Inverted Pyramids and Martini Glasses: How to Use News Writing for Your Nonprofit

Sometimes you need a just-the-facts, straightforward approach when writing for your nonprofit, such as when you want to issue a press release.

Here are a few quick tips for writing in a classic journalistic news style: 

Always include the 5Ws and H: Provide the basic information — who, what, where, when, why and how — upfront. 

Get right to the point: Don’t bury the lead (also called the lede), typically one or two sentences with the most important information. Not everyone is going to have the time or, frankly, the patience to read the article, so you want to make sure the reader can grasp the main points immediately. Don’t make readers wait until the middle or end of the story. They won’t bother. 

Be careful when getting creative with your lead: You can try to catch readers’ attention with an unusual approach, such as starting with a quote or an anecdote, then immediately getting to the main points. But this can be hard to do well, so you’re most likely better off sticking with a straight lead. 

Keep things simple with the inverted pyramid. This time-honored writing format may not be flashy, but it works because it makes your writing easy to comprehend. Start with the key details and most important information at the top, follow that with details of lesser importance, interesting but not-as-important details, background and history. This is called the inverted pyramid because, if there isn’t enough space to print an entire article in the newspaper, an article written in this style could be cut from the bottom without sacrificing important information. 

Or, try the martini glass. In this approach, you start with a mini inverted pyramid containing the 5Ws and H (the glass), give some chronological details (the stem) and close with a kicker (the base), such as a fun fact or vivid detail that isn’t necessarily crucial but is memorable.