Which words are you wasting energy by banning?

A number of years ago, I had two different clients that were both engaged in fighting poverty on different fronts.

One organization banned the word "poor" from their vocabulary. They felt it unfairly stereotyped the people they served, undermined their dignity, and created in donors an insidious sense of superiority. The preferred word for describing poverty-stricken people was "needy."

The other organization banned the word "needy" from their vocabulary. They felt it unfairly stereotyped the people they served, undermined their dignity, and created in donors an insidious sense of superiority. The preferred word for describing poverty-stricken people was "poor."

I never managed to introduce the two organizations to each other. Which is probably just as well.

We can get awfully wrapped up in the words we can and can't use. But here's a hint: If you have a list of forbidden words that contains anything other than profanity, you're just being clueless. And probably hurting your fundraising and communications.

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Comments

[Angela]

Agree with Eric on the jargon. And then this one: inflated language to woo wealthy donors. In my experience, conversational works best. Real words coming from real people.

[Eric]

If foundations and nonprofits checked their documents against Tony Proscio's jargon finder, the world would be a much better place. http://www.comnetwork.org/Jargon_Finder

[Mitch]

My nonprofit's preferred term is "people experiencing poverty." Now that's a wordy, not very emotional way to describe the people we serve - the poor and the needy.