Creating Your Message
Ron Wastyn, Ph.D., Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Senior Leadership Consultant at
Wastyn & Associates, Inc.
One of the most important aspects of a nonprofit is connecting with various stakeholders: donors, clients, and staff, all of whom connect to your nonprofit at a very basis level. To do so, we construct all sorts of messages, some effective and some ineffective.
The most effective communication connects stakeholders with your organization’s purpose. By purpose, I mean the very basic reason that you exist. I do not mean your amazing programs or a vague sense of “serving people in need.” Instead, I mean the very reason you exist – what social problem or ill do you wish to impact?
Your purpose might be:
To decrease the amount of homelessness in our community
To reduce teen pregnancy
To decease teen crime
To reduce poverty
You seek to achieve these purposes through your programs. Yes, your programs may differentiate you from other similar organizations, but you only truly connect with people when they understand your purpose. Author Simon Sinek would call this your why.
In his book Starts with Why, Sinek makes an excellent case that people buy not what we do, but why we do it. His case study of Apple describes a company that makes a very good cellular phone. But so does Samsung and Google. Yet, Apple almost has a cult like following. Why? He maintains people connect with their purpose: their desire to challenge the status quo. They just happen to make these various products.
So, when planning any marketing effort or thinking about your messages, make sure that people understand your purpose, your why!
If my nonprofit has programs to help young adults make better life choices, I would start by building a case for my purpose: to reduce teen problems such as teen pregnancy, crime and so forth. Once you have people believing that a problem with teen pregnancy exists in the community and that they should help solve that problem, then you can connect them to your programs. “Teen pregnancy exists and is a problem in our community? We have a program that works to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy by helping teens make better life choices.”
Too often, I see nonprofits putting everything they do into their marketing messages. This “kitchen sink” approach only confuses the reader or at best develops a superficial relationship between them and your organization. When your programs change, they leave you, or when they find another cause – another purpose, they leave you.
Keep your messages simple and focused on the reason why you do what you do, and you will find that you have developed much deeper and more meaningful relationships with the people who truly care about your mission.