Writing Through an Assets-based Lens
A common mistake many nonprofits make in their writing is neglecting to use an assets-based lens, particularly when it comes to writing about minoritized or marginalized communities. An assets-based approach prioritizes and recognizes the strengths and assets embedded within the communities we work with. It’s true - describing and explaining deficits is needed, to some degree, to capture the nature of the problems our organizations try to solve. However, too much deficit-based language without a balance of asset-focused language can come across as exploiting needs (take it from a former manager of grant programs!).
This is particularly true when nonprofits write about communities of color that they work with as communities that they serve. As a person who reviewed grant proposals for years, programs that leave out insights about the assets of the communities they work with negatively impacted my impressions about the organization. It seemed that the very premise on which these organizations approached their work (mainly in the context of organizations working with communities of color) was flawed. It is critical to examine how the language of serving communities implies certain communities are in need of serving/saving.
Here are some tips on how to take an assets-based approach in your work and then write about it in your organization’s materials:
Recognize that your nonprofit is not “serving,” it’s “working with.”
This might be hard to hear. Our organizations provide support for many individuals and communities but, ultimately, they are not useful without the communities they work with and engage. Ideally, members of the communities impacted by the issues our organizations address run these organizations. Community members are the ones that make impact and transformation on the ground and in their lives. Your organization might be a support in helping them get there or an intermediary that helps coordinate multiple groups in getting toward the same goal. Reframing what your organization does as work with communities recognizes the humanity, assets, dignity and agency of those communities.
Partner with communities in a way that honors the assets they have.
Nonprofits rightfully should increase education about and awareness of the services they provide within the community/communities they work with. But, to the extent that they build on the existing assets and capacity within a community, they must frame their work in relationship to these community assets. For example, if your program builds community leadership within the issue areas your organization works in, it’s critical to recognize that community members participating in your program are leaders already, who come with their own sets of experiences, knowledge and wisdom that will build onto the knowledge base of your program.
Identify when you are using language that glosses over naming systemic inequities and change it.
Is your nonprofit working with communities that have been historically disadvantaged by the systems and structures created by people outside of their racialized group? Using the words like “at-risk,” “disconnected” and “vulnerable” often reinforces discriminatory or stereotypical ideas about Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Again, it’s important to name the reality of the issues that your nonprofit seeks to address, but it’s helpful to pay attention to how that issue is framed in the context of current inequities.
For example:
Africans American men are disproportionately incarcerated.
versus
Law enforcement systems have disproportionately incarcerated African American men.
Name the strengths of the communities you work with up front.
Grant funding is often awarded to organizations that can clearly describe the issues and needs of the communities they work with and how their organization effectively addresses their needs. Yet, too often, writers solely focus on communities’ needs at the expense of describing their assets. People impacted by historic inequities often have the greatest strengths in that they can shape the most effective solutions as a result of their lived experience of inequities.
Nonprofits might to consider conducting regularly audits of their writing, marketing content and communications plans to center an assets-based approach.
