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Nonprofit Communications

Strategic Storytelling

As Editorial Director for Naples Botanical Garden, I’m charged with sharing the organization’s mission in conservation, horticultural and environmental science, and environmental education. Organizations of all types struggle with how to communicate their ideas. My best advice? Tell stories.

Here are some of the ways we're doing so at the Garden: 

Cultivate Magazine

Published twice a year, Cultivate delves into all aspects of the organization, from the newest horticultural display to what's cooking in the cafe. Far from a nonprofit newsletter, Cultivate uses best practices in magazine journalism to entice audiences to read from cover to cover. Click the image to read the latest issue or this link to see our archive. (My all-time favorite issue is this one, featuring famed Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher)

Conserve Magazine

Published annually, Conserve offers a deep dive into plant conservation, ecosystem restoration, environmental research, and related topics. We make science accessible (and even fun!) through compelling narrative, top-notch photography, and dynamic design. We emphasize the "why" — why we're doing this, why readers should care and why these issues affect their quality of life. Click the photo to see the latest issue or this link to see archived editions. 

Notes from the Garden blog selections

Naples Botanical Garden •

Reframing Our Flora | Naples Botanical Garden

What do you see when you look across a landscape?  Do you take it in from afar, as a pretty panorama? Or do you absorb the details—the curvature of a tree trunk, a patchwork of wildflowers, the textures of foliage and bark?   If you lean toward the first group, you are certainly not alone. There’s a lack of awareness when it comes to plants; people know they’re there—and generally appreciate their presence—but they don’t pay them much mind.  Our new exhibition, Frame & Flora, may change that. Co...
Naples Botanical Garden •

A Toast to Our First Breadfruit Harvest | Naples Botanical Garden

Photos by John EderMy office can feel a little bit like a botanical newsroom. Today’s headline: We Have Breadfruit!Matt Herrman, Curator of Special Collections, visits me to deliver the news. “It’s the first time we’ve had fruit,” he says. He reaches into a paper bag and pulls out a softball-sized object. It is yellow and covered in a textured skin that looks like flattened corn nuggets.My curiosity is piqued.Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is prolific throughout the tropical world, originating...
Naples Botanical Garden •

Coastal Cactus's Extinction in US Signals Impact of Rising Seas | Naples Botanical Garden

A plant made headlines this month, though not for reasons we like: Scientists believe the United States has lost its first vascular plant species in the wild due to sea-level rise.The Key Largo tree cactus (Pilosocereus millspaughii) was known to exist in the U.S. in only a single location, a limestone outcrop at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. A biologist discovered it in 1992, after seeing its columns, which can reach as tall as 20 feet, emerge from a mangrove canopy. Writing in the July...
Naples Botanical Garden •

Garden Helps Protect One of the World’s Most Biodiverse Places | Naples Botanical Garden

Recently, the Garden received 350 tree seeds from Costa Rica—and a chance to help protect one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.Osa Conservation, an organization based in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, has embarked on a novel project to reforest land, increase native tree populations, and create a wildlife corridor giving animals, plants, and insects a pathway to migrate from the low-lying Osa Peninsula to higher, cooler regions as the climate warms. The peninsula harbors nearly 5% of the worl...

Annual Report

Can you make an annual report interesting? We think so.