What are good blog topics for mission-based organizations?

Revised as of March 2, 2017

A free resource for nonprofit organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based agencies
by Jayne Cravens
More resources at coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

What are good blog topics for mission-based organizations?

The word "blog" is short for "web log", and means keeping a journal or diary online. Blogging is NOT a new concept -- people have been doing it long before it had a snazzy media label. People wrote journals and diaries online on the first web sites, as well as via even the earliest online discussion groups (see A Brief Review of the Early History of Nonprofits and the Internet for more information).

And blogs aren't passé either. Yes, there are a lot of people that don't read them - but there are a lot that do. The appeal of blogging for an online audience is that it is more personal and less formal than other information on a web site or in email newsletter. Readers who want to connect with an organization or a particular department of an organization on a more personal level, or who are more intensely interested in an organization than the general public as a whole, love blogs.

Blogs can have lots of "I" statements, and feel more like someone speaking and less like a PR piece. They are an opportunity to not just relate information, but to relate feelings and opinions.

Not every mission-based/civil society organization needs a blog. Blogs must be frequently updated, should be part of an already well-traveled web site or well-established online presence of a nonprofit organization. Blogs should be part of the many reasons to visit your organization's web site regularly. Blogs should not subsitute for a regular web site. Blogs should also be published regularly, certainly at least once a month.

If your organization chooses to have a blog, you do NOT need special software: you can upload blog entries just as you do regular web pages. If you want to enable people to post comments about individual blog entries (and approve them before they appear), then you will have to chose a platform outside of your regular web site or you will have to obtain software that allows you to blog directly on your web site.

Before we talk about platforms and software, however, let's talk about content, which is the most important feature of a blog.

Blogs can come from your Executive Director, your volunteer manager, the head of client services, other staff members, volunteers, and even those you serve. Content options are many:

Reflections by your executive director on your organization's successes over the last 12 months.
An update by the president of your board about a new facility being constructed for your organization.
A personal observation by a program manager relating how people your organization serves related to a particular recent activity.
An essay by a volunteer about why he or she feels motivated to help your organization.
A commentary by a staff member about what a proposed piece of legislation may mean for the mission-based organization.
A description by your volunteer manager about what a "day-in-his/her-life" is like at your organization.
A commentary by a staff member in conjunction with a press release by your organization, such as the receipt of a new grant, giving a personal message about what this means to the organization along with the PR piece.
An essay to acknowledge a particular event or day relating to your organization, such as World Aids Day, or International Volunteers Day.

TechSoup has at least one article regarding suggested content for nonprofit blogs. Also, see this resource from Planned Legacy

What platform should you use? There are a huge number of free platforms out there -- so many, and changing so frequently, that I'm not going to list them here. You will be able to find lists of blogging platforms at TechSoup as well as any search on Google. While it's fine to blog on FaceBook or to micro-blog (limited to 140 characters) on Twitter, be aware that someone has to be a user of such a "closed" platform in order to read your blog, and not everyone is on those platforms. When you look at blog platforms, look for something that does NOT require someone to login to anything or create an account in order to simply read your blog (but requiring a login to comment is just fine).

My own blog features regular updates about my web site, and resources and issues relating to mission-based organizations (nonprofits, non-governmental organizations/NGOs, civil society, and public sector agencies). The blog provides a way for readers to post comments as well.

You can befriend me via my Facebook professional profile, where I post links to my most-recent blog posts, micro-blog and offer comments on other people's FB profiles.

You can, indeed, follow me Twitter at @jcravens42 to know when I update my blog or send a new Tech4Impact email newsletter.

Also see:

For Nonprofits Considering Their Own Podcasts: Why It's Worth Exploring, and Content Considerations (includes my own podcast)
Nonprofit Organizations and Online Social Networking (OSN): Advice and Commentary
The Nonprofit & NGO Guide to Using Reddit
As of July 2019, Reddit ranked as the No. 5 most visited website in the USA and No. 13 in the world. Reddit is a community of communities, and its communities are called subreddits. A subreddit can have a focus on a geographic area, a book, a celebrity, a particular time in history, a specific hobby - anything. Statistics suggest that 74% of Reddit users are male. Users tend to be significantly younger than other online communities like Facebook with less than 1% of users being 65 or over. If you want to reach a younger demographic regarding your volunteering opportunities, your awareness messages, your data that shows your value to the community and more, you need to build posts to Reddit into your marketing strategy, no matter what your nonprofit's size or focus. This resource tells you how to do it.
Snapchat’s Potential Power for Social Good – with REAL examples
Evaluating Online Activities: Online Action Should Create & Support Offline Action
Hundreds of "friends" on an online social networking site. Thousands of subscribers to an email newsletter. Dozens of attendees to a virtual event. Those are impressive numbers on the surface, but if they don't translate into more volunteers, repeat volunteers, new donors, repeat donors, more clients, repeat clients, legislation, or public pressure, they are just that: numbers. For online activities to translate into something tangible, online action must create and support offline action. What could this look like? This resource can help organizations plan strategically about online activities so that they lead to something tangible - not just numbers.

See more resources re: Outreach & Engagement, With and Without Technology

Quick Links

my home page

my consulting services & my workshops & presentations

my credentials & expertise

my research projects

my book: The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook

How to Support This Web Site & My Work

contact me or see my schedule

Free Resources: Community Outreach, With & Without Tech

Free Resources: Nonprofit, NGO & other mission-based management resources

Free Resources: Technology Tips for Non-Techies

Free Resources: Web Development, Maintenance, Marketing for non-Web designers

Free Resources: For people & groups that want to volunteer

linking to or from my web site

Coyote Helps Foundation

me on social media (follow me, like me, put me in a circle, subscribe to my newsletter)

how to support my work & this web site

Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by the poster/distributor. This material is provided as is, with no expressed or implied warranty.

See this web site's privacy policy.

Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited amount of material from my web site without charge if the information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:

Jayne Cravens & Coyote Communications, www.coyotecommunications.com

Otherwise, please contact me for permission to reprint, present or distribute these materials (for instance, in a class or book or online event for which you intend to charge).