Stronger Stories, Better Newsletters + Brand New Words

SHARPEN YOUR STORYTELLING

Branding gurus make vague appeals for storytelling all the time. So we loved this piece from Harvard Business Review, which cites vivid examples from Dominos, Facebook, T Mobile, and Uber. Their advice? Simple language that honors the past along with a mandate for change and a path to achieve it. (And yes, it works for nonprofits, too.)

THE GREAT DEBATE: LINKEDIN

Whodathunkit? Teens are swarming to LinkedIn because it’s a “zero-irony zone” that’s free of the rants, dark humor, and FOMO of other social-media networks. Meanwhile, the grown-ups think it’s a repository for “oversharing,” with too many personal stories of divorce, break-ups, and pets. Where do you land?

MAKE A BETTER NEWSLETTER

Ted Fickes’ Future Community Substack always features great nuggets for nonprofit communicators—including this recent issue devoted to newsletters. Our favorite takeaways: Make ’em scannable, exciting, and inspiring; showcase accomplishments; and “Don’t just make people happy. Push people to think.”

NEW SITE: BROOKLYN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

After we launched the new site for Brooklyn Community Foundation, Communications Manager Jameela Syed told us she’d received “PHENOMENAL feedback” from the board: “Thanks to your diligent efforts, the site is a beautiful thing to behold (and I’m not just saying that as a nerd, despite my use of the word ‘behold’).” Jameela, you’re our favorite nerd ever.

USE YOUR WORDS

If there’s anything this newsletter writer likes, it’s words. So Merriam Webster’s recent announcement of 690 new entries was quite cromulent. We’ve been using zhuzh and bracketology forever, but smishing, kayfabe, and crate-dig were entirely new to us.

P.S. November 28 is just a few weeks away, so this is your last reminder to grab Teal’s free guide to GivingTuesday.