WRITING STYLE GUIDE
Promoting Volunteerism
Thank you for your interest in writing for Charity Guide. Please join us as we create articles on "how to make a difference". Our goal is to inspire and facilitate over one million acts of kindness per year.
To help achieve that goal, Charity Guide seeks over 1,000 articles, which will be included in one of three directories:
• How to Make a Difference in 15 Minutes
• How to Make a Difference in a Few Hours (once, or each week)
• How to Make a Difference During a Volunteer Vacation
One "Voice" and Format
As many as 100-200 different journalists may be involved in contributing directory articles, which presents our challenge: To ensure the best possible experience for our readers,
100+ different journalists need to contribute their ideas and research to our directory in "one voice" and in one format.
This Writing Style Guide describes that "voice" and format.
CharityGuide.org
Given the need for consistency, please familiarize yourself with the format of the current content published at http://CharityGuide.org.
For instance, articles already posted at CharityGuide.org such as Phishing: Reduce Identity Theft provide good examples of incorporating the concepts introduced in this Style Guide.
Our Audience
Our target audience is busy adults (70% female), 18-49 years old, with hectic lifestyles and unpredictable schedules. For them, traditional volunteering is impractical, because they cannot commit to showing up at a specific location, at a specific time, for a specific number of weeks. Instead, they seek opportunities to make a difference that are self-directed and flexible.
As web users, our audience tends to "scan" first before committing to "read". Given that tendency, each of the articles in our directory should be easy to scan, with a common format, short paragraphs, punchy sentences, and emphasized keywords. As you write, be direct and compelling, because you only have a few seconds to earn the reader's time.
The Storyline
Each article should have two sections:
1. The Challenge (200 to 350 words)
2. How to Make a Difference (50 – 300 words)
In "The Challenge" section:
1. Immediately grab the reader's attention by conveying a compelling problem, supported by facts from a reputable source
2. Then, expand on the unfortunate impact of that problem. (Use an example, or further explanation, to "pull at the reader's heart strings")
3. Then, raise hope that the issue can be solved, with the reader's help, to get the reader enthusiastic about making a difference
In the "How to Make a Difference" section, there are two acceptable approaches. You can:
• provide step-by-step instructions, or
• refer to other nonprofit websites that provide straightforward instructions (please link to their specific instruction pages, not to their general home pages)
Keyword Phrases
For your article to achieve the highest ranking in search results at Google and Yahoo, please adjust your writing style to insert important keyword phrases where search engines will look for them, particularly in the title of your article and throughout the first few paragraphs.
Which keyword phrases should you insert? To answer that question, put yourself in the mind of the target audience of your article. Ask yourself: "To find my article via a Google search, which keyword phrases might an internet-surfer use?"
Those keyword phrases should appear:
• in the title, preferably at, or near, the beginning
• at the beginning of the first sentence of the first paragraph
• several times in the first few paragraphs
• in bold or italics, at least once
• as a hyperlink, leading to a website ranked among the top 10 in Google for that keyword phrase
Before submitting your first article to Charity Guide, please review our tips on Copywriting for Search Engines.
Article Titles
Please construct your article title as an imperative command. Include your primary keyword phrase in the title, preferably at, or near, the beginning. Multiple variations of the keyword phrase are encouraged.
KEYWORD PHRASE INCORRECT TITLE BETTER TITLE
Fair Trade Coffee Before You Buy Your Next Frappuccino... Buy Fair Trade Coffee
Blood Donation Give the Gift of Life Donate Blood or Organize a Blood Donation Drive
Childproofing Hazards of Typical Household Windows Childproofing Tip: Childproof Your Windows
Endangered Sea Turtles Endangered Sea Turtles Save Endangered Sea Turtles
Phishing New Identity Theft Technique Phishing: Reduce Identity Theft
The "Litmus Test"
When a Charity Guide editor considers your article for publication, the "litmus test" will be: Could a reader really follow these instructions and make a positive difference in the allotted time?
As an investigative journalist for Charity Guide, it is your job to do "the heavy lifting" on the readers' behalf. For instance, to create instructions on How to Make a Difference in 15 Minutes, it might take you 4-8 hours of research to identify the options, vet the alternatives, and fine-tune the approach. However, with your 4-8 hours of effort, you enable thousands of other people to make a difference in just 15 minutes each.
There is a different litmus test for articles on How to Make a Difference During a Volunteer Vacation. In that case, your role is to recommend and link to descriptions of volunteer vacation opportunities, organized by reputable nonprofit agencies, which offer a wide range of duration and fee options.
Article Topics
You are welcome (actually encouraged) to identify and recommend your own topics. To help with topic brainstorming, please refer to the kinds of topics already covered at CharityGuide.org.
An appropriate topic for an article will be a specific activity, which is neither too broad nor too granular. For example:
Too Broad Save Endangered Animals
Just Right: Save Endangered Sea Turtles
Too Granular: Save Endangered Seat Turtles in Borneo
Too Broad Prevent Torture
Just Right: Prevent the Torture of a Human Rights Activist
Too Granular: Prevent the Torture of Brian Platnick
Too Broad Protect Children from Harm
Just Right: Childproof Your Home (good for a "make a difference in a few hours" article)
Just Right: Childproof Your Windows (good for a "make a difference in 15 minutes" article)
Too Granular: Use Ready-Locks on Your Windows
If you prefer to be assigned topics, please contact Kate Quigley at Quigley@CharityGuide.org.
Controversial Issues
Please avoid controversial issues.
Note: Attempting to influence legislation would cause Charity Guide to forfeit status as a tax-exempt public charity. (Lobbyists are not recognized by the IRS as charities.)
For instance, we cannot publish an article that attempts to overturn death-penalty legislation. On the other hand, we could publish an article about volunteering time to assist in the defense (or prosecution) of inmates on death row.
If you do decide to address a controversial issue, please faithfully present both sides of the argument and acknowledge that reasonable people can disagree. Charity Guide's goal is to encourage participation in making a difference, not to pick sides.
A few issues, however, are simply too distracting for us to handle. For instance, we will not publish articles related to abortion, pro or con.
Fortunately, most issues are not controversial. For instance, if you wish to promote techniques to reduce drunk driving, no one is going to ask you to present the opposing view.
Promote Volunteerism, Not Monetary Donations
Please do not write articles that seek to raise money on behalf of a particular nonprofit organization. Charity Guide's mission is to promote volunteerism and acts of kindness, but not to seek monetary donations.
As an example, we would be happy to publish an article about volunteering to teach English to recently-arrived refugees. However, we would not publish an article about staging a bake sale to raise money for a charity that arranges English lessons for recently-arrived refugees.
Promote a Cause, Not a Specific Charity
"The Challenge" section of your article should focus on a specific cause, but not on a specific charity. We cannot publish articles that read like a promotional brochure for one particular charity.
Editorial Selectivity
Note: This guideline is only relevant if the "How to Make a Difference" section of your article will refer readers to other organizations. If so, please read on...
As an investigative journalist, you are the "eyes and ears" of Charity Guide, for your topic. In that role, we rely on you to direct readers to only the most suitable recipient organizations.
Given that your article may be read and acted upon by tens of thousands of readers, many charities would like you to include them as beneficiaries, in the "How to Make a Difference" section of your article.
For instance, if you were writing about "How to Organize a Clothes Drive", how would you determine which organizations to list as the recipients of the collected clothes?
Generally, at least three different organizations should be listed in the "How to Make a Difference" section of your article.
To qualify, the selected organizations must be nationally relevant, either by:
• facilitating the "make a difference" activity via their website
• offering recipient locations throughout the country
• providing a mail-in address to receive collected items
When many alternatives are available, please recommend the organizations that make it easiest for the self-directed volunteer to successfully complete their make a difference activity.
Questions?
Despite all these instructions, writing for Charity Guide is actually quite easy and rewarding, once you get the hang of it.
If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to contact Kate Quigley at Quigley@CharityGuide.org.
Promoting Volunteerism
Thank you for your interest in writing for Charity Guide. Please join us as we create articles on "how to make a difference". Our goal is to inspire and facilitate over one million acts of kindness per year.
To help achieve that goal, Charity Guide seeks over 1,000 articles, which will be included in one of three directories:
• How to Make a Difference in 15 Minutes
• How to Make a Difference in a Few Hours (once, or each week)
• How to Make a Difference During a Volunteer Vacation
One "Voice" and Format
As many as 100-200 different journalists may be involved in contributing directory articles, which presents our challenge: To ensure the best possible experience for our readers,
100+ different journalists need to contribute their ideas and research to our directory in "one voice" and in one format.
This Writing Style Guide describes that "voice" and format.
CharityGuide.org
Given the need for consistency, please familiarize yourself with the format of the current content published at http://CharityGuide.org.
For instance, articles already posted at CharityGuide.org such as Phishing: Reduce Identity Theft provide good examples of incorporating the concepts introduced in this Style Guide.
Our Audience
Our target audience is busy adults (70% female), 18-49 years old, with hectic lifestyles and unpredictable schedules. For them, traditional volunteering is impractical, because they cannot commit to showing up at a specific location, at a specific time, for a specific number of weeks. Instead, they seek opportunities to make a difference that are self-directed and flexible.
As web users, our audience tends to "scan" first before committing to "read". Given that tendency, each of the articles in our directory should be easy to scan, with a common format, short paragraphs, punchy sentences, and emphasized keywords. As you write, be direct and compelling, because you only have a few seconds to earn the reader's time.
The Storyline
Each article should have two sections:
1. The Challenge (200 to 350 words)
2. How to Make a Difference (50 – 300 words)
In "The Challenge" section:
1. Immediately grab the reader's attention by conveying a compelling problem, supported by facts from a reputable source
2. Then, expand on the unfortunate impact of that problem. (Use an example, or further explanation, to "pull at the reader's heart strings")
3. Then, raise hope that the issue can be solved, with the reader's help, to get the reader enthusiastic about making a difference
In the "How to Make a Difference" section, there are two acceptable approaches. You can:
• provide step-by-step instructions, or
• refer to other nonprofit websites that provide straightforward instructions (please link to their specific instruction pages, not to their general home pages)
Keyword Phrases
For your article to achieve the highest ranking in search results at Google and Yahoo, please adjust your writing style to insert important keyword phrases where search engines will look for them, particularly in the title of your article and throughout the first few paragraphs.
Which keyword phrases should you insert? To answer that question, put yourself in the mind of the target audience of your article. Ask yourself: "To find my article via a Google search, which keyword phrases might an internet-surfer use?"
Those keyword phrases should appear:
• in the title, preferably at, or near, the beginning
• at the beginning of the first sentence of the first paragraph
• several times in the first few paragraphs
• in bold or italics, at least once
• as a hyperlink, leading to a website ranked among the top 10 in Google for that keyword phrase
Before submitting your first article to Charity Guide, please review our tips on Copywriting for Search Engines.
Article Titles
Please construct your article title as an imperative command. Include your primary keyword phrase in the title, preferably at, or near, the beginning. Multiple variations of the keyword phrase are encouraged.
KEYWORD PHRASE INCORRECT TITLE BETTER TITLE
Fair Trade Coffee Before You Buy Your Next Frappuccino... Buy Fair Trade Coffee
Blood Donation Give the Gift of Life Donate Blood or Organize a Blood Donation Drive
Childproofing Hazards of Typical Household Windows Childproofing Tip: Childproof Your Windows
Endangered Sea Turtles Endangered Sea Turtles Save Endangered Sea Turtles
Phishing New Identity Theft Technique Phishing: Reduce Identity Theft
The "Litmus Test"
When a Charity Guide editor considers your article for publication, the "litmus test" will be: Could a reader really follow these instructions and make a positive difference in the allotted time?
As an investigative journalist for Charity Guide, it is your job to do "the heavy lifting" on the readers' behalf. For instance, to create instructions on How to Make a Difference in 15 Minutes, it might take you 4-8 hours of research to identify the options, vet the alternatives, and fine-tune the approach. However, with your 4-8 hours of effort, you enable thousands of other people to make a difference in just 15 minutes each.
There is a different litmus test for articles on How to Make a Difference During a Volunteer Vacation. In that case, your role is to recommend and link to descriptions of volunteer vacation opportunities, organized by reputable nonprofit agencies, which offer a wide range of duration and fee options.
Article Topics
You are welcome (actually encouraged) to identify and recommend your own topics. To help with topic brainstorming, please refer to the kinds of topics already covered at CharityGuide.org.
An appropriate topic for an article will be a specific activity, which is neither too broad nor too granular. For example:
Too Broad Save Endangered Animals
Just Right: Save Endangered Sea Turtles
Too Granular: Save Endangered Seat Turtles in Borneo
Too Broad Prevent Torture
Just Right: Prevent the Torture of a Human Rights Activist
Too Granular: Prevent the Torture of Brian Platnick
Too Broad Protect Children from Harm
Just Right: Childproof Your Home (good for a "make a difference in a few hours" article)
Just Right: Childproof Your Windows (good for a "make a difference in 15 minutes" article)
Too Granular: Use Ready-Locks on Your Windows
If you prefer to be assigned topics, please contact Kate Quigley at Quigley@CharityGuide.org.
Controversial Issues
Please avoid controversial issues.
Note: Attempting to influence legislation would cause Charity Guide to forfeit status as a tax-exempt public charity. (Lobbyists are not recognized by the IRS as charities.)
For instance, we cannot publish an article that attempts to overturn death-penalty legislation. On the other hand, we could publish an article about volunteering time to assist in the defense (or prosecution) of inmates on death row.
If you do decide to address a controversial issue, please faithfully present both sides of the argument and acknowledge that reasonable people can disagree. Charity Guide's goal is to encourage participation in making a difference, not to pick sides.
A few issues, however, are simply too distracting for us to handle. For instance, we will not publish articles related to abortion, pro or con.
Fortunately, most issues are not controversial. For instance, if you wish to promote techniques to reduce drunk driving, no one is going to ask you to present the opposing view.
Promote Volunteerism, Not Monetary Donations
Please do not write articles that seek to raise money on behalf of a particular nonprofit organization. Charity Guide's mission is to promote volunteerism and acts of kindness, but not to seek monetary donations.
As an example, we would be happy to publish an article about volunteering to teach English to recently-arrived refugees. However, we would not publish an article about staging a bake sale to raise money for a charity that arranges English lessons for recently-arrived refugees.
Promote a Cause, Not a Specific Charity
"The Challenge" section of your article should focus on a specific cause, but not on a specific charity. We cannot publish articles that read like a promotional brochure for one particular charity.
Editorial Selectivity
Note: This guideline is only relevant if the "How to Make a Difference" section of your article will refer readers to other organizations. If so, please read on...
As an investigative journalist, you are the "eyes and ears" of Charity Guide, for your topic. In that role, we rely on you to direct readers to only the most suitable recipient organizations.
Given that your article may be read and acted upon by tens of thousands of readers, many charities would like you to include them as beneficiaries, in the "How to Make a Difference" section of your article.
For instance, if you were writing about "How to Organize a Clothes Drive", how would you determine which organizations to list as the recipients of the collected clothes?
Generally, at least three different organizations should be listed in the "How to Make a Difference" section of your article.
To qualify, the selected organizations must be nationally relevant, either by:
• facilitating the "make a difference" activity via their website
• offering recipient locations throughout the country
• providing a mail-in address to receive collected items
When many alternatives are available, please recommend the organizations that make it easiest for the self-directed volunteer to successfully complete their make a difference activity.
Questions?
Despite all these instructions, writing for Charity Guide is actually quite easy and rewarding, once you get the hang of it.
If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to contact Kate Quigley at Quigley@CharityGuide.org.