How to Write Engaging Articles in the Philanthropy Space

Content is one of the most effective tools to use when looking for exposure. However, writing is a skill that needs constant polishing. As we want our ecosystem of corporates, nonprofits, and charities to share their insights with the world, and inspire others to get started or perform better in the space, we have put together a few tips based on our journalistic experience, to help you get started on your article. Here they are:

Write About Things You Have Experience With

Picking topics that are based on the things you know or do every day will make writing about the topic so much easier. As we are trying to provide actionable information to our readers, it is best to channel your experience and provide them with exactly that. If you were to give yourself a guide on how to do things, as you were just starting out in your job, what would it say?

Create a Smart Structure for Your Article

1. Always have a headline, even if you will change it as you are crystallising your ideas. The title should summarise your article or its conclusion. Here is an example of a great title: Five ways to better engage with your donors. It’s to the point, and the reader knows exactly what to expect when clicking on it.

2. Focus on one main idea. List the things you want to include in your piece, as bullet points, from the most important to the least important. Then flesh them out and make sure that the text flows. Add a conclusion.

3. Use links to support your ideas and, where relevant and available, charts.

4. Include subheadings – they break the text into more accessible “bites” and help with the flow. Subheadings should summarise – in 3-4 words – the main idea in the following paragraphs.

Fleshing It Out

In journalism, we know that the first paragraph is the one to make or break an article. As such, we use the rule of the 5Ws + 1H: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Your article might not need to include all of them, but they can provide a good start. And a great hook. Here are a few more steps:

Using the bullets mentioned above, let your article flow. Tell your story, but don’t forget to add hard facts and figures – that adds credibility to your writing and helps provide the reader with key insights. They can also underscore the relevance of your work and provide context. For example: if you are active in a field, it would be very useful for the reader to understand what the main figures and trends in it are: let’s say you are a charity helping cancer sufferers, a corporate donating to research in the space as part of your CSR initiatives, or an individual volunteering; it would be great to give people some context – how many people suffer from the disease in the UK, how many beneficiaries does your initiative have, how is the research in the field going, how have the numbers changed over time?
Read your article again and make sure grammar is on point, all facts and figures have been checked, links work and quotes and charts have been attributed.