By Erin Gray, Senior Communications and Media Officer, HIV Scotland — I love election time. As a nonprofit communicator, there’s no better opportunity to see communication techniques in action on a grand scale. Political parties take risks that nonprofits can rarely afford to – experimenting with key messages in the face of hard-hitting interviews, reinventing…
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Minerva Strategies By Sara Veltkamp, Minerva Strategies – We all need a fresh start sometimes. We move, take vacations, get rid of clutter, or streamline our lives in other ways to make it simpler, give perspective, reenergize, or become more focused. Nonprofits also need fresh starts. Within the rapidly changing landscapes in which we work, maintaining perspective,…
By Joy Portella, President, Minerva Strategies – I’m that kind of aid skeptic. I scowl at the idea of child sponsorship. I wag my finger at people who want to send t-shirts or shoes or bicycles to kids in Africa. I yawn at sappy victim narratives that other people find heartwarming. But I am optimistic,…
By Joy Portella, Minerva Strategies – This year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos offered up much of its standard fare: private jets, top-tier corporate and political leaders, celebrities, heady speeches, and bold proclamations. But this year’s gathering had an undercurrent of anxiety. It wasn’t a 2009-style panic about global financial…
Joy Portella By Sara Veltkamp, Minerva Strategies – Digital storytelling has become a large part of the nonprofit communicator’s world. While I’m an avid story consumer and story writer, I had little experience with the process of creating digital stories. To get my feet wet, the Minerva team decided that I would head to Berkeley, California to…
Sara Veltkamp Minerva Strategies’ President, Joy Portella, argues that we need better storytelling to capture the complexity of international development. Originally published in The Guardian on April 18, 2014. A despicable villain is a critical element of any successful narrative. Heroes are important, but where would Harry Potter be without Voldemort? Or Batman without the Joker? Heroes aren’t…
Minerva Strategies’ President, Joy Portella, weighs in on the PR blunder behind World Vision’s rapid policy reversal on same-sex marriages. What happened? How could it have been avoided? What can other organizations learn from this mistake? Published in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Last week’s about-face by World Vision over the issue of same-sex marriage got attention around…