Write for Us

Write for Lakeshore Civic Review

Lakeshore Civic Review is read by people who work at the practical end of civic life: staff and volunteers at small nonprofits, parish and community organisers, local councillors and council officers, and residents who follow planning notices and budget meetings closely. They come to us for clear, grounded writing about how a town or a district actually works, not for opinion pieces that could have been written anywhere. If you have direct knowledge of a service, a campaign, a funding round or a committee process, our readers will get something from it.

A contribution puts that knowledge in front of the people most likely to use it. Readers here pass articles on to colleagues, quote them in meetings and return to them when a similar problem lands on their own desk. A well-argued piece on how a food bank restructured its volunteer rota, or what a parish council learned from a failed grant bid, does more for our audience than a general essay on the value of community. That is the standard we hold contributions to, and it is why people keep reading.

What we publish

We are looking for writing on the following subjects, ideally anchored in a specific place or a specific piece of work:

• Nonprofit management: governance, volunteer retention, funding, charity finance and the day-to-day running of small organisations.
• Community organising and neighbourhood projects, including faith groups, tenants' associations and mutual aid.
• Local government: council decision-making, scrutiny, planning, licensing and public consultation.
• Civic participation: how residents get involved, how meetings work, and how to make a case to a public body.
• Partnerships between charities, councils and businesses, and what makes them hold together.
• Practical lessons from a project that went well, or one that did not, with the detail that makes it useful to others.

Guest posts and sponsored articles

We accept both contributed editorial and sponsored placements. If you want to write for us as a guest, a guest post is reviewed and edited in the same way as anything else we run. Sponsored posts are accepted on the same subjects and must be relevant to our readers; where disclosure is required, the article carries it. Published posts are permanent and indexed, and editorial links in accepted pieces are dofollow. Pricing is available on request. Turnaround is normally three to five working days from receipt of a complete draft.

Guidelines

Please read these contributor guidelines before you submit an article:

• Work must be original and unpublished elsewhere, including on your own site or blog.
• Pieces should be 800 words or more, with a clear point and concrete examples.
• Include one or two relevant links, ideally to primary sources such as reports, minutes or official guidance.
• Nothing illegal, defamatory or misleading. Do not include confidential material from an employer or client.
• Gambling, adult and pharmaceutical subjects are considered case by case, and only where they are genuinely relevant to our readers.
• An author bio is optional. If you supply one, keep it to two or three sentences.
• We edit for house style, clarity and length, and we may ask for changes before publication.

How to pitch

Email guestpost@churchontherise.net with a subject line in the form "Guest post: [topic]". Include a short outline of no more than 150 words covering the argument and the examples you will use, plus a link to past work or a short writing sample. If the idea fits, we will reply with a decision and any notes on angle or length. You can also use this address to submit an article that is already drafted, or to ask about a sponsored post.

Questions about any of the above, including contributor guidelines and rates, can go to guestpost@churchontherise.net. We read everything sent there and reply to pitches within a few working days.