Do you feel passionately about a cause—such as protecting the environment, ending world hunger, or ensuring civil rights for all people living in Texas? Can you see yourself working for an organization whose main purpose is to raise awareness about that issue and make a difference in people’s lives? If so, Writing for Nonprofits is for you.

Nonprofits do a lot of good in their communities, but their survival depends on how well they do two things: 1) promote their mission and 2) create opportunities for people to support it. In this class, you’ll learn about the crucial role writing plays in achieving these goals. The materials you’ll write for class will be the kind that employees of nonprofits create on a daily basis. Each of you will write a feature article and work with a group to research and write a grant directed at a particular foundation. You will also design a term project of your own that meets the needs of one of our partner organizations or a nonprofit you already work for. This self-designed project might include newsletter copy, radio-and-tv spots, news releases, a letter of intent, a letter of solicitation, web copy, or other materials that will aid an existing nonprofit in carrying out its mission.

This course also provides you with the unique opportunity to work directly with a local non-profit agency and create materials its directors can use for publicity and fundraising. This fall we are partnered with The Nobelity Project, The Miracle Foundation, Teatro Vivo, the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development, Mother Maryam Foundation, and UT's student chapter of OxFam.

Texts:

PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING by Thomas Bivens (McGraw Hill, 2005)

SF WRITER by John Ruszkiewicz, et. al. (Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2006)

GRANT SEEKING IN AN ELECTRONIC AGE by Victoria Mikelonis, et. al. (Allyn & Bacon-Pearson, 2004)