Donor Comms Discord, Pt. 2

Departmental Disconnect

Silos.

The job of a nonprofit marketer is complex. They are crafting messages for myriad stakeholders, building awareness for your organization’s services among your potential constituents, and working hard to make your brand as recognizable as possible.

Fundraisers — in the simplest terms — are focused on generating revenue to support your organization’s mission from a subset of the marketing audience. Figuring out exactly where one ends and the other begins is messy work and can generate conflict. The resulting tension can become a significant source of discord for your audience.

Marketers and fundraisers are often focused on distinct goals and different sets of metrics. Brand awareness is measured through indicators like site visits, ad exposure, and social media engagement. For my colleagues in public media (a subsector I’ll never stop advocating for), Nielsen ratings are the broadcast bible.

Meanwhile, fundraising goals are often more cut and dry…

In this context, both development and marketing are failing to prioritize relationships, focusing instead on short-term goals driven by easy-to-measure metrics.

The approach leads to disjointed organizational communications and poorly executed donor stewardship efforts. Furthermore, it can breed internal strife with each department pointing a finger at one another.

“Marketing didn’t bring in enough leads for us to meet our donor acquisition goals.”
”Fundraising emails drove too many unsubscribes for us to grow our audience.”

In the end, a disparate approach fails multiple constituencies.

If we spend more time understanding audience experience, recognizing there is no singular journey for potential donors, and prioritize building authentic transparent relationships rather than fall back on simple measures of short-term successes, our organizations are positioned to succeed.

As my colleagues at NextGen Fundraising astutely point out,

“It’s time for marketing, communications, and fundraising silos to disappear. The world just doesn’t think that way.”

Collaborative management and strong planning are required to ensure our teams are aligned. When done effectively, we advance our mission.

Next up… We’ll wade into a few of these thorny management and planning issues.

In the meantime, schedule a free consultation with Social Resonance for help with your fundraising, marketing, and communications needs.

See ya soon!