Words to Avoid – 2026 edition

As you enter the new year and think about your intentions for 2026, consider the words you may want to leave behind (or at least words to mull over before using).

Our annual Words to Avoid list includes words or phrases that are overused in the nonprofit space, may carry a different meaning than intended, or cause harm. We compile this list to encourage nonprofit professionals to be more intentional about the language they use in their communications and with their teams. 

Each year, the words we analyze are crowdsourced from our network. You can download our complete glossary to reflect on past entries. 

Thank you to everyone who submitted! 

• Work to ensure: Nonprofits fill critical gaps within a larger system. They are not solely responsible for driving change, so it’s important for them to clearly define their role and avoid overpromising results in their communications. This is where the phrase, “we work to ensure,” comes in. Nonprofits use this phrase to tell audiences they are actively working to secure an outcome for the people or sectors they serve, while not making false guarantees. Though the phrase sounds ambitious, it often feels vague. It suggests you’re making an effort, but doesn’t tell audiences much about the actual work you’re doing to advance your mission. By playing it safe in their communications, nonprofits risk missing opportunities to be more specific and share the information audiences need to build support. Nonprofits do such amazing work that deserves to be communicated effectively. We recommend using clear language and tangible examples that explain your programs or initiatives. For instance, “Our organization protects local beaches by organizing beach clean-ups.” Additionally, reframe your messaging to sound more confident and credible by using a more direct approach, such as “We clean beaches to protect marine life.”
• Align: The word “align” means to place in a straight line, no bumps or squiggles. When organizations direct their teams to “get aligned,” it implies that everyone on staff needs to be in 100% agreement—there is no room for questions, doubts, or tension. But we know that in life, that’s rarely true. Even if your entire team wants the same outcome, individual members may have different opinions on how to get there. And, when an agreement is made, it’s typically the result of many discussions. A single-minded push toward alignment can also cause discomfort within teams by discouraging dissent and other viewpoints, or by implying that disagreement is a flaw that needs to be fixed. Instead of placing so much weight on aligning as a team, focus on reaching a compromise or fostering cooperation. Acknowledge or even embrace moments of tension, encourage open conversation, and elevate the collaboration that led to the final outcome.
• Agency: The word agency means the “capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power” (Merriam-Webster). However, it is often used interchangeably with terms such as choice, freedom, empowerment, and potential, which are related but distinct concepts. Because it’s used so flexibly in nonprofit communications, it’s hard to know what an organization means, which can make it feel like jargon. It’s also a complicated word. Typically, when it’s used, it assumes that someone either has agency or does not. In reality, everyone has agency, but a person’s ability to take action is affected by cultural, societal, and systemic barriers. Assuming that communities experiencing a crisis do not have agency is harmful and reinforces victim narratives. Moving forward, avoid using “agency” as a catch-all term, and when writing about people, focus on their individual stories rather than their agency.
• A good fit: Most people have heard this phrase at least once in their professional careers. It’s both demoralizing and also extremely unhelpful. When employers express this to a job applicant, they are taking the quick way out rather than explaining why the candidate was not considered for the position. For example, did the candidate prefer a different type of work culture? Did their skills not match those necessary for the job? While it’s often used because it’s legally “safe,” the phrase leaves applicants with no clear guidance. Worse, it can mask potential bias in the hiring process or create a sense of exclusion, signaling that someone does not belong or does not meet subjective standards. Sharing that someone is not “a good fit” communicates that an organization is only looking for candidates within a specific mold. Rather than relying on “a good fit,” organizations can do more work upfront to clearly define the skills, expectations, and working conditions required for a role, and use that clarity to guide hiring decisions.
• Put a pin in it: This popular phrase is used in for-profit and nonprofit spaces to communicate when it’s time to move on from a topic—often for time’s sake. And while it can be used with good intention to wrap up a meeting so everyone can return to their work, or to more easily stick to a meeting agenda so there is time to discuss all topics, it often feels dismissive and disheartening—as if what you’re saying isn’t important. There are several issues with the phrase: it prioritizes speed over engaging with and valuing people’s thoughts; it can reinforce power dynamics, with leadership deciding what topics to spend time on; and it feels abrupt, closing off conversation without clarifying when to revisit the topics on hold. We recommend being more considerate by scheduling time to discuss the topic or capturing it in the agenda notes to bring up at a later meeting. At Big Duck, we use a “Bike Rack” to collect thoughtful, meaty discussion topics or questions from one meeting that are to be carried forward into the next open time.
• Meeting the moment: We’re noticing nonprofits include this buzzy phrase throughout their messaging to show audiences that they are responding to current events, changing the landscape, or overcoming challenges. But it’s a phrase we should think about before using because a moment is just that—it’s fleeting, it’s temporary. Meanwhile, the challenges nonprofits face under this administration are not temporary; they are encountering a sustained attack on their work. Moreover, the issues most nonprofits address through their work are usually complex and the result of years of systemic failures—not a sudden occurrence. Ultimately, “meeting the moment” is an inaccurate term to express action. The phrase, by definition, does not signal lasting change or ongoing support. It also reduces years of work and minimizes the experiences of communities. When organizations use it in their communications, it can feel as if they are positioning themselves or their donors at the center, like “heroes” tackling a moment of hardship. We recommend ditching the phrase altogether and instead centering the issue you’re confronting, the experiences of communities you support, or the ongoing fight to achieve long-term solutions, rather than “meeting a moment.”

As always, this list is a non-prescriptive guide; you do not need to cut out these words from your vocabulary entirely. May this list encourage you to think about your messaging and discover ways to make it more effective. If your organization would like to identify more opportunities to strengthen your messaging, contact us to learn more about how we can help.