Laura L. Bush is a communications director and published writer who runs a creative agency called Highway Twenty that provides services like strategy, web development, and copywriting solely for nonprofit organizations. The document discusses tips for writing marketing collateral and messages with maximum impact for nonprofits, including using active voice, parallel structure in lists, avoiding nominalizations, reducing strings of prepositional phrases, and chunking copy under logical headings. It also recommends calculating the "lard factor" or unnecessary words and editing multiple times to produce lean yet clear copy.

1. NonprofitText:
Wri/ng
Marke/ng
Collateral
and
Messaging
for
Maximum
Impact

2. WHO
I
AM

3. Laura
L.
Bush,
Ph.D.
Communica)ons
Director
Published
Writer
Entrepreneur
Volunteer
and
Board
Member
Former
ASU
• Manager
(ended
2012)
• Faculty
Lecturer
• Instruc)onal
Professional
• Graduate
Student
(started
1994)

4. WHO
WE
ARE

5. Crea)ve
and
technology
solely
for
nonprofit
organiza)ons
and
those
who
do
good.

7. SOME
OF
OUR
SERVICES
STRATEGY
WEB
DEVELOPMENT
GRAPHIC
DESIGN
CRM
STRATEGY
&
INTEGRATION
COPYWRITING
TRANSLATION

8. Nonprofits
Communicate
for
Three
Main
Reasons
Programs
Advocacy
Fundraising
Market
and
Message

9. Create
Messages
with
Maximum
Impact
Images
–
Graphics
Video
–
Audio
–
Text

10. Our
Focus:
“Copy”
Origins:
Middle
English,
Old
French,
and
La)n
deno)ng
transcript,
transcribe,
copy

11. Our
Objec/ve
• Bold
• Clear
• Simple
Write
• Impa)ent
• Overloaded
• Scanners
Audience
• Web
• Social
• Print
Collateral

12. The
Least
You
Need
to
Know

13. 1.
Locate
the
ac/on
(verb)

14. 2.
Replace
any
forms
of
“to
be”
be
am
is
are
was
being
been
were

15. 3.
Iden/fy
the
actor
(noun)
Put
the
actor
first
please.
PASSIVE
Oprah
was
chased
by
the
fundraiser.
ACTIVE
The
fundraiser
chased
Oprah.

16. 3.
Iden/fy
the
actor
(noun)
Put
the
actor
first
please.
PASSIVE
Oprah
was
chased
by
the
fundraiser.
ACTIVE
The
fundraiser
chased
Oprah.

17. 4.
Eliminate
slow
starts
Uhhhhh
.
.
.
It
is
There
are
In
order
to
In
spite
of
the
fact
that
Un)l
such
)me
as
At
the
present
)me
Along
the
lines
of
In
order
to
Due
to
the
fact
that
By
means
of

18. 5.
Write
lists
using
parallel
form

19. 6.
Revise
nominalizations
Nominaliza)on
results
from
conver)ng
verbs
into
nouns,
ORIGINAL
AKR's
prac)ce
is
concentrated
in
five
key
areas:
1.
The
preserva)on
of
koala
habitats
2.
The
protec)on
of
marsupial
breeding
grounds
3.
The
promo)on
of
animal
welfare
organiza)ons
4.
The
accountability
of
governments
to
animal
welfare
organiza)ons
5.
The
development
of
Australian
law
and
educa)ng
the
public
about
animal
rights,
laws,
and
issues
usually
by
adding
“ion”

20. 6.
Revise
over-­‐nominalizations
Nominaliza)on
results
from
conver)ng
verbs
into
nouns,
REVISION
ARK
advocates
concentrate
their
prac)ce
in
five
key
areas:
1.
Preserve
koala
habitats
2.
Protect
marsupial
breeding
grounds
3.
Promote
animal
welfare
organiza)ons
4.
Ensure
government
accountability
to
animal
welfare
organiza)ons
5.
Develop
Australian
law
and
educate
the
public
about
animal
rights,
laws,
and
issues
ORIGINAL
ARK’s
prac)ce
is
concentrated
in
five
key
areas:
1.
The
preserva)on
of
koala
habitats
2.
The
protec)on
of
marsupial
breeding
grounds
3.
The
promo)on
of
animal
welfare
organiza)ons
4.
The
accountability
of
governments
to
animal
welfare
organiza)ons
5.
The
development
of
Australian
law
and
educa)ng
the
public
about
animal
rights,
laws,
and
issues.
usually
by
adding
“ion”

21. 7.
Reduce
strings
of
preposi/onal
phrases
The
impact
of
the
shortage
of
available
volunteers
in
the
arts
industry
is
that
it
is
not
a
short
term
problem
but
will
be
with
us
for
some
)me
to
come
and
can
seriously
affect
the
number
of
theaters
that
can
con)nue
to
operate.

22. 7.
Reduce
strings
of
preposi/onal
phrases
The
impact
of
the
shortage
of
available
volunteers
in
the
arts
industry
is
that
it
is
not
a
short
term
problem
but
will
be
with
us
for
some
)me
to
come
and
can
seriously
affect
the
number
of
theaters
that
can
con)nue
to
operate.

23. 8.
Chunk
copy
under
logical
headings

24. 9.
Calculate
the
Lard
Factor
Celebrate
lean
copy!

25. 10.
Let
/me
pass.
Then
edit
again.

26. THANK
YOU
laura
@
highwaytwenty.com
480-­‐200-­‐5431