Thank you for your interest in submitting an article to NPQ.

After reviewing our guidelines below, please email submissions to the desk most fitting for your piece:

Climate Justice: [email protected]

Economic Justice: [email protected]

Health Justice: [email protected]

Racial Justice: [email protected]

Leadership and general submissions: [email protected].

Guidelines

NPQ welcomes submissions that seek to advance the work of nonprofits, philanthropists, and social movements in the US. We want clear writing that speaks to our audience of nonprofit and philanthropic workers, leaders, and researchers and to social movement activists and organizers.

We prioritize articles and pitches that inform and advance one or more of our four justice areas—climate, economic, health, and racial justice—as well as nonprofit and philanthropic leadership and management. Submissions will be considered for either publication online or in NPQ’s quarterly print magazine.

We publish articles from 750 to 2,500 words, though we do make exceptions for extraordinary work. Typical articles are:

• short-form pieces (750-1,500 words) that generally offer updates on important happenings in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and social justice movements

or

• long-form pieces (1,500-2,500 words) that offer analysis of such happenings and further critical conversations to advance social justice efforts.

We are also open to pieces that lend themselves to nontraditional formats, such as interviews, book reviews, and photo essays.

While we consider articles that focus on social change efforts outside the US, such articles must make a strong case for why they are relevant to US-based readers.

We do not want: press releases; op-eds; self-promotion (you can mention your work, but the focus should be the broader field and story); how-to guides; blog posts about your organization or program.

How to Pitch

We welcome pieces written by seasoned writers as well as folks working in the field with varying levels of writing experience.

• Take a good look at our site before sending us a pitch to make sure you’re striking the right tone and that we have not recently published on the topic from a similar angle that you are proposing.

• Pitches should not exceed 300 words.

• Pitch a story, not a topic: Your pitch should be concise and have an immediate hook. It should explain the idea for your piece, why the story is relevant and timely, and why you are suited to write the article. In other words, why is the piece a good fit for NPQ’s audience of social change workers and leaders? What conversations do you hope to advance? What expertise do you bring to the subject?

Guide for writing effective pitches:

Paragraph 1: Attention-grabbing intro

Grab the reader’s attention with an anecdote, startling statement, or provocative question that tells the reader why this topic is important now.

Paragraph 2: Summarize the piece

Begin with a straightforward proposal sentence, for example: “I would like to write a story about X for the economic, racial, climate, and/or health justice desk of NPQ.” Tell us: what information will be included in the piece, what sources will be used, the article’s word count, and whether you imagine a stand-alone piece or a piece that forms part of a series.

Paragraph 3: About the author

Tell us why you should write the piece. Describe your expertise on the topic and reference any previous publications.

Please note: We are overwhelmed with the volume of submissions we receive. We will respond within two weeks if your pitch as been accepted. If you don’t hear back from us within two weeks, that means we have not accepted your pitch, and we wish you luck placing your piece elsewhere.

Agreement:

In submitting this material, you acknowledge that it is your original work, and that is exclusive to NPQ and cannot have appeared elsewhere—in any form—in print or online.