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Nonprofit Communications Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ronita Mohan

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A strong nonprofit communication strategy helps build a loyal client base, improve revenue generation, and power the organization towards steady growth.

We share a step-by-step guide on how to create a communications strategy for nonprofits that will make the process easier for all teams involved.

Organizations especially must prioritize how they manage nonprofit communications during times of crisis . Building communication strategies requires forethought before being implemented.

Step 1: Determine the Audience

User Persona image. Source: Venngage

If you want to communicate effectively, your messaging has to suit your audience. When your message applies to everyone, it has little chance of getting through to your core base.

To define who your message is meant for, you need to create supporter personas.

It is best to build 3-5 target personas for your nonprofit —these will be the ideal supporters that your communications strategy is geared towards. The information required to build a persona includes:

  • Demographics such as age, gender, location, and family status
  • Financial status
  • Technological affinity
  • Belief systems and causes they promote
  • Their aspirations
  • Jobs they are trying to get done by supporting a nonprofit
  • Their donation history
  • Why would your nonprofit appeal to them?

There are a number of sources for extracting the data you need to build these personas. Designing case studies is one effective method—not only do you directly speak to supporters to create the study, but you also look at the larger data involved in a project for context.

You can also send out surveys via emails, newsletters, or by posting it on social media—make the surveys more lucrative by offering a small prize or special thank you upon completion. Use simple online survey makers like Typeform to source this information from your supporters. Once you have an understanding of who has been most receptive to your nonprofit, you can build personas—with profiles as realistic as possible—that will guide your communication strategy.

Step 2: Mailing Lists

While you’re creating personas using surveys and case studies, you can also start building mailing lists. You should be able to get information such as names, emails, location, and other demographics from these surveys.

All this data can be compiled into a simple spreadsheet or managed with email software like Moosend . Most software gives you access to email templates that estimate ideal scheduling times based on the recipient's location to achieve the best open rates.

Email lists can also be segmented according to user personas—such as tiered donors, casual supporters, or volunteers. Additionally you can segment by demographics, choice of communication method, or by the length of the donor or volunteer’s relationship with the organization. By creating mailing lists and segmenting them according to your audience, you are better equipped to personalize your messaging and calls-to-action so your emails engage your audience.

Step 3: Listen to People

Sentiment analysis graph. Source: https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/conduct-competitor-analysis

No communication strategy can be effective if it only accounts for one-way communication. You don’t simply want to talk at your client and donor base—you want them to interact with you.

Once you have created your user personas and started building your email lists, you should start listening to conversations around your organization to tailor your messaging. Social listening is vital in this area—there are a number of popular social media tools that allow you to see posts about your company by tracking your hashtag.

Some of these tools also offer sentiment analysis reports that illustrate how people feel about your company—negative, positive, or neutral. This gives nonprofits a fair idea of how their messaging needs to be altered to win back donors who may not be feeling fully supported by the organization.

Step 4: Aim For Specific Goals

Nonprofit Fundraising Timeline. Source: Venngage

Your communication strategy can’t work if you don’t have specific goals in mind for your messaging. Without any goals, your messages won’t be focused—and they won’t produce the results you are looking for. Here are some goals that most nonprofits aim for with their communications:

  • Awareness for the brand, causes, campaigns, or projects
  • Donations, especially fundraising for new organizations
  • Call for volunteers

For each of these goals, you need specific metrics that you want to aim for such as increasing social media followers or website traffic by x% or procuring x number of new donors. Once your goal is defined, you can create content that will appeal to the target demographic at their point of interest. When someone is only becoming aware of your nonprofit, they may not be interested in the hard sell where you ask for donations.

Instead, they will be interested in learning more about what you do and the causes you support. After they start reading those sections of your site, you can steer them towards becoming involved with your nonprofit through volunteering or attending seminars. Only after this point would it be feasible to start asking for donations or long-term investments in your nonprofit. With your specific goals in mind, your messaging can be more targeted and will gain you the results you are looking for.

Step 5: Choose the Best Channels

There are numerous digital channels that nonprofits can avail of to reach their donor base. But which channels work best for your communication strategy?

While it is tempting to use every channel available to you, if you don’t have the resources to run them, this part of your strategy will fall by the wayside. Instead, it is better to examine where your donor base is—which you would have found out through the surveys and case studies when building your user personas. These are some of the popular channels you can target in your strategy:

  • Broadcast media
  • Email marketing
  • Press releases
  • Internet search engines
  • Social media
  • Video marketing
  • Webinars for donors
  • Word of mouth

It isn’t possible for a nonprofit to target all these channels—especially when social media can be subdivided into multiple platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. On the other hand, creating a single site on a well-chosen web hosting platform can bring you more traffic, clicks, and revenue. Not only do you need to assess where your target base is likely to frequent, but also look at the ROI for these channels. Email marketing has excellent ROI , whereas social media has the possibility of reaching new audiences. Determine where your target audience will be most responsive and choose your channels accordingly.

We have shared a five-step strategy that can be implemented for a successful 2020. To recap, these steps are:

Define your audience

Build mailing lists

Listen to your community

Choose appropriate channels

Building a communications strategy that ensures nonprofits can reach their target audience and boost their donor numbers can feel like a challenge. By following these steps, you can create a communications strategy that will help you attract more donors and supporters.

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How to Develop a Nonprofit Communications Plan + Template

How-To-Market-a-Business-VLFG

When establishing your nonprofit, one of the first things you should do is develop a communications plan. Your nonprofit’s communications plan will be key in helping spread your message, engage your target audience, and achieve your fundraising goals. This article will provide tips on how to develop a great communications plan. A template for your communications plan is included. 

What Is a Communications Plan?

A nonprofit communications plan is an essential document for any nonprofit organization. It outlines the strategies and tactics that will be used to communicate with stakeholders; including donors, clients, and the general public. Without a communications plan in place, it can be difficult to ensure that everyone is on the same page with regard to messaging and goals. A well-developed communications plan will help to make sure that your nonprofit is able to effectively achieve its mission.

What Does a Communications Plan Include?

Every communications plan is different, but there are some essential elements that should be included in all plans. These elements include:

– The goals of the communications plan: What do you hope to achieve with your communications efforts?

– The target audience: Who do you want to reach with your message?

– Key messages: What are the key points that you want to communicate to your target audience?

– Tactics: How will you deliver your message? Will you use press releases, social media, email marketing, or a combination of tactics?

– A timeline: When will you implement each tactic?

– A budget: How much money do you have to allocate to your communications efforts?

Tips For Creating a Great Communications Plan

Now that you understand what a communications plan is and what it should include, it’s time to start developing your own nonprofit communications plan. Use the following tips to create a great communications plan for your nonprofit:

Define Your Message

Before you can start developing your communications plan, you need to first define your message. What are the key points that you want to communicate to your target audience? Make sure that your message is clear and concise, and that it aligns with your nonprofit’s mission statement .

Determine Communication Goals

What do you hope to achieve with your communications efforts? Do you want to increase awareness of your nonprofit, engage your target audience, or raise funds? Once you’ve determined your goals, you can start to develop tactics that will help you to achieve them.

Define Your Target Audience

Who do you want to reach with your message? Your target audience should be clearly defined so that you can develop tactics that will resonate with them. For example, if you’re trying to reach young adults, using social media may be a more effective tactic than sending out direct mail.

Utilize Social Media

Social media is a powerful communications tool that can help you to reach a wide audience and connect with potential supporters. It is essential to include a well-crafted social media strategy for nonprofit organizations in your communications plan. By strategically using social media platforms, you can effectively share your organization’s mission, impact, and upcoming events with your followers and engage them in meaningful ways. Additionally, considering using paid advertising on social media can further extend your reach and attract an even larger audience to support your cause.

Build A Mailing/Emailing List

Another great way to reach your target audience is by building a mailing list or emailing list. You can use this list to send out periodic updates about your nonprofit, as well as information about upcoming events or fundraising campaigns.

Develop a Budget

You’ll need to allocate some money to your communications effort in order to implement your plan. Make sure to develop a realistic budget that takes into account all of the tactics that you want to use.

Create a Timeline

Your communications plan should include a timeline that outlines when each tactic will be implemented. This will help to ensure that your nonprofit stays on track and is able to effectively achieve its goals.

How to Intertwine Your Communications Plan with Your Marketing Plan

The communications plan for your nonprofit should be closely intertwined with your marketing plan . After all, both plans are designed to help you achieve your organizational goals. Here are some tips for integrating your communications and marketing efforts:

– Make sure that your branding is consistent across all channels. This means using the same logo, colors, and messaging in all of your communication.

– Develop a clear call-to-action for your target audience. Whether you’re trying to increase awareness, engage your audience, or raise funds, make sure that your call-to-action is clear.

– Use data from your marketing efforts to inform your communication strategy. For example, if you’ve found that a certain type of content performs well on social media, make sure to include more of that content in your communications plan.

– Evaluate your results regularly. Make sure to measure the success of your communications and marketing efforts so that you can make adjustments as needed.

A Template Communications Plan to Get You Started

Now that you understand how to develop a nonprofit communications plan, you can start putting one together for your own organization. Use the following template to get started:

Objectives:

What are the goals of your communication efforts? Be sure to include specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives.

Target Audience:

Who do you want to reach with your message? Define your target audience so that you can develop tactics that will resonate with them.

Key Messages:

What are the key points that you want to communicate to your target audience? Make sure that your messages are clear and concise, and that they align with your nonprofit’s mission.

What tactics will you use to reach your target audience? Include a mix of online and offline tactics, such as social media, email marketing, direct mail, and events.

How much money will you need to implement your communications plan? Make sure to develop a realistic budget that takes into account all of the tactics that you want to use.

When will each tactic be implemented? Create a timeline that outlines the steps of your communications plan.

Evaluation:

How will you measure the success of your communications efforts? Make sure to include specific metrics that you can use to track progress and make adjustments as needed.

A communications plan is a vital tool for any nonprofit organization. It can help you to reach your target audience, achieve your goals, and measure your success. Use the tips and template in this article to create a great communications plan for your nonprofit.

How To Build a Nonprofit Communication Strategy

Evan moncada.

Communication strategy

After using Anedot:

A robust nonprofit communication strategy is essential for every organization, regardless of the size of your team or the work you do.

And if you’re like most nonprofits, every dollar and every minute is valuable.

Even with few resources, your nonprofit can create and utilize a communication strategy that helps you build your identity, earn a loyal base, increase your revenue, and drive growth. 

In this article, we walk you through how to build a nonprofit communication strategy that will help your organization thrive.

What is a nonprofit communication strategy?

What is a nonprofit communication strategy?

A nonprofit communication strategy is a custom plan to engage with and reach out to your organization’s stakeholders.

Your communication strategy fosters connection with donors, media, volunteers , beneficiaries, and more.

It’s more than simply a distribution of information; a communication strategy is built specifically to cause action that supports your nonprofit and those you serve.

An effective nonprofit strategy should be measurable and scalable to the growth of your organization. As you grow, your strategy should seamlessly grow and evolve with you.

Building a communication strategy with growth in mind empowers you to easily adapt as goals are met or priorities shift.

How to build an effective nonprofit communication strategy

How to build an effective nonprofit communication strategy

A successful communication strategy requires thoughtful planning and intentional execution.

Below are the action steps you must take to build your nonprofit communication strategy.

→ Learn the best practices on how to write a grant proposal !

1. Define objectives

Define objectives for your nonprofit communication strategy

First thing’s first: what do you want to accomplish?

At the creation of your strategy, your team should set benchmark goals that allow you to track your efforts.

In doing so, you can measure what works and what needs to change to help you reach those goals.

Popular nonprofit communication strategy goals include the following:

  • Establish branding and story
  • Raise awareness of organization and/or the cause
  • Engage with larger audiences
  • Increase financial support

When you begin defining your goals, they will probably be broad like the ones we listed above. But you should then narrow them down to specific, concrete goals.

Include timeframes for each target as well as a point person who is responsible for tracking and executing those goals.

Specific goals are straightforward and allow you to take actionable steps to see them through.

Every nonprofit will have unique communication objectives. Establish them, then revisit your goals regularly to determine the effectiveness of your communications strategy.

2. Know your target audience

Know your target audience for your nonprofit communication strategy

Once you define your communication strategy objectives, identify your target audience.

By knowing your audience, you can curate a communication strategy tailored to your supporters.

The broader your messaging, the less effective. Donors give to causes they feel connected to.

Engaging and retaining donors begins with knowing who they are, what moves them, and how to effectively communicate with them.

Conducting donor research gives you a firm grasp on your audience. Through this research, you identify a person’s interests, wishes, and desire to support your mission.

Building target personas offers a different perspective on donor and audience identity and empowers your team to create effective communication and messaging for your nonprofit.

When creating personas for your ideal supporters, consider the following:

  • Age, gender, location
  • Financial status
  • Theological beliefs or faith affinity
  • Donation history
  • Personal and professional aspirations
  • Appeal of your nonprofit

Knowing your audience allows you to create communications that win them to your mission.

3. Create and communicate your identity

Create and communicate your identity for your nonprofit communication strategy

You must clearly and concisely communicate who you are. Show your audience your vision, your mission, and your values.

You must have a concrete understanding of your nonprofit identity so you can communicate it to your audience in a way that engages them and compels them to action.

You know the importance of your work. How can you present yourself in a way that causes others to believe in your mission too?

Devote time to solidifying your identity. You will come back to this again and again as you evaluate and revise your communication strategy.

4. Have clear messaging

Have clear messaging for your nonprofit communication strategy

Your messaging is directly informed by the above three factors. It should be simple, easy to understand, and consistent.

Your nonprofit’s messaging boils down to the high-level point you’re trying to convey.

It’s a specific idea you want your audience to remember and may include:

  • Your mission
  • Why financial support is needed
  • A donor’s impact

These big ideas –– and many more –– make up your organization’s messaging and contribute to effective storytelling.

Donors, volunteers, and ambassadors trust you to be transparent and honest in your messaging.

As a nonprofit organization, your brand identity relies on honesty in your operations and in your messaging and storytelling.

Be clear in your communication. Donors and supporters should be able to articulate what you’re trying to communicate.

Simple messaging empowers your nonprofit’s advocates to identify with your mission and take on your vision as their own.

→ Learn four nonprofit fundraising tactics that you can implement right away to drive people to action!

5. Create content

Create content for your nonprofit communication strategy

Your content is a crucial component of your nonprofit communication strategy.

Content includes:

  • Blog articles 
  • Interviews 
  • Social media posts 
  • Infographics, plus more

These avenues allow you to engage with a diverse audience in diverse ways.

Content is also a principal driver of your nonprofit’s SEO , which brings traffic to your site. Content is shareable, and you can repurpose content for different channels, saving your team time and resources in content creation. 

Your content gives your audience recurring insight into your nonprofit’s mission and successes.

‍ Strategic content creation engages and endears, which in turn brings in greater support for your organization.

6. Utilize appropriate channels 

Utilize appropriate channels for your nonprofit communication strategy

Once you’ve created content, it’s time to strategically distribute.

Identify the channels that will allow you to reach your target audience most effectively.  

Social media sites, especially Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, provide infinite touchpoints for engagement.

‍ Email marketing allows you to connect directly and boasts incredible ROI.

As you consider where to distribute your content , evaluate your channels and ask how they’ll help you reach your communication goals.

Identify what success looks like for your nonprofit’s content distribution strategy. And while you’re at it, understand what failure looks like.

As with other aspects of your communication strategy, regularly revisit each step and determine if you need to alter your course of action.

→ Here are 6 tips to jumpstart your nonprofit organization’s social media marketing strategy !

7. Be consistent

Be consistent for your nonprofit communication strategy

The last and final step in your nonprofit’s communication strategy is one that’s ongoing: be consistent.

Nonprofit communication is never ending. Your audience wants to know what you’re working toward, your new goals, and your successes and triumphs.

Your strategy must include plans for continued engagement.

Cultivating relationships with donors, volunteers, and ambassadors doesn’t happen overnight. You must put in time and effort –– consistently –– to see fruit.

When you’re consistent with your engagement, messaging, distribution, and your storytelling, you’ll find that audiences are more likely to engage and identify with your nonprofit.

And when you can win your audience, your nonprofit and those your serve will benefit.

→ Learn about the 5 tactics you can use to increase donor engagement !

Nonprofit communication strategy

Your nonprofit communication strategy is the driving force behind engagement, raising support, and –– ultimately –– your success.

At Andeot, we know that nonprofits like yours rely on active, engaged donors to help you meet your goals.

We offer a host of tools and resources that empower you to continue the vital work you do for our communities both locally and around the world.

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strategic communications plan for non profit

strategic communications plan for non profit

Mightyblog ◇ Fundraising content by Mightycause

Fundraising strategy, fundraising ideas, nonprofit tips, case studies and more from the team at razoo, nonprofit communications plan: practical steps to communicate better.

  • by Mightycause
  • Posted on February 17, 2017 March 30, 2020

Your message is what it’s all about. Your nonprofit’s message is what gets people interested in the work you do, inspires them to donate to your cause and keeps them invested.

As part of your fundraising planning process when getting started on Mightycause, you’ll want to evaluate your nonprofit’s messaging to ensure that it’s on-point, focused, accurately reflects the work you do and inspires people to act. Creating a nonprofit communications plan will help you design memorable fundraising campaigns that help you reach your fundraising goals and elevate your nonprofit.

This is a step-by-step guide to creating a plan for your nonprofit that works and will help you refine, focus and integrate all of your nonprofit’s channels of communication.

The Importance Of Messaging

There’s a oldie but goodie  TED Talk by author Simon Sinek called “ How great leaders inspire action .” While he’s mostly focused on entrepreneurship, a line he repeats in this video perfectly sums up why your nonprofit’s messaging is so important: “ People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. ” As a nonprofit, you’re not just selling a product. You’re asking people to buy into ideas. Because that’s a much bigger ask than just requesting that someone buy a product, you better have a clear and powerful message. You need a  why that moves people.

What’s Your “Why”?

Your messaging communicates your nonprofit’s why. It creates an emotional connection that pulls people in and gets them involved. That messaging needs to be at the root of all of your communications and all of your fundraising efforts to keep your why at the forefront. In creating your nonprofit communications plan, you’ll break down your “why” and come up with a strategy to make sure your “why” rings clear as a bell.

A Few Good Whys

To see a real-world example of why your messaging is so important, just turn on your television in the month of December!

It’s fundraising season for nonprofits, and you’ll see lots of larger organizations airing direct response television (DRTV) ads. While you’re watching “Home Alone” on cable TV, you can watch a master class in nonprofit messaging during every commercial break.

When you watch DRTV from, say, the ASPCA , it’s impossible not to come away with a crystal clear idea of why they do what they do. Even if you turned off the sound (because Sarah McLaughlin’s “Angel” combined with sad animals is just too much), or turned away (because you don’t want to look at the sad animals), you’d still have no doubt about why these nonprofits exist because their messaging is so present and so powerful in every aspect of their ads.

strategic communications plan for non profit

The reason you see so many of these ads is that they work. They pay back the cost of creating and placing those ads (which is considerable) many times over by bringing in new donors.

Why are they so effective? Because they leave no doubt about their why. They move people. They inspire them to act.

Your nonprofit may not have money for DRTV, or a team of communications professionals to fine-tune your message, but you can learn from the bigger organizations who do. The first step is coming up with a plan.

Simplifying Your Nonprofit Communications Plan

People at nonprofit fundraising planning meeting

Writing a communications plan might sound like a daunting task. If you look up templates online, they all seem so long and extensive and like so much work. But I’m going to make it easy for you.

You really don’t need an MBA-level strategic communications plan in order to streamline, focus, and refine your messaging. You can put together something uncomplicated and easy to read and still get great results. If you have the time to sit down and do a SWOT analysis and follow a traditional template for creating a strategic communications plan, great! But you don’t need to do that to start refining your nonprofit’s messaging. There’s a better, easier way to create your nonprofit communications plan.

Here’s what you do.

Define 3–4 key messages about your nonprofit

You may be tempted to list all of your programs and services, or rattle off numbers, but you’ll need to keep it simple to keep your messaging effective. Pick messages that focus on your why. Keep them big-picture and evergreen. Think about what motivates you to come to work every day, why you chose to work for your organization. What pulled you into this nonprofit?

Dig down to the root

Gritty picture of plant roots

It’s important not to get lost in the weeds and forget to consider what moves your supporters. If you work for a hunger relief organization, you may want to list something like, “Every person should have access to life’s basic necessities.” Your key messages, as defined here, are broad and profound statements that fuel your organization’s work. These messages are the ideas that are at the root of the work you do.

A common mistake

As an example, if you’re working for an animal rescue and spent the past year developing a low-cost spay/neuter program, you’ll really want to include that spay/neuter program in your communications plan. After all, you worked hard on it and it took a year of your life to get this program off the ground!

But wait — what does spay/neuter mean to the average person? Heck, does the average person on the street even know what “spay” and “neuter” mean at all? (Hint: many don’t. ) When you’re thinking about the spay/neuter program and its importance, you’re using a lot of knowledge and context about why this is important that people outside of your field usually don’t have. You’re assuming that everyone else has the same base of knowledge you have, but they do not.

This is a common mistake nonprofits make with their messaging: We spend so much time consumed with the issues our work addresses that we can forget what it’s like to live outside of a world where you spend 40+ hours a week with your cause (and, if you’re like most nonprofit workers, you even take it home with you when you leave the office at night). We need to reach outside of ourselves and meet the public where they are in order to communicate with them effectively, and defining your key messages will help you do that.

Narrow and broaden

So when thinking about your key messages, snap apart your spay/neuter program and boil it down to its core. And here are the key messages you could extract from your hypothetical spay/neuter program:

  • We help animals in our community.
  • We help pet owners provide veterinary care for the pets they love.

These are simple messages, but remember, they are going to run through all of your communications efforts so they need to be broad.

Then define 3–4 timely messages about your nonprofit

What’s changing about your nonprofit this year? Are you hitting any milestones or anniversaries? Your key messages are the broadest, most simple messages about your organization and you can use these timely messages to funnel those messages into something more specific. Timely messages can also include organizational priorities, such as programs you’re pushing or funds you’re making a top priority.

For instance, if you work for a food bank that’s celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2017, you can take one of your key messages (“We believe that every person has the right to life’s basic necessities”) and merge that with one of your timely messages (your 15th anniversary) to get a message your nonprofit can use over and over again for 2017: “We’ve been providing the people in our community with one of life’s basic necessities for 15 years.”

Put it all together in your content

Your key messages and timely messages work as a funnel. At the end, you’ll create content. And by content we mean social media posts, blogs, emails, direct mail appeals and more.

Your key messages are your top priority. These are bells you will ring over and over again in your communications. And those are refined by your timely messages. Your timely messages help make your key messages clearer and more specific. At the end of the process, you’ll develop content. When you’ve planned well, you’ll find that often content is easier to create and more effective.

Nonprofit Communications Plan funnel

Set communications-specific goals

You’ve already done goal-setting and planned your fundraising strategy , so you don’t need to retread territory here. These goals should be specific to implementing, refining and improving your organization’s messaging.

A goal you should set for your organization is weaving at least one key message into all communications from your organization. You can check your progress on that goal by examining your campaigns, your social media, your emails, your mailers — can you clearly identify one of your key messages? Can someone pick out your key message without knowing what it is? (Ask a volunteer for help with this!)

Another goal to set would be integrating all of your communications channels so your messaging is consistent. Speaking of which…

Integrate your communication channels

Puzzle pieces

Nonprofits can fall into compartmentalizing the different aspects of our fundraising: Our social media, our emails, our events, our direct mail. It’s easy to build walls between your channels of communication . That because you may have different staff members handling these things, you may be working with email templates or direct mail templates, or there may just be a different process in place for getting these things out. However, all of these puzzle pieces should fit together if you want to communicate and fundraise successfully.

Plan for multichannel communications

You’ll most likely have some fundraising efforts with hard deadlines and firm dates, like direct mail and events. These are the “corner pieces” of the puzzle, if you will. When you’re putting together your puzzle, identify these first and then work on fitting in the other pieces.

For example, if your nonprofit sends a mailer out on a quarterly basis, you know when that will go out. To complement that mailer, you can also plan for an e-blast, social media posts, and a fundraiser page on Mightycause. Repetition is a vital part of making an idea “stick,” so if you’re sending out a message on one channel, make sure you’re hitting it on all channels to make it “sticky.”

Build brand consistency

It may feel a little strange to think of your nonprofit as having a “brand.” You’re not trying to sell products, after all, you’re trying to create change in the world. But in order to be a successful fundraiser, you’ll need to think like a marketer, and good marketing requires brand consistency.

So, what’s brand consistency? It means that the emails I get from your organization, your social media posts, your mailers, your website, and even materials like fliers and brochures have the same look, feel and messaging. Good brand consistency means that when I get your e-newsletter, I can immediately tell it’s from your organization just by glancing at it.

Brand consistency builds trust. Just like you might be confused if you walked into a store you thought was a Target only to find that everything was blue instead of their signature red, donors can find it confusing when they get an email or see a social media post asking for donations but it looks, feels, or sounds different than what they’re used to. If your emails, social media, mailers, and website are pretty much always inconsistent, they may choose not to donate at all because of that dissonance.

When creating your communications plan and plotting out your campaigns as part of your fundraising strategy, pay attention to brand consistency. You don’t need to make everything look exactly the same (your Mightycause page, after all, is a template and so is your Facebook page) but make sure the images you use, the language you use, your logo, etc. are consistent across all channels.

Step up your social media game

Photo of woman working on laptop

One of the best, most effective ways to grow your online community and engage with your supporters is through social media. Social media platforms are, at the end of the day, free marketing tools your nonprofit can use to increase your visibility, further your cause and connect directly with your supporters. Sometimes social media can seem like an afterthought, something fun and silly, but you’re squandering an opportunity to connect with people about your cause if you’re not being serious about utilizing social media.

Here’s a few ways you can improve your use of social media:

Think like a marketer

Social media platforms all provide tools like ads and analytics, so learn how to use these to place ads, boosts posts, promote tweets, and evaluate your efforts.

Include CTAs

You wouldn’t send out an email or a mailer without a call to action, would you? Of course not! So start applying that to social media as well — make sure you include a call to action in each post. (Refer back to your key messages if you’re unsure of what it should be!)

Find new ways to share the work you do and connect with your followers. If you need inspiration, try following other nonprofits to see what they’re doing and let them inspire you.

Make a commitment to engaging on social media

Be an active member of your own online community! Respond to messages quickly, reply to comments, have conversations, start a dialogue.

Email like a pro

Your email list is one of your nonprofit’s most powerful tools. But even if you’ve got a robust list, you can get an even bigger return on your emails by picking up some of the tricks professional email marketers use to get the open rates and clickthroughs they want:

Segment your list

If you’re blasting all of your emails out to everyone on your list, you’re doing it wrong. You shouldn’t be speaking to all of your supporters in the same way. So try segmenting your email list. To start off with, try creating different lists for big donors and board members, recurring donors, one-time donors, and people signed up for your emails who have never made a donation. Then tailor emails to speak directly to each group.

This is actually pretty fun! A/B testing is just trying testing to see what gets you the best results. So, if you want more opens, test two subject lines. If you want more click throughs, you can experiment with button/link placement. Some email marketing software automates A/B testing, and some make it a more manual process, but the basic are simple — decide what you want to test and then split up your lists. You can divvy them up any way you’d like: 50/50, 25/25 and then send the winning email to the remainder of your list. If the email is not a major announcement, you can also just do a 50/50 split and use the analytics to inform future emails.

Pay attention to the data

All email marketing software provides you with analytics, so if you’ve never taken a look at your open rates and click rates, make a resolution to start paying attention to the data that’s provided. This can help you improve your email marketing efforts and get more opens, more clicks, and more donations.

Whether it’s sending an additional ask or a survey to ask your donor how they found you and what their donation experience was like, following up with your donors can help convert them into monthly donors. And as an added bonus, you can inspire them to make another donation while allowing you to collect data to improve your effort. What are you doing to follow up with your donors? Try something new!

By focusing on your why , creating a simple communications plan, and working to professionalize your social media and email marketing efforts, you can use Mightycause to elevate your fundraising efforts and take your nonprofit to new heights.

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strategic communications plan for non profit

Communications Planning 101: What Every Nonprofit Needs to Know

strategic communications plan for non profit

Hello? Hello? Is anyone out there? Sometimes it can feel like our nonprofit’s communications are falling on deaf ears or we're shouting into the digital void. How frustrating is that? You spend a lot of time putting together content for your nonprofit’s communications channels and trying to figure out how to get attention. With communications, it’s easy to get into the weeds of posting daily on social media, putting together newsletters, and writing out thank you notes... losing sight of the bigger strategic picture, AKA your communications plan.

Having a communications plan allows you to have a big picture view of why you’re doing what you’re doing. A plan can help improve your effectiveness by aligning goals and content, as well as bringing the right content to your target audience. Ultimately, a communications plan helps you become more strategic with your nonprofit’s communications.

There are a lot of ways to build a communications plan. In this article, we’re going to go through the essential parts of a communications plan to help you build your most effective plan yet.

It Starts with an Audit

With communications planning, it can be tempting to jump right into goal setting, but let’s pump the brakes on that for a minute. Your first step should be an audit. This is an opportunity to review everything your organization has done in the last 6 to 12 months. It’s your chance to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t worked.

The best way to do a communications audit is go through each channel you use and honestly evaluate how you're using it.

You may need to look at a variety of communications from each channel—the idea behind this exercise is to evaluate your consistency across channels and determine what’s working.

Set Goals and Objectives

Your next step is to set goals and objectives for your new communications plan. Of course, there are many ways to set communications goals. A common suggestion is to set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Resourced, and Time-Bound. Your goals should all point toward the broad outcomes you seek through your communications, which could include branding/awareness, fundraising from individual donors, advocating for issues you work on, and engaging your local community.

The objectives in your communications plan should reflect the mechanisms by which you’re working toward the goals and benchmarks you’re hoping to reach. For instance, increasing your email list size by 20% or getting invited to speak at 3 community events.

Identify Your Audiences

One of the building blocks of an effective communications plan is a highly targeted audience. After all, you need to know who you’re trying to communicate with if you want to have a chance to effectively reach them. Think about the segments of people you are trying to reach such as program/service participants, donors, politicians, community influencers and advocates, and so on. Do your research on each of the segments you want to include in your plan and create an audience persona for each of them.

Develop Your Messaging Platform

Now that you’ve got your audiences in place, let’s talk about messages. Your nonprofit's gotta have key messages in place; that’s a non-negotiable! These are the messages you want to communicate to your audience segments in order to achieve your communications goals. For some of your key messages, you may have sub-messages to support the main key message.

Build Your Tactical Plan

We’ve got the foundation of your communications plan in place! Now it’s time to talk about how we’re putting this plan in motion. This is where you build out what you’re doing on each communications channel, including the tactics you’ll use. It might be helpful to look back at your communications audit to review what you’ve done. Decide what you’ll keep doing and if there are any new tactics you want to incorporate into this plan. Remember—some of your tactics may be short-lived through specific campaigns while others will be ongoing.

Calendar it Out

Let’s bring this communications plan to life by creating your ultimate calendar of communications activities. You may find it difficult to do this for a full 12 months; after all, you don’t have a crystal ball sitting on your desk (...or do you?) You may want to try building 90-day plans instead. This planning time frame can be much more manageable and predictable. Just make sure you remember to create your next 90-day plan before this one ends and lands you in no-plan territory.

On your calendar, be sure to include dates for campaigns, important program dates, holidays, and production dates. Capture as much information as you can so that you can get the most from your calendar.

There are many tools for managing your communications calendar such as Asana, Trello, a spreadsheet, or even a whiteboard.

Create a Budget

By now you’ve probably got a pretty good idea of what your communications workload looks like for the next year. You’re also probably getting a sense of how much it might cost you to execute it all. Be sure to include some basic budget notes in your communications plan for things like print materials, design, advertising, and freelancers.

Measure Your Results

We started this communications planning process by reviewing past work and looking at its effectiveness. To set yourself up for success this time around, be sure to include key performance indicators (or KPIs) in your communications plan. These are monthly metrics you’ll look at that will help you know whether or not you’re on track to meet your communications goals. Set up dashboards inside Google Analytics or your donor CRM where you can track all of your most important metrics and set a recurring monthly time on your calendar to review said metrics.

Pssst! If you look at Google Analytics and see a confusing land of numbers and lines, check out this quick tutorial on how to create custom GA dashboards for nonprofit communications reporting .

It’s go time, nonprofit friend! Get out your paper, fave pen, and caffeinated beverage of choice, and let’s get planning! Give yourself a full day or a few one-hour time blocks this week to build out your next communications plan. Your future self will thank you!

Nonprofit Communications Strategy FAQ

How do you create a donor communications plan.

Creating a donor communications plan is an important part of successful fundraising. It helps your organization stay connected with existing donors and build relationships with new ones. Here are some steps to help you create a donor communications plan:

1. Set goals for your donor communications plan: Before creating a plan, it’s important to set clear goals for what you hope to achieve. This could include increasing donations, engaging with existing donors, or reaching a wider audience.

2. Identify key stakeholders: Who are the people that will be involved in creating and executing your donor communications plan? This could include board members, staff members, volunteers, and other stakeholders.

3. Create a timeline: Outline when you’ll be releasing specific communications and campaigns across different channels.

4. Get moving! Whether it's email marketing or social media engagement, get those communication efforts going.

What are some communication strategies in a nonprofit communication plan?

1. Email Campaigns: Email campaigns are a great way to communicate with your donor base and keep them informed of upcoming events, opportunities to get involved, and stories about the impact of their donations. 

2. Social Media Posts: Social media is a great way to reach new donors and keep existing ones engaged. Make sure to create a content calendar that outlines when you’ll be posting on each platform and how often.

3. Fundraising Events: Hosting in-person, virtual, or hybrid events such as volunteer days, donor appreciation events, or informational sessions can help build relationships with your donors, engage them more deeply with your mission, and encourage them to give.

4. Content Marketing: Creating content like blog posts or videos that tell your nonprofit's story is a great way to build trust and share your mission with potential donors.

5. Donor Surveys: Get that feedback! Ask and you shall receive. If you want fresh eyes and also a way to identify issues your team doesn't see, ask your supporters!

What is the difference between a communications plan and a communications strategy?

They're really similar in that they're both communication efforts to facilitate donor management. For your purposes, reader, they're the same thing: you're strengthening your relationships with donors through personalized outreach. If your boss asks you, though, tell them that a communications plan is a more general idea and the strategies are the tactics to get you there.  

strategic communications plan for non profit

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Check out this guide for the five steps your organization needs to strengthen its nonprofit communications.

The 5 Steps You Need for Strong Nonprofit Communication

Nonprofit communications refers to all the tactics a nonprofit implements to communicate with stakeholders and promote its cause.  A full communication plan should address fundraising, events, mission, and more. The plan should lay out the media channels it will use, including social media, email, direct mail, and more.

Nonprofit Communication vs. Corporate Communication

4 types of nonprofit communication.

  • Developing Your Nonprofit Communications Plan: 5 Steps

3 Helpful Nonprofit Communication Tools & Resources

At Getting Attention, we help nonprofits market to and communicate with supporters using the Google Ad Grants program. Through the program, we help nonprofits use their free, $10,000 in Google Ads to reach new supporters,  engage current donors , and strengthen relationships. Ready to get started? Let’s dive in.

Contact us at Getting Attention to learn more about the program and see if your organization qualifies.

Many different industries rely on external communication, but it’s important to understand how your strategy should differ from that of a for-profit business. Here are four key differences between corporate and nonprofit communications:

  • Making a Difference vs. Making a Profit:  Nonprofits are driven by a cause  beyond  money, whereas businesses are driven by the bottom line. Center your nonprofit communication efforts around supporting missions rather than driving sales.
  • Types of Stakeholders:  Stakeholders are all the groups connected to and impacted by an organization, and different types of stakeholders will be engaged by different communication strategies. Nonprofit stakeholders include  employees , board members, donors, volunteers, and program beneficiaries while corporate stakeholders can be employees, consumers, executives, and investors.
  • Sources of Revenue:  While a nonprofit relies on donations and grants for funds, corporations rely on consumer purchases and sales figures. Given this difference, nonprofits usually have a more limited  budget  to support their communication efforts.

The goal of all of your nonprofit’s external communications should be to inform the outside world about your organization, its mission, and the importance of its work. Now that we’ve separated nonprofit communication from corporate communication, let’s take a look at five distinct types of nonprofit communication.

These four types of nonprofit communication will help you connect with your audience more effectively.

1. Storytelling

Storytelling makes your communications more effective, engaging, and emotional to your donors. They’re also more likely to remember a message from your nonprofit if it includes a story. Studies show that  55% of consumers  are more likely to remember a story rather than a list of facts. In the crowded marketing landscape, standing out is more important than ever.

These examples show how nonprofits can incorporate storytelling:

  • A university  could share quotes from both current and former students about what the school means to them and how their time as a student impacted them.
  • Animal shelters  can ask people who have adopted a pet from your shelter about the difference their pet has made in their lives.
  • Food banks  could talk to volunteers about the work they do and what it means to them to give back.

Don’t forget to be creative and dig deep to find the most compelling stories. Prioritize quality writing, and incorporate  powerful images and videos  when possible.

2. Marketing

Marketing  describes nonprofit communication tactics that have the goal of motivating target audiences to take action.  These actions should further your mission in some way.

Some of the next actions you might encourage your audience to take include:

  • Making a donation
  • Registering to volunteer
  • Signing up for your newsletter
  • Purchasing your branded merchandise
  • Becoming a monthly donor
  • Claiming a ticket to an event

As you plan your strategy, keep in mind that your primary goal with a marketing campaign is to encourage your stakeholders to actively participate in your cause. Next, let’s look at a specific act of participation: fundraising.

3. Fundraising

Communicating about your fundraisers can be complex, as it requires contact with a variety of audiences across many different communication channels. Your organization will need to tailor its outreach to your audience’s preferences and unique traits.

While you can get as granular as you like with personalizing communications to recipients, here are the three basic audiences you’ll address:

  • Current Donors:  Receiving a donation is great, and retaining that support over time is critical. After all, it costs less to retain an existing donor than it does to gain a new one. Be sure to maintain consistent communication with current donors (ideally across more than one communication channel) to boost the chances that they’ll give again.
  • Potential Donors:  To expand your supporter base, grow funding, and increase your volunteering capacity, you’ll need to reach new donors who have never engaged with your cause. It can be tricky to build trust with donors who have never heard of your organization before. However, you can build social proof by centering testimonials from other donors or publicly recognizing influential donors.
  • Corporations:  Did you know corporations donated  $21.08 billion  to nonprofits in 2022? Use this giving power to your advantage by directing fundraising communication efforts toward for-profit businesses. Spread awareness of the many different philanthropic programs, such as  matching gifts , with your audience.

Even after a successful fundraising campaign, communication is still relevant. Check out  this guide from eCardWidget  to learn how your organization can upgrade its donor thank-you emails.

4. Engagement

This type of communication relies on starting conversations with your audiences. Engagement builds a relationship with your audience beyond simply asking them for money. Cultivating connection with stakeholders that exists separate from monetary goals is key to fostering deep, trusting relationships that yield long-term donors.

There are so many ways to motivate donors to engage, from adding a “click here!” button to a marketing email to feature polls on your nonprofit’s Instagram stories. Get creative, make engaging convenient, and be sure to offer a variety of ways to engage.

Developing Your Nonprofit Communication Plan: 5 Steps

1. determine overarching goals.

A communication plan is a set of strategies developed for your nonprofit’s unique needs and goals with the purpose of reaching and engaging supporters.  The first step to creating an effective communication plan is careful goal setting.

Define your goals according to the SMART goals framework. This method suggests that goals should be:

By setting a goal within these parameters, you’ll ensure that each objective is attainable within your campaign timeline. An example of a SMART goal could be aiming to improve social media engagement by 20% by posting twice a week, creating posts like polls that encourage interaction, and responding to comments within 24 hours.

2. Establish Your Brand

Many aspects of your nonprofit communication tactics will be tailored to fit each audience, but your  brand messaging  should remain consistent across all efforts.

To keep branding consistent in communications, include your nonprofit’s:

  • Tagline (also called a slogan by for-profit businesses)
  • Visual branded elements like specific colors, fonts, and imagery

To ensure these elements remain consistent no matter who creates or posts content at your nonprofit, create a media or branding kit. Include the appropriate use cases and image files for your logo, the Hex codes for your brand colors, and the names of the fonts you use.

Here’s our example of a  nonprofit branding kit :

This sample branding kit demonstrates how you can establish your brand within your nonprofit communications.

3. Analyze Data

Your communication strategy should always be backed by data. Without it, you could be making guesses about your audience that aren’t true, leaving you without the positive results you were hoping for.

Take a look at data from your nonprofit’s past communication efforts. What was successful, and what could be better? Use what you learn to refine future plans and understand trends. For example, maybe you noticed that donations to your food pantry spike around holidays like Thanksgiving. To capitalize on this increased engagement, ramp up the frequency of your communications and aim to reach untapped audiences.

4. Define Target Audiences

For best results, communication tactics should be tailored to who you want to reach, as stakeholders are not a homogenous group. For example, members of Generation Z will likely have different communication preferences than Baby Boomers.

Defining target audiences becomes a lot easier with the help of a robust  donor database . You can keep track of demographics, contact information,  employer data , income, and location all in one place. You can also look at past donation data to figure out who your biggest supporters are.

With the help of data analytics, you can avoid making guesses about your donors and build communication strategies that appeal to their real motivations for giving to your cause.

5. Choose Channels

From email to social media to direct mail and beyond, the nonprofit communication possibilities are endless. To reach more supporters and establish multiple touchpoints with them, it’s ideal to use an omnichannel approach.

This strategy should provide a seamless experience for your audience. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to make your strategy a success:

  • Keep your branding, tone, and theme consistent  across all platforms.
  • Plot out a donor journey  that smoothly guides your supporters through the donor funnel.
  • Lean on low-cost, digital marketing channels  like social media to maximize your impact—with a little work, your social media page could be worth more than a paid ad in a newspaper.
  • Use  A/B testing  to determine which strategies resonate with your audience.

Remember to link your marketing messages together to bridge the gap between communication channels—particularly traditional and digital channels. For example, you could add a QR code linking to your virtual donation form on a piece of direct mail. Conversely, you can add a form to your website that allows supporters to sign up to receive a tangible newsletter in the mail.

Click here to sign up for our newsletter! Get the industry’s best nonprofit marketing tips.

Once your nonprofit has a communications plan in place, it’s time to execute. But, it can be challenging (and time-consuming) to manage an entire communications strategy on your own.

To make the process easier, here are a few popular tools and resources to check out:

  • Content calendars:  Plan out your content for the entire month, including the type of content, the platform it will be posted on, when the content will go live, and what message will be included. Not only will this keep everything organized, but it will also help you plan accordingly to ensure each message is created on time. To get started, you can download a free template or invest in dedicated  project management software .
  • Graphic design tools:  Sleek graphics and crystal-clear photos are what get you noticed in the digital world. You can easily design custom graphics for your nonprofit (or adapt templates to fit your branding) with tools like  Canva . If you need additional support, consider working with a graphic design agency.
  • Google Ad Grants:  This program is a great resource for qualifying nonprofits. The grant provides $10,000 in free Google Ads, allowing your nonprofit to target relevant keywords and drive Google users to your website. For the best results, work with a Google Ad Grants agency to help you apply for the grant, maintain compliance,  research keywords , and manage campaigns.

To learn more, check out our video that covers the basics of the Google Ad Grants program:

Wrapping Up

Effective, compelling communication is vital to running a successful nonprofit organization. By building connections with target audiences, you’ll cultivate trusting, loyal relationships with donors that help further your mission. To reach more of these audience members and make your marketing budget go further,  reach out to Getting Attention  for help with the Google Ad Grants program.

For more helpful information on nonprofit marketing strategy, check out these additional resources:

  • Getting Started with YouTube for Nonprofits in 3 Steps . If you’re interested in taking advantage of the benefits of video marketing, check out our guide to getting started.
  • Nonprofit Marketing: A Guide for Amplifying Your Mission . Looking for an in-depth introduction to marketing for nonprofits? Read on to learn more about furthering your mission through marketing.
  • Charity Marketing: How to Spread Your Nonprofit’s Message . This step-by-step guide lays out the tasks your organization will need to complete in order to plan and launch a successful charity marketing campaign.

Reach out to Getting Attention for additional help in strengthening your nonprofit communications strategy.

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Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits: The Complete Guide

Google Grants Agency: Picking the Best Partner

Google Grants Eligibility: Is Your Nonprofit Eligible?

Google Ad Grant Impact: Capturing Results and Measuring ROI

How to Apply for Google Grants

This guide discusses ways to get funding for a nonprofit organization.

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9 Effective Nonprofit Communication Strategies to Follow in 2024

Reviewed by:

March 31, 2023

Last Updated:

January 12, 2024

Table of Contents

A nonprofit can be doing the most incredible, meaningful work in the world—but without the right communication strategies, no one will know about it. It’s up to your organization to tell its story, whether you’re shouting it from the rooftops or sharing it personally with key stakeholders.

However, nonprofit communications are broad, so it can be difficult to know where to start. And without clear communication plans for nonprofits, it can feel like you’re taking a shot in the dark.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In this post, we will share everything you need to know about creating effective nonprofit communication strategies.

Nonprofit Marketing Plan Templates

What Is Nonprofit Communications?

Talking

Nonprofit communications is how your organization interacts and engages with people and the world around it.

At its core, communications comes down to how you’ll reach your target audience, including donors, volunteers , board members, and the general public—so you’ll need to tailor how you communicate to get the best results.

Here’s a great example of nonprofit communications in action from Habitat for Humanity’s LinkedIn page . By sharing this post, they not only are able communicate a powerful story with their current followers, but they also get the chance to inspire new supporters to get involved with their mission.

Habitat for Humanity storytelling

Other common types of nonprofit communications include:

  • Calls for donations
  • Thank-you letters
  • Annual reports
  • Email updates

Regardless of how you communicate, it’s all part of the same communications strategy to engage and involve your organization’s audience.

Importance of Communication for Nonprofits

Connection

Nonprofit communications are often overlooked. Don’t make this mistake, as effective communications are critical to securing more support and furthering your mission.

Nonprofit Communications Foster Connection

The deeper the connection you create with your donors and stakeholders, the more likely they will want to stay involved with your nonprofit. One way to foster this connection is through communicating impact.

Nonprofit Communications Foster Connection

St. Jude does a great job of this by highlighting the children and families they support across all platforms. You can see short advertisements and longer-form videos that share all the ways your donation impacts children’s lives.

Effective nonprofit communications will help you form deep and meaningful relationships with your supporters so that they can feel personally connected to your mission.

Nonprofit Communications Help You Achieve Your Goals

Does your nonprofit have any goals for the year? Maybe you want to raise $1 million for scholarship support or are hoping to provide 100 families with meals for a year. Whatever your goal is, you’ll never be able to reach it without strategic communications.

Nonprofit communications allow you to share those goals and inspire donors, employees, and communities to help you reach them. Whether it’s through solicitations for donations across various platforms, personalized notes to donors asking for support, or sharing about your upcoming fundraising event on your website, communication is vital to getting the word out about what you hope to accomplish.

Nonprofit Communications Help You Streamline Your Fundraising Efforts

Developing a comprehensive communications plan can help you see a 360-degree view of your fundraising efforts, allowing you to identify gaps and redundancies to help optimize your campaigns.

You will save money and time when you take the time to plan your communications rather than just throwing it all out there and seeing what works. Then, you can invest those resources back into the organization without compromising on your fundraising efforts.

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7 Proven Strategies for Nonprofit Communications

Check mark

Many nonprofits don’t have the resources for a dedicated communications team, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work to enhance your efforts. Here are nine strategies to help you bring your nonprofit communications to the next level.

1. Tell a Story

Storytelling is an art. And, when it’s done right, nonprofit storytelling can be a powerful tool to help connect your donors with your organization and inspire them to give.

March of Dimes

March of Dimes does a great job of sharing about the families that they have impacted through both visuals and words. This is a great way to engage with website visitors because not all want to learn about your organization the same way.

You can do this at your own nonprofit by sharing weekly stories on social media or hosting a video history of our organization on your website. Start by identifying what will attract and inspire donors to give, and craft your stories around that.

When you tell a story, you help audiences see themselves in the work of your organization. Stories that resonate stick with people, leading to a more engaged donor, employee, or volunteer.

2. Create a Visual Branding Guide

Visual branding is key to effective nonprofit communications.

If your nonprofit is new to visual branding, a great place to start is by creating a style guide and filling it with your organization’s colors, fonts, logos, and more. You want to create a cohesive look in all your communications so that it’s clear that the communications are from your nonprofit.

Visual Branding

The American Heart Association has a 63-page brand guideline document that covers everything from its brand identity to its typography and tone of voice. These clear instructions help create standardized communications.

Your brand standards don’t have to be as complex, but be sure to give your organization a good starting point with a style guide. No matter who is working on communications, your style guide will help everything feel cohesive.

3. Define Your Target Audience

Not all communications for nonprofits are one-size-fits-all, so spend some time defining your different audiences so that you can determine how to best communicate with them.

Don’t just limit your audience to donors, either. You should also be thoughtful about your communications with your staff and board members.

Research your audiences, so you know exactly how they like to receive communications.

Once you’ve identified and researched your different target audiences, set different strategies for each to help you engage with them most effectively.

4. Leverage Various Channels With Purpose

Nonprofits can use different channels to reach their target audiences. Direct mailers like solicitation letters, brochures, and magazines are great engagement pieces; however, they can be costly depending on the size of your audience.

Digital collateral like emails, publications, and even videos on social media are great ways to engage with your audience.

In 2014, the ALS Association launched the viral ice bucket challenge, which generated $115 million alone. Participants recorded videos of them dumping ice water over their heads, nominating others to spread like wildfire.

ALS Association Ice Bucket Challenge

Now, that’s the exception, not the rule, so don’t expect your social media campaign to generate that kind of revenue. However, that doesn’t mean it’s still not a great option to engage.

Be strategic with your choices of channel based on your specific audience and the goal. You have options, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box when considering what channels to use.

5. Benchmark Peers

If you’re feeling stuck, look around you! Benchmark what your peers or competitors are doing. That includes diving deep into how they communicate. How are they presenting themselves online and in person? How are they telling their stories? What channels are they using?

If you’re open to it, reach out to someone for inspiration on how they are connecting with their audience or calling for donations. Most organizations will be happy to share best practices as long as you’re not their direct competitor.

6. Use Metrics to Track and Improve your Performance

If you’re getting donations and reaching your goals, it can be tempting not to look at the data to see how your campaigns are doing. However, this is a missed opportunity. The raw data can tell you a lot if you know what to look for.

Using metrics to track the performance of your communications strategies will help you see if there are any gaps. Did one campaign do better than another? Are there better ways to segment? What’s the ROI on each strategy?

Looking at the metrics will help you improve your communications and help make limited resources go further.

7. Ask for Feedback

One of the most important things you can do as a nonprofit is to ask for feedback. It can be as simple as a conversation at an event as you talk to attendees or a formal survey.

Applying your audience’s feedback can help you continue to connect with them in meaningful ways. Even if you don’t like the feedback, try to make adjustments and see if there’s a change in engagement.

Challenges Involved in Communicating Effectively

Challenges

Even if you use those 7 strategies for effective nonprofit communications, you may still run into challenges. This is common, so don’t get discouraged. Instead, we’ll help you learn how to manage through them.

Limited Resources

One of the most common issues that nonprofits face is limited resources. Most do not even have a dedicated communications team.

If you take the time to set a comprehensive communications plan and create an in-depth style guide, any member of your organization can tackle communications. Spread out the work evenly or add it as a stretch assignment to an individual. You can creatively combat limited resources.

Competing Priorities

There can be a sense of urgency at a nonprofit that every initiative is mission critical, so it can be hard to know how best to prioritize communications. However, a clear strategy and communications plan can help you focus your efforts in the right area at the right time. You’ll also be able to use your roadmap to avoid overlapping communications initiatives.

Different Stakeholder Needs

Different stakeholders want to be communicated with in different ways, and some may even have different priorities than others.

It can be hard to keep track of it all. Again, taking a moment to step back and segment your different target audiences and their communication preferences will be critical to helping you stay organized.

The Importance of Transparency and Accountability in Nonprofit Communications

Transparency

As you are thinking about how best to communicate, above all else it’s important that you are open and honest with your audiences. Communications are most effective when they are transparent, so be prepared to share information openly about your finances, programs, and impact.

Key stakeholders should have access to this information, whether you’re presenting it in a quarterly report or they are logging into a platform to access it themselves.

At the end of the day, communications for nonprofits should drive accountability. Once you share your priorities, you have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Wrapping Up: The Next Steps

Nonprofit communications

Nonprofit communications can take many different forms, but one thing is certain: they can make or break your organization. Effective communication fosters connections with your audiences, helping you achieve your goals and advance your mission.

Now that you know the best strategies, you should be well on your way to communicating successfully and transparently with your audiences.

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Best Nonprofit Communication Strategies

December 10, 2020  |  4 Min Read

Nonprofit organizations have sometimes experienced challenges such as a lack of funding, limited resources, and poor communication tools. But in today’s technology era, like-minded individuals can donate, volunteer, and fund raise for nonprofit organizations from across the world like never before. In order for their audience to be reached, nonprofit organizations need to utilize a few basic communication strategies to connect with the right audience.

Determine the Organization’s Goals for Communication

For most nonprofit organizations, a communication strategy should include benchmark goals that allow efforts to be tracked for successes and/or failures. This ensures that plans can be optimized and improved to help boost future campaigns. Generally, a communication strategy should include goals such as:

  • Establish organization’s branding and overall message.
  • Raise awareness of the organization and/or cause.
  • Engage with larger audiences.
  • Sustain or increase support from donors, volunteers, and fund-raisers.

Establish a Target Audience

In order to establish a target audience, nonprofits must first identify a person’s interests, wishes, and desire to join or assist the nonprofit organization. Identifying a target market can be accomplished by:

  • Researching various blogs that are related to the nonprofit organization.
  • Observing the audiences who engage with online content related to the organization or a similar cause.
  • Studying how the audience is finding existing ads or online content from competing organizations.

Once a target audience has been established, a nonprofit organization can accurately communicate its story and mission. This provides a greater chance that interested individuals will donate or volunteer for the organization.

Utilize Multiple Social Media Networks

Facebook and Twitter are arguably the most popular of the social networks, however, opening up communication through a larger number of channels is a great way to broaden the scope of the audience. Other channels include Linked In, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, and Vine. Depending on the audience the organization is targeting, being active on a single network is simply not enough these days.

American Red Cross is an excellent example of a nonprofit utilizing multiple social networks to connect with a large audience. With over 1.8 million followers on Twitter and nearly 700,000 Facebook followers, American Red Cross is able to reach a massive audience while providing helpful information to readers. This information can include tips for driving safely on winter roads, fire drills, and even heroic stories from people around the country who benefited from the organization.

UNICEF has also reached a sizeable audience and has generated new opportunities for encouraging nations to invest in education. Through social media, the nonprofit publishes powerful images and messages that are easily shared among their millions of followers. By engaging with individuals on multiple networks, these images and inspirational messages can be spread throughout the different online communities, bringing more attention to their organization and gaining more followers and donations at the same time.

Nonprofit organizations can benefit by publishing related and useful content throughout social media in order to spread their mission to new potential volunteers and donors. Each will have a unique approach to how it tells its story. Aside from the traditional methods of communicating or marketing a nonprofit’s mission, there are a number of new possibilities to choose from with social media, including: creating a blog, commenting on existing blogs, participating in discussion groups, and posting status updates on social networking sites such as Facebook , Twitter , and LinkedIn .

Tell the Organization’s Story

A good story is relatable to people of all ages and cultures. A great story can inspire, attract great attention, or respond to something meaningful in the lives of people around the world. The most memorable stories often have unique characters, and a problem or issue that people emotionally connect with. Continue telling these stories as a part of any successful communication strategy. Nonprofit organizations must work to connect with the audience through great storytelling.

Storytelling comes in many forms—utilizing a variety of media is a great way to improve and expand a communication strategy.. It’s important that the story both spikes the interest of the audience, and also offers something valuable to them within the story. Whether it’s for further knowledge or fulfilment through volunteer work, in order to effectively communicate, nonprofit organizations must have something to offer that will tie into the passions of their audience.

Lead the Conversation

The online Master of Arts in Communication offered by Queens University of Charlotte provides students with an understanding of how effective communication impacts successful strategies and processes in organizations from any industry.

For those interested in founding a nonprofit organization or business, this degree program teaches how to deploy new and traditional communication tools and platforms to achieve professional and personal goals. Students will discover how to:

  • Identify and understand the needs and motivations of different audiences and communities.
  • Comprehend and leverage communication dynamics in various forms of media.
  • Create and analyze meaningful messages and texts.
  • Craft effective content and visuals.

Effective communication plans play a key part in the world of business and nonprofits. Learn the tools and strategies needed to achieve success in the modern workplace at Queens University of Charlotte.

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Crafting an Effective Nonprofit Strategic Plan: A Guide for Success

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For any nonprofit organization, strategic planning is not just a mere exercise; it is the compass that charts the course towards its vision and mission. It involves setting clear objectives, defining actionable steps, and aligning resources to achieve the organization’s goals effectively and efficiently. Without a well-crafted strategic plan for nonprofits, you risk drifting aimlessly, losing sight of their purpose, and failing to make a significant difference in the communities they serve.

In this article, we will delve into the various components of strategic planning for nonprofits, exploring the significance of conducting a thorough SWOT analysis, identifying key stakeholders, defining measurable objectives, and fostering a culture of adaptability. Along the way, we’ll address common challenges and share best practices to help you navigate potential roadblocks with confidence.

By the end of this journey, you will understand that strategic planning is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that demands continuous refinement and engagement. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be ready to propel your nonprofit forward, making a lasting and positive impact on the lives of those you serve.

So, if you’re ready to unlock the true potential of your nonprofit and leave a lasting legacy, join us as we embark on this enlightening exploration of crafting an effective nonprofit strategic plan. Let’s build a better future together.

Understanding Nonprofit Strategic Planning

Understanding nonprofit strategic planning models is crucial for the success and sustainability of any nonprofit organization. At its core, a strategic plan is a comprehensive roadmap that outlines the organization’s mission, sets specific goals and objectives, and defines the actionable steps required to achieve its vision effectively and efficiently.

Key Benefits of Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations

Embracing strategic planning can yield a multitude of advantages for nonprofit organizations. By charting a clear and well-defined path, your nonprofit can unlock its true potential and thrive in its mission-driven endeavors. Here are some key benefits that strategic planning brings to your nonprofit:

1. Vision Clarity and Alignment: A strategic plan helps crystallize the vision and mission of your nonprofit. It enables the executive director and all stakeholders to rally behind a common purpose, fostering alignment and ensuring that every effort supports the overarching goals.

2. Goal Setting and Prioritization: Through strategic planning, you can set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. This process allows you to prioritize initiatives, focusing your resources on activities that will have the most significant impact.

3. Resource Optimization: Nonprofits often operate with limited resources. Strategic planning enables you to optimize the allocation of these resources, ensuring that they are directed towards the most critical programs and initiatives that align with your mission.

4. Improved Decision-Making: With a strategic plan in place, you have a framework to guide your decision-making processes. It helps you assess opportunities and challenges against your long-term objectives (such as donor acquisition, growth of your revenue streams, or donor retention ), making it easier to make informed and effective choices.

5. Enhanced Accountability and Evaluation: A well-defined strategic plan establishes clear performance indicators and milestones. This fosters a culture of accountability, allowing you to evaluate progress and make necessary adjustments to keep your nonprofit on track.

6. Adaptability to Change: Nonprofit environments can be dynamic and subject to various internal and external stakeholders and influences. Strategic planning equips your organization with the flexibility to adapt and respond to changing circumstances, ensuring resilience in the face of uncertainty.

Strategic Planning vs. Operational Planning

While strategic planning and operational nonprofit planning are interconnected, they serve distinct purposes within a nonprofit organization:

Strategic Planning: Strategic planning is a high-level process that sets the long-term, strategic direction of the nonprofit. It involves defining the organization’s mission, vision, and overarching goals. Strategic planning focuses on answering fundamental questions such as “Where do we want to be in the next 3-5 years?” and “What impact do we want to create?” The outcomes of strategic planning provide the guiding framework for the organization’s decisions and actions.

Operational Planning: Operational planning, on the other hand, is a more detailed and short-term process that supports the overarching strategic plan itself. It outlines the specific actions, tasks, and resources required to implement the strategies and achieve the goals set in the strategic plan. Operational plans break down the larger strategic objectives into actionable steps, starting from the baseline of the project , and allocate responsibilities among team members. These plans are often reviewed and adjusted regularly to ensure progress and efficiency.

In essence, strategic planning defines the “big picture” and long-term vision, while operational planning focuses on the practical steps and immediate actions needed to realize that vision. Together, these strategic planning processes and approaches form a cohesive framework that empowers your nonprofit to thrive and make a meaningful impact in the communities you serve.

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Types of Nonprofit Strategic Plans

Understanding the various types of strategic plans for nonprofits will empower you to choose the most suitable approach to navigate your organization toward success. Different scenarios and organizational needs call for different strategic planning models. Let’s explore four common types of strategic plans:

Long-Term Strategic Plan:

  • Overview and Purpose: A long-term strategic plan, often spanning three to five years or more, is a forward-thinking roadmap that sets the course for the nonprofit’s future. It involves extensive research, analysis, and goal-setting to achieve significant and sustainable impact.
  • Nonprofit Example: An environmental conservation nonprofit aims to reduce carbon emissions and protect endangered species over the next decade. Their long-term strategic plan outlines strategies for fundraising, advocacy, and community engagement to achieve these ambitious goals.

Annual Strategic Plan:

  • Overview and Purpose: The annual strategic plan is a shorter-term, more focused version of the long-term plan. It breaks down the broader objectives into specific action steps for the upcoming year. It allows organizations to adapt and respond to evolving circumstances while staying aligned with the long-term vision.
  • Example: A youth empowerment nonprofit designs an annual strategic plan to provide educational scholarships, mentorship programs, and skill-building workshops for underprivileged youth within the next year, based on their long-term goal of creating a generation of empowered and self-reliant leaders.

Issue-Based Strategic Plan:

  • Overview and Purpose: An issue-based strategic plan centers around addressing a specific problem or challenge faced by the organization or the community it serves. It hones in on targeted solutions and resources to tackle the issue effectively.
  • Example: A hunger relief nonprofit develops an issue-based strategic plan to combat food insecurity in a particular region. The plan may focus on expanding partnerships with local farmers, implementing mobile food distribution programs, and conducting community outreach to raise awareness about hunger and nutrition.

Comprehensive Strategic Plan :

  • Overview and Purpose: The comprehensive strategic plan is an all-encompassing approach that considers multiple aspects of the nonprofit’s operations. It addresses organizational structure, financial sustainability, human resources, program development, and more, offering a holistic perspective to achieve the mission.
  • Example: A healthcare nonprofit creates a comprehensive strategic plan that outlines goals for expanding medical services, improving infrastructure, investing in staff training, and enhancing community outreach efforts, ensuring they provide accessible and quality healthcare to a broader population.

By understanding these diverse types of strategic plans and their respective purposes, you can tailor your nonprofit’s approach to strategic planning to best suit its unique needs and maximize its impact on the communities it serves. Remember that strategic planning is not a rigid process; it is adaptable and iterative, allowing your organization to grow, thrive, and evolve over time.

What Should a Nonprofit Strategic Plan Include?

As you embark on crafting a robust strategic plan, it is essential to understand the key components of a nonprofit strategic plan that will shape your path to success. A well-structured nonprofit strategic plan template ensures that your nonprofit stays focused, aligned, and equipped to achieve its mission and make a meaningful impact. Let’s explore the essential elements that every nonprofit strategic plan should include:

Overview of the Essential Components of a Nonprofit Strategic Plan

Before diving into the specifics, it’s crucial to grasp the fundamental components that form the backbone of your nonprofit’s strategic plan. These elements will interconnect and guide your organization toward its overarching goals.

Mission and Vision Statements

The mission and vision statements serve as the guiding beacons for your nonprofit’s purpose and direction. The mission statement defines the organization’s fundamental reason for existence, while the vision statement paints a compelling picture of the desired future impact. These mission statements should be clear, concise, and inspiring, reflecting the heart and soul of your nonprofit.

Goals and Objectives

Your strategic plan should outline measurable and time-bound goals that align with your mission and vision. Goals represent the broader outcomes you aim to achieve, while objectives are specific, quantifiable steps that lead to attaining those goals. They provide clarity and direction to your nonprofit’s efforts, ensuring everyone is working towards the same vision.

Strategies and Action Plans

Strategies are the high-level approaches and initiatives your nonprofit will undertake to achieve its goals. They outline the methods you’ll employ to overcome challenges and leverage opportunities effectively. Action plans break down these strategies into actionable steps, assigning responsibilities, deadlines, and performance indicators to ensure progress and accountability.

Resource Allocation and Budgeting

A strategic plan must consider the allocation of resources to execute your initiatives successfully. This includes financial resources, staff capacity, technology, and other essential assets. Budgeting plays a critical role in aligning your strategic priorities with available resources, enabling you to make informed decisions about funding and investments.

As you integrate these components into your nonprofit’s strategic plan, remember that communication and collaboration are essential. Involving key stakeholders, board members, and team members in the strategic planning team and process fosters a sense of ownership and commitment to the shared vision. Additionally, strategic planning is an iterative process—regularly review and adapt your plan as your nonprofit evolves and responds to changing external factors.

By incorporating these vital components into your strategic plan, you’ll lay a strong foundation for your nonprofit organization’s future growth, impact, and sustainability. A well-crafted plan will empower your organization to make a positive difference in the communities you serve, driving you closer to achieving your mission and creating lasting change.

How to Create a Strategic Plan for a Nonprofit

Let’s explore the step-by-step process of crafting an effective strategic plan to elevate your nonprofit’s impact and achieve its mission. To make it easier, we have crafted a strategic plan for nonprofits template which can be accessed here or you can search online for a nonprofit strategic plan example!

Preparing for Strategic Planning

Assessing the Organization’s Current State: Begin by conducting a thorough assessment of your nonprofit’s current state. Evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) to gain a comprehensive understanding of internal capacities related resources, and external challenges.

Identifying Key Stakeholders and Involving Them in the Process: Engage key stakeholders, including board members, other staff members, volunteers, and beneficiaries, in the strategic planning process. Their insights and perspectives are invaluable and will contribute to a more inclusive and successful plan.

Establishing Clear Objectives and Goals: Before diving into the strategic planning process, set clear objectives. Define what you aim to achieve through the strategic plan and the desired outcomes for your nonprofit’s growth and impact.

Steps in Developing a Nonprofit Strategic Plan

Conducting a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats): Thoroughly analyze your nonprofit’s internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats. This analysis will help you identify areas for improvement and leverage points to capitalize on.

SWOT Analysis Guide for Nonprofit Strategic Planning cover

Get Started with Your Nonprofit SWOT Analysis.

This worksheet includes a simple how-to guide, an example tailored to the nonprofit sector, and a template to help you conduct your own SWOT Analysis.

Defining the Organization’s Mission and Vision: Craft a compelling and concise mission statement that defines your nonprofit’s fundamental purpose. Pair this with an inspiring vision statement that illustrates the ideal future your organization strives to create.

Setting Measurable and Achievable Goals: Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that align with your mission and vision. These goals will provide the roadmap for your nonprofit’s strategic initiatives.

Developing Strategies and Action Plans: Outline the strategies and action plans that will drive your nonprofit toward its goals. Break down each strategy into actionable steps, and assign responsibilities and deadlines to team members.

Allocating Resources and Budgeting: Determine the resources required to execute your organization’s strategic plan effectively. Allocate budgets to various initiatives, ensuring financial alignment with your nonprofit’s priorities.

Implementing and Monitoring the Strategic Plan

Assigning Responsibilities and Creating a Timeline: Assign clear responsibilities to team members and create a timeline for the execution of your strategic plan. Regularly review progress and hold each team member or individuals accountable for their roles.

Communicating the Strategic Plan to Stakeholders: Communicate the strategic plan to all stakeholders, including board members, staff, donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries. Transparent and effective communication will foster support and enthusiasm for the plan.

Establishing a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework to track the progress of your strategic plan. Regularly measure key performance indicators and assess whether you’re on track to achieve your goals.

Making Adjustments and Adapting to Changing Circumstances: Be flexible and adaptive in your approach. As circumstances change, adjust your strategic plan accordingly. Embrace a continuous improvement mindset to keep your nonprofit agile and responsive.

By following these steps, your nonprofit will create a powerful strategic plan that charts the course toward its mission, amplifies its impact, and brings positive change to the communities it serves. Strategic planning is an ongoing process, so remember to revisit and refine your plan regularly to stay true to your vision and keep your organization on a path of growth and success.

How Keela Can Assist in the Nonprofit Strategic Planning Process

Keela is a cutting-edge nonprofit management software that combines essential fundraising tools into one centralized platform. From donor management to your fundraising strategy, communications, and beyond, Keela streamlines your nonprofit’s operations, freeing up valuable time to concentrate on strategic planning and mission-driven initiatives.

Let’s explore how Keela can be your ally in building a strategy for your nonprofit.

Goal and Objective Tracking

Keela enables you to set clear, measurable goals and objectives within the platform. Monitor progress, track key milestones, and ensure your nonprofit stays on course to achieve its strategic vision.

Action Plan Management

Efficiently break down your strategic initiatives into actionable steps with Keela’s project management feature . Assign responsibilities, establish deadlines, and easily view the status of each task, fostering a proactive approach to plan execution.

Manage your nonprofit’s resources effectively with Keela’s accounting integrations . Align financial plans with your strategic priorities, ensuring that funding is channeled toward key initiatives that drive impact.

Stakeholder Engagement

Keela’s communications features enable seamless communication with board members, staff, volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries. Engage stakeholders in the strategic planning process, fostering a collaborative and inclusive approach.

Data and Analytics

Access valuable data and analytics in real-time with Keela’s reporting tools . Analyze the performance of your strategic plan, identify areas of improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your nonprofit’s impact.

By harnessing the power of Keela’s nonprofit management software, you can streamline your strategic planning process, improve decision-making, and enhance overall organizational effectiveness . Keela serves as a reliable companion on your journey to success, helping your nonprofit make a lasting impact on the communities it serves.

Connect with us to discuss how Keela can help you build a strategic plan for your nonprofit!

Streamline Your Strategic Planning Proce ss with Keela!

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Conclusion 

In conclusion, strategic planning is the cornerstone of nonprofit success, providing the roadmap to achieve impactful and lasting change. By incorporating essential components such as assessing the organization’s current state, setting clear objectives, and engaging stakeholders, your nonprofit can forge a clear path towards its mission and vision. Embrace the step-by-step process of creating a strategic plan, from conducting a SWOT analysis to allocating resources and implementing a monitoring framework.

As nonprofit leaders, it is vital to prioritize strategic planning and recognize its transformative power. A well-crafted strategic plan brings together your board leadership, team, donors, and supporters, uniting efforts and resources towards a common purpose. With strategic planning at the heart of your organization, you can navigate the ever-changing landscape and respond to challenges with resilience and purpose.

In this journey of strategic planning, Keela emerges as a valuable tool and ally for nonprofits. With its comprehensive nonprofit management software, Keela empowers your organization with goal and objective tracking, resource allocation, stakeholder engagement, and data-driven insights. Embrace Keela as your strategic planning companion, streamlining operations and elevating your impact.

As you embark on this strategic planning adventure, keep in mind that it is an iterative process. Stay open to adaptation and continuous improvement, remaining agile in the face of change. Remember to communicate the strategic plan transparently with your team and stakeholders, fostering collaboration and shared commitment.

In the end, your nonprofit’s strategic plan is more than a document—it is a guiding light that propels your organization toward meaningful and sustainable change. Embrace strategic planning as a powerful force in your nonprofit’s journey, and with Keela’s support, forge a path that leads to a brighter future for the communities you serve. Together, let us create a world where your nonprofit’s vision becomes a reality. Start your strategic planning with Keela today and make a difference that will endure for generations to come.

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About the author:

Meredith gray head of marketing, keela.

Meredith has always had a passion for work that makes an impact. Having spent over 7 years working in fundraising, she has gained extensive knowledge in marketing, peer-to-peer, events, and sponsorship and firmly believes that all successful fundraising strategies start with your data.

Having experienced it first-hand, she understands the challenges nonprofits face when building a fundraising strategy and loves connecting with other like-minded fundraisers to brainstorm new and creative ways to leverage data to increase revenue. When not working, Meredith can be found trying out one of Toronto’s diverse restaurants, breaking a sweat in a spin class, or researching her next travel destination.

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Strategic Planning for Nonprofits

A strategic planning process identifies strategies that will best enable a nonprofit to advance its mission. Ideally, as staff and board engage in the process, they commit to measurable goals, approve priorities for implementation, and also make a plan to revisit the strategy on an ongoing basis as the internal and external environments change.

Many nonprofits start the process by identifying the nonprofit’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats, in what is commonly called a “SWOT” analysis. Looking at external factors (community needs or the economic outlook, for example) as well as internal capacity is important.

Looking ahead and planning for the future actually should be continuous: as various factors change, the nonprofit may need to adjust its plans. While the process of bringing everyone together to plan for the future is energizing, once the process is in the rearview mirror, don’t let the plan gather dust on the shelf. If no one refers to the plan after it is completed, then it’s hardly serving as a “strategic” guide! Revisit the plan periodically, making adjustments and adapting the plan as circumstances change.

Omnia ad Feb 2024

Some have argued for throwing out the “plan” completely, or reducing it to a very short, concise document, easily digestible by staff and board. Articulating an organization's "theory of change" is another way to think about what success will look like, how to get there, and what resources will be needed. There are hundreds of consultants and volumes of written materials just on strategic planning, and many others that help nonprofits develop a theory of change. We've selected just a few for you below.

Your  state association of nonprofits  may also offer educational programs and workshops throughout the year to assist your nonprofit with proactive planning. Plus,  staying current  with trends and policy issues that affect nonprofit operations is key to being prepared to adapt to a changing environment.

Practice Pointers

A good way to keep your nonprofit’s board engaged is to tie the nonprofit's strategic initiatives to the agenda for board meetings, and to include a short discussion about some aspect of the nonprofit’s strategic direction in every board meeting agenda. 

Strategy is one of the board's most important roles. BoardSource offers  an array of resources  to help boards engage fruitfully in strategic planning.

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Additional Resources

  • Sample  strategic agenda  for a board meeting
  • Sample  Timeline for Strategic Planning  (Washington Nonprofits)
  • BoardSource's strategic planning resources  for nonprofit boards
  • The Strategic Plan is Dead: Long Live Strategy  (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
  • The Nonprofit Strategy Revolution: Real-Time Strategic Planning in a Rapid-Response World  (David La Piana)

Disclaimer: Information on this website is provided for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be nor should be construed as legal, accounting, tax, investment, or financial advice. Please consult a professional (attorney, accountant, tax advisor) for the latest and most accurate information. The National Council of Nonprofits makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein.

  • How to build a strategic plan for your ...

How to build a strategic plan for your nonprofit (with template)

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Every organization needs a strategic plan—even if you’re a nonprofit. A strategic plan helps you define who you are, what you want to achieve, and how you’ll get there. Use our template to walk through the three steps of creating a strategic plan: Assessing your situation, developing your strategy and building your plan.

If you’re not quite sure where to start and how a strategic plan will help your nonprofit grow, this article is for you. Learn what a strategic plan for nonprofit organizations should entail, how to write one, and check out our template for further inspiration.

What is a nonprofit strategic plan?

A nonprofit strategic plan is a tool that helps you define where your nonprofit organization wants to go and what actions you will take to achieve your goals.

At its core, the process for nonprofits doesn’t differ too much from the strategic planning process other organizations and industries embark on. Regardless of your form of work, you need a strategic plan to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take in order to get there.

This plan should be updated every three to five years to ensure your organization continues challenging itself and growing.

[inline illustration] what is a strategic plan (infographic)

Before you can create an action plan or a roadmap for your nonprofit that drives results, you need to walk through the following three steps of strategic planning:

Step 1: Assess your current situation

Step 2: Develop your strategy

Step 3: build your strategic plan.

Once you’ve built your strategic plan, you can set KPIs and schedule the milestones your organization needs to hit in order to be successful.

Whether you’re creating a strategic plan for the first time or updating your existing one, it’s important that you consult and involve the right people in this process. Create a strategic planning team that consists of senior executives, board members, and key team members who can contribute to the long-term success of your nonprofit.

We’ll walk you through the steps your strategic planning team will take on this journey and provide a template that you can use to assist your team during this process. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Assess your situation

Before you can figure out where you want to go, you need to assess where you are right now. Gather all the information you can about your nonprofit so your strategic planning team has a clear understanding of who you are and where you’re at.

Demographics: While some of these questions may seem trivial, it’s a good idea to start with questions that are easy to answer and align your strategic planning team.

How big is your organization?

Where are you located?

What is your annual net asset?

How many people do you employ?

What is your target demographic?

Success and goals: Before you dive into the details, it’s good practice to give yourself credit for the things you’ve accomplished in the past. First of all, this will give you better clarity on your strengths and opportunities (which you’ll analyze in more depth later). But this also puts your strategic planning team in a positive and optimistic mood which will make the process much easier and more enjoyable.

What were your biggest accomplishments so far?

Do you have any goals set for the future?

How thought-out are these goals, and do they meet SMART goal criteria ?

Capital: As a nonprofit, money may not be your main driver. However, in order to make an impact, you need capital. So ask yourself where you’re currently getting your revenue.

Does the government fund you?

How successful has fundraising been in the past?

Who are your donors or sponsors?

What other revenue streams do you have?

Are there any revenue sources you haven’t considered yet?

What does your grant management process typically look like?

Stakeholders: A stakeholder analysis is key in strategic planning. Your internal and external stakeholders are the people who can impact the success of your organization, so you need to know who they are and what their roles are. 

Internal stakeholders are team members who are directly impacted by the strategic plan and likely the ones who are already on your strategic planning team. External stakeholders are usually agencies, clients, or other parties who are involved financially or contribute otherwise to the performance of your organization.

Who are our top stakeholders (internal and external)?

Why do they believe in our nonprofit?

What do we need from them (e.g., labor, capital, marketing, etc.)?

Why do we believe and trust in these stakeholders?

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats: Finally, you’ll want to conduct a SWOT analysis to find out  your internal strengths and weaknesses and how external threats and opportunities can influence your nonprofit’s success. 

What makes us stand out from other nonprofits in the industry?

What past events have impacted our success and why?

Are there any weaknesses that have prevented us from reaching our full potential in the past?

Once you’ve completed your SWOT analysis, you’re ready for the next step: developing your nonprofit’s strategy.

In this phase of the strategic planning process, you’ll take the information you’ve gathered in step one and put your heads together to define who you want to be as an organization—more precisely, you’ll define your values, mission, and vision statements .

[inline illustration] Mission, vision, and values definition (infographic)

Mission and vision statement

You’ll want to start out with your mission and vision statements. If you already have these statements in place, review and consider updating them to match your new strategy.

It’s not always easy to come up with vision and mission statements for your nonprofit organization. That’s why it can be helpful to check out how others have put their dreams into writing. Take a look at three examples of how nonprofit organizations define their vision and mission:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s mission and vision statements are very closely intertwined. The organization’s mission is to “Create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.” Their vision is to help all people lead a healthy and productive life.

The American Red Cross

The mission statement of the American Red Cross is to prevent and alleviate “Human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.​”

Their vision statement reads as follows: “The American Red Cross, through its strong network of volunteers, donors and partners, is always there in times of need. We aspire to turn compassion into action.”

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York

The Research Foundation of SUNY’s mission is to provide “Talent, services, and technology that empower SUNY to research, innovate, and transfer discoveries that transform the world’s knowledge economy.”

Their vision is to “Make it the best place for faculty, students and staff to research, innovate, and solve the world’s most pressing problems.”

Company values

Next, you’ll want to define your nonprofit’s core values . Try to define anywhere between five to 10 values that describe your organization and align with your mission and vision.

Here are some examples of values that could describe your nonprofit:

Reliability

Trustworthiness

Communication

Transparency

Assessing where you’re at and defining who you are are two crucial steps in the strategic planning process. They build the foundation for your strategic plan that you’re ready to create now that you’ve put in the groundwork.

The heart of your strategic plan consists of your strategic priorities and goals for the future. They will inspire your implementation plan and ultimately define how effective and successful your new strategy will be. 

You should pick at least three main strategic priorities based on what you’ve learned from your SWOT analysis. For example, if your SWOT analysis showed that you only have a couple of revenue sources, you could make “diversifying revenue streams” a strategic priority. 

Your strategic priorities don’t have to be super built out—that’s what happens in the next and final step of your strategic plan.

Step 4: Create SMART goals

Creating SMART objectives is crucial so you can successfully put your new strategy into action.

Your SMART goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. For example, to diversify your revenue streams, your SMART goal could be:

“Over the next three years, we plan to add at least seven new revenue streams to our repertoire by applying to one new government fund per quarter, hosting monthly fundraisers on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), and bi-annual in-person charity events.”

Nonprofit strategic plan template and example

Use our template to build a strategic plan for your nonprofit that drives results. Don’t forget to include stakeholders, your board of directors, and key staff members in your strategic planning process—their insight and ideas will shape the future of your company.

Here is what your nonprofit strategic plan can look like once you start working on it:

[inline illustration] nonprofit strategic plan template (example)

You can download the template using the button below and modify it to your organization’s needs.

Put your plan into action

After you’ve built your strategic plan, there’s just one step left: put it into action. Implementing your strategic plan is both rewarding and scary. All the hard work you put into building a strategy for your nonprofit is about to come to fruition.

With the support of Asana’s goal-setting software, you can turn your strategic plan into actionable steps so you can easily track, manage, and share your strategic initiatives with shareholders and teammates.

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What Goes into a Nonprofit Marketing and Communications Plan or Strategy?

strategic communications plan for non profit

Kivi Leroux Miller, Founder and CEO

Ever been asked to create a marketing strategy or a communications plan for your nonprofit without any further guidance? You aren’t alone!

Let’s sort it all out, so you can figure out what you really need to create.

First, let’s address the definitions. Right or wrong, marketing and communications are often used interchangeably in the nonprofit sector. Even if you are clear on the distinctions in your own mind, odds are extremely high that others around you use the words differently. You need to talk about what people really mean and what they are asking for when they request these documents from you.

I don’t want to start any arguments, but here’s how we generally use these terms, although we too use them interchangeably sometimes.

Marketing is primarily about strategy. What are the goals and objectives? Who is the primary target audience, what’s the message to those people, and which communications channels will best deliver that message? These are the questions you answer in a marketing strategy. You are making the decisions infrequently — you make them and stick to them for a while.

Communications is primarily about tactics. How, when and where are you communicating? You make these decisions much more frequently, constantly adjusting to match your current needs. When we talk about communications plans , we are most often referring to two documents, the Big Picture Communications Timeline and the Editorial Calendar.

Naturally, there’s a lot of overlap because you need both marketing and communications to effective.

Let’s look a little deeper into these documents.

What Goes into a Marketing Strategy

If you are creating a strategy, you’ll want to look at

  • The 12 most common nonprofit marketing goals
  • The 12 most common nonprofit marketing strategies
  • The 12 most common nonprofit marketing objectives
  • The 27 most common nonprofit marketing tactics  

You’ll need to prioritize and say No to most of what you see on those lists, saying Yes to just a few ( that’s basically the definition of being strategic ). You’ll also need to define your target audiences and narrow your messaging and calls to action . You’ll usually articulate these as you make decisions on goals, strategies, and objectives.

Here’s a one-page Strategic Communications Plan Outline that we recommend. Yes, we are covering all the terminology bases! You can fill this in and create a document that is anywhere from 2-20 pages depending on how detailed you want to get.

What Goes in a Communications Plan

What if no one is particularly interested in talking about the organization-wide goals, strategies, and objectives? What if they are really asking you for a plan for what content you are going to create and what you are going to post in all of your different communications channels?

That’s where a few other documents come in . . .

I suggest that annually you create a Big Picture Communications Timeline .

The timeline maps out all of the events and milestones (both within and beyond your control) that will drive your communications in the coming year, along with your primary calls to action and the major storylines you want to share. It’s completed with all parts of the organization in mind: programs, fundraising, and marketing/communications.

Of course, you also need an Editorial Calendar . This is your day-to-day working plan. At a minimum, it outlines what you sharing, in what communications channels and when. You can add much more detail, including who is responsible for what, internal deadlines and workflows, and more. You’ll find lots of advice on nonprofit editorial calendars here .

Creative briefs are also very helpful when you are doing more project- or campaign-oriented planning.

So which document are you being asked to create? Who knows! Talk about the contents of this post with others and decide what you need to work on together. This communications plan decision tree could help too. 

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Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations: Seven Steps to Creating a Successful Plan, 2nd Edition

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Sally J. Patterson

Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations: Seven Steps to Creating a Successful Plan, 2nd Edition 2nd Edition

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  • Book Description
  • Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

  • Set clear goals for the planning process
  • Determine roles and responsibilities for the CEO, senior staff, and board
  • Create a strategic plan that reflects the environment surrounding the organization
  • Identify and connect with your target audience
  • Achieve SMART communications objectives: specific, measurable, appropriate, realistic, and time-bound
  • Tailor effective, persuasive messages that are mission-driven, audience-focused, and action-oriented
  • Develop coordinated dissemination strategies that utilize all five forms of communication: face-to-face, print, audio, video, and electronic communications
  • Reinforce the mission, values, and messages for maximum impact on each target audience

Practical and proactive, the Second Edition of this step-by-step book is now available with a Web site filled with immediately useful worksheets, forms, surveys, and self-assessment tools needed to create your organization's total communications plan.

From the Back Cover

  • What are we trying to achieve?
  • Who are we trying to reach?
  • What do we want supporters to do?
  • How do we encourage them to do it?
  • How will we know if we've succeeded?

With an accompanying Web site filled with worksheets, forms, surveys, and self-assessment tools, Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations, Second Edition can be used in its entirety or to specifically focus on a particular challenge. Enthusiastic and readable, this much-needed volume succinctly outlines the basic principles and approach necessary to improve the effectiveness of your nonprofit's communications and outreach efforts in fulfilling its mission and promoting lasting social change.

About the Author

JANEL M. RADTKE —considered a pioneer in open-access communications among nonprofits — brought home to many the importance of the person in the technology equation. She was the founder and president of Radiant Communications, Inc., until her death in 1999. Before that, she garnered twenty years of experience helping nonprofits and educational institutions shape communication strategies and navigate a rapidly changing technological environment.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Strategic communications for nonprofit organization, john wiley & sons, chapter one.

Excerpted from Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organization by Sally J. Patterson Copyright © 2009 by Sally J. Patterson. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

  • ISBN-10 0470401222
  • ISBN-13 978-0470401224
  • Edition 2nd
  • Publisher Wiley
  • Publication date January 8, 2009
  • Language English
  • Dimensions 7 x 0.84 x 10 inches
  • Print length 288 pages
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  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley; 2nd edition (January 8, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0470401222
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0470401224
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.46 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.84 x 10 inches
  • #888 in Nonprofit Organizations & Charities (Books)
  • #7,012 in Marketing (Books)
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Stanford University

Strategic Communications Manager

🔍 hoover institution, stanford, california, united states.

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is in search of a dynamic and skilled Strategic Communications Manager to join our team on a full-time basis. This critical role entails crafting, executing, and assessing a robust strategic marketing, communications, and branding initiative for the Hoover Institution Library & Archives (L&A). This position will report to the Everett and Jane Hauck Director of the Hoover Institution Library and Archives. This position will also work closely with the Head of Engagement. 

A cover letter and resume are required for full consideration.  

About the Hoover Institution:

The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace is a public policy research center devoted to the advanced study of economics, politics, history, and political economy—both domestic and foreign—as well as international affairs.

With its eminent scholars and world-renowned library and archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all humanity.

About the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University:  

Since its founding in 1919, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives has served as a platform for a vibrant community of scholars and a broad public interested in the meaning and role of history. Located in the heart of the Stanford University campus, the Library & Archives is home to more than 6000 manuscript collections and one million library volumes containing the most important materials on war, revolution, and peace, and social, political, and economic change from the late 19th century to the present day. Its mission to collect, preserve, describe and make available for research and discovery records of enduring value continues to this day through proactive care, conservation, and description practices. Access to its collections is free and open to the public in its reading room and new strategic digital initiatives are actively ensuring global access to key collections anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Visit www.hoover.org/library-archives to learn more. 

JOB PURPOSE:

Under the guidance of senior management, this position is responsible for creating, implementing, and evaluating an impactful strategic marketing, communications, and branding program for the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Of utmost importance are outstanding writing and communication skills, a self-starter mentality, and a knack for both internal and external relationship-building. You will play a crucial role in developing and executing a vision for L&A’s marketing and communications in its second century. 

Working both independently and in partnership with senior L&A leadership, this role will oversee the planning, day-to-day production, and assessment of the marketing and communications including managing the L&A’s website, social media, publications, media relations, coordination with the Hoover Institution, and other marketing and communications products and initiatives. 

We are looking for someone who can thrive in a fast-paced work environment with shifting priorities and often under minimal direction; have a natural curiosity and interest in cultural heritage work; is highly detail-oriented, and excited about engaging, inspiring, and moving people to action. 

This candidate should also excel at building connections, have a deep understanding of current industry trends, be naturally inquisitive, and approach their work with the mindset of a journalist. While prior experience in the higher education and non-profit sectors is advantageous, it is not essential. The successful candidate will have a strategic mindset and the ability to produce captivating content that weaves history into compelling narratives, ensuring that our institution resonates with a broad audience. 

CORE DUTIES*:

 ●    Research, write, develop, execute and oversee written and multimedia communications on a diverse array of topics related to the Library & Archives, including news stories, web content, social media posts, presentations, talking points, and correspondence  ●    Manage content distribution platforms such as L&A website, a monthly newsletter and all internal or external communication.  ●    Identify, generate, and maintain professional relationships and contacts with key press sources, researchers, policy influencers, news services and community organizations to identify story themes and newsworthy events and promote and disseminate information ●    Provide public relations support for audiences that are both internal and external to the university, for a variety of channels ●    Plan and execute activities to support public relations objectives ●    Build and maintain relationships with internal and external partners  ●    Assist in developing strategies for brand managements, reputation management and issues management of moderate complexity; monitor content on all applicable sites to ensure it remains accurate, current, compliant, and reflective of the brand ●    Assist with the design and implementation of effective constituent communications programs and social media strategies; supervise the routing of materials internally and externally to ensure timely distribution of materials. ●    Serve as a project leader for public relations activities of small to moderate complexity. 

* The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities.  Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility.  Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

Education & Experience:

Bachelor's degree and five years of relevant experience or combination of education and relevant experience.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

 • Excellent written communication skills, reporting skills, and advanced skills in conceptual editing, copy editing, and proofreading.  • Ability to work collaboratively with internal communications groups across campus.   • Demonstrated interpersonal skills in working with a variety of people.  • Capacity to write and synthesize materials and communicate information in a manner easily understood.

Preferred/Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:   • Excellent strategic planning, project management, and problem-solving skills.  • Demonstrated ability and flexibility in managing shifting demands and priorities, taking direction, meeting deadlines, and taking initiative  • Proficiency in Google suite, Microsoft Office Suite, project management tools, and customer relationship management systems, email marketing systems, Adobe Creative Suite, and Drupal  • Experience supervising and motivating diverse individuals and groups  • Ability to maintain discretion when handling sensitive information, exercise sound judgment, tact, and diplomacy  • Demonstrated interest in current events, modern history and humanities, and/or familiarity with cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, archives, museums, or other community-oriented nonprofits work strongly preferred. 

Certifications and Licenses:

 • None

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS*:

 • Constantly perform desk-based computer tasks.  • Frequently stand/walk, sit, use a telephone, grasp lightly/fine manipulation, speaking.  • Occasionally grasp forcefully, writing by hand.   • Rarely sort/file paperwork. * - Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

 • Occasional work on evenings and weekends.  • On call and ability to respond 24/7.

The expected pay range for this position is $98,000 - $126,000 per annum. Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

WORK STANDARDS:

 • Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients as well as with external organizations.  • Promote Culture of Safety: Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for safety; communicates safety concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.  • Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University's Administrative Guide, http://adminguide.stanford.edu.

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

  • Schedule: Full-time
  • Job Code: 4263
  • Employee Status: Regular
  • Requisition ID: 101162
  • Work Arrangement : On Site

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$1M Awarded To Local Nonprofits By Princeton's The Bunbury Fund

P RINCETON, NJ — More than $1 million was awarded to more than two dozen local nonprofits by the Bunbury Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation.

The grants, totaling $1,035,205, were awarded to 26 nonprofit organizations in 2023. It marks the fifth year in a row that the Bunbury Fund issued more than $1 million in funding.

"Through our experience as Bunbury Fund Advisors, our team continues to learn about the key issues in our region and what it takes for a nonprofit organization to effectively address them, often as a result of undercapitalization," said Jamie Kyte Sapoch, Lead Fund Advisor and former Community Foundation Trustee. "We believe that the capacity building resources approved by the Bunbury Fund in 2023 will result in meaningful, enhanced delivery of missions for the 26 nonprofit organizations listed below."

Grants were awarded to the following organizations:

  • Anchor House Inc., Trenton - $50,000 for Building Our Future: Implementation of Year 2 Strategic Plan Activities; funding will help the nonprofit with its strategic plan goals, including building its capacity, recruiting clinicians/interns to expand mental health services for youth and families, implementing a communications plan, redefining its mission, vision and values, and deploying strategies to recruit and retain staff to decrease turnover.
  • Dress for Success Central New Jersey – 7 Counties (Formerly Dress for Success Mercer County), Lawrenceville - $30,430 for Improving Processes, Data and Efficiency; to purchase customer relationship management software, as well as training and consultant support, so it can strengthen its financial reporting, enhance efficiency and better evaluate its programs.
  • The Father Center of New Jersey, Trenton - $27,800 for its Succession Plus-Building A Strong & Resilient Executive Team program; the grant will support executive coaching and leadership development, allowing the organization to prioritize projects, improve record-keeping and tracking systems for program evaluation and develop a better understanding of mentoring roles.
  • Friends for the Abbott Marshlands, Hamilton - $5,750 to help the nonprofit create a strategic plan to move from a startup to a sustainable future.
  • Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, Hopewell - $13,600 for an updated communication plan that will help engage and garner support from the community, raise awareness about conservation and expand the organization’s reach.
  • Henry J. Austin Health Center, Trenton - $50,000 for Optimizing Healthcare Excellence: Process Improvement; funding will enable the nonprofit’s leadership to work with a consultant on strategies that enhance operational efficiency, patient care, and resource utilization. The center hopes to elevate healthcare delivery, optimize outcomes, and streamline workflows.
  • HomeFront, Inc. Lawrenceville - $24,000 for Charting the Course: Strategic Planning to support the development of its comprehensive strategic plan, following the retirement of its founder and during a time of transition and growth.
  • James R Halsey Foundation of the Arts, Hamilton - $30,000 to help develop a 5-year strategic plan to guide the staff, board and volunteers with a clear and measurable road map for growth and sustainability.
  • Jewish Family & Children's Service of Greater Mercer County, Princeton - $47,000 for the development of a marketing plan to increase the visibility and support of JFCS in the community.
  • Meals on Wheels of Mercer County, Ewing - $10,000 for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awareness Training and Implementation; the nonprofit plans to increase the cultural intelligence of volunteers, staff and board so it can attract a diverse professional and volunteer core and deepen its relationship with program participants.
  • Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, Trenton - $38,500 to formalize a partnership with the NJ Coalition to End Homelessness, build a network of Mercer County advocates, and pilot a Mercer County-based cohort of the Coalition’s Garden State Leaders program.
  • People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, Lawrence - $15,000 for its 2024 Website and Portal Reboot to update the website and the portal used by program facilitators.
  • Princeton-Blairstown Center, Princeton - $9,125 for a communications audit; the 115-year-old organization describes itself as one of the best kept secrets in Princeton. It will work with a marketing firm to build its brand recognition regionally.
  • Puerto Rican Community Center, Trenton - $47,000 for Classrooms of The Future for our Children; the project will improve technology and communications in the program’s six classrooms.
  • Trent House Association, Trenton - $30,000 for “Ésta es su casa/This is your home”: Outreach and Engagement with Our Spanish-Speaking Neighbors; to increase its reach and engagement with Spanish-speaking residents, the nonprofit’s plans include establishing relationships with local organizations and hosting co-sponsored events.
  • Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Trenton - $50,000 for TASK: Building a Strong, Equitable Future; TASK recently implemented a transformative five-year strategic plan to respond to the increased demand for its services. The funding will help the organization meet its goals of strengthening organizational capacity in the areas of equity, governance and succession planning.
  • WE MAKE: Autism At Work, Pennington - $45,000 for We Make Donor, Audience, & Strategy Expansion; during each of its first five years, the organization doubled the number of persons served; to build capacity and sustainability, the nonprofit will work with fundraising and strategic planning consultants to design new development strategic plans.

Two-year grants

  • RISE, Hightstown - $100,000 for its Technological Transformation on the Rise program, which will provide technology upgrades to identify needs that are in high demand, allow the organization to make data-based decisions and update information in real-time. The upgrades are expected to improve service delivery and client outcomes and streamline communications.
  • The Workwell Partnership (formerly Lawrenceville Job Training Partnership), Lawrenceville - $92,000 to help establish the WorkWell Employer Coalition for Returning Citizens program, a collaborative effort with local businesses to create guaranteed employment opportunities for graduates of the program.

Each grant included an additional 15 percent in funding, which totaled more than $107,000, to help the nonprofits with administrative and overhead costs, such as rent and supplies.

Additionally, The Bunbury Fund awarded year-end grants to the following organizations:

  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County, $25,000, to support the search for a Chief Development Officer
  • LALDEF, Trenton, $25,000 to help support capacity building needs around infrastructure and board/staff professional development
  • MillHill Child Development Center, Trenton, $50,000 to support its executive transition
  • Womanspace, Lawrenceville, $20,000, as an unrestricted grant to support its mission

The Fund also awarded unrestricted Impact Grants to three organizations:

  • I am Trenton, Trenton - $75,000 to help continue its grantmaking in the city
  • NonProfitConnect, Hamilton - $50,000 to continue to support its programs for nonprofit leadership
  • Outdoor Equity Alliance, Trenton, $75,000 to continue to build the capacity and leadership of the emerging nonprofit

Have a news tip? Email [email protected] .

The article $1M Awarded To Local Nonprofits By Princeton's The Bunbury Fund appeared first on Princeton Patch .

It marks the fifth year in a row that the Bunbury Fund issued more than $1 million in funding.

College of Nursing

Driving change: a case study of a dnp leader in residence program in a gerontological center of excellence.

View as pdf A later version of this article appeared in Nurse Leader , Volume 21, Issue 6 , December 2023 . 

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published the Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Practice Nursing in 2004 identifying the essential curriculum needed for preparing advanced practice nurse leaders to effectively assess organizations, identify systemic issues, and facilitate organizational changes. 1 In 2021, AACN updated the curriculum by issuing The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education to guide the development of competency-based education for nursing students. 1 In addition to AACN’s competency-based approach to curriculum, in 2015 the American Organization of Nurse Leaders (AONL) released Nurse Leader Core Competencies (updated in 2023) to help provide a competency based model to follow in developing nurse leaders. 2

Despite AACN and AONL competency-based curriculum and model, it is still common for nurse leaders to be promoted to management positions based solely on their work experience or exceptional clinical skills, rather than demonstration of management and leadership competencies. 3 The importance of identifying, training, and assessing executive leaders through formal leadership development programs, within supportive organizational cultures has been discussed by national leaders. As well as the need for nurturing emerging leaders through fostering interprofessional collaboration, mentorship, and continuous development of leadership skills has been identified. 4 As Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) nurse leaders assume executive roles within healthcare organizations, they play a vital role within complex systems. Demonstration of leadership competence and participation in formal leadership development programs has become imperative for their success. However, models of competency-based executive leadership development programs can be hard to find, particularly programs outside of health care systems.

The implementation of a DNP Leader in Residence program, such as the one designed for The Barbara and Richard Csomay Center for Gerontological Excellence, addresses many of the challenges facing new DNP leaders and ensures mastery of executive leadership competencies and readiness to practice through exposure to varied experiences and close mentoring. The Csomay Center , based at The University of Iowa, was established in 2000 as one of the five original Hartford Centers of Geriatric Nursing Excellence in the country. Later funding by the Csomay family established an endowment that supports the Center's ongoing work. The current Csomay Center strategic plan and mission aims to develop future healthcare leaders while promoting optimal aging and quality of life for older adults. The Csomay Center Director created the innovative DNP Leader in Residence program to foster the growth of future nurse leaders in non-healthcare systems. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the development and implementation of the Leader in Residence program, followed by suggested evaluation strategies, and discussion of future innovation of leadership opportunities in non-traditional health care settings.

Development of the DNP Leader in Residence Program

The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle has garnered substantial recognition as a valuable tool for fostering development and driving improvement initiatives. 5 The PDSA cycle can function as an independent methodology and as an integral component of broader quality enhancement approaches with notable efficacy in its ability to facilitate the rapid creation, testing, and evaluation of transformative interventions within healthcare. 6 Consequently, the PDSA cycle model was deemed fitting to guide the development and implementation of the DNP Leader in Residence Program at the Csomay Center.

PDSA Cycle: Plan

Existing resources. The DNP Health Systems: Administration/Executive Leadership Program offered by the University of Iowa is comprised of comprehensive nursing administration and leadership curriculum, led by distinguished faculty composed of national leaders in the realms of innovation, health policy, leadership, clinical education, and evidence-based practice. The curriculum is designed to cultivate the next generation of nursing executive leaders, with emphasis on personalized career planning and tailored practicum placements. The DNP Health Systems: Administration/Executive Leadership curriculum includes a range of courses focused on leadership and management with diverse topics such as policy an law, infrastructure and informatics, finance and economics, marketing and communication, quality and safety, evidence-based practice, and social determinants of health. The curriculum is complemented by an extensive practicum component and culminates in a DNP project with additional hours of practicum.

New program. The DNP Leader in Residence program at the Csomay Center is designed to encompass communication and relationship building, systems thinking, change management, transformation and innovation, knowledge of clinical principles in the community, professionalism, and business skills including financial, strategic, and human resource management. The program fully immerses students in the objectives of the DNP Health Systems: Administration/Executive Leadership curriculum and enables them to progressively demonstrate competencies outlined by AONL. The Leader in Residence program also includes career development coaching, reflective practice, and personal and professional accountability. The program is integrated throughout the entire duration of the Leader in Residence’s coursework, fulfilling the required practicum hours for both the DNP coursework and DNP project.

The DNP Leader in Residence program begins with the first semester of practicum being focused on completing an onboarding process to the Center including understanding the center's strategic plan, mission, vision, and history. Onboarding for the Leader in Residence provides access to all relevant Center information and resources and integration into the leadership team, community partnerships, and other University of Iowa College of Nursing Centers associated with the Csomay Center. During this first semester, observation and identification of the Csomay Center Director's various roles including being a leader, manager, innovator, socializer, and mentor is facilitated. In collaboration with the Center Director (a faculty position) and Center Coordinator (a staff position), specific competencies to be measured and mastered along with learning opportunities desired throughout the program are established to ensure a well-planned and thorough immersion experience.

Following the initial semester of practicum, the Leader in Residence has weekly check-ins with the Center Director and Center Coordinator to continue to identify learning opportunities and progression through executive leadership competencies to enrich the experience. The Leader in Residence also undertakes an administrative project for the Center this semester, while concurrently continuing observations of the Center Director's activities in local, regional, and national executive leadership settings. The student has ongoing participation and advancement in executive leadership roles and activities throughout the practicum, creating a well-prepared future nurse executive leader.

After completing practicum hours related to the Health Systems: Administration/Executive Leadership coursework, the Leader in Residence engages in dedicated residency hours to continue to experience domains within nursing leadership competencies like communication, professionalism, and relationship building. During residency hours, time is spent with the completion of a small quality improvement project for the Csomay Center, along with any other administrative projects identified by the Center Director and Center Coordinator. The Leader in Residence is fully integrated into the Csomay Center's Leadership Team during this phase, assisting the Center Coordinator in creating agendas and leading meetings. Additional participation includes active involvement in community engagement activities and presenting at or attending a national conference as a representative of the Csomay Center. The Leader in Residence must mentor a master’s in nursing student during the final year of the DNP Residency.

Implementation of the DNP Leader in Residence Program

PDSA Cycle: Do

Immersive experience. In this case study, the DNP Leader in Residence was fully immersed in a wide range of center activities, providing valuable opportunities to engage in administrative projects and observe executive leadership roles and skills during practicum hours spent at the Csomay Center. Throughout the program, the Leader in Residence observed and learned from multidisciplinary leaders at the national, regional, and university levels who engaged with the Center. By shadowing the Csomay Center Director, the Leader in Residence had the opportunity to observe executive leadership objectives such as fostering innovation, facilitating multidisciplinary collaboration, and nurturing meaningful relationships. The immersive experience within the center’s activities also allowed the Leader in Residence to gain a deep understanding of crucial facets such as philanthropy and community engagement. Active involvement in administrative processes such as strategic planning, budgeting, human resources management, and the development of standard operating procedures provided valuable exposure to strategies that are needed to be an effective nurse leader in the future.

Active participation. The DNP Leader in Residence also played a key role in advancing specific actions outlined in the center's strategic plan during the program including: 1) the creation of a membership structure for the Csomay Center and 2) successfully completing a state Board of Regents application for official recognition as a distinguished center. The Csomay Center sponsored membership for the Leader in Residence in the Midwest Nurse Research Society (MNRS), which opened doors to attend the annual MNRS conference and engage with regional nursing leadership, while fostering socialization, promotion of the Csomay Center and Leader in Residence program, and observation of current nursing research. Furthermore, the Leader in Residence participated in the strategic planning committee and engagement subcommittee for MNRS, collaborating directly with the MNRS president. Additional active participation by the Leader in Residence included attendance in planning sessions and completion of the annual report for GeriatricPain.org , an initiative falling under the umbrella of the Csomay Center. Finally, the Leader in Residence was involved in archiving research and curriculum for distinguished nursing leader and researcher, Dr. Kitty Buckwalter, for the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, the University of Pennsylvania Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing, and the University of Iowa library archives.

Suggested Evaluation Strategies of the DNP Leader in Residence Program

PDSA Cycle: Study

Assessment and benchmarking. To effectively assess the outcomes and success of the DNP Leader in Residence Program, a comprehensive evaluation framework should be used throughout the program. Key measures should include the collection and review of executive leadership opportunities experienced, leadership roles observed, and competencies mastered. The Leader in Residence is responsible for maintaining detailed logs of their participation in center activities and initiatives on a semester basis. These logs serve to track the progression of mastery of AONL competencies by benchmarking activities and identifying areas for future growth for the Leader in Residence.

Evaluation. In addition to assessment and benchmarking, evaluations need to be completed by Csomay Center stakeholders (leadership, staff, and community partners involved) and the individual Leader in Residence both during and upon completion of the program. Feedback from stakeholders will identify the contributions made by the Leader in Residence and provide valuable insights into their growth. Self-reflection on experiences by the individual Leader in Residence throughout the program will serve as an important measure of personal successes and identify gaps in the program. Factors such as career advancement during the program, application of curriculum objectives in the workplace, and prospects for future career progression for the Leader in Residence should be considered as additional indicators of the success of the program.

The evaluation should also encompass a thorough review of the opportunities experienced during the residency, with the aim of identifying areas for potential expansion and enrichment of the DNP Leader in Residence program. By carefully examining the logs, reflecting on the acquired executive leadership competencies, and studying stakeholder evaluations, additional experiences and opportunities can be identified to further enhance the program's efficacy. The evaluation process should be utilized to identify specific executive leadership competencies that require further immersion and exploration throughout the program.

Future Innovation of DNP Leader in Residence Programs in Non-traditional Healthcare Settings

PDSA Cycle: Act

As subsequent residents complete the program and their experiences are thoroughly evaluated, it is essential to identify new opportunities for DNP Leader in Residence programs to be implemented in other non-health care system settings. When feasible, expansion into clinical healthcare settings, including long-term care and acute care environments, should be pursued. By leveraging the insights gained from previous Leaders in Residence and their respective experiences, the program can be refined to better align with desired outcomes and competencies. These expansions will broaden the scope and impact of the program and provide a wider array of experiences and challenges for future Leaders in Residency to navigate, enriching their development as dynamic nurse executive leaders within diverse healthcare landscapes.

This case study presented a comprehensive overview of the development and implementation of the DNP Leader in Residence program developed by the Barbara and Richard Csomay Center for Gerontological Excellence. The Leader in Residence program provided a transformative experience by integrating key curriculum objectives, competency-based learning, and mentorship by esteemed nursing leaders and researchers through successful integration into the Center. With ongoing innovation and application of the PDSA cycle, the DNP Leader in Residence program presented in this case study holds immense potential to help better prepare 21 st century nurse leaders capable of driving positive change within complex healthcare systems.

Acknowledgements

         The author would like to express gratitude to the Barbara and Richard Csomay Center for Gerontological Excellence for the fostering environment to provide an immersion experience and the ongoing support for development of the DNP Leader in Residence program. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

  • American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The essentials: core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/AcademicNursing/pdf/Essentials-2021.pdf . Accessed June 26, 2023.
  • American Organization for Nursing Leadership. Nurse leader core competencies. https://www.aonl.org/resources/nurse-leader-competencies . Accessed July 10, 2023.
  • Warshawsky, N, Cramer, E. Describing nurse manager role preparation and competency: findings from a national study. J Nurs Adm . 2019;49(5):249-255. DOI:  10.1097/NNA.0000000000000746
  • Van Diggel, C, Burgess, A, Roberts, C, Mellis, C. Leadership in healthcare education. BMC Med. Educ . 2020;20(465). doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02288-x
  • Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) worksheet. https://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/PlanDoStudyActWorksheet.aspx . Accessed July 4, 2023.
  • Taylor, M, McNicolas, C, Nicolay, C, Darzi, A, Bell, D, Reed, J. Systemic review of the application of the plan-do-study-act method to improve quality in healthcare. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2014:23:290-298. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2013-002703

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Russia’s Advances on Space-Based Nuclear Weapon Draw U.S. Concerns

A congressman’s cryptic statement about new intelligence set Washington abuzz and infuriated White House officials.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia standing at a lectern wearing a dark suit.

By Julian E. Barnes ,  Karoun Demirjian ,  Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger

Julian E. Barnes, Karoun Demirjian and Eric Schmitt reported from Washington, and David E. Sanger from Berlin.

The United States has informed Congress and its allies in Europe about Russian advances on a new, space-based nuclear weapon designed to threaten America’s extensive satellite network, according to current and former officials briefed on the matter.

Such a satellite-killing weapon, if deployed, could destroy civilian communications, surveillance from space and military command-and control operations by the United States and its allies. At the moment, the United States does not have the ability to counter such a weapon and defend its satellites, a former official said.

Officials said that the new intelligence, which they did not describe in detail, raised serious questions about whether Russia was preparing to abandon the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which bans all orbital nuclear weapons. But since Russia does not appear close to deploying the weapon, they said, it is not considered an urgent threat.

The intelligence was made public, in part, in a cryptic announcement on Wednesday by Representative Michael R. Turner, Republican of Ohio and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He called on the Biden administration to declassify the information without saying specifically what it was.

ABC News reported earlier that the intelligence had to do with Russian space-based antisatellite nuclear weaponry. Current and former officials said that the launch of the antisatellite did not appear imminent, but that there was a limited window of time, which they did not define, to prevent its deployment.

Concerns about placing nuclear weapons in space go back 50 years. The United States experimented with versions of the technology but never deployed them. Russia has been developing its space-based capabilities for decades.

U.S. military officials have warned that both Russia and China are moving toward greater militarization of space, as all three superpowers work on ways to blind the others.

A report released last year, highlighted Russia’s development of weapons to blind other satellites but noted that Russia had refrained from using the full range of antisatellite capabilities it had developed.

Deploying a nuclear weapon in space would be a significant advancement in Russian technology and a potentially dramatic escalation. The Outer Space Treaty bans nuclear weapons in space, but Russia has been exiting many Cold War arms control treaties, seeing them as a restraint on its most important source of military power.

Mr. Turner’s statement, and his decision to share the information with others in Congress, set Washington abuzz on Wednesday about what the intelligence was.

But the statement infuriated White House officials, who feared the loss of important sources of information on Russia. While Mr. Turner has been an ally to the White House on Ukraine aid, his remarks on Wednesday became the latest flashpoint in strained relations between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans.

The intelligence was developed in recent days, and while it is important, officials said it was not a break-the-glass kind of warning of any imminent threat. But Mr. Turner urged its release.

“I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the administration and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat,” Mr. Turner said.

His committee took the unorthodox move of voting on Monday to make the information available to all members of Congress — a step that alarmed some officials because it is not clear in what context, if any, the intelligence in the panel’s possession was presented. In a note to lawmakers, the House Intelligence Committee said the intelligence was about a “destabilizing foreign military capability.”

Capitol Hill is mired in a bitter political standoff over whether the United States should be mobilizing resources to counter Russian threats to Ukraine, a cause that most Democrats and some Republicans — including Mr. Turner — have maintained is essential to protecting U.S. national security interests. But a majority of Republican members of the House, including Speaker Mike Johnson, reject calls to put the Senate-passed foreign aid package with $60.1 billion for Ukraine to a vote on the House floor.

Former President Donald J. Trump has egged on Republican opposition, saying over the weekend that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to any NATO country that had not spent enough money on its own defense.

Other officials said Mr. Turner was making more of the new intelligence than would ordinarily have been expected, perhaps to create pressure to prod the House to take up the supplemental funding request for Ukraine that the Senate passed this week.

That measure, providing military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, faces an uncertain prospect in the House. While many Republicans oppose additional funding, Mr. Turner is an outspoken advocate of more assistance to Ukraine and recently visited Kyiv, the capital.

Shortly after Mr. Turner’s announcement, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, entered the White House press room to discuss the importance of continued funding for Ukraine’s military.

But Mr. Sullivan declined to address a reporter’s question about the substance of Mr. Turner’s announcement, saying only that he was set to meet with the chairman on Thursday.

“We scheduled a briefing for the House members of the Gang of Eight tomorrow,” Mr. Sullivan said, referring to a group of congressional leaders from both parties. “That’s been on the books. So I am a bit surprised that Congressman Turner came out publicly today in advance of a meeting on the books for me to go sit with him alongside our intelligence and defense professionals tomorrow.”

Representative Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut and the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the issue was “serious” and that Mr. Turner was right to focus on it. But he added that the threat was “not going to ruin your Thursday.”

Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, and Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said in a joint statement that the Senate Intelligence Committee had been tracking the issue from the start and had been discussing a response with the Biden administration. But the lawmakers said that releasing information about the intelligence could expose the methods of collection.

At the White House, when Mr. Sullivan was asked whether he could tell Americans that there was nothing to worry about, he replied that it was “impossible to answer with a straight ‘yes.’”

“Americans understand that there are a range of threats and challenges in the world that we’re dealing with every single day, and those threats and challenges range from terrorism to state actors,” Mr. Sullivan said. “And we have to contend with them, and we have to contend with them in a way where we ensure the ultimate security of the American people. I am confident that President Biden, in the decisions that he is taking, is going to ensure the security of the American people going forward.”

Mr. Turner declined to respond to questions on Wednesday. Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, said the new intelligence was one of several “volatile threats” facing the United States.

“This is something that requires our attention,” Mr. Crow said. “There’s no doubt. It’s not an immediate crisis, but certainly something that we have to be very serious about.”

Mr. Johnson, apparently trying to spread calm after Mr. Turner’s announcement, said there was “no need for public alarm.”

“We are going to work together to address this matter,” he said.

The Outer Space Treaty was one of the first major arms control treaties negotiated between the United States and the Soviet Union, and one of the last remaining in place.

If Russia exited the space treaty, and let the New START treaty limiting strategic nuclear weapons expire in February 2026 — as seems likely — it could touch off a new arms race, of the kind not seen since the depths of the Cold War.

“Ending the Space Treaty could open the floodgates for other countries to put nuclear weapons in space as well,” said Steven Andreasen, a nuclear expert at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in Minneapolis. “Once you have orbital nuclear weapons, you can use them for more than taking out satellites.”

Erica L. Green , Luke Broadwater and Glenn Thrush contributed reporting from Washington.

Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades. More about Julian E. Barnes

Karoun Demirjian covers Congress with a focus on defense, foreign policy, intelligence, immigration, and trade and technology. More about Karoun Demirjian

Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times, focusing on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism issues overseas, topics he has reported on for more than three decades. More about Eric Schmitt

David E. Sanger covers the Biden administration and national security. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written several books on challenges to American national security. More about David E. Sanger

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  26. Driving change: a case study of a DNP leader in residence program in a

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  28. Russia's Advances on Space-Based Nuclear Weapon Draw U.S. Concerns

    A congressman's cryptic statement about new intelligence set Washington abuzz and infuriated White House officials. By Julian E. Barnes, Karoun Demirjian, Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger Julian ...