Too often nonprofits are scrambling to post on Twitter and Facebook, without thinking through how digital tools should be part of your organization's strategic goals.
In this presentation for the 2014 Peace and Security Funders conference, See3 CEO Michael Hoffman and digital strategist Laura Wilson walk through creating a strategic communications plan, theories of change, and how to use the tools at our fingertips - like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube - to achieve the change your organization seeks to make.
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About Michael Hoffman
• Former senior nonprofit fundraiser and
political consultant
• Founded See3 Communications to use
digital strategy and tools to up the impact of
nonprofits and causes
About Laura Wilson
• Veteran of 2012 Obama campaign digital
team
• Focus on digital campaign strategy and
storytelling for change
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Roadmap for our session
• What is strategic
communications?
• How do you use strategy
with your grantees?
• Translating strategy into
tactics
• Tips and tricks for digital
tools
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So: What the heck does
“strategic communications”
actually mean?
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strategy (noun)
1. A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a
major or overall aim.
1.1 The art of planning and directing overall military
operations and movements in a war or battle. Often
contrasted with tactics (see tactic).
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Theories of change
1. What is the
change you want
to see?
2. Who is in a
position to make
that change
happen?
The Theory: How can you influence
those people/groups?
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Theory of Change #1
• Goal: To protect individuals from unsafe chemicals in seafood
• Audience: Consumers
• Theory: Providing simple tips on how to shop for chemical-free
products will make it easier for supporters to “live smarter”
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Theory of Change #2
• Goal: To enact better
legislation protecting clean
water
• Audience: Lawmakers
• Theory: A petition with
enough signatures will
influence lawmakers to take
action
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Theory of Change #3
• Goal: To build constituency advocating for better
environmental protection
• Audience: Current NRDC supporters and their friends
• Theory: People are more likely to get involved if their
friends already are. Peer pressure will recruit new
likes/followers who can take action on future NRDC
campaigns
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So – how is your org evaluating
your grantees’ impact?
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Evaluation
What’s the programmatic goal?
Who are we trying to reach?
What is our strategy for achieving our goal?
What tactics will we use for implementing this
strategy?
How will we measure success?
For every communications campaign, ask:
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How can you be a catalyst for your
grantees to do their best work?
Strengthening the skills, competencies
and abilities that will allow your grantees
to achieve measurable and sustainable
results.
Vision, quality, time, skills, integration, or
ganizational development, leadership
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Put it into practice:
How do you use digital tools to lead in
your field?
How can you support your grantees in
infusing strategy into their digital
tactics?
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Benefits of Strong Networks
• More efficient use of staff time
• Regenerative, constant flow
• Sustaining energy
• Responsive & generous
• Focus on people and community
• Expand community of supporters
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First benchmark survey on use
and impact of nonprofit video.
446 Survey Participants
• Senior Management
• Communications
• Development
Nonprofit Organizations
• Representative of large, medium
and small orgs
• Rich diversity of missions
• Broad range of experience with
video
YouTube Platform Data
• 20,000+ nonprofits
http://www.see3.com/intofocus
The best stories make complex ideas to simple. If possible keep your story to one message, idea, theme; viewer often miss the point you really want too make if youpresent them with too many secondary messages
Video works most effectively when it creates a sense of identification between the viewer and the people in the story. People connect to people. As a result, be careful not to make your story about ideas, programs or policies, but the people who personify them.
What he means is that its often better to tell stories of your works impact or to hear peopleoutside your org talking about how great you are, than to hear you saying how great you. Like the moon, you can bask in the reflected light more than radiate your own
The times you think are most useful aren’t always the case. In the US, we often see weekends working well and after dinner, after the kids go to bed working really well.