Water Words That Work

Wow! Something from Microsoft I Actually Like

Eric Eckl

I’m still nursing a grudge against Microsoft about the whole Windows Vista fiasco, but I’m impressed with the collection of nonprofit “templates” they’ve posted on their Microsoft Office Online collection. There are sample fundraising letters, press releases, petitions, membership questionnaires, and other useful templates for environmental writing and communication of most kinds. You might find [...]

Daily Shows Sends Up NY Times

Eric Eckl

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c End Times thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview Talk about kicking somebody while they’re down. Sheesh. But it’s pretty funny.

What’s That About Guests and Fish?

Eric Eckl

This week, I am writing a guest column over the Great Lakes Town Hall, an online community for conservationists along America’s northern coast. Today’s post riffs on a survey about global warming that J.D. tipped me off to! Click here to visit the Great Lakes Town Hall.

Facts Are Useless in Emergencies

Eric Eckl

So the producers of this video have compiled an impressive number of statistics — and some of the statistics themselves are quite impressive. But what does it prove? And what are YOU supposed to do about it? I stole today’s headline from an old Talking Heads song. But it’s appropriate: I dare any of you readers [...]

Newspapers: From Bleak to Desparate

Eric Eckl

If you’ve ever wanted to place some environmental advertising in the newspaper, now is the time. There must be some amazing bargains to be had in this market. For good measure, some of those presses may not be running much longer — so you might as well get in there while you can. I’m [...]

Raise Money Online, FAST!

Eric Eckl

That was the topic of my presentation at the 2009 River Rally yesterday. Here are PDF versions of the presentations. Thanks to all of you for coming, and good luck! Introduction and overview The Water Words That Work method for successfully asking for money Critical tools for online fundraising

Nailed It This Time, Yes I Did!

Eric Eckl

I dream of the day that us nature protection and pollution control people will have the resources to conduct market research on such earth shattering questions as this. But, it feels good to be right once in a while.

Somehow Less Than the Sum of the Parts

Eric Eckl

I ought to love this ad, which I snapped at a mall in Annapolis last week while grabbing a bite after a client meeting. If follows the Water Words That Work method down to the last detail, and yet, it somehow doesn’t quite work. First the checklist: Step One: Begin with Behavior. Check. Keep trash out [...]

Not Sure What to Make of This One

Eric Eckl

Oceana is one of my favorite of the big DC environmental groups, because they take risks and keep trying to make their point. But what’s the takeaway from this environmental advertising? If you saw this on the subway platform on your way home, could you explain to your spouse what it was about? How would you [...]

How Ya Doin’? How Ya Doin’?

Eric Eckl

Over at the Frogloop blog, Allyson Kapin is sharing highlights from the latest eBenchmarks study. This document is a roundup of the online performance of various nonprofit organizations — you can compare your own performance to these benchmarks and see if you are average, above average, or below average. In this year’s report, there’s a category [...]