Writing profile content
What this is for
A Vianido profile is how people who don't know the organization yet first meet it: donors deciding whether to give, volunteers looking for a place to help, funders and partners checking who does the work. Everything on it has to tell them, quickly and truthfully, who this organization is and why its work matters. The organization approves what goes on its profile; the agent's job is to turn the organization's own sources into clear, specific information, not to market it.
The test
Could this piece of information appear unchanged on another organization's profile? Then replace it with something only this one can say: a place, a program by name, a number, a year, what the work looks like. A figure needs the same: what it counts, for whom, and when.
- Generic: "We are dedicated to fighting hunger in our community."
- Specific: "Every Saturday since 1987, volunteers in Riverbend's old fire station hand out groceries to about 300 families."
Tell the story
Who they serve, precisely. What they do, by program. Where, named the way a person searching would name it, and since when. Why it started. One concrete outcome, with its year. Lead with the most distinctive, not the name or "Founded in".
Fields
- Tagline: a few concrete words. Offer two or three.
- Mission: why they exist, whom they serve, how. Present tense, one or two sentences. A goal or campaign ("raise $2M for a new building") is not a mission. Keep an adopted mission statement word for word.
- About / description: one or two short paragraphs, the story compressed.
- Longer sections: one idea each, specifics throughout. One program or person told well beats a list of everything.
- Figures and metrics (staff, volunteers, people served): the number the sources state, for the period they state. Keep counts of activity (meals served, classes taught) apart from changes in people's lives (families no longer food insecure), and never present the first as the second. Prefer the figures the organization tracks itself over ones that only look big. A custom metric's name says what it counts in a few words, without the year.
- About page headings: plain labels a reader scans for ("Our programs", "Where we work"), not slogans.
- Image alt text: what the picture shows, in one sentence, for someone who can't see it. No "image of", no praise.
- Quotes: the person's own words, unedited except for length, and the name and role they agreed to.
People in the story
A story about someone the organization serves needs their consent; ask the user whether it was given. Show people with their own strengths and choices, not as helpless or rescued. Leave out names and details that identify a child or anyone at risk, unless the user confirms it is cleared.
Voice
Take the voice from what the user provides: their website, an annual report, a presentation, a brochure. Match its tone, its "we" or third person, and its names for programs and places. If the user has given nothing to go on, ask for one example of how the organization describes itself. Without one, use plain words, short sentences and active verbs. Either way, replace sector jargon and acronyms with everyday words.
Avoid
- empower, foster, leverage, elevate, champion, transform, holistic, impactful, journey, landscape, tapestry, beacon, testament;
- "dedicated to", "passionate about", "making a difference", "plays a vital role", "at the heart of", "strives to";
- lists of three for rhythm, "not just X but Y", rhetorical questions, a closing line that restates what came before;
- em dashes, exclamation marks, emoji;
- superlatives ("leading", "the only") no source supports.
Truth
Every claim comes from the sources. Missing something that would help? Ask for it. Never invent numbers, quotes, people or outcomes; vague and true beats specific and false.
Process
Draft, check it against the test and the avoid list, then show it with the sources it rests on. Write only what the user approves.