How Your Public Relations Department Can Help Your nonprofit OrganizationsPosted by Duffy Lindgreen on July 14th, 2021 A social change agency, specifically, a social justice agency, can truly be a planning and strategic powerhouse. It can help non-profits understand how to move from where they currently are to where they would like to go. Plans can then be developed and implemented, as well as funds sourced to achieve further goals. However, there are times when the government has more pressing issues that may interfere with your endeavors. Perhaps that is why it is important to engage the services of a social change agency in times when you might not have other options available. In many cases, the best thing for a nonprofit to do is to leave it all up to a trusted advisor. A trusted advisor may come in the form of an organization they have worked with in the past. This may be a previous connection or a connection through a previous public relations firm. A trusted advisor is someone who has been on the other side of the nonprofit world and knows what it's like to deal with the bureaucracy and politics that comes along with it. The benefits of engaging an advisor who has worked with nonprofits before are many. For starters, this individual will be intimately familiar with their clients' issues. As such, the advisor will know exactly which problems need to be tackled first. From there, the two parties can work together to develop a plan of action and a strategy for achieving the ultimate goal. Another benefit comes in the form of strategic planning. When you work with a nonprofit that is just starting out, it is easy to be caught off guard by the political landscape and what happens next. A trusted advisor knows how to plan. He or she will know which nonprofits to work with in which situations. From there, the strategic planning will take shape. That means that instead of reacting to whatever is happening, you are able to make plans that have long-term viability and which can build resistance to the tide of events. Additionally, working with a strategic planning consultant also helps make sure that you get the maximum benefit from your nonprofit. No matter how well-intentioned your intentions are, if you do not work with nonprofits that can benefit from your endeavors then nothing that you do will matter. A social change agency should work with not only nonprofits that share a mission but also those that have sufficient resources to be able to support your endeavors. You cannot engage in philanthropy if you do not have the financial means to back it up. Trusting the expertise of a professional to create a strategic plan is the best way to ensure that you do everything possible to get the most out of your nonprofit. Finally, your public relations and marketing departments can benefit from strategic planning too. These departments are important parts of your overall organization, so they should work hand-in-hand with your other core organizations. In many ways, they act as social change agencies in that they need to engage their target audiences and ensure that their messages are forwarded in a variety of ways. Engaging in thought leadership training can help them develop the expertise they need to do this. Now that you understand the potential benefits of engaging in thought leadership training for your nonprofit, it is time to put some thought into how you can implement it. There are some things to keep in mind when you are trying to figure out the best way to make sure that all of your stakeholders benefit from the strategic planning that you undertake. For example, as your public relations department and your nonprofit organization both rely on the services that you provide, you need to ensure that you choose a trusted advisor that understands the value of a good reputation and is well-regarded within your target demographic. Once you have figured this out, you can start working on ways to ensure that your message reaches a wide variety of people and to increase your outreach efforts to ensure that your name and brand become synonymous with thought leadership. When you find the person or persons that you feel will be the best professional advisors for the job at hand, it is important to build trust early on. If you do not feel comfortable with your chosen professional, you need to ensure that you find a new trusted advisor so that you can continue to provide your clients and the public with great service. A social change agency should not be considered a last resort, but rather a proactive way to ensure that you reach your goals for the organization while staying ahead of the curve.Like it? Share it! More by this author |