Great Resources for Improving Your Communications Efforts

by Amy K. Harbison
Director of Communications

Many nonprofits don't have the staff power to devote full-time to communications. Yet good communications is critical in creating understanding of your organization's mission and core values; recruiting and cultivating donors, board members, staff, and volunteers; and gaining the attention of the media and other key influencers.

There are, however, many free resources available to nonprofits that can help jump-start your communications efforts from the ground up. Whether you want to create a communications plan, develop a well-organized website, simplify your messages, create human interest stories, prepare for a crisis, or develop an understanding of new media, these resources are worth researching and exploring.

Marketing/communications e-newsletters

You can sign-up for e-newsletters that provide good content on a wide range of topics in nonprofit marketing/communications.

Nancy Schwartz and Company's "Getting Attention" e-newsletter offers great marketing/communications information for nonprofits on everything from blogging to branding: http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html

Kivi Leroux Miller's website offers training and tips for nonprofit marketing/communicators, a blog, resources, and webinars: http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/resources/articles/

Advocacy communications toolkits and information

The Opportunity Agenda (http://www.opportunityagenda.org/) is a communications toolkit produced in conjunction with The Spin Project that will help those involved in advocacy work frame their work and develop messages.

Fenton Communications (http://www.fenton.com/)  offers "Providing Your Worth: 10 Days to Measure the Impact of your Communications," a guide for public interest communicators, as a free download.

Templates and toolkits

Fenton Communications has a number of other valuable reports, available as free downloads, including "Making a Name for Yourself," "Branding for Nonprofits," and "A Room with a Viewpoint: How to Create an Online Press Center that Reporters Turn to Again and Again."

The Spin Project offers a web-based template for creating a communications plan, called the Strategic Communications Plan generator.

New media

If terms like RSS feeds, wikis, and Twitter leave you scratching your head but you want to keep current, visit the clever and clear short video explanations of these terms at http://www.commoncraft.com/.

For more information about using YouTube as a marketing tool for your nonprofit, visit http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits.

Writing

Here are just a few of the websites for resources on improving writing and grammar:

Notes from a Writing Coach: http://www.writingcoach.zoomshare.com/

Webgrammar's Writing Center: http://www.webgrammar.com/writingcenter.html

American Copy Editors Society (http://copydesk.org/)

Poynter Institute (http://www.poynter.org/)

Websites

Techsoup (http://www.techsoup.org/)  has a list of great resources in their learning center, including articles on web building, from improving your home page to finding a good web host.

Storytelling

Andy Goodman (http://agoodmanonline.com/) is a master at storytelling and has several free publications that are downloadable from his website.  He also offers online classes in storytelling.

The Center for Digital Storytelling (http://www.storycenter.org/) offers resources online about video storytelling.

Links for Nonprofits  

Boardsource 

BoardSource is a resource for practical information, tools and best practices, training, and leadership development for board members of nonprofit organizations. Learn more.

Collect Donations through Text Messages

A new program, mGive, allows organizations to collect $5 or $10 donations via text message. Learn more.

Guide for Using Consultants

The Grand Victoria Foundation has published the Insiders Guide to Outside Advice to help nonprofits make better use of consultants. Learn more.

Flip Video Spotlight

Flip Video Spotlight offers 60-minute Flip Video Ultra camcorders with built-in video editing and publishing software to eligible nonprofits.  The kit also comes with instructions for uploading to your own website or popular video sharing sites (like YouTube, MySpace, and AOL Video), tutorials, and other training materials.  Learn more.