Fund Stories Style Guide

Purpose
We want readers to be excited about donating and to associate whatever they are
personally passionate about with a cause, fund, or interest area here at JMU. We also
want to create a sense of urgency. Each fund will be different, but you want all the stories
to follow the same path and create consistency throughout the site so make sure to follow
the same pattern each time you write a fund story.
Research
Learn as much as you can about the fund through Advance, looking it up on the JMU
websites and of course talking to the contact people for the fund (which Pam and
Joanmarie will provide). You need to know as much as possible about the fund in order
to write what a donor would want to know about it. Remember that this is about
informing people about the great things happening at JMU.
Contacting People for Information
Pam and Joanmarie will provide you with contact information for the best people to get
in touch with and interview about the funds. Remember to be professional and on time to
meet with these people as they are taking the time to speak with you. Always ask if it
would be okay to email them with any spare questions later in case you need clarification
on something.
You may be interviewing these people in person, you might only get a phone call, or an
email, therefore it is important that you be prepared with as much information as possible
before actual contact and that you be prepared with questions to ask before you speak
with them.
Tone
The tone of the whole piece should be urgent and should always be looking forward and
outward. By this I mean that readers should be able to clearly pick out that JMU is always
looking to the future (this is the forward part) and to what not only our students will
learn, but how that knowledge will affect and improve the world (and this is the outward
part).
Specs
Word Count: 350-500 maximum! Make it short. Counting on your judgment here. How
much would you want to read?
Paragraph Length: This is not academic writing; paragraphs are not each five sentences
long. Because this is writing for a digital medium a paragraph shouldnt be more then
three sentences maybe four.
Usage: If you have to refer to JMU remember to write James Madison University if it
is for a commercial type of tie in and Madison if it is more of an emotional tie.
Quotes: We want one or two quotes in the piece. Be very careful about quoting people
correctly. Do not use more than three quotes in a piece.

Hyperlinks: Where ever possible and appropriate you should insert hyperlinks into the
text. They have to be JMU links and the websites must be on Cascade already (which will
severely limit what you can hyperlink). Do not write Read more here and hyperlink;
hyperlinks must be in the text.
Bullet Lists: For many funds, such as the general college funds, there are so many
different things they do we cant talk about them all in paragraph form and it is
appropriate to list them in a bullet list.
Deadline
For each piece you will be required to make an anticipated timeline for getting the story
done and then you have to run it by Pam and Joanmarie for approval.
Questions
You know where to find us!
Content
All your fund stories will follow a similar pattern outlined here. Ive also provided
example by fund type with some comments for writing those specific fund stories.
Fund Title (Display Title)
Tagline
1st Paragraph[S1]
Make a claim or assertion about the fund or program and its importance or value. Start
building your case immediately while introducing the fund and throw down a challenge
for the reader
2nd Paragraph[S2]
Continue building your argument and talk about what the fund does specifically.
Introduce the donor here, how can the reader help? We want to bring in the reader
throughout the piece: You can helpYou can supportYou can be a part of etc.
3rd Paragraph[S3]
How does a readers donation help the fund do what is described in the second
paragraph? Start with Your gift
4th Paragraph[S4]
Here you want to focus on the brand attributes of JMU. How does this fund support or
align with the brand attributes of JMU. We also want to evoke a sense of partnership
here. Tell the reader how together with their help we can achieve some of those bran
attributes
5thParagraph[S5]

This is the final part of the piece and you want to make it a call to action. This is
important, because you want to explicitly say, that because of YOU the reader this can
be possible. End the paragraph with Your gift makes it possible, if it seems appropriate.
Examples
Scholarship
Funds.......3
General College Funds....4
Program Funds.....5

Memorial Scholarship Funds

Don Chowdrow Memorial Scholarship
Support for the scholarship named for legendary taskmaster Don Chodrow will enable
the physics department to become the premier undergraduate program in the nation.
Its already respected as one of the largest and best for the quality of its academics and
for its vast and deeply engaged program of physics outreach and education for K-12.
The Don Chodrow Memorial Scholarship Endowment is intended to promote
upperclassmen in physics and keep them moving forward toward careers in physics. Its
an important tool to keep the best students on track and moving along, says physics
department head Steve Whisnant.
Chodrow was a central and important figure in the physics department for many years.
All JMU physics majors had the professor for one or more upper-level courses, including
a critical junior course in classical mechanics. Majors considered the course a badge of
honor to get through and came out on the other side able to call themselves physicists,
Whisnant says. He was tough taskmaster who made students learn. And they appreciated
it.
Ruth Chodrow, who established the scholarship, hopes that the physics alumni her
husband put through their paces will help grow the scholarship so it can support
additional upperclassmen who have earned the right to be called physicists.
These students will study with Chodrows world-class colleagues in the physics
department. They will participate in research in materials science, nuclear/particle
physics, soft condensed matter, and astronomy and astrophysics and present their
findings at national professional conferences. Your gift will also give those students
access to sophisticated instrumentation usually reserved for graduate students at most
universities. Not least, these students will also have an unprecedented opportunity to
participate in one of the most extraordinary physics outreach programs in the nation. And
they will get the strong liberal arts foundation that will provide societal context for the
decisions they will be making as future science leaders.
Growing the endowment will elevate the entire JMU physics program, Whisnant
explains. These Chodrow Scholarship recipients will go on to lead successful careers in
physics addressing issues for the betterment of all of society.
Together, by combining our vision and talents, we can give students the early start that
qualifies them ahead of the research curve to enter graduate school, research labs, the
teaching profession, the workforce or anywhere else they seek to go to boost America's
culture of innovation and discovery.
Thats how the national model of the Engaged University operates. Your gift makes it
possible

General College Funds

Biology Fund
Research stipends for biology students make intense and productive summers in the lab
with their faculty mentors possible.
For a few privileged biology students, summer is an intense time for research. Your gift
to the Department of Biology will provide research stipends and enable more students to
spend their summers in the lab immersed in an intense scholarly experience with their
faculty mentors.
By making a gift to the biology department, you enable students to take their ongoing
research projects to the next level of investigation and testing during the summer, says
biology department head Joanna Mott.
With your gift, Madison students can make progress on research that has real-world
implications for society. Summer researchers are probing questions that affect birth
defects, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, sources of local watershed contamination, and
more.
Without summer stipends, however, students cannot afford to stay at JMU for the
summer. They must go home and find jobs instead.
Graduate biology students in particular expect stipends because they too must support
themselves in their endeavor to make research their lifes work. Without stipends,
graduate students choose programs at other universities and the quality of JMUs
program will suffer.
We must also purchase lab supplies for our student researchers and send them to present
their findings at national research conferences, Mott says. Undergoing the scrutiny of
the scientific community completes the transformation from student to new scientist and
hypothesis to new knowledge.
Summer research stipends and support for biologys extensive student research program
are examples of the importance and impact of your gift, which fund biologys most
critical day-to-day academic needs. The department also turns to these hardworking, goto dollars to
send faculty mentors to conferences
offer faculty research stipends for the summer
ensure that students receive one-on-one time with expert and engaged professors
ensure that students have consistent hands-on research opportunities
ensure that students have access to sophisticated instrumentation
purchase small specialty equipment
pay for emergency repairs for lab equipment
maintain and replace sophisticated instrumentation
bring in speakers and encourage student and alumni networking

build out curriculum and programs, like, most recently, the graduate program

Together, by combining our vision and talents in the Department of Biology, we can
ensure that Madison students get the intense research experiences that qualify them ahead
of the curve to enter graduate school and Ph.D. programs, research labs, the teaching
profession, the workforce or anywhere else they seek to go to boost America's culture of
innovation and discovery and solve the real-world problems that face society.
Thats how the national model of the Engaged University operates. Your gift makes it
possible.

Program Funds
Engineering Student Projects
Hands-on student projects are the lifeblood of JMUs innovative engineering program.
Thats because it takes engineers who are engaged with the world to innovate solutions to
critical human problems and do it with a fundamental understanding of the environment
in which those solutions must be implemented.
Your gift to engineering will provide the financial resources for student projects that
begin in a students first freshman engineering course and continue every semester
through a students senior year.
The benefits go beyond real-world implications. Engineering student projects like these
also have real-time impact:
designing software to assist decision-makers in weighing the pros and cons of a
controversial natural gas drilling process;
designing a testing system to aid in hearing research;
developing a firefighting robot;
designing and building a device that creates DNA samples for biology research
and employ ink-jet printing technology to "print" the samples on glass slides
similar to microscope slides.
Your gift to fund hands-on projects enables engineering students to fully consider the
environmental, energy, financial, security and social impacts when they analyze problems
and design solutions.
JMU engineers graduate with an integrated perspective focused on sustainability, design,
and systems analysis to:
analyze and solve real-world human problems
model, simulate and test complex interdependent socio-technical systems
integrate business, social, and ethical aspects into engineering solutions
work effectively in interdisciplinary teams and international environments
manage engineering projects in a timely and cost-effective manner
communicate solutions effectively to diverse audiences
strive toward lifelong learning and creative critical thinking
Together, by combining our talents and vision in the Department of Engineering, we can
produce the 21st-century versatile engineering with the practical ingenuity to improve the
sustainability of Virginia and the world.
Thats how the national model of the Engaged University operates. Your gift makes it
possible.

[S1]What does the fund do? How does it help students/the university?
[S2]What will the donors gift do? Focus on one or two primary things the fund does and
talk about them specifically you can generalize later on.
[S3]You can also mention how lack of funding can be detrimental not just to JMU but to
society. Reference a well-known problem in the discipline and show how JMU and
whatever fund youre talking about is responding to it. For example with Nursing, there is
a shortage of nurses, etc.
[S4]Brand Attributes:
Student to professor ratio
Collaborative projects
Leadership activities
Beautiful campus
World-class faculty
Education experiences that transcend a single academic program
Real-world implications and application for society
Madison Experience
Engaged university
[S5]If you are talking about a general college fund, around this part of the piece you can
expand on other things the fund does and bullet list them.