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Writing at For Others

This style guide was created for For Others employees, but we hope it’s helpful for other content and communications teams too.

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Writing Goals and Principles

With every piece of content we publish, we aim to:

Restore. Help readers feel restored by using language that encourages them to make the most out of the aid, services, or products that For Others provides. We want to lift them up toward a brighter future.
Respect. Treat readers with the respect they deserve without patronizing or assumptions. Each reader brings their unique personal experiences. Be considerate and inclusive, and reserve judgment.

Educate. Tell readers what they need to know, not just what we want to say. Give them the information they need along with opportunities to learn more. Readers often lack access to the resources we have available to us.

Guide. Whether explaining our educational materials or an option within our app, communicate like a guide on the reader’s journey in a friendly and helpful way.

Provide hope. We’re hopeful that our readers find salvation, restoration, and a safe and secure home. While we can’t deliver those results, ourselves, we want to be a part of helping readers achieve their needs. Understand For Others’ place in our readers’ lives. When writing, focus on our strengths and resources without overselling our capabilities.

Writing Goals and Princples

Voice & Tone

What’s the difference between voice and tone? Think of it this way: We each have the same voice all the time, but our tone changes. We might use one tone when out to dinner with close friends and a different tone when in a meeting with the boss.

Your tone also changes depending on the emotional state of the person you’re addressing. You wouldn’t use the same tone of voice with someone who’s scared or upset as you would with someone who’s laughing.

The same is true at For Others. Our voice doesn’t change much daily, but our tone changes all the time.

Voice

At For Others, we stand in the gap for our nation’s most vulnerable children, youth, young adults, and families who are on the brink of losing–or who have already lost–one another to the foster care system. The world of nonprofits can be a minefield of confusing terminology, unclear messaging, and manipulative promises. That’s why we speak like the experienced, compassionate, and calm mentor we wish we’d had at the beginning of our journey.

For Others uses a conversational voice and occasional offbeat humor to bring joy to those we serve. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. Every word we write informs and encourages.

The For Others voice is:

Clear
Simple
Empathetic
Calm
Hopeful
Familiar
Warm
Accessible

All of this means that when we write copy:

We are genuine. We understand those we serve because we’re called to be in the trenches with them. We understand our partners because we also partnered with organizations like For Others not long ago. That means we relate to clients’ and partners’ challenges and passions and speak to them in a familiar, warm, and accessible way.
We are plainspoken. It’s our job to demystify foster care. There is an enormous amount of noise in the United States foster care system. Our clients and partners are often overloaded with information and subject to degrading language, manipulation, and over-promises. We strip that away and value clarity above all.
We are lighthearted. For Others uses a sense of humor to relate to our clients and partners. We do this to keep communication light and personable. Our sense of humor is straight-faced and subtle. We’re fun but not inappropriate, smart but not snobbish. We’re never condescending or exclusive—we always bring our clients or partners in on the joke.

Tone

For Others’ tone is informal and always clear. When writing, consider the reader’s state of mind. Are they on the brink of losing their child? Are they an 18 year old about to age out of the system into a life of chronic poverty? Are they a partner hoping to find a way to help? Are they potential stakeholders looking to find out more about us? Once we have an idea of the audience, we can adjust the tone accordingly.

For Others speaks with lightness and joy, and we have a sense of humor. Feel free to be lighthearted or funny when it’s appropriate, but don’t go out of the way to make a joke—forced humor can be worse than none at all. Write in a way that suits the situation. If you’re unsure, keep a straight face.

Style Tips

Here are a few key elements of writing For Others’ voice. For more, see the Grammar and Mechanics section.

Use active voice.
Avoid slang or jargon.
Use positive language.

What is Active Voice?

In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence has the action done to it. For example:

Yes: Rudy logged into the partner’s account.

No: The partner’s account was logged into by Rudy.

Words like “was” and “by” may indicate that you’re writing in a passive voice. Scan for these words and rework sentences where they appear.

One exception is when you want to specifically emphasize the action over the subject. For example:

Your account was reactivated by Jared.

Voice and Tone

Writing About For Others

Our name began as a charge: to do anything and everything for others. Today, our organization focuses specifically on the United States foster care crisis, but our name allows us to grow our reach as our organization expands.

Our company’s legal entity name is “Angel Armies Inc.” Our trade name is “For Others.” Use “Angel Armies Inc” when writing legal documents or contracts. Otherwise, use “For Others.”

Always capitalize the “F” and the “O” in For Others.

Refer to For Others as “we,” not “it.”

Capitalize branded terms, like 18 For Others. We do not break up our trade name to create names for a product, service, or program. For example, we will not name a service “By Others” or “For 18”. We always use the full trade name, “For Others”.

Writing About For Others

Writing About Our Members

We write the same way we serve: with a person-first perspective. Whether writing for an internal or external audience, it’s important to write for and about other people in a way that’s compassionate, empowering, and respectful. Being aware of the impact of our language will help make For Others a better place to work and a better steward of our values. In this section, we’ll lay out some guidelines for writing about people with compassion and share some resources for further learning.

Our members are those we serve. Members are those coming to For Others in need of something. Members can be any of the following individuals or groups:

Children in foster care
Youth in foster care
Young adults aging out of foster care
Adults who grew up in foster care
Single parents who have lost or are losing their kids to foster care
Joint parents who have lost or are losing their kids to foster care
Social workers

Donors

There are three levels of donors based on their lifetime donations:

Mid-level = $2,000 - $9,999

Major-level = $10,000 - $49,999

Principal donors = $50,000+

We only use the term "donors" internally.

Audience(s)

Don’t capitalize “audience” unless it’s grammatically necessary.

Don’t refer to an audience as “it.” Audiences are made up of real people, so always use “they.”

Age

Don’t reference a person’s age unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing. If it is relevant, include the person’s specific age, offset by commas. For example:

Mary, 16, just got her driver’s license.

It is appropriate to refer to a section of our clients as “children”, “youth”, “young adults”, or “adults” when describing a particular age bracket. However, when speaking with members personally, refer to them as a “member, not as a “child”, “youth”, “young adult”, or “adult”.

Disability

Avoid disability-related idioms like “lame” or “falling on deaf ears.” Don’t refer to a person’s disability unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing. If you need to mention it, always use person-first language. For example:

They have a disability

They are disabled

They are hard of hearing

The child in foster care

Never use disability-first language such as:

The deaf girl

The disabled person

The foster kid

When writing about a person with disabilities, don’t use the words “suffer,” “victim,” or “handicapped” when specifically referring to a disability. Someone can be suffering in the foster care system, or be a victim of abuse, but they are never suffering from deafness or a victim of dwarfism. Utilizing the term “Handicapped parking” is fine.

Gender and sexuality

Avoid gendered terms in favor of neutral alternatives, like “server” instead of “waitress” and “businessperson” instead of “businessman.”

Use the following words as modifiers, but never as nouns:

lesbian

gay

bisexual

transgender (never “transgendered”)

trans

queer

LGBTQ+

For Others strives to offer respect to all people, while holding to a Biblical view of marriage and sexuality. When writing about a person who prefers alternative pronouns to those of their sex assigned at birth, utilize their name instead of gendered pronouns.

Hearing

Use “deaf” as an adjective to describe a person with significant hearing loss. You can also use “partially deaf” or “hard of hearing.” As previously stated, always use person-first language.

Heritage and nationality

Don’t use hyphens when referring to someone with dual heritage or nationality. For example, use “Asian American” instead of “Asian-American.”

Medical conditions

Don’t refer to a person’s medical condition unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing.

If a reference to a person’s medical condition is warranted, use the same rules as writing about people with physical disabilities and emphasize the person first. Don’t call a person with a medical condition a “victim.”

Mental and cognitive conditions

Don’t refer to a person’s mental or cognitive condition unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing. Never assume that someone has a medical, mental, or cognitive condition.

Don’t describe a person as “mentally ill.” If a reference to a person’s mental or cognitive condition is warranted, use the same rules as writing about people with physical disabilities or medical conditions and emphasize the person first.

Vision

Use the adjective “blind” to describe a person who is unable to see. Use “low vision” to describe a person with limited vision. As previously stated, always use person-first language.

Writing About Our Clients

Writing About Other Organizations

Honor companies’ own names for themselves and their products. Go by what’s used on their official website. For example:

iPad

YouTube

Yahoo!

Refer to a company or product as “it” (not “they”).

Writing About Other Orgs

Grammar and Mechanics

Adhering to certain rules of grammar and mechanics helps us keep our writing clear and consistent. This section will lay out our house style, which applies to all of our content unless otherwise noted in this guide.

Basics

Write for all readers. Some people will read every word you write. Others will just skim. Help everyone read better by grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and subheaders.

Focus your message. Create a hierarchy of information. Lead with the main point or the most important content, in sentences, paragraphs, sections, and pages.
Be concise. Use short words and sentences. Avoid unnecessary modifiers.
Be specific. Avoid vague language. Cut the fluff.
Be consistent. Stick to the copy patterns and style points outlined in this guide.

Guidelines

Abbreviations and acronyms

At For Others, we avoid the use of acronyms within our organizational communication. However, we realize that there are times when acronyms are necessary. If there’s a chance the reader won’t recognize an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time it appears in the text. Then use the short version for all other references. If the abbreviation isn’t clearly related to the full version, specify it in parentheses. For example:

First use: Network Operations Center

Second use: NOC

First use: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)

Second use: UTC

If the abbreviation or acronym is well known, like API or HTML, use it instead (and don’t worry about spelling it out).

Capitalization

We use a few different forms of capitalization. Title case capitalizes the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word.

When writing out an email address or website URL, use all lowercase. For example:

jade@forothers.com

forothers.com

Don’t capitalize random words in the middle of sentences. Here are some words that we never capitalize in a sentence. For example:

website

internet

online

Contractions

They’re great! They give your writing an informal, friendly tone.

Emoji

Emojis are a fun way to add humor and visual interest to your writing in your personal life, but please do not use emojis when writing for For Others.

Numbers

Spell out a number when it’s less than eleven, or if it begins a sentence. Otherwise, use the numeral. This includes ordinals. For example:

Ten new employees started on Monday, and 12 will start next week.

I ate three donuts at Coffee Hour.

David won first place in last year’s Walktober contest.

We hosted a group of eighth graders who are learning to draw.

Chad Spencer has won 27 Grammys.

Numbers over 3 digits get commas. For example:

999

1,000

150,000

Write out big numbers in full, up to 1 million. Once you get into the millions, use a numeral and then the word “million”. For example:

3 million

14 million

Abbreviate numbers if there are space restraints, as in a tweet or a chart. For example:

1k
150k
2m

Dates

Generally, spell out the day of the week and the month. Abbreviate only if space is an issue. Do not use ordinals. For example:

Yes: Saturday, January 24

Yes: Sat., Jan. 24

No: Mon., June 1st

No: Fri., Dec 2nd

Decimals and fractions

Spell out fractions. For example:

Yes: two-thirds

No: 2/3

Use decimal points when a number can’t be easily written out as a fraction, like 1.375 or 47.2.

Percentages

Use the % symbol instead of spelling out “percent.”

Ranges and spans

Use a hyphen (-) to indicate a range or span of numbers. For example:

It takes 20-30 days.

Money

When writing about US currency, use the dollar sign before the amount. Include a decimal and the number of cents if more than 0. For example:

$20

$19.99

When writing about other currencies, follow the same symbol-amount format:

¥1

€1

Telephone numbers

Use periods without spaces between numbers. Use a country code if your reader is in another country. For example:

555.867.5309

+1.404.123.4567

Temperature

Use the degree symbol and the capital F abbreviation for Fahrenheit. For example:

98°F

Time

Use numerals and ‘am’ or ‘pm’, with a space in between. Don’t use minutes for on-the-hour time. For example:

7 am

7:30 pm

Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period. If noting a time span within the morning or within the afternoon/evening, only use ‘am’ or ‘pm’ once. For example:

7 am–10:30 pm

11 - 11:30 am

Specify time zones when writing about an event or something else people would need to schedule. Since For Others is based in Tennessee, we default to CT. Abbreviate time zones within the continental United States as follows:

Eastern time: ET

Central time: CT

Mountain time: MT

Pacific time: PT

When referring to international time zones, spell them out: Nepal Standard Time, Australian Eastern Time. If a time zone does not have a set name, use its Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) offset.

Abbreviate decades when referring to those within the past 100 years. For example:

the 00s

the 90s

When referring to decades more than 100 years ago, be more specific. For example:

the 1900s

the 1890s

Punctuation

Apostrophes

The apostrophe’s most common use is making a word possessive. If the word already ends in an s and it’s singular, you also add an ’s. If the word ends in an s and is plural, just add an apostrophe. For example:

The thief stole Rudy’s lunch.

The dog ate Chris’s shoe.

That person told the managers’, “hey, don’t do that!”

Apostrophes can also be used to denote that you’ve dropped some letters from a word, usually for humor or emphasis, or to emulate a southern twang. This is fine, but do it sparingly. For example:

Dancin’

Shootin’

Comin’

Colons

Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, em dash, or comma) to offset a list. For example:

Jennifer ordered three kinds of donuts: glazed, chocolate, and pumpkin.

You can also use a colon to join two related phrases. If a complete sentence follows the colon, capitalize the first word. For instance:

I was faced with a dilemma: I wanted a donut, but I’d just eaten a bagel.

Commas

When writing a list, use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma). For example:

Yes: David grabbed a pen, paper, scissors, and tape.

No: David grabbed a pen, paper, scissors and tape.

Otherwise, use common sense. If you’re unsure, read the sentence out loud. Where you find yourself taking a breath, use a comma.

Dashes and hyphens

Use a hyphen (-) without spaces on either side to link words into a single phrase, or to indicate a span or range. For example:

first-time user

Monday-Friday

Use an em dash (—) without spaces on either side to offset an aside. Use a true em dash, not hyphens (- or --). For example:

Lauren Tomlin—one of our cofounders—can help you set the guest list.

Erik thought Jeanie was the donut thief, but he was wrong—it was Darren.

Ellipses

Ellipses (...) can be used to indicate that you’re trailing off before the end of a thought. Use them sparingly. Don’t use them for emphasis or drama, and don’t use them in titles or headers. For example:

“Where did all those donuts go?” Erik asked. Jeanie said, “I don’t know...”

Ellipses, in brackets, can also be used to show that you’re omitting words in a quote. For example:

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, [...] a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

Periods

Periods go inside quotation marks. They go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone. For example:

Christy said, “I ate a donut.”

I ate a donut (and I ate a bagel, too).

I ate a donut and a bagel. (The donut was Sam’s.)

Spaces

Always leave a single space between sentences. Never space twice.

Question marks

Question marks go inside quotation marks if they’re part of the quote. Like periods, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

Exclamation points

Use exclamation points sparingly, and never more than one at a time. They’re like high-fives: A well-timed one is great, but too many can be annoying.

Exclamation points go inside quotation marks. Like periods and question marks, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

Never use exclamation points in failure messages or alerts. When in doubt, avoid!

Quotation marks

Use quotes to refer to words and letters, titles of short works (like articles and poems), and direct quotations.

Periods and commas go within quotation marks unless the quote ends in a question mark. Question marks within quotes follow logic—if the question mark is part of the quotation, it goes within. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, it goes outside the quote. Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes. For example:

Who was it that said, “A fool and his farm are easily parted”?

Leigh said, “A wise man once told me, ‘A fool and his donut are easily parted.’”

Jennifer said, “How did you do that?”, but I knew she really wanted to know, ‘WHY did you do that?’.

Semicolons

Go easy on semicolons. They usually support long, complicated sentences that could easily be simplified. Try an em dash (—) instead, or simply start a new sentence.

Ampersands

Ampersands should be used in titles or names, but not as a part of regular sentence structure. For example:

Yes: Ben and Dan

Yes: Ben & Jerry’s

Yes: Ladies’ Lunch & Floral Experience

Yes: People, places, and things

No: You should call Martha, Ben, & Dan.

File extensions

When referring generally to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase s to make plural (For Others has a robust naming system for internal file naming. See the File Naming section for further information). For example:

GIF

PDF

HTML

JPGs

Pronouns

If your subject’s gender is unknown, use “they,” “them,” and “their” as a singular pronoun. Use “he/him/his” and “she/her/her” pronouns as appropriate. Don’t use “one” as a pronoun. For more information about pronouns, see the Writing About Our Clients section.

Quotes

When quoting someone in a blog post or other publication, use the present tense. For example:

“Joining with For Others has helped our community thrive,” says Jamie Smith.

Names and titles

The first time you mention a person in writing, refer to them by their first and last names. On all other mentions, refer to them by their first name.

Capitalize the names of departments and teams (but not the word “team” or “department”). For example:

Marketing team

Support department

Capitalize individual job titles when referencing to a specific role. Don’t capitalize when referring to the role in general terms. For example:

Our new Pool Manager starts today.

All the directors ate pizza.

Schools or universities

The first time you mention a school, college, or university in a piece of writing, refer to it by its full official name. On all other mentions, use its more common abbreviation.

Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech

Georgia State University, GSU

States, cities, and countries

Spell out all city and state names. Don’t abbreviate city names.

Per AP Style, all cities should be accompanied by their state, with the exception of: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, or Washington.

On the first mention, write out "United States". On subsequent mentions, "US" is fine. No periods are needed. The same rule applies to any other country or federation with a common abbreviation (European Union, EU; United Kingdom, UK).

URLs and websites

Capitalize the names of websites and web publications. Don’t italicize.

Avoid spelling out URLs, but when you need to, leave off the http://www.

Slang and Jargon

Write in plain English. If you need to use a technical term, briefly define it so everyone can understand.

Never use crass slang at For Others.

Text Formatting

Use italics to indicate the title of a long work (like a book, movie, or album) or to emphasize a word. For example:

Dunston Checks In

Brandon really loves Dunston Checks In.

Use italics when citing an example of an in-app For Others element, or referencing button and navigation labels in step-by-step instructions:

When you're all done, click Send.

The familiar A/B testing variables—Subject line, From name, and Send time—have now been joined by Content, and up to 3 combinations of a single variable can now be tested at once.

Don’t use underline formatting, and don’t use any combination of italics, bold, caps, and underline.

Left-align text, never center or right-aligned.

Leave one space between sentences, never two.

Writing Positively

Use positive language rather than negative language. One way to detect negative language is to look for words like “can’t,” “don’t,” etc.

Yes: To get a donut, stand in line.

No: You can’t get a donut if you don’t stand in line.

Grammar and Mechanics

Web Elements

Every piece of content we publish is supported by a number of smaller pieces. This section lays out our style in regards to these web elements, and explains our approach to the tricky art of SEO.

Guidelines

Alt text

Alt text is a way to label images, and it's especially important for people who can’t see the images on our website. Alt text should describe the image in a brief sentence or two.

For more on how and why we use alt text, read the Accessibility section.

Buttons

Button copy should always include verbs. Keep things clear and concise, and use sentence case. It’s okay to use an ampersand in button copy.

Standard website buttons include:

Email us

Checkboxes

Use sentence case for checkboxes.

Drop-down menus

Use title case for menu names and sentence case for menu items.

Forms

Form titles should clearly and quickly explain the purpose of the form.

Use title case for form titles and sentence case for form fields.

Keep forms as short as possible.

Only request information that we need and intend to use. Don’t ask for information that could be considered private or personal.

Headings and subheadings

Headings and subheadings organize content for readers. They should include the most relevant keywords and cover/highlight the main point(s) of the page.

Headings and subheadings are written in sentence case. Avoid using end punctuation except for question marks or when a heading is two or more sentences.

Organize headings and subheadings hierarchically, with headings first, followed by subheadings in order.. (An H2 will nestle under H1, an H3 under H2, and on down.) For example:

Headings (H1) give people a taste of what they’re about to read. Use them for page and blog titles.

Subheadings (H2, H3, etc.) break articles into smaller, more specific sections. They give readers avenues into your content and make it more scannable.

Links

Provide a link whenever you’re referring to something on an external website. Use links to point users to relevant content and trusted external resources.

Don’t include preceding articles (a, an, the, our) when you link text. For example:

Yes: Read the automation guide for details.

No: Read the automation guide for details.

If a link comes at the end of a sentence or before a comma, don’t link the punctuation mark.

Don’t say things like “Click here!” or “Click for more information” or “Read this.” Write the sentence as you normally would, and link relevant keywords.

Links should look different than regular copy, strong text, or emphasis text. They should have a hover state that communicates they’re interactive, and should have a distinct active and visited state. When setting the hover state of links, be sure to include focus state as well, to help readers using assistive technologies and touch devices.

Lists

Use lists to present steps, groups, or sets of information. Give context for the list with a brief introduction. Number lists when the order is important, like when you’re describing steps of a process. Don’t use numbers when the list’s order doesn’t matter.

If one of the list items is a complete sentence, use proper punctuation and capitalization on all of the items. If list items are not complete sentences, don’t use punctuation, but do capitalize the first word of each item.

Navigation

Use title case for main or global navigation. Use sentence case for subnavigation.

Navigation links should be clear and concise.

Sometimes a long piece of copy lends itself to a list of related links at the end. Don’t go overboard—4 is usually plenty.

Related articles should appear in a logical order, following the step down/step up rule: The first article should be a step down in complexity from the current article. The second one should be a step up in complexity to a more advanced article.

If you can, avoid repeating links from the body text in related articles.

Titles

Titles organize pages and guide readers. A title appears at the beginning of a page or section and briefly describes the content that follows. Titles also tell search engines what a page is about, and show up in search results.

Titles are written (you guessed it) in title case. Don’t use end punctuation in a title unless the title is a question.

SEO

We write for humans, not machines. We don't use gross SEO techniques like keyword stuffing to bump search results. But we also want to make it easy for people and search engines to find and share our content. Here are some not-icky ways to do this:

Organize your page around one topic. Use clear, descriptive terms in titles and headings that relate to the topic at hand.

Use descriptive headings to structure your page and highlight important information.

Give every image descriptive alt text.

Writing Educational Content

At For Others, we write a lot of educational content. There's so much for folks to learn about the foster care crisis, and we're here to help. This section lays out the guiding principles for writing educational content, and discusses the main types of educational content that exist at For Others.

Basics

Someone taking in educational content is usually looking to answer a specific question. That question might be broad or narrowly focused, but either way our goal is to provide answers without distraction.

For each project, consider your audience’s background, goal, and current mood. Ask these questions:

Who is your audience? Are they For Others employees, a For Others client, a partner?

What is this person’s goal? To complete a task? To research a topic?

What is this person’s mindset? Are they in the middle of a task, or in a hurry? Could they be frustrated or feeling overwhelmed?

We don’t want to overload our audience with unnecessary information, choices, or complex ideas or phrases. This is particularly important since we always consider the neurodiversity of our audience, and that learning something new can often feel overwhelming.

When writing educational content, remember to stick to the topic at hand. Keep sentences, paragraphs, and procedural steps focused and concise.

Types of educational content

We create educational content to serve various channels and audiences. We need to not only educate our customers, but also inform our partners and staff around when and how to interact with us.

Educational content at For Others can include:

Articles or guides

Webinars and workshops presented live and published to our website and YouTube

Instagram reels and other how-to social content

Developer and Partner resources

Release notes

Staff training materials, courses, and resources

Partner training materials, courses, and resources

Marketing Library articles and resources

Guidelines

Writing educational content

When writing educational content, be sure to follow the style points outlined in the Voice and Tone and Grammar and Mechanics sections. In addition, here are some education-specific goals and pointers to keep in mind.

Stay relevant to the topic

When a reader or viewer clicks on a link to educational content, they expect to find the answer they want. Don’t stray too far from the title or topic at hand. Use links to make related content available. If you find you’re getting too far from the intended topic, then you may need to create a related video, article, or deck. Make sure to repeat the most common questions people ask in your educational content, so if the reader is using a 'command + f' function, they'll be able to find the answer they need.

Keep headlines and paragraphs short and scannable

Readers often scan a page for info that will answer their particular question. When writing educational content, be sure your headlines are short, descriptive, and parallel to help with scanning.

When writing video scripts, describe the outcome before doing the action so viewers feel confident they’re watching content that will answer their question.

Strive for simplicity and clarity

Be as clear as possible. Use simple words and phrases while avoiding gerunds and hard-to-translate words or idioms. Focus on the specific task, and limit the number of sentences per paragraph. Aim to keep your sentences at 25 words or less.

Video scripts should include clear transitional language and cues that introduce a specific visual element or emphasize where the user should focus their attention. E.g. "To do this," or “I see here, there are some suggestions..."

Provide context through embedded screenshots, videos, and GIFs

Screenshots, videos, and GIFs make content more scannable and accessible, especially in written guides, tutorials, and training materials. Keep each visual focused on the action or meaning it conveys. Always crop screenshots tightly around the action.

Formatting educational content

Educational content often uses formatting to help convey meaning. Although various forms of educational content are organized differently, the formatting tips are consistent.

Capitalization

Capitalize proper names of For Others partners, clients, pages, tools, and teams when directly mentioned.

A Day in the Life of a Foster Child

Our Solution page

Donor Relations team, Marketing team

Bolding

In step-by-step instructions, capitalize and bold navigation and button labels as they appear in the app.

Navigate to the Reports page.

Click Create.

Writing Educational Content

Writing Legal Content

For Others publishes many kinds of legal content to protect ourselves and our clients. Most of our legal content is written by our legal contractor with help from the Marketing Director. This section gives a general overview of the types of legal content we publish and how those documents are written.

For information about laws that apply to non-legal content, see the Copyright and trademark section.

Basics

The way we write, review, and publish legal content is different than how we do many other kinds of writing at For Others. The most important difference is that all legal content either starts with or passes through our legal contact.

But that doesn't mean legal content has to be difficult to read. We try to present our legal information in the most pleasant way possible. Our goals for For Others' legal content are:

Accuracy. Our first and foremost concern is that we present the correct information in a truthful way.

Clarity. We try to avoid legal jargon and overly formal wording. Our users need to understand the agreement they’re making with us.

Succinctness. We want our users to read and understand our legal documents, while also respecting their time.

Types of Legal Content

We publish several types of legal documents, each with their own writing processes and goals.

Public legal documents

We keep these in one place on our legal page:

Acceptable use policy

API use policy

These policies apply to all of For Others engagers. The legal contact and Marketing Director work together to make them as transparent and easy to read as possible. When someone signs up to be a part of For Others, they must agree to all of those terms.

All of our public legal documents, and any changes to those documents, are drafted by our out-of-house legal contractor. When new legal documents are published or edited, we notify all our users of the updates and provide a window for them to object before the new terms go into effect.

Guides and articles about legal topics

We also publish guides and technical articles about legal concepts that may affect our engagers.

The legal contractor performs periodic reviews of all marketing and technical content to make sure all related links and information is up to date.

Customer service messages

If we're asked a legal question by an engager, we answer them by directing them to the legal contractor or Marketing Director.

Our Marketing Director handles the majority of user communications. If an engager raises a legal issue, our Marketing Director will send the proposed reply to the legal contractor for review. Engagers should not contact the legal contractor directly.

Common issues can be reviewed and sent by a paralegal or another staff member. More complex issues, or issues threatening litigation or criminal wrongdoing, will be drafted by a paralegal and then escalated to a lawyer for review.

Public communications

Occasionally we may have to publish communications about security, privacy, and other corporate issues. This could come in the form of an email to engagers, a blog post, a public statement, or a press release.

The Marketing Director works with the legal contractor to write and publish these documents, and the executive team reviews them.

Guidelines

When writing legal content, generally follow the style points outlined in the Voice and tone and Grammar and mechanics sections. Here are some more general considerations, too.

Start with the facts

We have some standard language that we use for common issues or requests, but since legal content is so fact-specific, we start there before getting into structure and format. That’s why you won’t see many templates for our legal content.

Use plain language

Legal content is serious business, so the tone is slightly more formal than most of our content. That said, we want all of our engagers to be able to understand our legal content. So whenever possible, we use plain language rather than legal jargon. For example:

Instead of: “If an individual purports, and has the legal authority, to sign these Terms of Use electronically on behalf of an employer or client then that individual represents and warrants that they have full authority to bind the entity herein to the terms of this hereof agreement”

We say: “If you sign up on behalf of a company or other entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to accept these Terms on their behalf.”

There are some legal terms we have to include because either there’s not a sufficient plain language alternative, or case law or statute dictates that term has to be used for the contract to hold up in court. For example, sometimes we need to say “represent and warrant” instead of “confirm” or “agree.” If we use those terms, we can provide an example or quick definition to help people understand what they’re reading. We can't avoid all legal terminology, but we can pare it down to what's necessary.

Some companies have complicated terms and write plain-language summaries so people can understand the agreement. We don’t summarize our legal content, but instead try to write the terms themselves in plain language. We use a sidebar to provide examples or links to further reading for people who want more context.

Definitions

Using plain language for the terms you define up front can make legal documents easier to read. You’ve probably read contracts that say something like “The Corporation” or “The User” throughout, instead of “we” (meaning the company) and “you” (meaning the user who is agreeing to the terms). There’s a quick fix for that. At the beginning of the document, say something like:

For Others is owned and operated by Angel Armies Inc. d/b/a For Others, a Georgia limited liability corporation (“For Others,” “we,” or “us”). As a user of the Service or a representative of an entity that’s a user of the Service, you're a “Member” according to this agreement (or “you”).

After that, you’re free to use “we,” “us,” “you,” and “your” throughout the rest of the agreement. That simple change makes the document much friendlier to read.

Contractions

We use contractions in many of our legal documents, which makes them sound more human and flow better with the rest of our content. Contracting words doesn't affect the validity of an agreement.

Never offer legal advice

While we want to inform our users about legal issues related to their use of For Others, we can’t offer them legal advice. Sometimes it’s a fine line. The legal department will check for this in their content review.

Writing Legal Content

Writing Emails

We send a lot of email ourselves, and we follow our own best practices to set an example for users. But as devices shrink and the inbox evolves, our oldest tip is still the most important: Only send when you have something to say.

Basics

Our email newsletters help empower and inform For Others engagers. Here are the most common types of content we send by email:

Organizational announcements

Tips for getting the most out of existing organization initiatives

Regular monthly newsletters

Automated series (Getting Started with For Others)

Event invitations and information about online events

System alerts about changes to functionality

Internal newsletters

Guidelines

Emails and newsletters generally follow the style points outlined in the Voice and tone and Grammar and mechanics sections. Here are some additional considerations.

Consider all elements

Every email or newsletter is made up of the following elements. Make sure they’re all in place before clicking send:

From name

This is usually the company or team’s name. It identifies the sender in the recipient's inbox.

Subject line

Keep your subject line descriptive. There's no perfect length, but some email clients display only the first words. Tell—don't sell—what's inside. Subject lines should be in sentence case. (Note that this is different from a headline, which you may want to include in the campaign itself.)

Preheader text

The top line of your campaign appears beside each subject line in the inbox. Provide the info readers need when they’re deciding if they should open.

Body copy

Keep your content concise. Write with a clear purpose, and connect each paragraph to your main idea. Add images when they’re helpful. Keep main body content at around 250 words.

Call to action

Make the next step clear. Whether you’re asking people to buy something, read something, share something, or respond to something, offer a clear direction to close your message so readers know what to do next.

Footer

All campaigns follow CAN-SPAM rules. Include an unsubscribe link, mailing address, and permission reminder in the footer of each newsletter.

Consider your perspective

When sending an email newsletter from For Others, use the third person “we.” When sending a newsletter as an individual, use the first person.

Use a hierarchy

Most readers will be scanning your emails or viewing them on a small screen. Put the most important information first.

Include a call to action

Make the reader's next step obvious, and close each campaign with a call to action. Link to a blog post, event registration, purchase page, or signup page. You can add a button or include a text link in the closing paragraph.

Avoid unnecessary links

More than 50 percent of emails are read on a mobile device. Limit links to the most important resources to focus your call to action and prevent errant taps on smaller screens.

Use alt text

Some email clients disable images by default. Include an alt tag to describe the information in the image for people who aren’t able to see it.

Segment your audience

It’s exciting to send to thousands of users at once, but it’s doubtful that every person you're sending to is interested in every topic. Segment your list to find a particular audience that’s likely to react.

Once you've selected an audience, adjust the language to fit their needs. For example, users who developed custom integrations are more likely to understand and appreciate direct, technical terms.

Test your campaigns

Use the preview mode to begin, and run a test to at least three other staff members to see your email in different email clients. Read your email out loud to yourself, then send a test to those coworkers for a second and third look.

Writing Emails

Writing for Social Media

We use social media to build relationships with For Others engagers, clients, and partners, and to share all the cool stuff we do. But it also creates opportunities to say the wrong thing, put off potential clients, and damage our brand. So we’re careful and deliberate in what we post to our social channels. This section lays out how we strike that delicate balance.

Basics

For Others has a presence on most major social media platforms. Here are our most active accounts and what we usually post on each:

Twitter: Organization news, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts

Facebook: Organization news, brand marketing, events, media mentions, evergreen content, “we’re hiring!” posts

LinkedIn: Organization news, recruiting content, media mentions, evergreen content

Instagram: Design outtakes, cool office visitors, life at For Others, cool stuff we made

These channels are all managed by the Marketing Director. We also may have a few team-specific accounts on different platforms. The guidelines in this section apply to all of For Others' channels.

Guidelines

Our writing for social media should generally follow the style points outlined in the Voice and tone and Grammar and mechanics sections. Here are some additional pointers, too.

Write short, but smart

Some social media platforms have a character limit; others don’t. But for the most part, we keep our social media copy short.

Twitter: 280 characters.

Facebook: No limit, but aim for 1-2 short paragraphs.

Instagram: No limit, but try to keep it to 1-3 short paragraphs, or a short sentence.

To write short, simplify your ideas or reduce the amount of information you’re sharing—but not by altering the spelling or punctuation of the words themselves. It’s fine to use the shorter version of some words, like “info” for “information.” But do not use numbers and letters in place of words, like “4” instead of “for” or “u” instead of “you.”

Engagement

Do your best to adhere to For Others style guidelines when you’re using our social media channels to correspond with users. Use correct grammar and punctuation—and avoid excessive exclamation points.

When appropriate, you can tag the subject of your post on Twitter or Facebook. But avoid directly tweeting at or otherwise publicly tagging a post subject with messages like, “Hey, we wrote about you!” Never ask for retweets, likes, or favorites.

Yes: “We talked with @laurentomlin about her thoughts on the new For Others book. http://blog.forothers.com/laurens-book-thoughts”

No: “Hey @laurentomlin, can you RT this post we wrote about you? http://blog.forothers.com/laurens-book-thoughts”

Hashtags

We employ hashtags deliberately. We may use them to promote an event or connect with engagers. Do not use current event or trending hashtags to promote For Others.

Basics

We write for a diverse audience of readers who all interact with our content in different ways. We aim to make our content accessible to anyone using a screen reader, keyboard navigation, or Braille interface, and to users of all cognitive capabilities.

As you write, consider the following:

Would this language make sense to someone who doesn’t work here?

Could someone quickly scan this document and understand the material?

If someone can’t see the colors, images or video, is the message still clear?

Is the markup clean and structured?

Mobile devices with accessibility features are increasingly becoming core communication tools, does this work well on them?

Many of the best practices for writing for accessibility echo those for writing educational content, with the added complexity of markup, syntax, and structure.

Guidelines

Avoid directional language

Avoid directional instructions and any language that requires the reader to see the layout or design of the page. This is helpful for many reasons, including layout changes on mobile.

Yes: “Select from these options,” (with the steps listed after the title)

No: “Select from the options in the right sidebar.”

Use headers

Headers should always be nested and consecutive. Never skip a header level for styling reasons. To help group sections, be sure the page title is H1, top-level sections are H2s, and subsequent inside those are H3 and beyond. Avoid excessive nesting.

Employ a hierarchy

Put the most important information first. Place similar topics in the same paragraph, and clearly separate different topics with headings.

Starting with a simple outline that includes key messages can help you create a hierarchy and organize your ideas in a logical way. This improves scannability and encourages better understanding.

Make true lists instead of using a paragraph or line breaks.

Label forms

Label inputs with clear names, and use appropriate tags. Think carefully about what fields are necessary, and especially which ones you mark as required. Label required fields clearly. The shorter the form, the better.

Use descriptive links

Links should provide information on the associated action or destination. Try to avoid “click here” or “learn more.”

Use plain language

Write short sentences and use familiar words. Avoid jargon and slang. If you need to use an abbreviation or acronym that people may not understand, explain what it means on first reference.

Use alt text

The alt tag is the most basic form of image description, and it should be included on all images. The language will depend on the purpose of the image:

If it’s a creative photo or supports a story, describe the image in detail in a brief caption.

If the image is serving a specific function, describe what’s inside the image in detail. People who don’t see the image should come away with the same information as if they had.

If you’re sharing a chart or graph, include the data in the alt text so people have all the important information.

Each browser handles alt tags differently. Supplement images with standard captions when possible.

Make sure closed captioning is available

Closed captioning or transcripts should be available for all videos. The information presented in videos should also be available in other formats.

Be mindful of visual elements

Aim for high contrast between your font and background colors. Tools in the resources section should help with picking accessible colors.

Images should not be the only method of communication, because images may not load or may not be seen. Avoid using images when the same information could be communicated in writing.

Writing for Accessibility

Creating Structured Content

At For Others, we write 2 kinds of content: structured and unstructured. Most of our technical and educational documents are structured, following standardized content templates. These templates make both writing and reading easier. They also help future-proof our documents, making it easier for developers to come in later and add semantic data to make the work reusable outside of where it was originally published.

This section lays out when to use a structured content template and how to create a template of your own.

Basics

While some content types are better served by a unique structure created by the writer, others lend themselves to a reusable structure. Blog posts, newsletter content, and most marketing copy are all examples of unstructured content that will vary from piece to piece. The more reusable your content might be, the more helpful a content template will be.

Consider using a template if:

Engagers would benefit from seeing your content multiple places

Readers need to be able to scan it

Writers need to be able to create it quickly

You want to encourage repeat visits and familiarity with your content

All educational content at For Others relies heavily on content templates. We use templates for Technical Content, Integration Directory descriptions, marketing guides, and more.

Guidelines

If you’re looking for a template for your structured content but can’t find one that meets your needs, you may want to create your own. There are two main ways to approach this.

Use a model

If you already have a piece of content that serves its purpose well, use it as a model. Review some of the templates in the style guide to see how granular you might want to get, and look for any elements you might want to add.

As you read through the model document, make a list of all the individual parts that make up the piece. Then briefly describe what they do and how they do it.

Common elements in templates are:

Title

Introduction

Body content (which can usually be broken apart into smaller elements)

Additional links

Keep in mind that the template has to be reusable, so it's best to focus on the high-level goal of the content type, rather than the message of a particular piece.

Start from scratch

If you like outlining before you write, that's a great way to start your template. This will give you an early look at the elements you’ll include in your final template and will help organize your writing process.

You may prefer to write a draft first, then outline later based on how the parts fit together. Read your draft closely and identify the important elements or patterns you've used. Looking for things like introductions, sections with headings, tables, images, and other elements that aren’t topic-specific. Write them out and describe how they inform the meaning or usability of the piece.

Create your template by listing out the elements you identify in your outline or draft. Consider each element and what it contributes to the meaning of the piece. Is its purpose important enough that every content of this type should include it? If so, make it part of your template.

Creating Structured Content

Copyright is a bundle of exclusive legal rights that vary depending on the type of work. A copyright owner can grant some or all of those rights to others through a license. This section will lay out our approach to copyrights, trademarks, and Creative Commons licenses.

Basics

Copyright protection applies to any original works that are fixed in a tangible medium. This includes works like drawings, recordings of a song, short stories, or paintings, but not something like a garden, since it will grow and change by nature. Copyright does not cover facts, ideas, names, or characters.

Copyright protection begins when the work is first created and it doesn’t require any formal filings. However, to enforce a copyright in the US, you need to register the work with the US Copyright Office. (For further clarity, check out their FAQ page, which is full of gems like “How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?”)

Copyright notice on the work is not required but it is recommended, since it cuts off a defense of innocent infringement.

Copyright at For Others

Copyright law applies to nearly every piece of content we create at For Others, from our website to our blog posts to the gifts we make for our users. We display proper—and prominent—copyright notice on our website site and any other content we produce.

At the bottom of every page of our website, we also include a longer notice to make it clear that all rights are reserved and our marks are registered: “© 2018-2022 All Rights Reserved. For Others® is a registered trademark of Angel Armies Inc.”

Other creators’ copyrights

We respect the copyright of other creators. If we want to use someone else’s copyrighted work, we have to obtain a license from the owners.

A copyright license spells out these terms:

Where we can use the work

How long we can use it for

How much we’ll pay them for the use

Whether or not we’re the only ones who can use the work

What we can do with the work

Any restrictions on our use (for example, that we can use it online but not on a billboard)

A common license will read something like this:

“You grant For Others a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty free license to display, distribute, and publish the Work in our marketing in any medium now known or later developed.”

If you need to get a copyright license for work at For Others or if someone outside of For Others asks to use our copyrighted work, please contact the legal team.

Social media and copyright

This is an area where the letter of the law and common practice sometimes differ.

Social media posts often include copyrighted elements like pictures, GIFs, or pieces of writing. If you’re using a copyrighted element in a commercial manner on social media, you should request permission from the copyright holder. Since For Others is an organization, we defer to the position that our use will be perceived as commercial. But if you’re using it in a more informative or commentary way, like sharing a meme to indicate how you feel about a news story, you may not need to request permission.

Regardless, you should always link to the source of the copyrighted element you’re using, and never make it look like you created work that belongs to someone else.

Image use and copyright

For Others almost always uses original images in our blog posts. If you use an image, photo, or other design element made by someone outside For Others, get permission first. Once you have permission, always give the copyright owner credit and link back to the original source.

Images retrieved via Google image search are not licensed for fair use, but many images are available under license through stock photo websites, or open for use under a Creative Commons license. Flickr has a great search feature for images available under Creative Commons licenses.

Other Licenses

Creative Commons licenses

Instead of the standard “all rights reserved,” some creators choose to make their work available for public use with different levels of attribution required. That’s what we’ve done with this style guide. Find a breakdown of licenses on the Creative Commons website.

Please check with For Others' legal team before making something you created here available under a Creative Commons license. We love to share our work, but we use these licenses sparingly, because we have to protect our intellectual property and trade secrets.

Trademarks

A trademark, often called a mark, can be a word, name, sign, design, or a combination of those. It’s used to identify the provider of a particular product or service. They’re usually words and images, but in some cases, they can even be a color.

To be protectable, a trademark needs a distinctive element. There’s a “spectrum of distinctiveness” that spans from inherently protectable marks to ones that require additional proof to ones that may never be protected.

Fanciful marks, which are made up words like Kodak or Xerox, are the most easily registered and protected.

Arbitrary marks, which are words which are used out of context like Apple or Sprite, are also easy to protect.

Suggestive marks, which suggest at some element of the goods or services like Greyhound, follow.

Descriptive marks, where the word's dictionary meaning aligns with the goods or services offered, like Mr. Plumber or Lektronic, are not protectable unless they develop a secondary meaning. That means a consumer would immediately associate the mark with only that good or service. This can be hard to prove, so it's best to avoid descriptive marks when possible.

Generic terms, or the common name for a product or service, are not protectable.

We usually classify For Others as a suggestive mark, but it could also be considered fanciful.

A trademark is only valid for as long as it indicates the source of that good or service, so we have to be very careful about how our marks are used. We send out cease and desist letters sometimes, because even the friendliest companies have to protect their trademarks. If a trademark is properly protected, it can last forever and may be a company's most valuable asset.

Displaying trademark notices

To note that something is a trademark, and in the case of registered marks in order to collect damages, the trademark has to be displayed with an appropriate symbol.

Here are the various trademark symbols and when to use them:

For unregistered trademarks of goods, use ™

For unregistered trademarks of services, use ℠

For trademarks granted registration by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, use ®

Note that using ® on marks that haven’t been registered by the USPTO can be considered fraud, so if you’re not sure if a trademark is registered, don’t use ® .

The trademark symbol should appear as close to the mark as possible.

Here’s how to indicate For Others’ trademark:

Include the ® symbol in the upper right-hand corner, above the word: For Others® this use is preferable.

Include the ® symbol in the lower right-hand corner, below the word: For Others®

Marks are also sometimes indicated by using all caps: FOROTHERS

Our trademarks should be properly noted the first time they’re used in a press release or article, or anywhere else our trademark and copyright notice does not appear.

Registering trademarks at For Others

We register all of our trademarks. Before we decide to use a name for a product, we perform a trademark search to make sure there aren’t any confusingly similar trademarks already in use.

For the most part, our trademarks are “suggestive marks,” which mean the name suggests at some element of the goods or services represented.

If you’re working on a new product at For Others, submit name possibilities to the legal team so they can get a head start on the trademark search. Even if you haven’t used the name yet, we can go ahead and file an Intent to Use application.

Copyrght and Trademarks

Words to Use and Not to Use

These words can be slippery. Here’s how we write them. (If it’s not on this list, defer to the AP Style Guide.)

add-on (noun, adjective), add on (verb)
back end (noun), back-end (adjective)
best seller (noun), best-selling (adjective)
beta
brick-and-mortar
checkbox
coworker
click-through rate (CTR)
cost per click
double-click
drop-down (noun, adjective), drop down (verb)
e-commerce (the industry)
email (never hyphenate, never capitalize unless it begins a sentence)
- To name
- From name
- Reply-to name
- Subject line
- Cc, Bcc
emoji (singular and plural)
front end (noun), front-end (adjective)
geolocation
hashtag
homepage
integrate
internet (never capitalize unless it begins a sentence)
login (noun, adjective), log in (verb)
Like (the social media activity)
multichannel
nonprofit (no need for a hyphen)
Okay (never ok)
omnichannel (use sparingly)
online (never capitalize unless it begins a sentence)
opt-in (noun, adjective) , opt in (verb)
pay-per-click (PPC)
pop-up (noun, adjective), pop up (verb)
pre-sale
product-market fit
signup (noun, adjective), sign up (verb)
sync
third party (noun), third-party (adjective)
tweet, retweet
username
URL
website
WiFi

Words to use carefully

We use plain language, which means avoiding industry jargon. But some jargon-adjacent words can be appropriate in educational contexts. Only use these if you’re writing about marketing education and have room to briefly define them.

buyer journey
conversion
customer lifecycle
integrated marketing
lead generation
marketing funnel
multichannel marketing
omnichannel marketing
product-market fit
value proposition

Words or phrases to avoid

falling in, or fell in to the foster care system
foster kid
funnel, incentivize, leverage, disruption, thought leader, learnings, circle-back, or other fluffy corporate terms
internets, interwebs, or any other variation of the word “internet”
ninja, rockstar, wizard, unicorn (unless referring to a literal ninja, rockstar, wizard, or unicorn)
old, elderly, or any other word describing a person's age except for "young adult" or "youth"
crushing it, killing it
crazy, insane, or similar words to describe people
best-in-breed
best-in-class
Silicon Valley cliches like rise and grind, or disruptor/disruption.
blacklist, whitelist, grandfathered, poor, lower-class, slave, master, deaf, blind and any other racist or abelist terms
circle-back

Words to Use and Not to Use

Info-

Writing at For Others

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Basics

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Copyright at For Others

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Other creators’ copyrights

Other Licenses

Words to use carefully

Words or phrases to avoid