How to Write a Clear Tagline for your Nonprofit Website
Nonprofits face a particular challenge on the first page of their website. Your organization is so many things to so many people. How do you capture that in a clear way, in just one or two sentences without leaving anyone out, or sounding really weird?
It’s not easy. But there are some tricks you should know to make it feel easier.
Don’t try to be too clever. Whhhooosh, that’s a relief right? Well, for some people it is. But for a lot of people running nonprofits, it can actually be a challenge not to try to sound smart. Your goal for the first section of your website should be clarity above all. So yes, that is a big giant permission slip to write something that seems way too obvious to bother writing. It’s ok. That’s really what you should be writing.
Here’s the formula: We [do X] for [y] so they can [z]. X is your service, Y is the people you serve, Z is the benefit they get from you. Here’s an example: We [collect money] for [low income high school students] so they can [go to college]. You can be even simpler: We give presents to needy children. Lots of people balk at putting this clear statement at the top of their website because it can look too simple. Your organization does so much, how could we break it down into one sentence. But simple is what you need for writing on the web. Once you’ve given your site visitors context, they know essentially what it is you do and for whom, then you can give them some more complexity. The complexity won’t be too much to handle because they’ll have the core of your mission to orient them. Without that, they are lost at sea.
Let’s try it together:
Who do you serve?
What do you mostly do for them?
What is the benefit to them, what does this allow them to do? It’s okay to skip this part if it isn’t obvious what the benefit is or there are too many to count.
Now put them together into a statement: We do x for y so they can z.
Is it clear? Is it accurate? Is it free of jargon or phrases that non-experts won’t immediately understand?
If you answered yes, you are ready to go. Don’t worry if it looks too simple, start simple and gradually introduce complexity. You are off to a great start!
