Principles To Help Nonprofit Groups Improve Their Communications

Communications Toolkit: A Guide to Navigating Communications for the Nonprofit World
by R. Christine Hershey

U.S. companies spend more than $260-billion each year to persuade consumers to buy their products. But while nonprofit groups need to market themselves to prospective supporters and clients, just like businesses do, most of them devote less than 1 percent of their budget to communications, this book says.

Produced by Cause Communications, the nonprofit arm of the California communications firm Hershey Associates, the book describes how charities can adopt corporate marketing methods at a fraction of the cost.

The guide lists affordable ways in which nonprofit groups can test their messages and materials, like online chat rooms, focus groups, and telephone surveys. It describes how to measure a communications program against those of competing nonprofit groups, and how to conduct research on what kinds of people might be receptive to a group’s message.

The book includes tips for developing catchy slogans, distinctive logos, and memorable “brand” identities. It describes how to draft a communications budget, and when to form partnerships with companies and seek help from outside consultants.

Nonprofit groups can use marketing tools as diverse as paid advertising, advocacy work, direct mail, grant writing, the Internet, special events, and “guerrilla” tactics that include painting murals or going door-to-door, the book says. They can also secure news-media coverage by reaching out to reporters and developing timely and newsworthy story ideas, it says.

In its final chapter, the guide provides advice for determining the success of communications efforts. Measuring how many people view an organization’s Web site and how often news organizations report positively on a group’s work are among its suggestions.

The book is based on surveys of more than 300 nonprofit groups conducted with support from the Annenberg Foundation, the California Endowment, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation.

Publisher: Cause Communications, 1336 Fifth Street, Santa Monica, Calif. 90401; (310) 458-2823; fax (310) 656-0613; http://www.causecommunications.org; 71 pages; available free on the publisher’s Web site or from the publisher; ISBN 0-9763027-1-3.