Here at Big Duck we start thinking about year-end appeals in the middle of summer. (We’re weird like that.)
It’s a giant topic. People write entire books on it. Since you don’t have time for that now, we’re going to share just one useful thing with you. It’s a simple question that will help you stand out during the busy year-end appeal season:
Who cares?
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A weekly roundup of interesting reads from the online world of nonprofit communications. Check out my Delicious bookmarks for more noteworthy links.
Recently, Lake Superior State University published its 35th annual List of Banished Words for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. It included terms from 2009 such as friend (as a verb—thanks, Facebook); Tweet (good luck not using that one, nonprofiteers); and chillaxin’ (which I’m pretty sure isn’t a word to begin with, but yes, it’s tremendously annoying and disturbingly ubiquitous).
Well, that got us thinking… What words do we nonprofit people overuse or misuse, and what terms are generally useless or shouldn’t be used?
So without further ado, here’s a short list (in no particular order) along with the reason(s) for its inclusion here:
System—This is a word of many meanings and yet no real meaning. We’re guessing there’s probably a clearer, more specific term within your English arsenal of words. Perhaps you use system to mean your organization’s workflow, or perhaps you mean the government. Consider using workflow or government.
Infrastructure—Unless you’re speaking of roads, rail, bridges, tunnels, power lines, or other public works, this is a word worth avoiding. Using infrastructure to discuss the people of your organization, for example, takes the humanity out of your work.
It's best to avoid "Frankensteining."
We’re sure that, if you’ve picked the right creative team, what they present to you will be glorious. That’s certainly true if you’re dealing with work done by the two of us. We’re tremendous. But what if it’s not? What can you do to keep from pissing off these temperamental weirdos, sitting so expectantly in front of you with their precious, precious work?
Welcome back to our series about feedback. If you haven’t read our intro ramblings or our suggestions about preparation, you still can. Otherwise, read on…
If you’ve ever worked on a fundraising campaign or a website redesign or any other activity that requires either a creative agency or freelance designers and copywriters, you’ve probably seen a lot of work you hated. We hope that you’ve also seen a lot of work with which you’ve been thrilled.
But you probably know first-hand that getting there can be difficult, especially when dealing with the “quirks of the creative personality.” (We can say that because we’re “creatives,” as we’re called in the biz. We wouldn’t recommend discussing the quirks of the creative personality directly with creatives with quirky personalities.)
This is a series about feedback, but it’s also a part of a larger conversation about process. Any feedback relates directly to the goals of a project.
At Big Duck, we begin any big project with what we call a project brief. It is a simple document that lays out what you hope to accomplish with the assignment and any parameters related to the project. The strategic and creative teams at Big Duck rely on the project brief to guide our thinking, our brainstorming, our sketching, and even the whining that inevitably accompanies our creative struggles associated with any project.
Dan and Sonny at work.
The two of us have had the pleasure of working together as a creative team (copy and design) over a number of years at two different agencies, for a wide array of corporate and nonprofit clients. We much prefer the nonprofits. Much. Seriously. There’s no comparison. To give you an idea of what we mean, one of our former clients was a major liquor brand. We are both physically unable to drink alcohol. And that, friends, is the tip of the iceberg.
Oftentimes, we find that many of our clients ask the same questions at once. Recently, those questions have been around Vision, Mission, and Values Statements. The latest issue of the Duck Pond offers a basic explanation of each and when and where you might find them useful.
It might rain all weekend, but the sun will be shining for nonprofits online.
A weekly round-up of interesting reads from the online world of nonprofit communications.
