A good walk amongst tall trees: Redwood National Park

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A good walk amongst tall trees: Redwood National Park

Redwood National Park has been on my bucket list for quite some time. I used to see photos of the tall, majestic redwoods and something in my soul would stir. I’ve always wanted to travel out west to see them and I finally had the chance this August.

Redwood National Park is home to some of the tallest trees on earth, but it is also one of the most diverse national parks I have visited. In addition to the redwoods, there are prairies, oak woodlands, rivers, and nearly 40 miles of beautiful coastline.

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How to Build a Non-Profit Blog Editorial Calendar

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How to Build a Non-Profit Blog Editorial Calendar

A blog is a great tool for non-profits. It gives you control over your own news channel essentially.

Without a blog, you can put out press releases and photos all day long, but if the news outlets don’t pick it up, it feels like the news never happened. If you have your own blog, you can post the press release there, along with photos, links, and more materials, then share all of that on social media, on your website, and in an e-newsletter. But if you’re thinking of starting a blog and don’t have a lot of content, you may wonder how to get started.

A blog editorial calendar will help you with timing, messaging, and management. Here’s how to build one:

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Give button: Add one more to your non-profit website

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Give button: Add one more to your non-profit website

If you’re a non-profit webmaster, you probably look at your website all the time. After awhile, your eyes may begin to gloss over the details, including your Give button. For example, at a statewide non-profit, we had a Give tab in the main navigation of the website and a Give link in the footer of the page. I decided to review every page of text and include a PBS-style request for donations within the content of each page. For example, “This program is support by donors like you…Please make a gift today.”

But my eyes eventually landed on a strip of white space on the left side of our page templates. It included secondary navigation links, but seemed really underutilized. I wondered what would happen if I put a second Give button (and a third or fourth option to give, depending on the page) in that space.

Here’s what happened:

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Case Study: Inbound Marketing for the Vermont Foodbank

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Case Study: Inbound Marketing for the Vermont Foodbank

Inbound marketing is a technique for bringing more fans into your non-profit engagement funnel by providing them with a product, service, or piece of content for which they give you their name, contact info, and permission to contact them in return. It’s an underutilized marketing tool in the non-profit world, but can reap major rewards for the creative organization.

This is a blog post about an inbound marketing technique I utilized at a statewide non-profit, which expanded our reach in terms of both numbers and types of supporters as well as type and topic of content on the web. It eventually got us recognition from the national Meatless Monday campaign and was a fun project to work on.

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The Beauty of Big Trees: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

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The Beauty of Big Trees: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

I was really pushing it by heading toward Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in late July. Not only was it a busy time of year for the parks, but it was hot. Too hot. So hot that I only stayed for a few days and eventually headed toward the California coast.

But what I saw in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks were mesmerizing, large trees and a park administration working very hard to re-preserve (I’ll explain that later) a region that was nearly destroyed by its own popularity. I was impressed and so glad I went.

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Peak Season in Yosemite National Park

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Peak Season in Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is certainly one of the crown jewels of the National Park system. It was also my first experience with the high-season rush of crowds at a national park, which has me thinking about how people interact with our protected spaces.

Yosemite is in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, on the eastern side of the state. Within the 1,200 square miles, you’ll find the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Hetch Hetchy, Glacier Point, Half Dome, the Tunnel View, and many beautiful waterfalls.

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