In my work with nonprofit leaders and communicators, I continue to see how communications is expected to accomplish so much with so little.
The money required just can’t keep up with what’s needed to create insights-driven content and activities that move people to give, engage, partner or support.
This year, I had the opportunity once again to facilitate strategic communications conversations with professionals in the social sector through roundtables and workshops as a Ripple Effect partner with YWCA South Florida and The Children’s Trust. I’ll also be serving on the “Ask The Experts” panel at PhilanthropyMiami’s IGNITE! conference on May 7.
Connecting with nonprofit leaders about the challenges they face, the opportunities they miss, and their strong desire to get it all right only heightens what I’ve always known to be true:
Funding to implement nonprofit communications work is just as critical as capacity-building.
Once nonprofits know how to create a strategic communications plan rooted in research, prioritized audiences, strategic messaging, and measurable objectives tied to a strategic plan, they must have support to actually get the work done.
These leaders long to match communications to the boldness of their missions, but they’ve got limited resources to do so with excellence. They’re expected to serve communities well, build trust, engage stakeholders, raise awareness, respond thoughtfully in difficult moments, and communicate impact clearly and consistently.
Accomplishing all of this in a way that will powerfully impact and transform communities doesn’t just happen. It requires time, skill, and meaningful investment.
So communications can’t be treated like a nice-to-have. Rather, it must serve as a core part of how organizations build visibility, deepen relationships, and sustain their work over time. When nonprofits communicate well, people understand the mission more clearly. And when they have that clarity, they’re more likely to engage, trust, give, advocate, and participate.
Strong communications support is not separate from impact. It helps make impact possible.
The people doing this work deserve strategy, support, and space to strengthen how they communicate — and the sector as a whole will thrive when they have it.
For those of us who work in communications, whether in-house, as consultants, or even as board members helping guide organizational strategy, there’s a charge here:
Continue to make the case that communications is not extra or decorative. It is not something to figure out after the “real work” is done. Communications is key to how organizations build trust, deepen alignment, and move people to care, contribute, participate, and act. And it has to be funded with this bold imperative in mind.
Keep raising the flag. Keep helping leaders connect communications to mission, values, and long-term success. And keep reminding those around you that when communications is treated as essential and funded in a way that shows it, organizations are far better equipped to serve, sustain, and grow.