to the drawing board because if they use anything they’ve floated so far, patrons won’t just be up-in-arms, they’ll forge a full-on mutiny. They have a lot of clean-up to do. They’ll need to regroup.

Next time around (if there is a next time), I’d encourage the Library to do what I’d encourage any nonprofit to do that is embarking on a rebranding effort:

Be crystal clear from the beginning about roles and responsibilities
Don’t allow writing-by-committee
Get tons of input…at the beginning of the process

I love the Library. I really, truly hope they find their rebranded happily ever after.

Post Readability Stats: Reading Ease: 67.9, Grade Level 6.6

What nonprofits can learn about Mission Statements while on vacation in Paradise

September 25, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

Vicki, our Research Director, at the McBryde Gardens

Our Research Director, Vicki, recently returned from a well-deserved vacation in Hawaii. This is a story about what happens when someone who focuses on improving Mission Statements for a living goes on vacation.

While on Kauai, we toured the McBryde Gardens, a research garden of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. The tour guide rattled off their Mission Statement. This is from their website (as I couldn’t remember it and had NO IDEA what she said).

“The mission of the National Tropical Botanical Garden is to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions.”

According to readability-score.com this has a NEGATIVE (didn’t know that was a thing) Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score of -8.1 with an average grade level of 22.1.

Then the tour guide said, “We have a long mission statement, but we save plants.”

Now that I remember!

If I was advising them I would augment to “we save topical plants”, as ‘tropical’ distinguishes them from other gardens.

If nonprofits are to put their Mission Statements front and center they should be statements that people can remember and repeat. That’s why we spend so much time working and re-working Mission Statements in Words on a Mission. (Watch this short video and find out why.)

Glad Vicki had a good time in paradise. Sad she had to run into a bad nonprofit Mission Statement even while on vacation!

Readability Statistics for this post: Reading Ease-52.7, Grade Level 9.7

Do you know many nonprofits in your state have a website?

July 16, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

In a post earlier this week, I shared a startling new finding from our Wordifier research: more than 50% of nonprofits don’t have a website.*

A state by state breakdown shows us how much this varies depending on geography. In Maine, for instance, 65% of nonprofits have a website. Whereas in New Mexico and Wyoming, a scant 29% do.

This map breaks it down state by state.

research, nonprofits, websites

The five states with the highest percentage of nonprofits with websites?

1. Maine: 65%

2. DC: 64%

3. Washington: 61%

4. Idaho & Puerto Rico: 60%

5. Vermont: 59%

And the five states with the lowest percentage of nonprofits with websites?

46. Alabama: 37%

47. Rhode Island: 36%

48. Arkansas: 33%

49 & 50. Wyoming & New Mexico: 29%

Makes you wonder: how easy/hard are nonprofits in your state making it for supporters to find them on-line?

***If you want your nonprofit to stand out from the crowd–whether on-line, in-person, or in print–check out Claxon University.***

*Reminder about what we mean by “no website”: We mean when pulling our sample, we didn’t find an independent url for ~50+% of the nonprofits for which we were searching. Some might have had an online presence, e.g. Facebook pages or a webpage on a connected, but separate organization. For instance, it’s very common for Friends of the Library and PTAs/PTSAs to have a web presence as a page on the related organization’s site, but often not their very own site. Other organizations, businesses, social clubs, or even other nonprofits with a foundation or scholarship might have mentioned the 501c3 arm, or maybe just mention that they have a scholarship, but it is the parent organization that has the website, so that didn’t count.

Are you making them dream or think?

July 6, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

nonprofits, writing, language

“There are two types of writers: those who make you think and those who make you dream.” ~ Brian Aldiss

This is the opening quote in Paulo Coelho’s wonderful article, “On Writing”.

I love this quote. It begs the question: which is the better type of writer?

There’s no right or wrong answer to this. It’s largely personal preference. I contend there’s too much thinking and not enough dreaming going on these days (and I’m not quite sure where all of our thinking is getting us in many cases, to be quite honest…).

So, for me, writing that makes me dream is downright dazzling. It opens up my world and my heart.

But I also value a well-written piece that makes me think, or reflect, or sets me straight on my facts and figures.

I also think it’s not an either/or. Good writers can make us think and dream. Maybe not at the same time. But in equal measure and when the time is right for one or the other.

Now, you may cringe at the thought of writing and want to declare, “I am not a writer! Let The Writers (big ‘W’) do the writing.”

It’s highly likely, however, that you churn out words every day. So whether or not you consider yourself a writer is largely irrelevant.

What is infinitely relevant is figuring out how to make your words work for you.

On this blog, you can find lots of practical tips on things like making your writing flow better and making your editing error-free. You can play with the Wordifier and find the very best words to amplify your words. All great resources and tools.

But none of them can answer the question about whether you’re writing to make people think or dream. You have to decide that for yourself. And it’s worth asking every time you sit down to write: will people respond to this because it speaks to their heads or their hearts? (Hint: It’s usually the latter, rather than the former, especially for donors. Don’t believe me? Check out this and this.)

Heads think. Hearts dream. We need both to make the world go ’round. Write accordingly.

A Rant About Research & Ridiculousness

June 30, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

“So you actually did the research for the Wordifier yourselves? Woah, that’s a lot of work. No one does that.”

This is what an Executive Director said to me after a recent speaking engagement.

She works for an organization that empowers women and girls around the world. (For the purposes of this post, let’s call her Ellie…because that has nice alliteration with Executive Director, doesn’t it?)

Ellie had just put the word “empower” into the Wordifier and found out international organizations use the word more than any other sub-sector. She had a hunch it was overused, and they should probably look at other words, but now she had proof!

That’s the power of research–it can turn a hunch into a proven fact. And that’s powerful.

**Begin wee rant**

The social good sector invests very, very little in primary research, meaning research you collect by going out and collecting the information yourself about a topic of specific interest to you. For instance, at Claxon we were curious about how nonprofits used language so we pulled every single word off of a statistically significant sample of nonprofit websites. (You can read more about our research methodology here.)

Pretty much ever other industry invests heavily in primary research. Insurance, finance, accounting, education, consumer products, etc etc etc.

Let’s play this out.

Investment advisers don’t sit down with clients and say, “Well, I was thinking about it and, by golly, I think we should invest in this company here. Now, I don’t have any data to back that up, but I say we go for it.”

Um, no.

They say, “I’ve looked at 30 years of research and here’s how I interpret it, and, based on that, what I’d advise.”

True, in the social good sector, we tend to have fewer resources than some of these other industries (#understatement). But we’re also doing more important work. So doesn’t it make sense to have the very best information possible to do that work?!!!!!! (Ridiculous number of exclamation points purposefully added to communicate the ridiculousness of this state of affairs.)

Also true that there is value in listening to our guts. Our gut instincts tend to be very good guides. My contention is: guts+data=awesomeness.

I don’t see an easy, obvious answer to getting more funds so the social good sector can invest in primary research. It’s a long-term investment with no guarantee of near-term positive outcomes, i.e. you don’t know if what you learn will translate directly into feeding more people, curing cancer, or a better education.

But just because there isn’t an easy answer doesn’t mean we should give up. I’m certainly not going to! I’m going to keep my research soapbox handy, yes I am. Because I firmly believe more research will lead to more good in the world.

This belief is reinforced every time I talk to someone like Ellie or get an email from someone who has used the Wordifier, switched up their language and gone on to raise more money, recruit more volunteers and/or finally get their dream board member to say yes to being on their board.

**End wee rant**

Claxon invests in statistically significant research so that people like you who are changing the world know precisely how to change your words. Guessing is inefficient and time-consuming. Changing the world is a big job so you likely don’t have extra time on your hands. Am I right?

Thus, research.

Thus, the Wordifier.

Is this research expensive? Yes.

Is it worth it? Yes. Every penny. Every brain cramp. Every everything.

If you are interested in primary research specific on philanthropy and social good, check out the stupendously amazing work of Professors Adrian Sargent and Jen Shang over at Study Fundraising.

Claxon University’s course Words on a Mission also teaches organizations a lot about how to gather actionable information that will help them better dazzle their supporters and reach their goals. Worth checking out.

Are you short-changing your mission?

June 16, 2015 by Erica Barnhart

ClaxonU_Logo Class is in session.

(Sort of. Ish.)

More accurately, class could be in session if you decided to take Claxon University’s on-line course, Words on a Mission.

Now, why would you–a very busy person–want to take this course? Why would you–someone with pulenty on your plate already–heap on a serving of learning?

Because, truth be told, if your words aren’t making a difference, you’re short-changing your mission.

For years, I’ve been beseeching you to pay more attention to the 15,000 words you go through in a day. This isn’t because I’m a word nerd (although I admittedly am). It’s because you likely don’t have a gazillion dollars to spend on getting the word out about your mission. And, with 50% of nonprofit mission statements being technically incomprehensible, your mission statement likely isn’t doing you any favors in the engagement department either.

If you’re serious about your mission, you need to get serious about how you talk about it.

You really do.

With Claxon University, I’m making it as easy, fun and affordable as possible to craft compelling messaging and create a mission statement you adore.

Is your mission statement a no-go zone? Not a problem. There are so many other ways to change up your words so you can change the world. Really. There are so many. And I’d love for you to know every single one because then you can engage more people, more deeply in your work. And how awesome would that be?!

So, please, stop short-changing your mission. It’s too awesome and you’re too awesome for that. Check out Claxon University. Take the course. Let’s make some amazing things happen.