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Fundraising Tuesday: 4 Ways to Pay for Your Communications Consultant

February 21, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Your nonprofit organization does great work. You’d like more people to know about it. So you squeeze time for writing newsletters, sending email, and posting to social media into your schedule.

And still, people don’t know what you do.

You realize you need outside help…but there’s a problem.  How are you going to pay for the help you need?

Nonprofits often operate with restricted funds. The grant you received to offer concerts to schoolchildren, or feed elders, won’t pay for your consultant. You know you need to spend the money to make more money, but where do you get the money to invest in the first place?

piggy bank

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Four ways, in fact.

Here are four approaches you can take to find money without strings attached, money you can invest in the future of your organization. Each of them is something you can do, even if you’re a small nonprofit. And none of them will break the bank.

  1. Ask a donor. Most people give to your organization to produce immediate results. A few of your supporters understand that better communications now means a stronger organization later. Find a major donor like that, and ask him or her to give you the seed money you need.
  2. Write a proposal.  Communications is “capacity building.” Foundations will give grants if you show them what difference your improved communications will make. Businesses will also invest if you make a strong case.
  3. Do some crowdfunding. Zach Brown raised $55,000 online by making potato salad. How about you? Be very human and a little bit funny, and you just might get enough small gifts to pay your consultant.
  4. Build it into the budget. Communications are just as important as staff training and other items you budget for every year. It will be a lot easier to pay for help if you’re planning for it.

When you have the money in hand, here are seven tips on what to look for when you’re hiring a communications consultant.  And I’d love to talk with you about your project.  Drop me a line at [email protected]: maybe we can work together!

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Fundraising Tuesday: Clear Communications Matter

September 20, 2016 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

two types

Which type of communicator did you hire?

So  your nonprofit organization has hired a communications consultant, or maybe even a Director of Communications.  But what do you really want from them?

Do you want them to help you raise funds?  Or to engage the broader community?

It’s vital that you make this clear: to your communications maven and to yourself.

Raising Funds, or Building Community?

Kivi Leroux Miller

Kivi Leroux Miller

Author Kivi Leroux Miller says whether you’re a fundraising communicator or a brand-builder/community-builder affects everything you do.

If you’re a fundraising communicator, then most likely:

  • You work for a smaller organization that can’t afford separate staff for both development and communications.
  • You focus on people ages 55+, because they give more money.
  • You use print and email marketing, and you send out direct mail appeals.
  • You also use phone banks and events.
  • You may “be on” social media but you’re cautious about it and see it as a lower priority.

But if you’re a brand builder or community builder, then probably:

  • You work for a larger organization (at least a $1 million budget), and your organization has a written marketing plan.
  • You focus on people under age 55, for the life-long value of the relationship.
  • You see volunteering (including advocacy and fundraising with friends) as equally important with immediate donations.
  • You do more content marketing than asking.  You tell more often than you sell.
  • You use social media regularly, and you aim to engage your community–not just do outreach.

Why Clear Expectations Matter

Your nonprofit needs to know which kind of communicator you have hired, and be clear about what you expect. That way, your communications person will know how to direct their efforts.  And that way, you can define and agree on what will count as success.

What if you’ve engaged one person to do both jobs? According to Kivi’s estimate, about half of us communications professionals are asked to do both.  She says:

These communicators are the ones I worry most about, because their jobs are much more likely to be poorly defined, and therefore they are much more likely to burn out and hate their jobs.  We need all the creative, dedicated people we can get in this work, so I don’t want this to happen!

What It Takes to Succeed

What kind of communicator does your organization need, and are you being clear with them about what you expect? And do you provide the resources they will need to succeed?

Some nonprofit organizations hire one staff person to do all their communications and then give that staff person a consultant to call upon. If the staff person is great fundraiser but hasn’t had much experience building a community, the consultant should know all there is to know about engagement and mobilization.

If the staff person is really good at building community (online and face to face), but they don’t know that much about donor communications, then call me! We can work together to make sure your nonprofit organization has loyal friends who show up, speak out…AND give money.

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3 Ways Nonprofits Find the Time for Social Media

September 19, 2016 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

we can do itNonprofits are getting the word: we can’t afford to put social media off any longer.  As a consultant, the biggest question I’ve heard from nonprofit leaders is, “How do I find the time to do social media when my staff and I are so busy already?”

It’s a fair question, but there are answers.

One: start small.

Two: make sure you have a strategy, so the time you do put in produces the best results.

Three: get good outside help.

Social media are not a cure-all, and they don’t replace your website, email, or the written word, but you can use them to build and strengthen relationships–and that leads to the six ways to succeed on social media.

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