Chris Hershey (RCH): Hi Judy, congratulations on your retirement from serving as CEO of The California Wellness Foundation, one of California’s largest philanthropic institutions working on health equity. Are you living the stress-free, happy grandparent life, or did you dive right back in but with a different type of “work”? Judy Belk (JB): Chris! It’s […]
Identify and map your audience(s). If you’ve never gone through a formal audience identification and mapping exercise, now is the time. You don’t need a big budget and an outside research firm to do this activity (though that’s always helpful). Taking the time to thoughtfully analyze your audience groups and their characteristics, along with how they […]
How do each of your communications goals advance your organization’s broader strategic objectives? If you find one with no direct connection, it may be time to rethink that goal. Can you articulate your message in a simple, easy-to-understand way? Does it convey why your work matters? And do you have examples, including stories, that you […]
INCREASE VISIBILITY Communications can take good ideas and make them concrete, actionable, desirable, and well worth championing or supporting (or both!). Communications is the fuel that accelerates new ways of thinking. “When I started my role as Executive Director, I didn’t prioritize communications because I didn’t think it was that important, especially when you’re juggling […]
We expanded access to communications tools for all. We grew the collection of tools on our website and distributed more than 10,000 resources to changemakers around the globe last year. Our most popular resource, the Communications Toolkit, remains the go-to guide for social impact communicators. We increased our trainings to support more social impact communicators […]
One of the things that sucks about getting older is losing your friends more frequently as time passes. David Mixner had been on my mind a lot lately, and in considering the legacy he leaves behind his impact on my own life looms large. I met David initially through LGBTQ activists Diane Abbitt and Roberta […]
Although they are often used interchangeably, development and fundraising aren’t the same thing. “Development” is the process of creating and enhancing relationships with donors and potential donors. It creates a connection between a donor and your cause or organization. “Fundraising” only addresses the giving aspect of the process and considers that people may be motivated […]