Online tools
- Government Comic Books provides a ton of communications and messaging design inspiration for those wanting to reach out to the younger set or hit the nostaslgia nerve with the youngest boomers. . . To create your own comic, head over to Canva, a free and paid online tool with templates and styles to help you design the chef’s kiss of images and products.
- (Crowdsourced) Outreach on the NNK is what the title says it is: A list of outreach resources, IRL and virtual, to help your organization or business reach more people without having to do the homework yourself. Sure, we can all look up US Post Office addresses, but why when this resource has all the info? The spreadsheet currently includes social media, media, houses of faith, POAs, organizations (a mish-mash), physical locations, and elected and appointed officials. And, it’s editable, so if you want to add missing info or correct what is there, do it! It’s easy to use: Just download it and personalize it.
- Ways nonprofits are using AI is for spelling and punctuation. My response to the punctuation and grammar use is better and more productive and that is to use an existing style guide, such as AP and Chicago. Organizations benefit from consistency in look, spelling, colors (colours*) and punctuation. Select AP or Chicago and create a style manual to take the guesswork out of writing and creating. It’s all upside. Note: This advice also applies to for-profit businesses.
![Oh hells no. Nonprofits, the choices are 1) choose a damn style guide and use it and 2) create a damn style guide and use it. One of the choices is NOT AI. And when it comes to punctuation, use Oxford (or serial) commas. The quotation: The top three ways nonprofits use AI chatbots are to check grammar, spelling, and punctuation (53%), to help brainstorm headlines and subject lines (53%), and to create first drafts of content (39%). [Nonprofit Communications Trends Report]. Quote: NP Tech for Good, https://www.nptechforgood.com/101-best-practices/2024-ai-marketing-fundraising-statistics-for-nonprofits/](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGK9LH6lYw7W0m2GJybAUevmTKk4ToO-7jjECoWqqUnCRoEgwj_0FD_cjZ3O8GmcBBytjlbV5QWc0BIeUexhyphenhyphenuC4lTS5Hro9ohJJfLDBY1uPOCD40u0y2SPjZR6DebB_1nKIFPGWI4DB71V1oiHPKvABucv-qAekkUZpq5neyJntGiaps8nlHuMEKiOtM/s775/Screenshot%202024-11-26%20at%2006-06-12%20Susie%20Cambria%20Oh%20hells%20no.%20Nonprofits%20the%20choices%20are%201%29%20choose%20a%20damn%20style%20guide%20and%20use%20it%20and%202%29%20create%20a%20damn%20style%20guide%20and%20use%20it.%20One%20of%20the%20choices%20is%20NOT%20AI.%20And%20when%20it%20comes%20to%20p%5B...%5D.png)
* Reminds me of Washington's Dream - SNL and the British/American spellings of various words.
Learn something
- Growing Resilience Virtual Roundtable: Food as a Lever of Community Health & Wealth, Tuesday, December 3: This free virtual roundtable exploring resilient food and agriculture systems will feature Malik Yakini, Co-founder and former Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network. He will share about his work, including D-Town Farm and the opening of Detroit People’s Food Co-op, a Black-led and Black-owned grocery store. Malik be joined by Fair Food Network’s Founder and Resident Champion Oran Hesterman to discuss innovative, community-owned food organizations that are creating positive change in Detroit and beyond. Register.
This and that
- Heads up: The IRS will release their standard mileage rates in December. We’ll share them here at that time.
- Can you leverage #OptOutside with colleagues, clients, customers on the Friday after Thanksgiving? Learn more about what Virginia State Parks have to offer and remember that there are plenty of spaces not state owned, such as Loveworks signs and the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. More outdoor activities can be found in Local, state, and federal open and historical spaces beloved. Yet federal threat looms.