Author: ahcarney
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How to create a successful yard sign campaign: Part 2
In thinking about how to write this blog post, I realized I couldn’t fit all the advice I had into just two parts. The good news is that you’re going to get a lot more information and practical tips from me. The bad news is that I now have to write a total of three…
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How to create a successful yard sign campaign: Part 1
When I moved to my small town of Walla Walla, one of the first things I envisioned was a pro-immigrant yard sign campaign with our local grassroots immigrant rights organization, the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition. It was never exactly the right time, and we never had enough money to cover it, so it didn’t…
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Bad News Bears: How to Announce Big Changes at Your Nonprofit
In my last blog post, I outlined the many reasons why I prefer communications systems over plans. Systems keep you flexible and able to adapt and shift your organization to meet the needs of your community. Adaptability is a great strength, but big changes can be jarring for your community. Your organization may have started…
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Why your nonprofit should stop making plans and start making systems
Like you, I am tired of living in unprecedented times. In addition to the daily onslaught on our civil rights, all of us, and our organizations, are in more precarious positions than before. I’ve been consulting for over a decade now and I’ve made countless communications plans for clients, most of whom are small nonprofits…
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7 of my favorite marketing tools with nonprofit discounts
As a nonprofit communicator, you’re wearing too many hats. There are emails to send, images to post, stories to collect, with no end in sight. And while no one wants to add a new technology to their life (must I remember yet another password?), an investment up front can save a lot of time in…
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Why the Generosity Commission is a waste of time.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy published an article this week about the Generosity Commission, a $3.8 million bipartisan commission from the nation’s biggest foundations. The commission’s purpose is simple: to investigate why giving has declined and to spur more generosity among middle- and low-income individuals. If you’re anything like me, you just blinked a few times…
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No, you can’t be silently anti-racist: how introverts can speak out against racism
It’s no secret that I’m a loud person. I have a boisterous laugh, I yell constantly, and at every performance I have ever attended, I’m always cheering at the top of my lungs, regardless of the format. Sorry, Seattle Symphony. Probably for the good of society, not everyone is like me. There are quiet people…
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When well-meaning white women refuse to call out white supremacy
I was sheepish when I said it, looking down the table of white faces in our first strategic planning committee meeting, “I think it’s a problem that we’re all white people here, that our leadership is majority white, and we’re making these decisions on behalf of the community, which is mostly people of color.” The board…
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The Selfish Reasons I Do Anti-Racist Work
As a communications professional, I have a few tenets I keep close to my heart. Simple language is best. Awareness is not a goal. The Oxford comma is a requirement, not a suggestion. And perhaps the most important: self-interests are more effective motivators than altruistic ones. In nonprofit communications, I’m always redirecting people from altruistic…
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Nonprofits: Stop Using the Passive Voice
Right now, the feeling I hear most about is powerlessness. We feel powerless to end a deadly pandemic. We feel powerless to end police brutality. We feel powerless in comforting or supporting our Black friends and loved ones. The world is big. The problems sometimes seem even bigger. That’s because the issues we’re up against…
Allison Carney Consulting 