Writing content for non-profit organizations

Of late I have started taking care of the online presence of a few non-profit organizations including their websites, blogs and social media profiles. Aside from maintenance I also prepare and strategize content for these organizations.

Writing and organizing content for non-profit organisations is totally different from creating content for commercial businesses. In this case you’re not trying to sell a product or service, but a cause. You need to touch people emotionally (although personally I believe the work these organizations do is a lot more practical than many for-profit organizations do). Rather than promoting products and services you promote stories and experiences that really make a difference.

Many hard-core marketers often say that everything eventually boils down to selling. After all, you are trying to sell the inherent benefit of a cause. Why do you have a website for a non-profit organization? Almost every non-profit organization is looking for donations and fundings and a vibrant online presence can help reach out to a wide audience whether it is from website, blog or social media/networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Of course it is selling but then we all have our way of expressing different things.

Publishing content for non-profit organizations

As already mentioned above you can use different platforms to publish content for non-profit organizations. The idea is to reach as wide an audience as possible without diluting the niche. My personal observation, when it comes to niche concerning with social causes and social work, is that people who feel emotional towards one particular cause also are eager to associate themselves with another cause. For instance I have closely worked with organizations helping persons with disabilities and most of these organizations readily get involved with causes concerning natural disasters, environment and ecology, social justice, animal care and old age care (just to name a few). The underlying idea is, doing something good and constructive, and doing something that makes a positive impact. This is the message that your content on various platforms must convey when you publish.

Content on Twitter normally involves publishing small updates, links to useful information, news releases links and answers to some urgent queries.

Content on Facebook profiles is a bit more detailed, It involves messages that trigger conversations and other sorts of engagements. Since discussions can be threaded (multiple comments can appear under one posting) and there is no word limit, you can publish detailed messages, although they shouldn’t be as big as articles and blog posts.

Blogs are the best way to publish impactful stories and experiences. As long as they are interesting and gripping you shouldn’t worry much about their length. The style should be as conversational as possible although most of the non-profit organizations avoid publishing content on the first person basis (many businesses do this these days and it is recommended).

Making positive impact with content

When you write and publish content for non-profit organizations you are trying to achieve the following:

• Raise awareness about an issue or a pressing need
• Encourage more and more people to get involved
• Encourage more and more people to spread the word regarding various activities and engagements of the organization
• Encourage more and more people to provide monetary assistance

It is a humane activity and this is what you have to highlight in order to make people want to become a part of it. The stories should be personal as well as non-personal. Non-profit organizations are as much about people working there as well as people and environments they are impacting.