When implementing your nonprofit marketing strategy, do the communications staff work in close collaboration with those who are recruiting volunteers? If so, you’re likely the exception, not the norm.
In today’s world, most volunteer services and communications staff consider their work as separate enterprises.
It’s rare for an integrated nonprofit marketing strategy to be developed that includes communication and nurturing of all public stakeholder groups – from donors to volunteers to community members – across boundaries and mapped to a purposeful ladder of engagement.
What’s more, the nonprofit’s overall marketing strategy often has little to do with attracting or engaging future or current volunteers except for a
posts or mentions in the newsletter.
Unfortunately, this practice of working in silos doesn’t serve the ultimate aims of most organizations – to create a sustainable foundation for its operations and scale its impact.
In addition, working separately does little to acknowledge and align with the reality of how supporters engage with charities.
The fact is that many nonprofit supporters serve multiple roles. So,
can feel disjointed and impersonal and can erode your relationships with your followers.
Research has shown that donors are volunteers and volunteers are donors. What’s more, volunteers AND donors were once simply interested followers.
For all the stats around volunteers and donors, check out our post 5 Surprising Myths About Volunteers and Donors HERE >>
When the various teams who communicate with the public – outreach, development, volunteer services, communications – don’t collaborate, marketing messages risk being received as contradictory and cadences as competitive.
Working in siloes, rather than collaboratively, is also an inefficient way to go about things, and it wastes the precious time and energy of those who are often stretched thin.
It’s time to change that.
The Case for Collaborative Nonprofit Marketing Campaigns
While many staff involved in nonprofit marketing search outside their organizations for community partners that can help boost the results of their campaigns, it’s a missed opportunity if they neglect the tremendous value and power of collaboration right at home.
People in your own organization can be of immense help to you. They can provide advice, support, technical assistance, and free word-of-mouth advertising that you just can’t buy.
Alternately, if you have a rocky or nonexistent relationship with other work units, they can tarnish your reputation and credibility by incorrectly framing who you are and what you do.
So, take the time to build the bridges and educate everyone about your department’s key projects and goals, whether you work in 
, fundraising, outreach, or marketing.
Consider how you might collaborate around the following:
- Annual agency communications calendar
- Access and cost-sharing of standard tools
- List building and segmentation
- Timing and types of asks
- Reinforcement of key talking points
- Overlap of donor and volunteer messaging
- Campaign dates
- Sequencing and timing of emails
- Campaign troubleshooting
- Benchmarking and analysis
- + More!
Think of your nonprofit marketing as an ecosystem that is also influenced by all the other nonprofit marketing and communications that occurs within your organization.
Why do I call it an “ecosystem”? Because everything works together.
Sample Nonprofit Communications Ecosystem
When planning, ask …
- What are various actions we can ask our followers to take that represent increasing levels of commitment?
- What are their informational and emotional needs at each step?
- Where will each department place them?
- What will they look like (button, opt-in form, link, etc.)?
- What will they say?
Taking time to map out these journeys helps you visualize potential synergies and see where opportunities for amplification and extension of stakeholder support roles.
How does a volunteer become a donor and vice versa? How are general followers converted into more formal supporters and advocates?
When you plan for the entire journey, rather than simply asking “what kind of social media should I post?”, you are more likely to arrive at an integrated, multi-level plan with touchpoints that can reinforce one another.
Whether you start with a simple conversation or create a more deeply integrated plan, coordinating nonprofit marketing plans across your organization is well worth the effort and can be a win-win for everyone.
For more, check out How to Develop a
Volunteer Recruitment Plan for Your Nonprofit HERE >>
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