Writing to Make a Difference: 25 Powerful Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact

Engage your readers and boost your impact! Do you write--a little or a lot--for a socially responsible organization, business, or program? Wish you had an accessible writing coach to help you quickly craft potent pieces that move your readers to act? This feisty one-stop-shop of distilled wisdom will show you-step by step-how to turbocharge your marketing and fundraising documents. Start getting the results you want, right now! Whether you're an accidental or emerging writer or a seasoned wordsmith, this comprehensive resource will help you build and manage the invaluable skills behind writing values-driven copy. You will find advice on everything from advancing your brand to storytelling to minding the devilish details. Discover how to painlessly: - Write and edit a full spectrum of clear, concise, creative pieces that will reach and influence your diverse intended audiences - Streamline and strengthen your writing process-from planning to proofreading - Develop your own confident, expert writing voice Included in these pages you will find: - More than 500 real-life examples from nonprofits, green businesses, government agencies, and others - Hundreds of stimulating questions and exercises that help you apply the lessons to your own work - Numerous guide sheets, checklists, and handy appendices - Dozens of warnings about potential pitfalls ... all this delivered with a generous helping of fun illustrations, cultural references, and humor. If you've ever had trouble expressing your passion in writing, or telling your story in a fresh and compelling way, this powerhouse of a book is for you! ADVANCE PRAISE: "This book should be on the shelf of every nonprofit administrator, community organizer, and advocate. There is literally nothing else of its kind on the market; it is 'The Elements of Style' for the grassroots fundraising and marketing world." -- Leif Wellington Haase, Director, California Program, New America Foundation "'Writing to Make a Difference' is a great balance of both instructional and interactive tips, tools, and exercises...and helps to lower the barrier for organizations that desire to tell their story in a way that captures both head and heart." -- Alandra L. Washington, Deputy Director, W.K. Kellogg Foundation "If you think your work is important, if you feel you have a message to deliver, if you have people who need to understand how this is done - this is the book. Massachi is the perfect guide and a tremendous coach." -- Jeff Hamaoui, CEO, Origo Inc. and social investment and enterprise specialist "Massachi has drilled down to all that is important about good writing. I recommend this book for those of us who write regularly, and for those of us who don't write because we don't think we can. "-- Kim Klein, author, 'Reliable Fundraising in Unreliable Times' "This is an outstanding work, one of the best I have read in the genre, and of possible use in the university, for public relations and organizational communication courses. The writing lessons are succinct, the methods to convey them effective, and the style itself an example of professional brilliance. I recommend 'Writing to Make a Difference' because I know that it will."-- Michael Bugeja, author, 'Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age' and Director, School of Journalism & Communication, Iowa State University AUTHOR BIO: Dalya F. Massachi, M.A. began writing for publication as an adolescent interested in social justice. Now, Dalya draws on her nearly 20 years of professional experience writing and editing for hundreds of socially responsible organizations. With passion and fresh insight, she reveals the top strategic insider techniques she has honed through her work as a successful grantwriter, editor, journalist, workshop instructor, and writing coach.

Dalya F. Massachi has been an avid writer and reader since learning to hold a pencil. Her first letter to the editor, about prayer in public schools, was published in her hometown (Charlotte, NC) newspaper when she was only twelve. She has been writing about social issues ever since. Dalya has committed herself to sharing her writing skills and passion for social change with a wide variety of organizations and individuals across the country. For more than eighteen years, she has worked as a trainer, writing coach, editor, consultant, journalist, and activist, primarily focusing on fund development and communications. She has crafted countless successful marketing pieces, grant proposals, news articles, and columns. In addition, she has been involved with the production of several books (as co-editor, contributor, or copyeditor) and has produced a number of websites and radio pieces. She currently pens 'The Writer's Block'; column on OpportunityKnocks.org. Since 2001, Dalya has taught writing techniques to nearly 2,000 workshop, online seminar, and college course participants. Many professionals and volunteers have come to her for one-on-one writing coaching. From 2000-2004, Dalya served as Founding Director of BAIDO: [San Francisco] Bay Area International Development Organizations. She recently served on the advisory board of the Social Sector Leadership Certificate Program at John F. Kennedy University. Dalya has worked and/or studied in Central America, Africa, Israel, the United Kingdom, and several regions of the U.S. She holds an M.A. in Communication & International Development and a B.A. in International Studies. Since 2004 she has appeared in several editions of Marquis Who s Who.