ABOUT

What Seagull Writing Does

Seagull Writing is the copywriting business of freelance writer Mary Ann Siegel. My specialized services include direct mail packages, annual giving appeals, stewardship communications, web pages, team-building materials and PR press releases for the fundraising, publishing, IT, education and health care industries. For more information, click on services.

Seagull Writing - the Culmination of My Journey

As a teenager I held paying jobs at a florist and a department store. But equally important to my learning about the world and what I wanted to do with my life were the volunteer jobs I held at the hospital and a settlement house.

This pattern of combining business with a desire to help those in need continues today.

During my years at Connecticut College, I began to speak out for social justice. After graduation (B.A. in Religion), I entered the publishing industry through the Picture Libraries of Life and National Geographic magazines. This led to freelance portrait photography.

Then community service called me, more urgently this time. As I learned that listening to those in need was just as important as taking a stand on their behalf, I listened and I heard - those who were ignored; those whose voices were tired and silent from injustice and disabilities. Using fundraising and leadership development as avenues for writing and speaking, I led campaigns, and recruited and trained volunteer teams for the following organizations: Spelman College, Connecticut College, Leadership Atlanta, the North Carolina School for Outward Bound, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, the United Way of Metro Atlanta, the Salvation Army, the YWCA and the Urban Training Organization of Atlanta.

I took special interest in children by tutoring reading in New York and Atlanta through Communities in Schools and other programs. I mentored adolescents and fed the elderly, speaking and writing on their behalf primarily in the fight against racism.

It seemed easy to build bridges between nonprofit and corporate worlds and the rich and the poor. My experience and empathy were an advantage. But those bridges fall down without clear and sincere communication.

I started sharing my nonprofit experiences with the business world through writing for the web. Enlisted by FundraisingINFO.com to develop an online library on fund-raising resource materials, I wrote and edited the ‘How To Guides’ for international subscribers of this consulting service – self-help articles on how to raise funds, recruit and lead boards, manage special events, engage in stewardship to donors and volunteers, and anticipate emerging technology issues.

I've had additional business experience that widened my knowledge of skills and industries. Managing a dental office introduced me to the health care industry and the fine points of customer service. Recruiting call center managers for an executive search firm strengthened my skills and knowledge in sales and marketing. Everything works better when we learn how to build relationships – personal and professional, nonprofit and business.

It feels like the journey is just beginning even though Seagull Writing brings it all together.

My feature and technical articles on development and management have been published in Fundraising Management and Nonprofit World magazines, Case Currents, and publications of Hospice Atlanta and the Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

To inquire about how Seagull Writing can help you with your copywriting needs, e-mail me at maryann@seagullwriting.com. And for a list of copy formats, click on services.