In recent conversations with foundations, we’ve repeatedly heard that one of the biggest concerns of their grantee partners right now is fundraising and revenue generation. This isn’t surprising to anyone. With federal funding cuts, longer donor cultivation cycles, and increased demand for both institutional and individual support, heightened financial concerns are expected.
What is surprising is the disconnect in organizations recognizing the relationship between fundraising and communications. In the legitimate panic of the moment, many organizations are siloing fundraising rather than fully leveraging communications to drive revenue generation. This is concerning, primarily because there is existing research that highlights how communications strengthens planned giving, donor acquisition and retention, and major gift fundraising. Communications is also key for both sense-making and meaning-making for your audience.
Our two-plus decades of experience with the direct impact of strategic communications tells us that communications is the foundation of every aspect of a brand’s existence. With the role of creating awareness, shaping perception, and catalyzing audiences to action, comms must be strategic, deliberate, and proactive.
With that understanding, what if organizations stopped thinking about fundraising as a separate and distinct function, but instead as an expression of communications? In many ways, this approach not only strengthens how you build your strategy but also offers a more immersive execution. These are some of the questions you need to answer when developing a fundraising strategy:
- What changes in how you develop the narrative that is central to your ask?
- What institutional behaviors are in play that support how the organization is positioned for revenue generation?
- Where is your organization situated in the ecosystem of your social issue, and how are you using that unique positioning to your advantage for fundraising?
- Is your fundraising narrative connected to your organizational narrative?
We are encouraging you to lead with communications so you can:
- Connect your work to the current emotional experience of your prospective donors, in order to make the strongest case possible for how your foresight can advance an agenda of change.
- Highlight your thought leadership to demonstrate your understanding of specific issues, systems, and solutions. This can engender trust in your leadership and organizational capacity to take on the work funders are interested in investing in.
- Dispel misinformation or disinformation about your issue area that may be causing narrative drift and creating uncertainty for audiences.
- Weave fundraising into every aspect of the audience experience, even when you are not directly soliciting donations.
This article offers some general insights that we hope you find helpful. If you want to learn more about how communications can help you with revenue generation today, contact us to schedule an exploratory conversation.