A Big Announcement
I have been privileged to spend decades doing high-impact communications alongside colleagues who shared my passion for making our world a little better with each assignment. Today I am announcing a new venture as a career development coach to guide and support...
See you in 2022!
Happy New Year! I hope that 2021 brings a revival of spirit, health and balance in our lives. If we learned one lesson in 2020, it is that you never know what will happen next. Seize the moment is more than an aphorism. I will be spending most of 2021 in...
How to Write Calls To Action that Work
Crafting an effective call to action is one of the great challenges of nonprofit messaging. Most organizations go big and bold. Help us cure cancer! Save the planet! Change lives! At first glance, this seems smart. . After all, your organization exists in order to...
Nine Steps to Effective Nonprofit Messages
by Amy Plotch | Oct 24, 2019 Coming up with effective messages is a challenge for most nonprofit organizations. How do you explain your complex organization in a way that people can understand? How do you get them to feel the excitement you...
How Not to Talk About Race and Poverty
I generally use this space to share my own lessons learned on how to do communications for good. But this article by Trabian Shorters is important for all of us to read. The reality is that many of us (including me) have made this mistake while trying to do the right...
Why Your Organization Needs a Communications Strategy
Given all the pressures on nonprofit CEOs, it’s no surprise that strategic communications frequently gets shunted to the bottom of the to-do list. Sure, many nonprofits invest heavily in communications; they promote workshops, programs and fundraisers and crowd...
How To Craft Your Message: Lessons From Capitol Hill
We can all learn some lessons on how to craft your message from Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Known by her initials AOC-- just like Notorious BIG (or Notorious RBG) --she’s been writing hard-hitting tweets and making the kind of bold statements that become clickbait in the...
Does your brand shape your stories?
Storytelling has become the nonprofit communications buzzword of 2018, but telling interesting stories isn’t enough to make your organization memorable. If you want to win hearts, minds and checkbooks, you need stories that forge lasting connections between your...
Hanukkah, or How to Tell a Great Story.
The start of Hanukkah got me thinking. How do you craft a story that can last thousands of years? The story oh Hanukkah did more than endure. It gave birth to a holiday that connects Jews around the world. It led to new traditions that keep Judaism alive. In other words, it went viral.
Five Lessons Communicators Can Learn From Meghan Markle
You would have to be living under a rock to miss the swooning coverage of Meghan Markle, fiancée to Prince Harry. From the engagement ring—a diamond from Princess Diana—to the lemon elderflower wedding cake baked by a California native—it all has been covered...