The Neon One Blog is Now Open for Guest Submissions!

It’s never been easier to find nonprofit advice online. But how much of that advice is actually—and this is a highly technical term, here—good? Not enough of it. 

Nonprofit professionals are drowning in generic listicles stuffed with the same best practices and tips as all the other generic listicles. Try swapping Google Search for asking ChatGPT or Claude, and they get pretty much the same thing. (After all, where do you think the LLMs are getting it from?)

There’s one antidote to all of this generic content, and that’s real-world experience. That’s why the Neon One blog is now accepting general pitches and guest blog submissions.

Maybe you’ve spent years helping small nonprofits fix their donor retention problem, and you finally cracked it. Maybe you ran a peer-to-peer campaign that actually worked—and you know exactly why it did when so many others don’t. Or maybe you’re the person in the room who watches nonprofit teams drowning in outdated, disconnected software they barely use and thinks, “I know there’s a better way.”

We want to hear from you. Or, more specifically, we want our readers to hear from you. Because articles that swap out the generic “here’s what you should do” for the specific “here’s what I did” are—and, forgive us, this is another highly technical term—better.

In short: If you have practical, specific insight for nonprofit professionals, pitch us. 

Are You the Right Fit?

Here’s the truth: we’re not looking for perfect writers. We’re looking for people who know things. We’ll take real-world nonprofit experience and insights over a perfect understanding of when to use a semicolon or the future perfect tense any day.

That said, we’re actively seeking contributions from three groups—and if you fall into one of them, you’re probably already a good fit.

1. Nonprofit professionals

Executive directors, development directors, fundraising managers, program leads—if you’ve figured something out that your peers haven’t, share it. Your wins, your hard-won losses, the approach that finally clicked after three years of trying. 

These are the stories nonprofit professionals actually trust, because they come from someone who’s been in the same rooms, sitting in the same seats, making the same decisions.

2. Nonprofit consultants

The best consultants are problem-solvers. And the answers you find when working with clients? Those are the ones our readers would genuinely benefit from hearing about. We’re especially interested in folks who work with small to midsize organizations on fundraising strategy, donor communications, or operations.

Neon One actually maintains an official network of trusted consultants and agency partners whom we recommend our clients reach out to when they need that extra help. And one of the perks of that program is a guaranteed placement on our blog! 

If you’d like to know more about the Neon One Consultant and Agency Partner Program, you can click the button below for some additional info and to contact our Partnerships Team. 

3. Technology experts and platform specialists

If your expertise—or your product—can help nonprofits work more efficiently and free up time for real relationship-building, we’re interested. 

But here’s the thing: what we’re not interested in is a sales pitch. Give our readers the “here’s how to actually do this” content that nonprofit teams need, and you’ll fit right in.

Not sure if you qualify? Pitch us anyway. The worst we can say is “not quite.”

From Pitch to Published: How It Works

Our process here is pretty simple. Most of what this article covers is going to focus on the “draft” part of it, but, before all that, you’re going to start with a pitch, which is equally important. 

Here’s the process from top to bottom:

1. Submit a pitch. This is required before you start writing—and honestly, it saves everyone time. Use the content pitch form to share two to four sentences about your topic, your angle, how it connects to your work, and why it matters to a nonprofit audience. One of three things happens: we’ll approve it, suggest a different angle, or let you know it’s not the right fit. Either way, you’ll hear back from us.
2. Get the green light. Once your pitch is approved, someone from our marketing team will reach out to confirm the details and ask you to submit your full draft as a Google Doc.
3. Go through editorial review. Plan for up to three weeks after draft submission for a complete review. Any suggested revisions are meant to strengthen the piece—not rewrite it. We’ll never change the core of your argument without talking to you first.
4. Share when it’s live. Once your post is published, we ask that you share it with your own audience within 48 hours—on LinkedIn, in a newsletter, wherever it makes sense. We’ll promote it on our end, tag you when it goes live, and make sure it reaches the right people.

Like we said, pretty simple! Now let’s move on to the fun (aka “the writing”) stuff.

How Your Post Should Sound

Write the way you’d talk to a nonprofit colleague over coffee—not the way you’d write a grant report.

The strongest guest posts feel like they’re coming from someone who has seen what works and what doesn’t, and is honest about both while still understanding that “blunt” and “effective” are not always the same thing. Aim for conversational and professional. Confident without being preachy. 

Use “you.” Write in plain language. Strong opinions are welcome—as long as they’re grounded in experience, data, or real-world observation. And don’t underestimate personality. A well-placed aside or a moment of dry humor can make a complex idea a lot easier to absorb.

Simply put: if it would make a nonprofit leader lean in rather than tune out, you’re on the right track.

Here Are the Topics We Want to Publish

The purpose behind every article we publish here is to help nonprofit leaders (and aspiring leaders) do their jobs better. Great! So what does that mean in practice?

The posts that land best with our audience do one of three things: they help nonprofits build stronger supporter relationships, they show how the right technology can free up time instead of just adding more complexity, or they help organizations make sense of what’s shifting in the sector. 

And the best pitches don’t try to cover everything—they go deep on one specific thing the writer genuinely knows cold.

Here’s what we’re actively looking to add to right now:

• CRM strategy and fundraising outcomes. Not “why your CRM matters”—that’s been written. We want the specific, sometimes counterintuitive thing you’ve learned about what a well-managed supporter database actually changes.
• Volunteer engagement and stewardship. What does it really look like to move beyond recruitment into long-term involvement? What’s worked, what hasn’t, and why?
• Donor acquisition. Especially strategies focused on small and mid-size donors—the ones who often get overlooked in favor of a major gift strategy.
• Peer-to-peer and endurance fundraisers. The operational layer. How do you set these up to raise more, and what do experienced practitioners know that first-timers don’t?
• In-person fundraising and event payments. What does it take to maximize what you raise when you’re working with real people in a real room?
• Donor psychology and supporter data. How do you use what you actually know about your donors to communicate in a way that feels personal rather than transactional?
• Digital fundraising. Not the basics—the specific techniques and tools that are changing what’s possible for nonprofits growing their online support base right now.

And if your idea doesn’t fit any of those? Pitch it anyway. The best submissions often come from angles we didn’t know we were looking for.

Below are some recent guest blogs from Neon One partners that we’re really proud of. Take a look to get a feel for how they deliver value:

What Your Submission Needs

Once your pitch is approved and you’re ready to start writing, here’s what we ask of you (and of every contributor):

• Length and structure. 700–1,000 words. Use subheadings, short paragraphs, and lists to keep it readable for someone skimming on their lunch break. (One note: too many bullet points and you risk sounding like AI—even if you’re not.)
• Original content only. No repurposed posts, no syndicated content. This needs to be written specifically for our audience. If it already exists online in recognizable form, it’s probably not the right piece.
• A human voice. AI is a fine brainstorming and editing tool, and we’re not here to police your process. But the final piece needs to read like you wrote it—because your perspective is what makes it worth publishing. Articles that are clearly AI-generated will be returned for a full rewrite. No exceptions.
• Internal links. Include two or three links to existing Neon One blog posts, guides, or resources. They should feel natural and useful—helping readers go deeper, not interrupting the flow. Not sure what to link to? Our editorial team is happy to suggest options.
• Promotional links. You’re welcome to include one link to your own organization and up to two links to ungated educational resources. Subtle credibility almost always lands better than loud selling—so please don’t pitch services or products within the article itself. And please don’t link to competitors or other nonprofit software companies.
• Visuals (optional but welcome). If a chart, diagram, or screenshot helps clarify your point, include it. Especially original visuals you already use in your work. Visuals should support comprehension, not just decorate the page. Please include alt text for accessibility.
• Author details. Submit your draft as a Google Doc and include your name and title, a short author bio (two to three sentences), a link to your website or social profiles (so we can tag you when the post goes live), and a headshot if you have one. Please also include a suggested headline and a meta description of 150–160 characters.

A note on the “human voice” and the allure of having an LLM write your article for you: We will always prefer a “poorly written” article from a human author over a smoother, AI-generated piece. 

Not confident in your writerly skills? Don’t worry! What we want is the perspective and experience that only you can deliver. Editing and polishing? That’s our job. 

What Do You Get Out of It?

Every contributor to the Neon One blog gets a do-follow link back to their site, a feature in Neon One’s newsletter that goes out to tens of thousands of nonprofit professionals every month, and promotion across our social channels.

But here’s what actually matters: These articles help people. Nonprofit teams are stretched thin—most of them are doing more with less, and they’re hungry for practical insight from people who’ve actually been there. 

The right advice, at the right moment, can genuinely change how someone does their job—and how their community reaps the rewards of that work.

If you’ve got something worth saying, we want to help you say it. Because people need to hear it. 

What We Don’t Publish

Just as important as what we’re looking for is what doesn’t belong here.

We don’t publish overt product promotion or sales-driven content—even when it’s dressed up as thought leadership. We don’t accept duplicate, lightly rewritten, or AI-generated articles (see our note above on that). And pieces that lack real depth, concrete takeaways, or a clear connection to nonprofit work aren’t a fit, full stop.

Your Nonprofit Readership Awaits

Our goal here at the Neon One blog is simple: publish work that respects the reader’s time, reflects genuine expertise, and contributes something meaningful to the conversation. If that’s your intention, you’re already aligned with what we’re building here.

And with that, all that’s left to say is this: We can’t wait to hear from you!