Planning a Strategy for Nonprofit Communications

If you're a nonprofit organization, you may have been through or are currently going through a lack of funding. This is a huge problem that many nonprofits face, but there are ways to get through this.

As a nonprofit, you need to ensure that you are communicating to donors in the best way possible. This calls for strategic thinking and a communications strategy that reaches the organizations that you need the most.

As part of a nonprofit communications strategy, you need to make sure you follow steps that make sense for your goals. By doing this, you will be as successful as possible.

Continue reading for a useful strategy plan for you to implement as part of your nonprofit solutions.

Determine the Nonprofit Goals For Communication

As part of a nonprofit organization, you will probably want to establish goals for why you want to communicate with other organizations or what you want to communicate in general.

When thinking of what type of communication goals you want to set, think of the following:

• Establish your overall message for your brand
• Increase support from donors and volunteers
• Raise awareness for your organization as a whole

By setting these goals, you know what type of business communications you need.

Know Your Target Audience

A nonprofit needs to establish a target audience in order to be the most successful they can be. When thinking about a target audience, you need to think of the following:

• Research blogs
• Observe what people engage with your online presence (their age, demographic, location, business, lifestyle, etc.)
• Understand analytics of engagement

When the nonprofit organization develops a target audience, it is easier to rope people in to be sponsors or donors. It also attracts more people who relate or care about the industry that the nonprofit is supporting.

Use Social Media to Build Awareness 

When it comes to navigating a communications strategy, in today's world using social media is one of the best things you can do. Engaging audiences on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and now TikTok, an organization can easily reach people that may not have been reached without using social media.

Some followers are loyal followers across many platforms, while others will only be on one. Because of this, it's important to broaden your network to be on multiple platforms.

When on social media, a communications strategy should include how to stay consistent, a content plan, and an engagement plan. With social media, a company always need to stay consistent and make sure that they are engaging with their audience. By engaging, you are growing your community and trust with your followers in the hopes that they will support the organization by building awareness or donating.

Choose Multiple Tactics to Build Awareness

To bring awareness to a nonprofit organization, there has to be a communications strategy to build awareness for the nonprofit.

There are multiple ways to do this, and whether a nonprofit chooses to do one or many depends on the strategy and the success of trying them out. When it comes down to it, the nonprofit can either go with one or multiple, whichever makes the most sense monetarily. 

Send Newsletters to Donors

Whether you choose to create your own newsletter as your own organization communication or ask to be a part of another organization's newsletter, it's a great way to get the news out about your goals.

Any relevant information should be in the newsletter as well as upcoming events or fundraisers.

Fundraise in Multiple Ways

As a nonprofit, there are many times that you need to set up fundraisers for the organization to gain support and money. These can be done as a one-off fundraiser like a bake sale or can be a yearly event that you put on. Host a golf tournament, create a casino night at the local club, or host a dancing class to accept donations upon entry.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you have the brand message out in the open so attendees understand what the nonprofit organization's goals are!

Utilize Ads

Similar to social media, placing strategic ads are a great idea for a communications strategy. You can place these on a website or even on Instagram and Facebook. The nonprofit will reach more people that are part of your target audience to bring in more awareness and donations.

Tell the Organization's Story

As part of the communication's strategy, the story is extremely relevant and important to getting to the set goals for the organization.

People relate to stories. They relate to meanings and missions. When there is one for a nonprofit, more people will feel drawn into the mission, the meaning, and the story.

Whether you choose to tell your story visually, virtually, or through oral communication, all ways will reach an audience. Trying more than one may boost your reach as well.

Setting Nonprofit Communications in Place

Nonprofit communications is one of the most important parts of a solution to set goals and reach those goals as a nonprofit. Since there is so much that goes into the nonprofit sector like planning, goal setting, missions, and fundraising.

By creating and following a strategy for nonprofit solutions, the nonprofit will excel in its sector. When creating a plan, make sure to implement some of the above steps to create a plan that actually works.

If you are looking for services to help you out, contact us for some help with your nonprofit communications.