Want a gift coupon and lunch with SF Goodwill’s CEO?

By Scott M. Bruner
SF Goodwill

Summary

• We welcome contributions from Bay Area bloggers, community organizations and others who write about social justice, poverty, environmental initiatives and jobs in the Bay Area.

• Keep blog posts to about 400 to 700 words in length.

• Email Scott M. Bruner of SF Goodwill to discuss your blog post idea.

Full guidelines

We welcome submissions and contributions from bloggers, partners and outside organizations! Please send us your idea for a blog post, or point us to a blog entry you’ve already posted, and our team will get back to you posthaste.

If your topic gets the green light, please follow these guidelines:

• Keep blog posts to about 400 to 700 words in length, or five to 10 paragraphs, though this is flexible.

Bay Area Impact is a community blog that highlights news and stories about social justice, poverty, environmental initiatives, the disenfranchisement of marginalized people, the power of work and stories of personal transformation – especially those centered in the Bay Area. Have a story or experience to share? Please contact us! (Also see our sister blog, Seismic Thrift, and share our call for Bay Area blogger talent with your friends and colleagues.)

• We welcome video and photo albums as well as text posts. Be sure to include enough text (metadata) in the post so that people know what the video is about without having to watch it all.

Debbie Alvarez-Rodriguez, CEO of SF Goodwill

• Alas, we cannot pay for guest blog posts – except with our undying gratitude and links back to your site. If you become a regular contributor, we’ll feature you on our Blog Squad page, send you a $25 Goodwill gift coupon and invite you to lunch with our CEO, Debbie Alvarez-Rodriguez.

• Submit the post to editor Scott M. Bruner as a text email or Word document and include .jpg photos as attachments.

• Please include a photo of yourself, a byline with a link to the organization or blog we should credit, a two-sentence bio spelling out your job or affiliation, and a link to your blog and/or Twitter accounts. Feel free to include a headline (and be direct rather than punny).

• Every post must be accompanied by a photo of some sort. If you don’t have one, we’ll track one down. If you’re planning to photograph the subject, or you’d like us to, let’s discuss.

• Tone: Write about something you’re passionate about. Let’s shoot for posts that are smart, lively, engaging, authentic, accessible (rather than dense) and even fun. Don’t think you need to crank out a detailed analysis or essay. Keep in mind what works best on the Web: short and to the point, bullet points where appropriate, snappy and friendly writing, personal in tone rather than detached, objective or institutional. Use “I” (or sometimes “we”) to refer to yourself, though make it less about “I” and more about “us” or about someone you’ve met. Take the readers on a journey of discovery.

• Include relevant links within the text of your post.

• We edit all guest posts for clarity, accuracy and brevity (please cut to the chase right away). If substantial editing changes are made, we’ll run the revised version past you before it publishes. If only minor changes are needed, we’ll assume we can make those tweaks unless we hear otherwise.

• Always keep in mind who you’re writing for.

• Can you republish your original guest post on your own or others’ sites? Yes, you can, after a 48-hour waiting period.

• We prefer that all guest posts run with any version of the Creative Commons license – mostly commonly the CC Attribution Noncommercial license. Please confirm that you’re fine with that before the publication date. (We’ll explain if you’re not familiar with CC licenses.)

• Part of the task involved in a guest post involves leaving comments or responding to comments, so please dive into the comments section after your post goes live.

• Posts that you’ve submitted to us cannot be taken down at a later date.

• Don’t forget: Have fun!

If you’d like to understand Goodwill’s mission, visit our About and Solutions pages. Please contact us if you have a question or an idea for a blog post.