Brand Story
Most of the people who read Neon One’s content are nonprofit professionals. They work mostly in development (fundraising), but not always! Some other types of jobs our readers are managing include:
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We also talk to board members, nonprofit consultants, volunteers, and even people who are considering getting involved in the nonprofit sector.
While our audience is broad and diverse, they do share some common characteristics. Nonprofit professionals generally have lofty goals and lots to do, but they often lack the time, resources, and knowledge to make it happen. The result is that they’re often overwhelmed, stressed out, or frustrated. When someone lands on our site, reads an article, or downloads a guide, we should assume that they are seeking immediate answers to pressing questions that will impact their ability to do their work.
Content Goals
Due to the breadth of our audience, our content needs to be clearly written and easy to understand. It will ideally give people next steps to take.
Our goal is to provide valuable content that answers their questions, reassures them when they’re overwhelmed, engages them, and makes them feel confident in their decision.
This should be true regardless of the content they’re reading. If they are looking for a CRM and land on one of our solutions pages, they should be able to understand our CRM’s capabilities, grasp how they can use it, and have an idea about what to do next. If they want to learn about email segmentation and land on a blog article, they should be able to learn about what segmentation is, why it’s valuable, and how they can start using it.
Voice & Tone
When we write (or speak!) to our audiences, we need to do so in a way that puts them at ease while educating them. That’s why our voice and tone are so important.
Our “voice” is our company-wide style and personality. Our “tone” is our attitude. Both should work together to create engaging content that is professional, authoritative, practical, and positive.
When we write, we focus on sharing relevant information and data, practical examples (when needed, especially if you’re talking about something complex), and tactical tips for applying what we’ve taught our readers.
No matter what we write, we always do so in a way that our readers find helpful, not patronizing. Think of Neon One as the cool guidance counselor at a school; we’re educated and authoritative, but we’re also warm and approachable.
- Warm
- Approachable
- Professional
- Authoritative
- Humorous
- Genuine
- Positive
- Data-driven
- Overly formal
- Exclusive
- Patronizing
- Negative
- Arrogant
- Snarky
- Judgmental
- Anecdotal
We’re always very personal, and we write like we’re talking to an individual. And, more than anything else, we always provide helpful insights and how to act on them.
Grammar & Mechanics
The following is an ever-growing list of writing mechanics specific to our brand voice. If anything hasn’t been specified below, please refer to recommendations from the latest Associated Press Stylebook.
Abbreviations
Before using abbreviations, spell out the phrase being abbreviated in full at first mention.
Active Voice
Write in active voice by following a ‘subject-verb-object’ sentence structure. Here are a few examples of what we mean:
Active
- The foundation raised millions.
- We will release an update soon.
- The research highlighted the importance of donor retention.
Passive
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Passive voice weakens your message's clarity, although there are a few times where it can and should be used. If your goal is to emphasize action over the subject, passive voice can actually be more effective than active voice. Please use this technique sparingly, if at all.
Capitalization
Capitalization should be reserved for proper nouns (Mike, Kirsten, Neon One, Neon Fundraise) and titles, but only when used before a proper noun.
When talking about our products, only capitalize Neon One product, feature, and page names (ex: Neon CRM, Nonprofit Profile, Admin Panel). You don’t need to capitalize on user group names (ex: nonprofits, system admins, nonprofit hosts).
Contractions
We’re pro-contraction! They make written content more personable and friendly.
Emojis
In general, we use emojis sparingly — mostly on our social media handles.
Time
Time should be noted as XXam/pm TIMEZONE. The Time zone defaults to the event host. Ex: 12pm ET
Punctuations
Here are some quick notes on punctuation:
- Use exclamation points (!) sparingly. Rely on your tone to convey your good mood.
- We’re pro-oxford comma. It adds additional clarity.
- Use an em dash (—) without spaces on either side to offset an aside.
- Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, em dash, or comma) to offset a list.
- Use a hyphen (-) without spaces on either side to link words into a single phrase or to indicate a span or range.
Word List
Standardized Spellings
- gives days
- giving events (capitalized when referring to Neon Giving Events)
- login (adjective, noun), log in (verb)
- nonprofit (one word, no dashes)
- peer-to-peer
- system admin
- third-party (adjective), third party (noun,
- year-end (adjective), end of year (noun)
Common Abbreviations
- CCM: Client & Case Management
- FEP: Fundraising Effectiveness Project
- P2P: Peer-to-Peer
Words to Avoid
The phrases and words listed below can be used but sparingly, Consider their more effective swaps instead:
- Instead of ‘leverage’ or ‘utilize’, try ‘use’. It’s simpler and easier for readers to understand.
- Avoid using buzzy corporate jargon (like best-of-breed’, ‘growth hacking’, etc). Instead, speak to the outcome-based value drivers of our products.
- Similar to the above is avoiding overused words like unlocked and untapped.
- We review and take seriously the recommendations made by underrepresented and underresourced communities, such as avoiding the word stakeholder in favor of participant
- Employees are not part of a family, but certainly are part of our Team
- Through our research, we've found that nonprofits do not want to be "helped" and in fact want to feel a sense of ownership over their work.
- When writing advice-based content avoid ‘need to’ or ‘should’. Swap them out for ‘can’ and ‘could’, and back your recommendations up with information on why the practice is effective.