A nonprofit organization's communication team must be skilled communicators to achieve the broader goals and objectives of the nonprofit organization. Communication teams at nonprofits convey information to the public sector, private sector, the media, communities, organization’s staff, and other responders.

The primary goal of a nonprofit communication team is to raise awareness of the work of the nonprofit organization so that it can secure volunteers and funding to continue its mission. 

Nonprofit communication teams serve to empower their communities, governments, donors, and the public at large with information regarding the impact and influence of their organization’s work. This is necessary to ensure government authorization, active community engagement, and positive feedback from the media and society.

Communication teams are responsible for developing proposals and requests for funding for donors. This process occurs in collaboration with the management team to present a clear and concise plan of an organization's achievements and plans. Nonprofits rely on donor funding for their operations. Donors require concise plans and objectives for funding projects.

Let’s explore eight important goals that every nonprofit organization’s communication team should be invested in:…

Email marketing campaigns are just as effective for nonprofits as they are for any other business. So, nonprofits must utilize every opportunity to push their cause forward. Aside from sending out emails on behalf of your nonprofit, there are other things that can be worked on in order to see a greater level of success. 

DO use pictures of people

Captivate your readers with engaging pictures throughout your emails. Messages are never as interesting when they are just text. Add real photos of people you are helping, volunteers and more. Steer clear of stock images that do nothing to enhance the message. If you're building a community playground or other structure, include pictures of the progress or design drawings, so donors can feel included in the process. It is more impactful to show someone a picture of what is being done, not  just describe it. When others can see  real people and things their money is affecting, they get encouraged to continue donating. Putting a face and name to  donations is highly effective in connecting donors, which is why organizations like World Vision will send a photo and information about a specific child to their contributors. If you want an all-in-one design and email service, Mad Mimi can help with pre-made templates and easy to use email automation.

DO divide your list

When it comes time to send out  messages, have it…

The 46th Annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference was held Nov. 15-18 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The theme of the conference this year was “Strengthening Local Communities: The Role of Nonprofit and Philanthropic Organizations.” I was selected to go to this year’s ARNOVA conference as an Undergraduate Diversity Scholar, a new initiative to bring underrepresented students and undergraduates to a mostly graduate and research-based conference.

As a Chicana, studying Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Transborder Chican@/Latin@ Studies and Sustainability, I already felt out of place entering a conference like this. However, I knew I was chosen for a reason and I wanted to expand on my knowledge in the nonprofit field.

The first few days of the conference started with introduction to the other 15 scholars and to ARNOVA. I wanted to go to panels I knew I could benefit and learn new from, so I went to workshops surrounding the topics of: multi-sector collaboration, representation and diversity, managing volunteers, activist philanthropy, and social enterprises. During a poster presentation, I even had the opportunity to meet two groups of ASU graduate students showcasing their work!

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Storytelling is a strategic tool that has been used since the beginning of humanity to transmit a meaningful message to others. Through stories, people can speak out their minds, share wisdom, and pass information to others. 

Telling a good story can influence the mindset of the audience, and this explains why a lot of businesses today are using this tool to market their brands to their potential customers. Nonprofits can also make use of storytelling to engage their audience, get their attention, and influence them to change their behavior and take action. 

Generating compelling stories is no longer a luxury or a choice for nonprofits. Potential donors and volunteers have increasing amounts of pressure to spend money elsewhere and volunteer their time with other activities. This is why your nonprofits needs to rely on storytelling as a foundation for a strong digital media strategy in the future. 

If you want your nonprofit to thrive and grow, then you need to craft stories that can inspire their audience and motivate them to donate to their organization. In this article, we shall discuss 8-step guide which nonprofits can follow to collect and use compelling stories that will make a difference in their audience behavior. 

1. Know Your Goals

The first step of generating a good story…

In the face of increased accountability pressures, nonprofits are searching for ways to demonstrate their effectiveness (Liket and Maas, 2015). Stakeholders should be asking how do we identify effective practices throughout the organization and how do we improve organizational effectiveness to achieve greater impact? Nonprofit organizations are increasingly under pressure from funders, clients, and others to “prove” that they are achieving their mission effectively and efficiently (Renz and Murray, 2010). Over the past decade, efforts have been increasingly made to encourage the adoption of effective practice methodologies in the nonprofit sector (National Resource Center, 2010). What is considered effective should advance the organizations mission and goals to achieve greater impact.

Meaningful tools to evaluate effectiveness are largely absent (Liket and Maas, 2015). This means an increased demand for more and better evaluation (Renz and Murray, 2010) is needed. Currently, nonprofit organizations are measuring effectiveness in a variety of ways including benchmarking, organizational effectiveness evaluations, key performance indicators, and outcome based evaluation. Nonprofit organizations should identify evaluation methods to assess their programs and organization effectiveness on an ongoing basis. The goal is to identify best practices and opportunities and subsequently to adapt to improve (Bridgespan, n.d.).

It is important…