Getting to strategic integration: dovetailing communications with your fundraising

Once upon a time, not so long ago, we had very few choices about the source of our news and information, mainly confined to TV, radio, books and newspapers. Now we can consume information from multiple sources, by ‘deep diving’ and/or skimming; podcasts, blogs, Reddit, You Tube, Pinterest, Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to name but a few. New platforms, such as Clubhouse and Quora, are coming onstream all the time, with varying degrees of traction. All of this – more and more varied communications – presents new challenges for charity fundraisers.

Why? If people regularly hear about your charity from a range of different sources and from a variety of other people, they are more likely to understand the issues you are addressing and funding is more likely to follow. So, making full use of these platforms will help increase your chances of fundraising success. Donors of all types: major, community, trusts and foundations, will use any one of these channels, or a mix of them, or even all of them. And so do their friends and families. It is important that they hear your message from more than one source. If the content is engaging and thought-provoking, it could stimulate conversations between donors and their personal and professional networks that could reap rewards for your charity.

So, having a communications/marketing strategy that dovetails with your fundraising strategy is an important ingredient for success.

But how?
1) Agree organisational key messages and use them in every fundraising activity and all communication content, so that your audience hears the same message from a variety of sources.
2) Identify your audiences and decide which platform you will use to connect with them. Your key messages may need to be nuanced depending on the demographic profile of the platform users.
3) Make sure you post regularly, as you do not know when your posts are viewed or by whom. Keep going with it, though, as persistence pays.

This may be challenging for smaller charities, who are almost always under-resourced. It may be that these charities use volunteers, particularly young people who are often social-media savvy, to help with the work. If you can see it as an added investment into fundraising and awareness raising, it may be easier to position and resource the work internally.

Obviously, even with this method, levering more funding is not guaranteed. But the likelihood increases significantly. And that cannot be a bad thing.

Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants provides expertise tailored to each client that draws upon our consultants’ hands-on experience of strategy and implementation, collective team knowledge and our 60-year track record.  If you’d like an informal chat to explore how we could help you integrate your fundraising and communications get in touch.