As a nonprofit leader, it is your job to make sure your organization’s mission statement is clear, concise and relevant. You also have to make sure that the general public is aware of your cause and understands why they should support your organization. The only way to do this is by getting the word out, sharing your personal story, the stories of volunteers, and the stories of recipients of the organization’s efforts.
It is easy to assume that in order to communicate effectively you need newspapers to constantly be picking up your stories and to have news channels constantly spotlighting your organization, but this isn’t always the case. Something as simple as increasing your presence online can help your organization gain supporters more quickly than perhaps you had even ever imagined.
Captivate People With Stories Online
Create a blog for your organization and share stories. Tell people why your organization exists—what moment spurred the start of the organization? What is your personal stake in the organization? Why do the volunteers feel so strongly about the organization that they take time out of their lives to help the cause? How do the people whose lives the organization has affected feel? What has changed for them—physically, emotionally or spiritually? Answer these questions through blog posts.
Give supporters guidelines for writing—such as word counts and the purpose of each blog post—but let individuals associated with your organization tell their own story. Real stories, while sometimes emotional and difficult to share, are what will garner public support for your charity.
Use Social Media
Make sure that people who are not associated with your organization know that your blog and its stories exist. Social media is an amazing tool for this. Make sure you are creating relevant, engaging posts for sites like Twitter and Facebook that will grab your audiences’ attention. Be sure to include a link to each blog post within your social media posts to redirect traffic back to your organization’s official webpage.
