Messengers

Choosing the right messenger is a critical step in every strategic communication effort. Without the right person delivering it, your message is just a nice set of words.

Cognitive science has demonstrated time and time again that what is being said can matter far less than who is saying it. Communicating effectively thus depends on selecting the right people, and the right settings, for getting your message out.

Many foundations (and nonprofits) have learned this the hard way, through trial and error. Given the public’s relative lack of familiarity with (and in some cases outright skepticism around) the work of philanthropy, grantmakers themselves often lack the requisite credibility to move public perception on issues we care most about. But working through grantees, who are more closely connected to community, our issues can find unexpected lift and impact.

The best messenger may be a dedicated community activist who has been working on the front lines for decades. It may be a group of individuals directly impacted by the issue you are seeking to address. It may even be a celebrity. The key is to be intentional about choosing messengers who are viewed with trust, respect and the appropriate level of authority on your issue.

by the numbers

50,000

Videos created and uploaded to the It Gets Better Project.
SOURCE

$112M

Raised by the ALS Association in the Ice Bucket Challenge (as of September 2014).
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71%

Percentage of foundations using social media who have not developed a formal social media strategy.
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tips and insights

When people’s identities are wrapped up in their beliefs, more facts and evidence won’t change their minds. Hearing from someone who they identify with might.
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Effective messengers do the following: establish credibility, make it relevant, tell the truth, keep it simple, make a connection, and repeat, repeat, repeat (Progressive Majority).
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For the seventh year in a row, NGOs are trusted more than governments or businesses, according to the 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer, an international survey of 27,000 people across 27 countries worldwide.
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Voices

Though the foundation speaks to what we’re learning, we never wanted to be a soloist. Instead, we find ways to make sure that others can effectively “join the choir” and use what we learn.

PROGRAM LEADER Private Foundation

We only achieve our goals through the efforts of others. We need to communicate so that our goals and objectives are shared by others. If we can enlist others into our perspective, we have more of us working toward our goals.

EXECUTIVE LEADER Private Foundation

We are working on integrating communications into the grant cycle with communication capacity provided to our grantees. Their reporting helps provide more stories, media outreach, and impactful outcomes for our internal and external communication efforts.

COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Exemplars

exemplar

Greater than AIDS

Kaiser Family Foundation

Through targeted campaigns and community outreach, Greater Than AIDS and its partners work to increase knowledge, confront stigma and promote actions to prevent the spread of HIV. Emphasizing hope, unity and personal empowerment, GTA reinforces what is possible when people come together to achieve a greater goal – the end of AIDS.

exemplar

It Gets Better Project

It Gets Better Project

The It Gets Better Project’s mission is to communicate to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth around the world that it gets better, and to create and inspire the changes needed to make it better for them. The project has inspired more than 50,000 user-created videos viewed more than 50 million times.

exemplar

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities Leader Profiles

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

A glimpse into the personal journeys of 30 grassroots leaders who help create change in their communities.

exemplar

The Power of Coaching

Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

A video series from the Nonprofit Leadership Initiative in which nonprofit leaders and coaches talk about the benefit of coaching in nonprofit leadership development.