Words Matter

As you may have already heard, the Associated Press will no longer be calling people "illegal".

Although it is important for everyone to understand the power of words, I think it is especially important for us as writers.

This study from The National Hispanic Media Coalition found that non-latinos demonstrated much more negative opinions when responding to the term "illegal" or "illegal immigrant" than they did to the term "undocumented". Although neither are fully accurate, people are not illegal. By calling human beings "illegal", we are dehumanizing them. We're equating them with their actions, not their humanity.

As writers, we have influence over the material that reaches the public. Written word in particular is a concrete type of discourse that can shape the way that issues and populations are viewed and understood. From one writer to another, please keep in mind that your words matter! Be kind and respect the personhood of others.

(and as one writer to another, good luck with whatever you may be writing at the moment!)

Fundraising??

The last couple of weeks in class, we've been discussing fundraising. As in, how to do it.

If you've never attempted fundraising before, you may not understand how ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING it can be.

Luckily, we've got our awesome textbook (The Grant Writing Toolkit) that gives us the technical parts of each step and guides us through the different aspects of creating a budget and all that jazz. The book goes in to all of the stuff that anyone who has tried to do a fundraiser for a church youth room renovation would have given their left arm to know. The business theories, the marketing strategies, all of the basic rules of what works and why.

It can't convey, however, that extra bit of personability and spark that really make or break a fundraiser. That's the part the church fundraiser usually nails. Our instructor made up for that by bringing in two great guest speakers! One was a grant writer for Bethlehem House, a local homeless shelter, and the other is an experienced grant writer now on a committee that approves grants for the City of Little Rock.

Unfortunately, what they had to add was basically "this is just as hard as you think it is, probably even harder." Jill Imboden, the representative from Bethlehem House, stressed the need for good marketing materials and personal contact in fundraising. And connections. Connections were the worst because what undergrad has connections to millionaires? Basically none. One bit of advice she had to add (that wasn't wholly disheartening) was that we should be aware of our audience and match our marketing materials to our target audience. For example, young professionals like YouTube videos, but older supporters may still prefer receiving tri-fold pamphlets in the mail.

Marq Golden, the representative from the City of Little Rock, talked more about grants. He's not only written many grants, but also been on committees judging the grants. His advice was fantastic, but also daunting for an undergrad partnering with a small non-profit. He shared that government grants are really looking to fund cooperative efforts. For example, if someone is applying for a grant for a community center, they would want to see a local educational non-profit pairing with a local sports league to provide activities for at risk youth. Things like that.

That's all totally easy to pull out of a hat, right?

And that's not even getting to the budget. Sheesh. Well, hopefully this secret insider advice is as interesting to you as it was to me and my classmates!

...still daunted...