SmartWriteStudio: A Partner with Nonprofit Organizations
As a client-centered, full-service writing company, SmartWriteStudio can help nonprofit organizations with the tasks of:
- preparing written promotional materials that nonprofits need for fundraising;
- completing grant applications that nonprofits should pursue and submit; and
- writing fresh and/or updated website content.
These materials are essential for organizational success and, as discussed below, have everything to do with the nonprofit’s financial well-being and longevity.
When your organization partners with SmartWriteStudio in the development of written promotional materials, grant applications, and/or website content, you will have “writers working for you.” Some organizations will prefer that SmartWriteStudio take on an entire project and provide full services from start to finish. However, some nonprofit organizations are fortunate enough to have employees who can write skillfully. In such a situation, SmartWriteStudio is happy to collaborate with the nonprofit’s employees and, as needed, provide support services such as proofreading and editing.
The discussion that follows emphasizes the several types of funding and the related promotional materials that nonprofit organizations should produce and use. Throughout this discussion, please know that SmartWriteStudio is ready, willing, and able to partner with you. We want your nonprofit organization to thrive and for you to continue providing the uplifting services that your clients and our community have come to appreciate. Thank you for all you do; and, thank you for considering SmartWriteStudio as a partner in your good work.
Nonprofits: A Major Community Asset
Nonprofit organizations make a significant contribution to community life. The short list that follows is not all-inclusive, but it highlights some of the key benefits that nonprofits provide:
- empowerment of individuals, some of whom have unique needs, talents, and circumstances;
- varied and high-quality services, i.e., human, cultural, & environmental;
- breadth of stimulating musical, artistic, and performing arts programs;
- prosocial value systems that emphasize the worth of each individual and community strength through diversity;
- employment opportunities; and
- positive economic impact within the community.
Clearly, nonprofit organizations make our community a better place to live, work, grow, play, and raise families. When nonprofit organizations thrive and grow, the entire community benefits.
Alternative Revenue Streams: A Must for Nonprofit Success
Apart from all of the obvious good they do, nonprofit organizations are not permitted to accumulate a profit. However, like any other organization that employs staffers, provides services, and has fixed annual expenses, nonprofit organizations still need revenue: they, too, must pay their way.
In order to maintain a regular cash flow, nonprofit organizations often charge fees for certain services; but, in most cases, those fees are not sufficient to cover expenses and to enable growth within the organization. As such, nonprofit organizations must often pursue alternative methods of generating revenue, including the following:
Fund Raising Campaigns
Many nonprofits conduct annual fund raising campaigns. Such campaigns often include special events, direct mail solicitations, a targeted monetary goal, direct involvement of staff and volunteers, and a defined campaign calendar with a starting date and a completion date.
An annual fund raising campaign enables the nonprofit to not only publicize recent accomplishments, but also to achieve wider name recognition. When a community becomes familiar with an organization and recognizes that organization as a known and respectable service provider within the community, then the annual fund raising campaign can become a grand success.
Endowments & Estate-Directed Charitable Giving
Not everyone is in a position to bequeath significant monetary gifts to nonprofit organizations; but, when a friend of the organization happens to be a person of financial means, then charitable giving through estate-directed planning can become a natural and loving way for a person or family to demonstrate enduring support. Many regard this kind of giving as philanthropy at its best.
People of means often hope to make a lasting and positive impact upon the community. Nonprofit organizations are valuable assets within the community and, therefore, can and should promote themselves as honorable and worthy recipients of estate-directed charitable gifts.
Grant Funds
When pursuing grant funds, a nonprofit organization should be mindful of two key bits of advice:
only pursue those grants that are relevant to and compatible with the nonprofit organization’s mission; and
assign the task of grant-writing only to an experienced grant writer. Completion of a grant application requires precise and, usually, sophisticated technical writing skills; as such, it can be ill-advised to assign the task to an internal employee who lacks previous success in the grant-writing arena.
All non-profit organizations should pursue, develop, and nurture the alternative revenue streams identified above. As a first step in the process, the nonprofit organization should prepare written promotional materials; these materials should be used freely and extensively in the pursuit of alternative funding streams.
Written Promotional Materials: A Must for Nonprofit Success
In order for a nonprofit organization to benefit from alternative revenue streams, it must first develop a variety of promotional materials. These materials, both hard-copy and website-based, will inform prospective donors and grantors of the organization’s history, mission, and accomplishments. The materials most often used by nonprofit organizations include:
- Pamphlets
- Brochures
- Tri-folds
- Written solicitations by mail, using an active and targeted mailing list
In addition to the familiar materials cited above, nonprofit organizations should also have:
- a written history of the organization. This important document is often “placed on a back burner” and delayed until “the time is right.” Often, though, the project remains on hold and forgotten.
All of the materials cited above can be produced in hard-copy, as well as uploaded to a website. As soon as the materials appear on the website, they become available every hour of every day…24/7! Anyone who has an interest in the organization can learn about it easily and on their own time.
Obviously, such materials are essential in pursuing alternative funding sources; but these materials can also be useful in the following ways:
- recruitment of volunteers;
- recruitment of new employees; and
- broadening the agency referral base for new fee-paying clients.
Without written promotional materials, an organization is operating at a serious disadvantage. Once promotional materials are completed and available for use, the nonprofit organization is poised to progress to a more advanced stage in its financing, development, and evolution.
SmartWriteStudio & Nonprofit Organizations: Partners in Support of Community
The above discussion emphasizes:
- alternative funding streams that nonprofit organizations should pursue; and
- the related promotional materials that nonprofit organizations should produce and use.
As a nonprofit organization, you are a respectable, worthy, and important member of our broader community. We at SmartWriteStudio want to partner with you. We want to participate in the good work that you do. We want to help you thrive and grow.
As a client-centered, full-service writing company, we are ready, willing, and able to partner with you. Partner with us and you will have “writers working for you.” Here’s hoping that our futures together are long and productive.
We want your nonprofit organization to thrive and for you to continue providing the uplifting services that your clients and our community have come to appreciate. Thank you for all you do; and, thank you for considering SmartWriteStudio as a partner in your good work.
Fee Schedule for Writing Services
Writing services are available to Nonprofit Organizations at the rate of $86.00 per hour.
In processing a client’s invoice, SmartWriteStudio charges only for on-task hours that are attributed to the Lead Writer. Although the designated Supervising Writer will work closely with the Lead Writer and have considerable involvement in the client’s project, there is no additional charge for the involvement and participation of the Supervising Writer.
