During my studies in Integrated Communication, I learned the significance of having a unified voice across all brand platforms. A consistent message helps people understand an organization’s purpose, values, and mission. But as organizations grow, maintaining that consistency can become more difficult.
There comes a point in an organization’s journey when you have to question which is more important: quality or quantity? Visibility or engagement? Are we communicating because we have something meaningful to share, or because we feel like we always need to be putting something out?
For nonprofits especially, I think the answer circles back to the mission.
Every nonprofit started with a story that someone believed was worth sharing with the world. That story gave people a reason to care, get involved, donate, volunteer, and eventually become part of the mission themselves.
But eventually, that original story can start to feel like a broken record. You’re sharing the same content because that’s what helped you gain your donors and volunteers in the past. At the same time, constantly creating something new just for the sake of having something to share can cause you to lose sight of the message you were trying to communicate in the first place.
The good news is, you don’t have to choose between repeating the same story and constantly coming up with a new one.
I’ll let you in on a secret: your next story is always there.
One thing I have learned through working in nonprofit communications is that you don’t have to wait for something to happen to start documenting it. You should always be gathering content and taking note of what’s going on in your nonprofit. As a result, you’ll start to notice who’s commenting, who’s donating, and who’s showing up to every event. It’s important to pay attention to those people. It’s likely they have something valuable to share about what your organization has done for them or encouraged them to do.
Ask for the Testimonial
Testimonials are a vital part of growing your organization, and they don’t have to be scripted. Talk to your donors, volunteers, and the people impacted by your mission. Ask what first got them involved, what the organization has meant to them, or what they would tell someone considering supporting the mission. You don’t need a perfectly worded quote. You just want to capture the authenticity of their experience and give your audience someone they can relate to.
Sometimes we get so used to telling people what our organization does that we forget how powerful it can be to let someone else tell them. Their story gives your audience a chance to see your mission through the eyes of someone who has experienced it.
Take the Picture
There has probably been a time when you have gotten to the end of an event and realized you barely took any pictures. It’s easy to do when you’re focused on making sure everything is going as planned and connecting with the people who came. But documenting those moments is important too.
Take pictures while volunteers are setting up. Capture people interacting at your events. The smiles, hugs, prayers, and little connections happening around you are all worth documenting. You don’t need to have a plan for every picture you take because there may be an opportunity to use it months down the road.
Your audience wants to see the heart behind your organization, and those pictures give you the opportunity to show your audience the mission instead of always having to tell them about it. And when it comes time to write an email, share an update, or create a fundraising campaign, you already have real moments to draw from.
Keep Circling Back to the Mission
Consistency doesn’t mean saying the same thing over and over again. It means continuing to point people back to the same purpose. That is why gathering stories matters. The testimonial from a longtime donor, the picture of volunteers setting up, or the interaction you captured at an event may all tell different stories, but they should still point back to the same mission. The more intentional you are about documenting what is already happening within your organization, the less pressure there is to constantly come up with something new to say. You begin to build a collection of real stories, experiences, and moments that show the impact of your work.
Your message stays consistent, but the people and experiences behind it give you new ways to communicate it. And as your organization grows, those stories help keep your communication centered on the mission.
