Want to bring your new nonprofit to life? Talk, talk, talk!

You are all in.

You know the need and see the path for your new nonprofit organization and its work. Heck, as you have come this far, you likely feel it in your bones. You have clear, realistic, meaningful and measurable work in mind to tackle that need. You have enlisted the help of at least a few like-minded people as Board members. And yes, you have the basic building blocks of your fundraising efforts in place.

So, what’s next? How do you get other folks to see your vision and support your new nonprofit so its impact can be realized?

Bring it to life. Then talk, talk, talk. And of course we follow the Famous Fundraising Formula: Talking = Selling (trademark pending … :)) How to get started? We suggest two steps right now:

Sit down for an afternoon, or even a day or two, and write out what we call a DEV/COMM Plan Think of this as a timeline for the next month, or maybe the next three months. It is to track your immediate next steps and audiences to bring your nonprofit to life for your people and community. Note: don’t extend too far out into the future, successful plans are iterated and built upon on what hasn’t worked, and what has. Yours will be too. What makes a good DEV/COMM plan? Understanding and including:

• Audience: Assess and analyze your target audience, including the donor pools you think will be most interested in your work. Who are they? Where are they? List them all, and how you can best reach them.

• Messaging: Start with your elevator pitch. From it, develop a handful (or more) talking points from it meant for funding targets, media, friends and volunteers. List your communication channels and the best frequency for each.

• Call to Action: How can people help? Yes, you need their financial support, but how else? A sign-on letter? Volunteer their time? Tell their own story? Get a person involved and invested in your mission and work, and you likely have a donor, perhaps for life! Plus then, the opportunity to reach their circle of influence: friends, colleagues, employers, etc.

• Impact: Include what success looks like, what impacts you expect your organization to have in the next 3 weeks / 3 months / 3 years.

• Calendar: When will you send out communications? When will fundraising emails noting successes or challenges be sent? How often will you tweet, or post to Facebook, and how many emails telling your story and asking for support will you send in your first quarter.

When you have this drafted, share it with your Board members, or a trusted friend or colleague or two. See if they can poke any holes in it. If so, adjust!

Put simply: TELL. YOUR. STORY. Get out the door (or onto Zoom and your social channels) and start talking. You are doing this nonprofit thing for a reason. Show the world and your potential donors why. Craft and send your best email and social snippets with the story of how you and your nonprofit got to this point, and where you intend to go.

Be passionate! Use emotional language, tie back to your own life or the experience that brought you to this point. Make sure though to also include the sound reasoning and need for your work, and the concrete steps you have taken to this point. Talk about your 501c3 status, indicate your need for volunteers or more Board members, and always, always make that ask for financial support. Send and share with friends, colleagues, folks aligned with and impacted by your intended work. As you move forward from planning to impact, share your progress everywhere. Your online presence, social channels, emails, newsletter subscribers. With local – and national – media. Measure results, check open rates of emails and likes and share on social. Learn and adjust from these measurements.

With the right amount of focus mixed with passion, in a short time, no matter your background, you can begin to become expert at telling – and selling – your nonprofits story. Then, the sky really is the limit!

And, as always, reach out to us at Rising Tide if you get stuck. We are always interested in finding new clients of course, but also, we got into nonprofit work for a reason. We feel good about our work and the impact we have had. So if we can help you with a nudge forward without charging a fee, we will do our best!