Community

They say all good things must come to an end, friends, and as it turns out, that time has come for Nyman Ink. After countless newsletters, websites, brochures and fundraising campaigns (not to mention all the other stuff we’ve done), more than 60 awards and a full 22 years in business, we’re creatively exhausted and ready for a break. Two decades is a long time to keep going at full speed, and while we’ve loved every minute of it, we think it’s time to give it a rest.

Nyman Ink’s doors will officially close on Friday, August 31, 2012. In the meantime, we’ll be wrapping up our final projects and tying up loose ends.

But, fear not. We don’t plan to leave you high and dry. Though our physical office will be no more, our website, www.nymanink.com, will remain up and running to allow you to keep accessing all of our free resources, from whitepapers to blog posts. And though we’re getting out the design and marketing biz, we know you’ll still need great marketing professionals to help you with your future communications needs. With that in mind, Judy Nyman, our founder and fearless leader, will also remain available in case you need a referral or have any questions. When the doors close, Judy will be reachable via email at jnyman [at] nymanink [dot] com and by phone at 416-587-5847.

We sincerely thank you for 22 wonderful years of business, friendship and referrals. We don’t know where we’ll end up next, but we wish you all the best of luck with your future businesses, ventures and plans.

It's been grand.

Sincerely,

Judy Nyman, Bonnie Jackson, Nicola McHughen, Jen Selk, Scott Hamel

The Team at Nyman Ink

P.S. For the time being, our blog, website and social media accounts will remain available online, but we will not be updating them.

If you work with a charity or not-for profit in the know, you've probably already heard about our city (Toronto's) new garbage pick-up fees and the surrounding controversy. And if you haven't heard, trust us when we say this is an issue you need to know about.

I recently heard about a cool contest through our friends over at Imagine Canada. It's called the Students (Verb) Charities contest (odd name, I know). But despite the strange moniker, I think those in the not-for-profit community will find it to be of interest.

So have you heard about Toyota giving away 100 cars to deserving not-for-profits? I just caught wind of it yesterday, via a press release in Digital Journal. At first, I was excited, but of course, as often happens, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment when I realized that the freebies were only on offer in the United States.

Sorry, my Canadian friends. No cars for you. At least . . . not yet. The initiative is a good one. So good, in fact, that I think it might be worthwhile to push Toyota to offer a similar program here in Canada. But before I get to that, let me explain the whole initiative.

Saw a very interesting piece on Care2 today and wanted to share. (Have you heard of Care2? If you're in the not-for-profit sphere, it's worth checking out. Essentially, Care2 is a social networking site designed to connect activists. According to Wikipedia, it has more than 17 million members and is dedicated to helping people make the world a better place by connecting them with the individuals, organizations and responsible businesses making an impact.)

Today's piece was about the new PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) advertising campaign.

Have you heard of MyCharityConnects? It's an initiative of CanadaHelps.org. We discovered it only recently, but it's quickly proven to be a wonderful resource for people in the not-for-profit community, so I wanted to share it with you.

Saw some good news over on the Design Edge Canada web site this week. Two Toronto-based publications have made the five best designed newspapers in the world list in the 33rd annual Best of Newspaper Design Creative Competition from the Society for News Design (SND), which calls itself an international organization for news media professionals and visual communicators.

If you're like me, you're always looking for new and interesting ways to illustrate your blog posts. This can be a daunting task. If you're not much of a photographer (and personally, I'm not), you can't rely on your own images, and stock photographs, which are often inexpensive, still cost money, and many not-for-profits don't have the money (or the inclination) to spend on online endeavours.

Every January, I start thinking about the Super Bowl. Not because I enjoy American football (I don't), but because I enjoy seeing the commercials that run during the Super Bowl broadcast. In the marketing/advertising world, these commercials make a major impact, and it's always smart for those in our business to keep an eye on what runs, and what works on Super Bowl Sunday.