You know the one about . . . if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it; did it really make a sound? Here’s the nonprofit version. If you have a powerful campaign or story, but you are only talking to a small subset of people, is it really powerful? Did it make a sound? Crafting brilliant messages and telling great stories is important. But unless we are pushing the boundary of “who” is hearing those stories, we are wasting our potential for impact.

Repeat after me – communications is not overhead. It is an essential function of delivering your mission. A great communications team is a strategic team, and it needs strong investment and support at every level of your organization.

Sean Gibbons of the Communications Network articulated this well in an article in Stanford Social Innovation Review, “Halting climate change. Eradicating disease. Lifting up the arts. Ending poverty. At their core, foundations and nonprofits are in the business of developing and advancing big, bold ideas. If you want your ideas to take hold and win, you need to communicate and communicate well. It’s not an option anymore – it’s a necessity.”

Here are a few ways to lift up communications in your organization:

• When foundation funders want to support programs such as service delivery, litigation, advocacy, research, etc., challenge them to also include communications funding to tell the world about the work. Make this a part of every proposal. Begin to normalize the idea that this is an investment we MUST have with every project.
• Build a pipeline to allow content and stories to flow from the staff closest to the work. Too often, program staff find it burdensome to talk with fundraising and communications staff. They have frontline stories and impact data, but often don’t see it as part of their job to share it. Storytelling must be prioritized from the very top of your organization and may require new team structures to facilitate the process.
• Develop an organizational culture of communications. Train your staff and Board members in communications and storytelling. Make it part of everyone’s job description to know the organization’s key messages and to help them spread.

Stories move people to action. But only if they hear them. Increasing investment in strategic communications is one of the surest ways to accelerate mission impact.