Blog Submission Guidelines

JL Boston Blog: Contributor Guidelines

The Junior League of Boston Blog is a way to engage the Boston community in the conversation about our organization and its members, women in leadership, volunteerism, and our service focus – the wellness of adolescent girls.

To ensure JL Boston posts are valuable to our target readers, we focus on three principles.  Posts should be:

  • Personal – The Junior League on a local and international level is about people helping people so the tone of our blog posts should be the same.  A first person voice should almost always be used in posts.
  • Inclusive – We hope to tie together the community of people doing good works in Boston so our blog should showcase their contributions. We want to ensure that our posts talk not only about our organization but also about our partners and fellow non-profits.
  • Shareable – Currently, the non-profit world in Boston is insular and we want this blog to change that.  Create content about volunteerism and leadership that Bostonians will want to share with their friends and family.

Content Specifics

We accept posts in any commonly used online media.  Articles (with compelling photos), photo journals, video, graphics are all examples of acceptable content.

Posts can be submitted via the Communications Request Form (member login required).

Text articles should aim to be anywhere between 500-1000 words in length.  Exceptions can be made for the right circumstances.

Non-spammy and useful links are encouraged.  Please include links in parentheses after the linked text.

If you want to submit a photo or video, you must have ownership of or permission to distribute the content.  Please include the appropriate photo credits with your submission.  If you are unable to locate an appropriate photo to accompany your article, we can work with you to find one.

Topics

Although we encourage leadership in every way, including when coming up with your blog topic, we’ve included a list of examples to inspire you:

From Members From Program Partners From Community Members
Perspectives from my first year Your take on volunteerism in Boston Infographics about leadership, volunteerism, and wellness in Boston
How JL Boston helped me find a sense of place after a cross-country move Description of what your organization does and how JL Boston has contributed to your mission Photos and reports on relevant events in the city
Scenes from a JL Boston event Topical posts on JL Boston focus of wellness in adolescent girls Summaries of current topics of interest in Boston that relate to wellness of adolescent girls

 

If you need more guidance beyond these example topics, ask yourself the following topics as you write:

  • What is my experience/interaction with the city of Boston?
  • How have I experienced women in leadership?
  • What impact has the Junior League had on my life, business, or organization?
  • What non-Junior League organizations have I encountered in Boston?
  • Why should the Boston community care about what I’m saying?

Contributors must submit a Twitter-sized bio with all posts.  Please include your personal links (Twitter, LinkedIn, website, blog) in your bio.

The Editorial Process

We believe in showcasing diverse voices in leadership and volunteerism.  Our editorial concerns lie in quality of content, relevance, grammar and punctuation, and appeal to readers.  Although we reserve the right to reject any post and to edit any submissions for publication, we want to see your voice and vision emerge.  If a post conforms to the guidelines described here, expect a few rounds of edits before publication.  You will have the opportunity to approve the final content before it’s posted. .

Thanks for reading our guidelines!  Please email us if you have questions.