Posts in Writing and Messaging
3 tips to write the perfect graduation speech
3 tips to write the perfect graduation speech

Should I throw my cap? I don’t want to lose it, so maybe a gentle toss. Which hand do I accept my diploma with? I wonder where we’re going out to dinner after the ceremony?

These were all questions I had during my high school graduation. And with all of this running through my brain, I couldn’t, for the life of me, tell you who my graduation speaker was or what they said. 

So how can you, as a superintendent (or the PIO writing this speech!), use your time at the podium to cut through the noise and make a difference as these graduates embark on the next phase of life? I’m sharing my top 3 tips to help you write a graduation speech that resonates with teens.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Most Popular, Storytelling, Writing and Messaging, Accessibility, Media Relations, School District MarketingLauren Empsonspeech, graduation speech, superintendent speech, speechwriting, audience values, youth, graduation, teens
Comms tips for coalitions
Comms tips for coalitions

Love them or hate them, we can all agree on one thing – coalitions Get. Things. Done. And all high-impact coalitions have at least one factor in common: they effectively communicate with their audiences at all stages of the coalition lifecycle. 

At Forthright, we’ve worked with a number of coalition partners (some that are just starting up, and others that are well established.) We know that bringing the right communications strategy at the right time can help you have even greater impact. That’s why I’m sharing communications tips for every stage of your coalition!

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Communications Campaigns, Most Popular, Storytelling, Writing and Messaging, About ForthrightEmily Swartzlandercoalition building, communications tips for coalitions, tips for strong coalitions
How to reach families without internet
How to reach families without internet

Reaching families without internet access isn’t a new challenge for communicators. As of last year, one in five households in America were unable to get online at home. 

But in April, millions more families across the country are poised to lose their online access as the Affordable Connectivity Program funding runs out. 

This could make reaching kids and families in your district or community more challenging. So today, I want to take a moment and share what we’ve learned about reaching and supporting offline families.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Brand/Materials Creation, Accessibility, Communications Campaigns, Digital and Social Media, Most Popular, School District Marketing, Storytelling, Writing and MessagingEmily Swartzlanderbroadband, internet, no internet, free resource, reaching families, tactics, Reaching families without internet access, Low bandwidth communications tactics
Not your grandma’s style guide: Tips to help your team remember the why
Not your grandma’s style guide: Tips to help your team remember the why

Have you ever read or updated your organization’s style guide and paused to think, “Wait, why do we do it this way?” You’re not alone.

After countless communications audits and years of helping organizations discover what they need to say to reach their people, we’re convinced — good rules require great reasons.

Here are three tips to help you create a style guide that shows your team how to communicate and helps them remember why it matters.

Read More
Brand/Materials Creation, Digital and Social Media, Accessibility, Writing and Messaging, Storytelling, Nonprofit CommunicationsForthright AdvisingNonprofit style guide, Accessibility, how to create a style guide, style guide best practices
How to write welcoming messaging
How to write welcoming messaging

As leaders in the child and family advocacy space, the words we use matter. How we talk about families and children matter. When we use language based on assumptions – so, for example, in the case of mom and dad – we are unintentionally prescribing relationships that may not exist for all families in our community. Here’s your guide to inclusive family language.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Communications Campaigns, Brand/Materials Creation, Storytelling, School District Marketing, Writing and MessagingKatie Test Davis2023 reflections, Inclusive family language, margaret middleton, nonprofit messaging, school district writing, family language, caregivers
Decline a media interview request with confidence
Decline a media interview request with confidence

A reporter reaches out to request an interview, and it’s…just not the right fit. You have to say no to the reporter’s request, and that could be for a million different reasons, such as: You don’t have the expertise. You don’t have the bandwidth. Your team can’t agree on what to say. The reporter hasn’t been friendly to your work in the past. So…how do you handle this delicate situation without burning bridges? Well, here’s what our team has learned from working with the media for many years.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, School District Marketing, Writing and Messaging, Media RelationsKatie Test DavisDecline media interview request, say no to reporter, decline interview, no to media, media relations, reporter relationships, interview requests, media training, spokesperson
How to win over your target audiences
How to win over your target audiences

I have a friend who cares deeply – and I mean deeply – about college football. Despite graduating from a huge football school myself (War Eagle), I…do not. If you only have those facts, you may think we don’t have much in common on fall weekends. However, if you dig a little deeper, you find a shared value: we both love being outdoors. On many a weekend, you can find us sitting *outside* with the games on a big screen, enjoying the sun. Everyone’s happy. The key takeaway? If you try hard enough, you can find something in common with – a shared value – with your most important target audiences.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Communications Campaigns, Writing and MessagingNiki Juhasztarget audience, targeted messaging, shared values, campaign messaging, clear communication, how to write for your audience
5 tips for better project feedback
5 tips for better project feedback

Have you ever received a draft of a written or designed document – and your heart sank because it isn’t quite right? We’ve all been there. Here are a few tips to get your creative project back on track!

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Writing and Messaging, Brand/Materials Creation, School District MarketingForthright Advisingelections, systems, clear communication, advocacy, advocates, feedback, graphic design, writing project, creative project, kickoff call, branding, quality review, creative feedback
It’s one year from Election Day
It’s one year from Election Day

It’s just over a year until the next presidential Election Day across the US. Do you have your advocacy communications plan ready? If not, there’s still time! While Election Day may seem far away, the time for advocacy is now. Here’s why.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Communications Campaigns, Writing and MessagingForthright Advisingelections, systems, clear communication, advocacy, advocacy campaigns, advocates, nonprofit advocacy, nonprofit organizations and elections
How to ensure your reader *gets* what you're writing
How to ensure your reader *gets* what you're writing

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: simple writing is…weirdly hard? That’s why we *just* updated one of our most popular resources – Writing for Your Community: How to Ensure Your Messaging is Easy to Understand – with fresh new data and updated best practices!

Read More
Accessibility, Nonprofit Communications, Writing and Messaging, School District MarketingNiki JuhaszForthright, community friendly writing, writing for your community, easy-to-read messaging, easy-to-read writing, how to write simply, accessible language, accessible writing
Build trust with updated messaging
Build trust with updated messaging

Keeping your materials up to date, especially anchor materials like your logo and your core messages, maintains trust with your audiences and helps make sure you're living up to your brand's promise or organization's mission. We understand how busy nonprofit leaders are, and we want to make it easy to take just a few steps to ensure your most important materials are up to date, and to let your newest, most relevant materials shine.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Writing and MessagingForthright Advisingnonprofit messaging, how to update messaging, messaging best practices, messaging for nonprofits
3 questions to ask during your communications audit
3 questions to ask during your communications audit

That exciting first date. A job interview for the perfect position. Your key communications materials. Can you guess what all of these have in common? The answer: first impressions really, really matter for all of them. You’re on your own with the first part of this list – but at Forthright, what we CAN do is to help ensure your communications materials get that first impression rose. Below, we’re sharing our favorite questions to ask while conducting a communications audit.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, School District Marketing, Writing and MessagingNiki Juhaszcommunications audit questions, how to conduct a communications audit, strategic communications, what is a communications audit, communications audit
2 steps for a strategic naming process
2 steps for a strategic naming process

Keeping your materials up to date, especially anchor materials like your logo and your core messages, maintains trust with your audiences and helps make sure you're living up to your brand's promise or organization's mission. We understand how busy nonprofit leaders are, and we want to make it easy to take just a few steps to ensure your most important materials are up to date, and to let your newest, most relevant materials shine.

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Writing and Messaging, Brand/Materials CreationNiki Juhasznonprofit messaging, Smart branding for nonprofits, smart rebranding for nonprofits
3 lessons from school redistricting we can all use
3 lessons from school redistricting we can all use

People hate change. 

It makes us feel uncertain, uncomfortable and like things are out of our control. And that’s not just coming from me – that’s directly from Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi, author of “What Makes You Stronger: How to Thrive in the Face of Change.” 

And this fact is really, really important for our work – because to best serve kids and families, we often have to lead innovation – also known to your families and team as change. 

Here at Forthright, we’ve done a lot of research and work around tricky topics. We’ve included a few key takeaways from our most recent research project – school redistricting – below.

Read More
Accessibility, Writing and Messaging, Communications Campaigns, School District MarketingNiki Juhaszcommunication tactics, redistricting, communicating change, community relations, redistricting campaigns, school bond campaigns, rezoning, school districts, public schools
3 secrets for simple writing
3 secrets for simple writing

When you’re used to writing emails, white papers and journal articles for your peers and colleagues, it can be really hard to switch up your writing style and draft something easy to read for a different audience. What if I told you that it doesn’t have to be that way? With a little bit of effort, and some “tricks of the trade,” I know you can create high-quality materials that are easy to read. Here’s how…

Read More
Nonprofit Communications, Writing and Messaging, AccessibilityKatie Test Davisnonprofit campaigns, writing tips, how to write for your audience, writing for families, simple writing, writing best practices, how to edit your own writing, simplify your messaging, writing for accessibility
How to find unlikely allies for your work
How to find unlikely allies for your work

When our team kicks off our work on a communications campaign, we focus first on the objective we’re trying to achieve. What’s our goal? But quickly afterwards, we ask the important question: who can make our goal a reality And that’s when we start our search for likely AND unlikely allies. We’re sharing what unlikely allies are — and how you can find them — here.

Read More
Writing and Messaging, Communications Campaigns, Nonprofit Communications, School District MarketingKatie Test Davishow to build a communications campaign, how to create allies, building support for your nonprofit cause
A look back at how PR has changed
A look back at how PR has changed

A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I were reminiscing about “how PR used to be.” In addition to making us feel – well, like seriously seasoned comms professionals who have seen it all – it made us realize just how different things are.

So then I asked the rest of our teammates how PR has changed over their careers. Here are their answers, just for fun.

Read More
Writing and Messaging, Digital and Social Media, Media Relations, Communications Campaigns, Nonprofit Communications, School District Marketing, About ForthrightNiki Juhaszsocial media trends, media relations trends, press releases, media relations best practices, communications strategies, changing nonprofit tactics
The difference between passive & active language
The difference between passive & active language

Passive language is the enemy of simple, easy-to-understand language. Using passive language can confuse your audiences – or even stop them from reading/listening to your message.  We’re breaking down why, along with writing best practices.

Read More
Writing and Messaging, Nonprofit Communications, School District MarketingNiki Juhaszcommunication tactics, simple writing, active language, passive language, active voice, passive voice