Nonprofit jargon is dying a loud, public death, and I am dancing on its grave.
Flickr photo: robotgirl
Its death has been heralded and hurried along on many blog posts over the past few weeks, and it’s overdue. As a greenhorn to the world of nonprofit communications, I mentally flinch every time I read a phrase like “earned income” and “social media.” And those aren’t even the bad ones. Try “professional development.” “Coalition building.” “Impact statement.” Even “nonprofit sector” reminds me, inexplicably, of Star Trek.
Who makes this stuff up? Oh, right. We do.
And because I am a greenhorn, my patience with jargon ran out fast. My beef with it is the same as everyone else’s beef with it: jargon makes our work unintelligible. We sound like the teacher bwah-bwah-bwahing at Charlie Brown. Normal people don’t talk like this. I don’t even talk like this outside the office. What’s the point of sounding like a robot if you don’t get hydraulic legs and a can opener for a hand?
So I was giddy to read all the recent blog posts from the seriously smart jargonbusters out there. The best part is that all these blogs throwing rocks at jargon are also offering solutions. Don’t wait for me to rehash them; do a Google Blogs search for “nonprofit jargon” and ogle the 3,500+ hits. And when you’re done with that, I have one more idea, hot off the mental press:
Baby Mission Haiku. Write your mission statement as a haiku using words of only one syllable. And no, “nonprofit” is not one syllable.
Observe: Haiku for the National Council of Nonprofit Associations
Through the strong state groups,
We help you speak as one voice
For the good of all.
Ta-da! Elevator speech done. I think I’ll take off early and go get a smoothie.
Take a crack at your own baby haiku in the comments section and maybe you can go get one too.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: communications, jargon, marketing
