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Tag: support a cause

  • 4 Ways to Use Your Writing Skills to Help Others

    4 Ways to Use Your Writing Skills to Help Others

    Whether it’s a fondness for animals in need, a longing to help the environment or a desire to help at the local food bank, everyone seems to have a cause that’s close to their heart.

    As a writer, you may have unique opportunities to offer special assistance to these causes.

    Read on for ideas about how to give back to the community using your writing skills.

    1. Volunteer your writing skills for a nonprofit

    While many larger nonprofits can afford to pay professional writers a good wage, many smaller nonprofits simply don’t have the funds to pay writers.

    While working for free is  controversial among professional writers, some choose to donate their time and skills to causes close to their hearts.

    For example, you may wish to support a local animal adoption center and volunteer to write a weekly email newsletter about animals awaiting adoption. Or, you might like to work on website content for a local soup kitchen, or perhaps write a donor appeal for an environmental organization you love.

    How do you decide if you’d like to donate your time rather than request a paycheck? That’s a personal decision for each writer. Some decide never to write for free and instead donate their time in other ways or donate money instead. Others decide offering their writing skills is the best way they can contribute.

    One key point you’ll want to remember, though, is volunteering to write for a nonprofit is very different from pitching articles about a nonprofit you support. Generally, if you volunteer for a nonprofit and support it with your time or money, that would be a conflict of interest that would prevent you from writing a journalistic piece about the nonprofit. If you’re not sure if your particular situation is a conflict of interest, be sure to ask your editor ahead of time.

    2. Use your social media skills

    If you have a wide social media reach, consider publicizing the efforts of your favorite nonprofits through your social media outlets.

    You can share the organization’s accomplishments, ask people to participate in an upcoming pledge drive, ask for people to come to a tree planting event or just highlight the good work they do.

    f you are skilled with social media, consider volunteering to assist the social media efforts of a nonprofit that you love. Writing posts and sharing information can be a great way to contribute.

    3. Volunteer in your local writing community

    Helping a good cause can also mean helping other writers.

    If your area has an active local writing community, get involved and see how you can volunteer.

    Consider volunteering at a local writing conference. You could do anything from introduce speakers to move chairs or hand out name tags. You’ll often receive free admission to the conference for your assistance.

    You could also consider organizing and helping with other local writing events, such as author readings. Not only will you spend your time supporting the local writing community, but you may also make valuable connections and build your name in the local writing community.

    And if there isn’t currently an active writing scene near you, consider starting one. You don’t have to put an entire conference together. It could be as simple as organizing a poetry reading with a few of your friends at your favorite coffee shop and publicizing it on social media.

    4. Support a cause and yourself

    Another way some writers choose to contribute to their local community is to support them in a way that’s a bit more visible.

    If you have a writing business, say, “Jane Smith Writes, LLC,” and you’d like to support a youth sports team, for example, you may be able to contribute in a way that helps the team and also raises awareness of your business.

    Some sports teams recognize sponsors by printing business names on team jerseys or in event programs. A writing business can receive this publicity just like a hardware store or insurance company would. You could sponsor a seat in a new community events center, paint a fundraising brick at a new park, or be a recognized sponsor for an event using your business name.

    Be sure to consult with your tax preparer to see if any potential donations are tax deductible.

    Be sure to vet the organization

    Whether you’re donating time or money, it makes sense to spend a little time investigating the cause you’re supporting.

    If it’s a small, close-to-home organization and you know some of the key players involved, that may be enough to satisfy your due diligence.

    But with larger organizations or national charities, many people prefer to spend a bit more time investigating. Websites like Charity Navigator help evaluate organizations and how they use the funds they raise. You can also often check tax records and audited financial statements online when groups choose to make those available. You’ll have to decide what works for you.

    However you decide to support your favorite worthy cause, know that your efforts can make a huge difference and help that organization provide important services.

    Do you have a favorite way to use your writing skills to give back?

  • 5 Creative Ways to Use Your Writing to Effect Change

    5 Creative Ways to Use Your Writing to Effect Change

    When I went to bed on Nov. 8, I knew life would be different in the morning.

    Regardless of who you wanted to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election, you certainly felt a shift in the air on Nov. 9 — the understanding it was time for a change.

    From my vantage point, surrounded by mostly liberals, I saw an urgent (if belated) need to act.

    We realized our coffee-shop conversations and Facebook comments weren’t leading to the kind of progress we’d expected.

    We needed to reach people another way.

    I, for one, will not likely ever run for office. I’m not going to leave my career to work for a nonprofit, lobby Congress or teach in a school in Alabama.

    But I’m not useless. I’m a writer.

    Whether you’re part of the news media so often in the spotlight lately; or a novelist, poet, blogger, freelancer or hobbyist, you have a powerful tool at your disposal to affect change around issues you care about.

    Here are a few ways you can wield your mighty pen.

    (Heads up: I’ll talk about causes and organizations I support as examples, but I’m not here to convert you. I just want to show you how you can use your writing to drive change that matters to you.)

    1. Write letters to Congress

    As a lot of people probably are, I’ve been meaning to get around to writing my representatives for some months now. But I don’t know where to start.

    What do I write about, who do I address it to, where do I send it, when is the best time to send it, why does everyone keep telling me to do this and how the heck do I get started?

    Well, you can write them about anything. Your representatives are there to listen to your thoughts, concerns, questions and (hopefully, on occasion) praise.

    You’ll address it directly to a member of Congress or the Senate — usually those who represent your district and state, but sometimes also members of certain committees that oversee the issue you’re writing about. Names and address are online here: U.S. Senators and Representatives in Congress.

    You can find several tutorials and templates online.

    2. Blog about issues that matter to you

    Do you have a blog? You might already be writing about political or social issues you see in the news or deal with in your community. The internet is a wonderful place to air your opinions.

    But I want to push you to take it a step further.

    Whether on your blog or someone else’s, do more than opine. Give answers. Teach people. Share action steps. Ask questions.

    I’d argue writers should make sure our blog posts are valuable just because it’s the decent thing to do. But it’s also better for business.

    Readers want content that gives them some kind of value — information, resources or actions. Give them that, and they’ll be more willing to read and share your content.

    For example, I was quite happy to use my access to Huffington Post readers to vent my opinion about maternity leave. But it fell on dead ears.

    In contrast, when I wrote an article about heteronormativity — just as opinionated and argumentative — I included the slightest bit of call to action. I answered how the reader could address the problem. That was shared more than 1,000 times.

    If you don’t want to take sides, your blogging can still contribute to your cause. This medium is an incredible educational tool, and education is a vital factor in affecting change.

    I love that I get to do this in my job at The Penny Hoarder. We take a non-partisan approach to issues that impact people’s lives, like healthcare.

    In this political climate, staying away from hot-button issues would be easier, but I’m happy we’re able to clear some of the fog around them and explain their everyday implications.

    Prefer to stay away from controversial issues altogether? You can still help.

    Something as simple as a fun post I wrote on paying down debt (I’m not kidding; it’s a fun one!) can change a reader’s relationship with money, which has a major impact on how they make political and social decisions.

    3. Pitch feature stories to magazines and newspapers

    Freelancers, you don’t have to write op eds or cover hard political news to make a difference. Human interest stories, as much as we like to sneer at them, can have a powerful impact on the way people think and act.

    Think of a site like Upworthy, which stakes its brand on stories that make you say awww. Or Thought Catalog, whose name alludes to its promise to deliver thought-provoking content.

    Again, I push you to take this further than an opinionated essay and think about the practical value to a reader. Any editor worth their salt will do the same, so it’ll be easier to get your stories published this way.

    I used writing to address my ignorance about obesity in this article at Thought Catalog. I got to approach a subject I knew nothing about and use writing as an excuse to ask someone to explain it to me.

    Then I shared the answers with readers who almost certainly had some of the same questions.

    4. Volunteer your skills to a nonprofit organization

    Your local organizations often need volunteers for grunt work, like cleaning, gardening or ushering recipients through their services. They may need help with creative tasks, too!

    Find a local nonprofit — an arts center, a charity, a church, etc. — online. How’s its SEO game? Does it need a boost on Facebook or Twitter? Could it benefit from starting a blog? Does its weekly newsletter need a strong editor?

    Large, national organizations are likely paying staff writers to handle these tasks, but your little community organizations may not have the budget for it.

    Note your writing skills and experience when you sign up as a volunteer, or just email or call to offer your expertise where they could use it.

    5. Donate book profits to charity

    Regardless of what you write, you can always use some of your book sales for the greater good. Pick your favorite charity, and donate a portion of profits.

    If your book has a cause-related theme, try partnering with the organization to promote it. You get increased visibility, and the charity gets money every time your book sells.

    If the book is unrelated, you can still mention the charity to let buyers know what their money supports. Even without the organization’s direct backing, a cause will probably help you sell more books.

    I haven’t done this with a book yet, but I’m dabbling with these postcards. I donate 100 percent of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood.

    Writing gives me a unique opportunity to reach people and make a tiny dent in causes I care about. Because it’s pretty much my only skill — and favorite thing to do — I’m grateful for the power of the written word!

    How do you use your writing to effect change you care about?

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