Help for nonprofit bloggers

This is one of those full circle events: I'm writing a blog post about a blog post about how to help others write blog posts. Actually, now that I think about it that full circle makes me nervous - maybe I won't do it "right!"

The post that caught my eye this week was one shared by Alysson Kapin of RAD Campaign on the the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) LinkedIn group. The post, So You Think You Can Blog by Avi Kaplan, offers great advice and a solid starting point for providing support to your staff members who have volunteered (or been volunteered) to write for your organization's blog. The article emphasizes the importance of setting clear expectations and offers a collection of tips or "sage wisdom" for good nonprofit blogging. It was refreshing to see advice aimed directly at nonprofit writers, and the article gave me a starting point for encouraging my colleagues at NPower Northwest to contribute more often to our blog.

A couple of my favorites:

Set expectations: Explain why you blog at your organization, what you'll be measuring to evaluate success, and what the time commitment is.

Sage wisdom: Add value, there is no delete, be human, and stay true to yourself.

If you're looking to expand the number of voices on your nonprofit blog, take a moment to read So You Think You Can Blog.

Thanks Avi for a great post, and thanks Alysson for sharing it.

- Peg Giffels