She has a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan - Flint, and she has been a freelance writer for over 15 years. In that time she has written for nonprofits large and small, as well as healthcare, tech, and marketing companies. She has been the content marketing manager for Virtuous CRM, written a bunch of grants, covered local news for community newspapers and written for national trade journals.She focuses on nonprofits and social good clients because she cares more about causes than widgets. She loves learning about the ways that people are changing the world. Key Takeaways:There’s an opportunity in authenticity to build trust with your supporters. There is an impulse that is common in groups to want to protect the image of the organization. However, doing this, you’ll miss out on being real and connecting to your people in a genuine way. Simple is good. Include only as many words as you have to say and ditch the filler. Make sure that the time the readers spend on reading your report is worth it. When writing nonprofit stories, think about your audience first and foremost. The report is going to be for them so figure out who those people are. Then, ask yourself how you want them to feel. Start the story from the individual zooming out to the bigger picture and then going back to that individual again. The decisions that we make don’t come from what we think but instead come from what we feel. The same is true for philanthropic decisions. In our messages, we always have to keep in mind what we want the readers to feel.  “Putting your mistakes out there, or the things that were disappointing, and inviting your supporters into that story shows them that you're not trying to trick them. And I think you can't like you can't buy that kind of authenticity and relationship building. The cost of it is bravery.” “It’s annual report time and you're thinking, ‘oh, right, I need quotes and stories, and I need to talk to the program people about what's going on’. You can do that not on annual report time, you can build yourself a little repository of stories you can use for fundraising.” “That's where we make philanthropic decisions. Yes, is with that emotional, or in that emotional space. It's not an analytical space, even though it seems like it should be and we try to reason people into giving.”- Megan Donahue  Reach out to Megan Donahue at:Website: http://donahuewritingchicago.com/Email: megan@donahuewritingchicago.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-donahue-writer Be more confident, credible & convincing to your board & supporters without feeling rejected, ineffective, or pushy. Learn to manage your mindset, lead yourself and others more effectively and have the meaningful conversations that drive your most important work. Get your free starter kit today at  www.theinfluentialnonprofit.com Connect with Maryanne Dersch: maryanne@courageouscommunication.com