Raise Your Voice Page 4

  THE RATIONALE

  Researchers and fundraisers continually conduct studies and research donor motivations, in an attempt to quantify what motivates and influences individuals to support a particular cause.

  My experience has shown that the NTEE classification can be segmented into a quadrant, with some general motivations as its axis. This is not an attempt to quantify motivations, but to help a nonprofit organization identify what mix of messaging may be appropriate for their cause, in the context of peers and competing organizations. In general, people support causes, and not institutions. Knowing what your perspective should be, competitively and experientially, is valuable. Your design choices and marketing communication will be more powerful if you understand what your perspective is, and your point of view when you speak.

  Practically speaking, you will need to position your organization as the voice of the cause, within a crowded and noisy marketplace. You will need to demonstrate content expertise of the cause, and support it with communications about the organization.

  The top half of the quadrant includes entities that impact people directly: health, human services, public/society benefit, foundations, and education. This is considered the greater good segment of entities.

  The lower half of the quadrant includes entities that influence culture and special interests. These include animals; environment; religion; international; and arts, culture and humanities. This is considered the cultural good segment of entities.

  Horizontally, those that fall on the left appeal primarily to our hearts, and those that fall on the right speak primarily to our minds. I’ve already stated that the appeal is not one extreme or the other; there are many nuances in between. We’re informed by what speaks to our minds and thoughts; we’re inspired by what appeals to our hearts.

  WHERE DO YOU FIT IN?

  Think about which one of the four quadrants into which your cause may fall. Does it work with basic human services? Human services falls into the top half of the quadrant. This cause may interest to those who are motivated to support this type of cause because it appeals to their heart.

  Is yours an arts organization? Then perhaps your followers are passionate about supporting the arts. Beauty and the arts stir our hearts. If the cause speaks primarily to the mind, it falls into the rational-cultural good portion of the grid, because it does not meet a basic human need.

  Is your cause affiliated with an association? It is most likely an organization supported out of interest for the group or field it represents; a rational-cultural good choice. Supporters are influenced by the opportunity to learn and associate with individuals who share their common interest.

  Your personal experience may lead you to support the cause of cancer cure or research, which could fall into either the emotional or rational side of the quadrant.

  As a last example, is it an animal related cause? If so, it may be an emotional-cultural good choice for individuals to support.

  Once you’ve identified which quadrant into which your cause potentially falls, next consider what may generally motivate and influence your donors and supporters:

  Factors that motivate and influence individuals to support and donate to a cause have been widely researched both in the United States and the United Kingdom. In order to help understand how to explain your mission to your audience, consider what factors may potentially motivate your audience to volunteer and support your cause.

  If one thing is more important than any other it’s this: seek to know and understand your audience and community. Every constituent group – millennial, baby boomers, retirees, alumni – are motivated and influenced by different, and often generation-specific, factors. You can’t assume that your generational perspective is the same as others.

  After researching donor and volunteer motivations, some patterns did emerge with regard to reasons and values. Some causes appeal to the heart more than they speak to the mind. Others speak to the mind – to inform before they inspire – and appeal to personal factors.

  Ask some of your current donors and volunteers why they do what they do on behalf of your cause. The answers will give you great insight into how you can communicate more effectively with them.

  This model is qualitative – based on experience, observations, existing and new donor research, and observation. Consider it a starting point for a fresh perspective on how your cause may appeal to your audience, informing the choices you make for design and communication planning.

  WHAT’S THE POINT?

  The quadrant can help you to place your cause and organization into its context in the competitive landscape, with other similar or different organizations. A basic understanding of the emotional/rational balance of your messaging will help you to inspire and inform – creating a narrative and identifying stories that build credibility.

  Your audience is listening for a voice that speaks to their mind and appeals to their heart.

  Lean too heavily on emotion, and you risk losing potential supporters who respond to messages that speak to their intellect. If you rely too much on information and knowledge-based messaging, your stories may appear boring to an individual who needs an emotional appeal to their heart.

  What you want to find is the right balance of emotional and rational messaging that creates a voice of credibility. Understanding your communications context will help you to create a narrative that informs and inspires. The most powerful stories are those that combine three elements: pathos (emotion), logos (rationality), and ethos (credibility). Emotion and rationality, woven into the narrative, builds credibility for your organization and your cause. (See the Cause Manifesto principle, Be Powerful.)

  The challenge is to stop thinking like a brand and define your personality in order to create your identity and find your voice. Remember, a cause is not a brand. Yours is a mission-driven organization, advocating on behalf of a meaningful cause, operating with character, values, and a culture that give your audience reason to believe in your cause and support your purpose. Your organization must become the voice for those who have no voice.

  SPEAKING WITH ONE VOICE

  A colleague asked: “Is it more important for people to believe in the cause or the individual?”

  My response: “Every cause needs a voice, every organization needs a face.”

  We all know dynamic, inspirational figures that lead organizations we support or serve in. We follow pastors, executive directors, presidents, and other leaders who speak fluently and coherently on behalf of the cause for which they are advocates.

  The nonprofit is the voice of the cause, because it can often have a bigger voice than an individual. At the same time, an individual can be the face of the organization. He or she will be the lead ambassador, and set the example for all others, from the board to the staff.

  Both the cause and the organization are important. The organization will always speak on behalf of the cause; it’s critical for your audience to understand the difference between the two, and how they work together.

  Remember, your audience may at first perceive a difference between the cause and the organization, but over time will associate your organization with the cause.

  In the same way, over time your audience may associate an individual with your organization. That individual becomes a familiar face for the cause.

  For example: Hunger is a worldwide problem. Your local food bank will address the needs of those at risk for hunger in your community and region, and distribute food to the local food pantries. Food pantries will work to meet the need of distributing food to families in need. Other non-government and food relief organizations will address the issue of hunger in developing countries. Your audience knows the difference. If they want to support hunger relief, they will choose to support the cause and organization with values that most closely align with their own.

  Your audience has many choices of causes to support, and are drawn to those with which they are familiar. The more personable and personal you
make your organization, the more it will seem familiar. Familiarity is nurtured by truthful stories, shared by ambassadors and advocates.

  Your cause is bigger than your organization, and the nature of the cause is more compelling than the organization that represents it. Your organization represents the intersection of where the audience is connected with the cause, and where the audience is connected with your mission. That’s why you have to be the voice.

  You will always need to ask yourself: If this is our organization, what is our actual cause? Given our cause, what is our purpose? Given our purpose, what is our mission?

  COMMUNICATING THE INVISIBLE

  Intangible causes (e.g., sustainability), require data-driven messaging. The cause will draw interest by presenting the case for meeting a need to support the cause, through a rational appeal for support. When a cause (and the associated need) is tangible (e.g., children’s services), direct, emotional appeals supported by data can be effective.

  The trend in fundraising will continue to be to address issues rather than to simply fund programs or organizations. Fighting hunger resonates more than providing support for a food bank – but an individual’s relationship may be with a local food bank. Large-scale funders will seek to address homelessness, healthcare, and many other societal issues by giving to a coalition or group of organizational partners, rather than directly funding individual organizations.

  Some grant-making organizations have ascended to the perspective of funding design and communication initiatives, with the intent of empowering the nonprofit to be self-sustaining. Scalability and replication becomes increasingly important in order to achieve maximum effectiveness with this approach.

  You must consider how you will communicate the invisible, as well as communicating the visible impact and outcomes. Your primary goal will continue to be one of raising awareness of the issue in addition to a secondary goal of marketing the nonprofit.

  Share how your donors’ gifts make an impact. Make the intangible gift of money visible through touch points that demonstrate tangible results.

  WHY IMPACT IS IMPORTANT

  While many things in your life maybe important, not everything can be high-priority. Such is the same with your nonprofit. Not every nonprofit or cause is a high priority to your audience, no matter how important you may think it is.

  When you think about how your nonprofit shares its story, you have to think of the person on the end of the communication (otherwise, what’s the point?). When the organization speaks, what do they hear? Do they respond emotionally or rationally?

  The following statement’s significance on the value of communications cannot be overstated:

  “Public funders – and eventually private funders as well – will migrate away from organizations with stirring stories alone toward well-managed organizations that can also demonstrate meaningful, lasting impact.” Mario Morino, Leap of Reason

  Design and communications are what help you demonstrate meaningful, lasting impact. Design makes stories visible. It could be that your story appeals to your supporter’s heart, and how it is presented speaks to their mind.

  When every nonprofit is telling a story, what will differentiate your presentation, and make it more memorable and compelling?

  A powerful visual image can evoke an emotional reaction from the viewer. Even a silent, verbal voice (i.e., typography) can be effective.

  Powerful voices can cut through the noise to attract attention, but risk pushing the audience away if the tone and intensity is too high. Quiet voices can also speak powerfully, encouraging the audience to lean in to listen.

  Whatever your approach, the most meaningful cause can have a powerful voice, if it understands the perspective from which it speaks.

  Part One: Chapter Seven

  Mission-Driven Design

  “The heart may inspire you to start a journey, but you must begin with the end in mind.”

  I like things simple and uncomplicated. You can read books and articles, and listen to a variety of experts who speak at length about the “B” word, and in the end come away thoroughly confused. At worst, you’ll leave the conversation disheartened, because branding sounds like it can be painful.

  Crafting or defining a statement of purpose can be difficult, but need not be painful. If you can clearly identify your primary cause, then you can deduce your purpose. One thing that every nonprofit seems to have is a mission statement. Mission statements can be static, are often full of buzzwords, and may be best suited as an internal reminder of what your organization has set out to do. Mission statements don’t make good purpose statements.

  The key idea is mission-driven design. Driven individuals are compelled by an internal sense of urgency and conviction. Their purpose is to achieve the goals and objectives they have set before themselves. In achieving their goals, the impact may be something far greater than what they initially set out to do.

  So it is also for organizations that work from a sense of purpose. What aspects of the mission drive you to do what you’re doing? For instance, if your mission is to be a hunger relief agency that provides food resources, it’s easy to deduce that your organization’s higher purpose is to end hunger.

  Purpose also helps you to keep focused and avoid mission creep. Your nonprofit will have many opportunities for new programs, new initiatives, and new collaborations. With new opportunities come other challenges: new funding and reporting requirements, additional staff, and less time spent doing what you do well. Staying focused on your purpose and what you’re on a mission to do will enable you to say no to opportunities that don’t align with your mission.

  THE ELEMENTS OF MISSION-DRIVEN DESIGN

  Design(ed) Thinking

  Design thinking is powerful – it can help identify potential solutions to the problems faced by the nonprofit community. IDEO’s free Human-Centered Design Toolkit is an excellent resource to help understand how to understand a community’s needs, find innovative solutions to meet those needs, and deliver financially sustainable solutions. It can help solve your organization’s communication challenges such as positioning, communication, design, media, service, and user experience.

  Designed thinking is about making intentional design choices to influence interaction, experience and understanding of a meaningful cause through communication touch points that are specific to your audience. Designed thinking seeks to influence the way people think about your cause, in order to change the way they support your organization.

  You may think of design and communications as branding (there’s that “B” word again) – mission-driven design goes beyond branding – to focus on purpose, identity, and personality.

  The most effective nonprofits manage their assets and resources according to their mission’s outcomes and objectives. Those that engage their audiences most effectively communicate their purpose, mission, outcomes, and objectives. That’s the mission-driven design approach.

  The Definition of Mission-Driven Design

  Mission-driven design is a framework that aligns design and marketing communications with the organization’s purpose and mission – why it exists, and what it’s on a mission to achieve. It encompasses the touch points of positioning, differentiation, strategy, design, marketing communications, media, and user experience.

  Mission-driven design aligns the touch points along the Engagement Continuum to attract, inform, and inspire your audience. It helps build relationships by telling a story about your cause, and by nurturing trust in the organization that speaks for the cause.

  Mission-driven design enables you to share a message – with one voice – that gives people reasons to believe in your cause, and connects your mission with your audience in a meaningful way. As relationships are formed, its role of design communications moves from engaging your audience to stewardship.

  Your Positioning: You Are What They Think You Are

  Mission-driven design aligns communication strategy with your organization�
�s purpose – why it exists and why it matters. How your audience perceives your organization is determined by its positioning.

  Positioning is typically an exercise in establishing how your organization is different from other similar or competing causes, organizations, and philanthropic interests.

  Here are some examples of where positioning is important:

  Aside from doctrinal differences, what makes your church different from others in your neighborhood, community, or region?

  Does your audience really understand the difference between a food bank and a food pantry?

  Can site selectors quickly identify what economic development organization best represents the community or region that they are researching, when there are often similar organizations fulfilling the same role?

  If a prospective student is looking at several colleges or universities with similar degree programs, what is distinctly different about one institution that will set it apart from others (especially if the school has a reputation that does not reflect its academic culture, but its social culture)?

  Powerful positioning starts from the cause and purpose of an organization and articulates the difference the organization makes – the measurable impact it has, and why your audience’s support helps make that difference.

  Your audience learns this difference through your organization’s personality: its purpose, character, and culture – expressed through the touch points of print, digital, experience, and service design.