A Communications Question for Nonprofit Writers: Do You "Utilize" or "Use"?

The most common problem with nonprofit writing is the use of jargon and terminology that those inside the organization understand and use daily but that simply obscure meaning for most readers.

Kivi Leroux Miller, who authors the blog Nonprofit Communications, pointed us recently to a list of words to avoid in your marketing materials.

The list is at The Communications Network and does a wonderful job of pointing out words that obscure rather than illuminate. Examples include "maximize," "utilize," "value added," and "benchmarking."

One might be tempted to say that donors are dazzled by these words. But really, why make people work so hard to understand your message? A media specialist told me some years ago that "short words are best, and old words when short are better." He illustrated his point by referring to the word/s anyone will utter when they strike their thumb with a hammer while trying to pound a nail. Those are short, old words.

You needn't resort to curse words though to make your prose flow. When tempted to write any of the words in the above list, just take your copy to the back fence and ask your neighbor to listen to you read it. Then ask them what it says. That should cure you.