Content curation should be an important part of your content creation strategy as it can save you time, improve engagement, establish you as a helpful source of information, and can even improve your SEO. Nonprofits can curate content lots of different ways, but let’s talk about some basics first for those of you who have never curated content before.

Nonprofit Content Curation Basics

Content curation is simply gathering relevant content – that may or may not be yours – and sharing it with your followers.

In order to do it effectively, you need to:

• Know your audience and what is relevant to them
• Schedule time to look for content to share
• Share a variety of content from different sources
• Credit your sources*

*Linking to original content doesn’t automatically save you from copyright violations though. See my post Curating Content Versus Stealing It to learn more. 

When trying to find the right kind of content think about the type of content you are known for now. Then ask yourself:

What would the same people who come to you for that advice also want to know?

That’s the content you want to share.

For example, you as a nonprofit communicator are very likely to be interested in changes on a social media channel. But Kivi and I don’t want to write a new post every time social media platforms update something (we wouldn’t have time for anything else!). But there are people who devote all of their time to tracking social media changes so we will curate that content from those places and share it with you.

If you’re an animal rights organization, you are an expert in ending animal suffering. But it would be logical to assume that a lot of your followers would be interested in vegan/vegetarian recipes. Curating these types of recipes for your followers makes sense.

How to Look for Curated Content

Your main goal is to look for quality content that is relevant to your followers. Ask yourself:

• Is this content published by a reputable source?
• Will my audience be informed or entertained?
• How does this content relate to our own content?
• Does this content offer a unique perspective on a topic within our cause?
• Will I be able to add my own point of view/commentary to this content?

Where to Find Content to Curate

• Your social media newsfeeds
• Subscribe to newsletters
• Ask AI
• Google (BUT be aware that the top content has probably already been shared a lot)

Here are some tools you can use to help find content and keep it organized

• Feedly
• Hootsuite
• Google News Alerts
• Curate by UpContent
• TrendSpottr

How Nonprofits Can Share Curated Content

• Social Media

Share links to content from other people and share why you think your readers need to see this. Repost others’ content.

• Link Roundups

Put together a list of posts, articles, videos, etc on a particular topic related to your cause. These can be news roundups or features like “Things You Need to Know This Week/Month” or “What We’re Reading”

• Add Your Own Spin

These posts require a little more thought, but should still be part of curating content especially if you are interested in establishing yourself as an expert source. You could breakdown data from reports or surveys. Share why you agree or disagree with another piece. Or you could combine several different posts on a similar topic into a single comprehensive post to make it easier for your readers to find everything they need to know about that topic. But remember, it’s important you explain why the content is important to your readers.

For an example of this, see my post Can You NOT Be a Morning Person AND Be Successful?

• Curate Your Own Content

Yep, you can even curate your own content like we did with this post combining all of our resources on annual reports.

From our previous Nonprofit Communications Trends Reports, we know less than 20% of nonprofits say they frequently curate or share content from other organizations. We think that’s a missed opportunity as curating content will help you save so much time while still sharing useful information with your followers.

To talk more about content curation and other nonprofit communications best practices, join our private community. It’s free and give you access to discussion boards, resource libraries, special events and more!

Welcome to the world of nonprofit marketing, where your mission is to make the world a better place by spreading your organization’s message far and wide. And guess what? We do it all on a shoestring budget, with tight deadlines, and too often, with only a handful of resources. Quite often, being a nonprofit marketer means juggling a million things at once.

But there is a silver lining. If you’re fortunate enough to have a marketing team (lucky you!), here’s your golden ticket: delegation.

• By delegating tasks, you can free up your valuable time and direct your focus toward the big picture while also reducing your stress and workload and giving you more breathing room to excel (more on balancing your mental health here).

But that’s not all!

• Delegation also fosters more participation, collaboration, and teamwork, allowing marketing teams to harness the diverse talents across the team. You’ll benefit from fresh perspectives and innovative ideas from both seasoned and new members, creating a dynamic and engaged environment.

Sometimes though, figuring out how to navigate delegation in relation to new hires specifically, can be a bit tricky. You want to strike the right balance between assigning them tasks that free you up but also challenge and help them grow. Successful marketing teams have the right level of guidance and support. 

Where to Begin?

It’s about finding that sweet spot where they can support and contribute effectively to the team, while gaining valuable experience along the way. 

Let’s explore some strategies to help you navigate this delegation journey with new hires like a pro.

4 Key Areas of Delegation for Marketing Teams

First up, let’s dive into the world of onboarding, where you lay the groundwork for success. Then, we’ll discover the significance of systems and processes, making sure things run smoothly and efficiently. Next, we’ll talk about trust, which is essential for effective delegation. Lastly, we’ll explore the idea of control, finding the right balance between guidance and independence.

1. Onboarding is the Foundation for Success

Effective onboarding is critical for the success of new hires. When you bring on a new team member, you want to make sure they have a clear understanding of what’s expected of them. To help ensure a smooth onboarding process, consider the use of the following tools and techniques:

1. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): SOPs are helpful because they documents or other visuals that provide a clear set of instructions for how recurring tasks should be completed. New hires can refer to them when needed.
2. Shadowing: involves pairing a new hire with a trusted representative of the organization. The assigned buddy or mentor assists and guides the new hire during their initial weeks, helping them become familiar with the organization’s culture, processes, and expectations.
   
   This support system eases the transition into the new role and facilitates a smoother integration within the team. Choose someone who represents the organization well to act as a buddy during the onboarding process. This person can provide support and guidance to the new hire during their first few weeks.

2. Setting Up Tools and Processes

Set your new hires up for success by giving them the tools they need to get the job done. This might mean a project management system, cloud-based storage, or an editorial calendar. Be sure to provide training and resources to help them learn these systems, as well as best practices. 

3. Building Trust with Effective Communication and Delegation

Trust is an important factor in any relationship but especially when it comes to your direct reports. Delegating becomes easier when you foster an environment of trust. Here are some ways to do that:

• Spend some time getting to know your new hires and their work style. Be open and approachable.
• Delegate smaller tasks to help build confidence and assurance. As trust grows, delegate more complex tasks. For example, if your new hire is responsible for event planning, delegate tasks such as coordinating vendor logistics or creating the event agenda at first, moving on to something bigger as those are completed successfully.
• Encourage open communication and regularly provide constructive feedback. 

Remember the more you trust in your new hire the more you will be building their confidence and motivation to succeed. 

4. Relinquishing Control and Finding the Right Balance

It’s a mindset shift to be able to let go and trust others to do the job. But, by doing so, you are setting your team up for success and helping to build a strong foundation for the future.

Relinquishing control involves finding the right balance between guidance and autonomy.

• Consider the strengths and skills of your new hire when delegating tasks, and provide clear instructions and expectations for each task.
• Prioritize tasks together to ensure that your new hire knows what is most important.
• Check in regularly to provide guidance and support, and use coaching questions to help them grow. Ex. “What alternative approaches or perspectives could you consider?”  or “What are the potential obstacles or challenges you foresee?” or “How can we break down this goal into smaller, manageable steps?”
• Be sure to also offer opportunities for growth and development. For example, if your new hire is responsible for email marketing, offer them resources such as Mailchimp’s email marketing best practices or other webinars on email marketing strategies so they can continue to hone their skills and effectively manage their workload.

Marketing Teams Achieving Success Together

Delegation can very well act as your superpower if done correctly. When you delegate tasks to new hires, make it a win-win situation where you get more time to focus on the big picture, and they get a starter’s chance to grow and shine in their brand-new roles. This is how marketing teams succeed!

It’s all about putting a focus on onboarding, systems, trust, and relinquishing control. By mastering these areas and assigning tasks that match their strengths, we’ll help our marketing teams thrive and our new hires succeed.

Bonus Tip? Keep in mind that delegation is not just for your marketing teams but for all others in your organization as well. Check out these tips on how to create a culture where everyone is a marketer at your organization.

What’s already working for you? Share your tips or join us to chat about this topic with your fellow nonprofit communicators by joining our FREE private community!

Did you know over 16% of emails from nonprofits either go to spam or don’t get delivered at all? Meaning many of you still aren’t maintaining healthy email lists even though we’ve been talking about this for several years now. Your email list needs to be ready for year-end fundraising which, believe it or not, is right around the corner!

A clean email list is essential for making it through the more rigorous filters inbox providers put up to handle the influx of holiday messaging.

Here are 6 things you should do NOW to have your email list ready for a successful year-end email campaign:

1. Try to re-engage lapsed subscribers.

• 6 Messaging Options for Email Re-Engagement Campaigns
• We Are Running an Email Re-Engagement Campaign and People Have Feelings
• We Want You Back! How to Re-Engage Inactive Email Supporters

2. Delete or suppress those who haven’t engaged in AT LEAST 90 days.

• Is a Bigger Email List Always Better? Nope.
• Why Deleting People from Your Email List is a Good Thing
• When to Stop Snail Mailing and Emailing People, Part I
• Should You Contact People Who Unsubscribed from Your Email List?

3. Run some list building campaigns to get new subscribers.

• Nonprofits Should Try Some New Email List Building Techniques
• 3 Email List Building Pop-Ups for Your Website

4. Think of different ways to segment your list.

• Powerful Segmentation Ideas for Year-End Online Fundraising Campaigns
• You Need to Fix Your All or Nothing Email List

5. Create (or freshen up) your welcome series.

• Email Welcome Series Best Practices
• Do You Have an Email Welcome Series for New Subscribers? Probably Not

6. Test your automation processes

Create test email accounts from various inbox providers (Gmail, Yahoo, Apple, etc) to check the subscription/unsubscribe process works like it’s supposed to and to make sure your emails are getting through and look right.

I know it’s September, but taking the time to get your email list ready now will make life so much easier in a few months!

Need more help? We have resources and discussions happening in our private community right now! Not a member of our community? Join now! It’s free.

Nonprofits need people to do things. That’s the only way we can achieve our mission of changing the world. And if you need someone to do something, you need a good call to action (or CTA). Calls to action are our instructions for what we want people to do.

And yet, nonprofits sometimes make what should be simple, clear instructions too complicated and vague.

Let’s use the 5 W’s and H to improve your calls to action.

Who

The who is always the person you ask to do the thing. Speak directly to them as an individual. So, if you need to use a pronoun, that pronoun is always YOU.

What

Be specific! Words like support, help, and a dozen other common nonprofit words are not good enough because they include too many possible actions.

Don’t be sheepish. If you seem embarrassed or guilty when asking, that’s a clear sign to your volunteers or donors that they might feel embarrassed or guilty themselves by following through. Remember, asking is about giving people an opportunity, not taking something away from them. We often mirror emotions in these situations, so if you want someone excited to volunteer or donate or register, you should show a little enthusiasm yourself.

When

One of the most essential elements of conversion copywriting (all the words around your call to action) is a sense of urgency. If we can do something later, most of us will because we are too busy now. So, a good call to action will also include urgency. Even adding the word now can help.  Donate Now is stronger than Donate.

Why

We always need the why. We especially need the Why when asked to do something new, different, or hard. Always be clear about your why in your conversion copywriting around your ask. Please (Insert Call to Action) so that (Result Will Follow). 

In some cases, you can even turn the call to action into the results you are seeking:

• Feed a family
• Rescue 10 kittens
• Find a cure

Where

In a presentation I saw by Dan Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard, he said, “A jerk with a map is better than a saint without one.” 

In other words, with clear directions, even people who are otherwise labeled as selfish will give more than good-hearted people who aren’t told how to help.  When you obsess about the path, you greatly increase the odds that people will follow your call to action. That’s why it does matter how many clicks it takes to get to your donation page or register for your event.

Be sure to prioritize your call to action so people can see it and that path very clearly!

How

Dan Heath also said that most people think the change process goes like this: Analyze > Think > Change.

But it doesn’t. It’s much more like See > Feel > Change.  This is precisely why you should tell stories and set the context for what you are asking people to do. Help your supporters see the problem, feel empowered to help fix it, and then learn how to follow through quickly.

Here’s more advice you might like:

40 Nonprofit Call to Action Examples that Drive Engagement

Perfect Your Nonprofit Call to Action in 3 Steps

Need social media and newsletter ideas for September? Then you are in the right place! You can also use these writing ideas for blog posts, videos and more. These writing ideas for September come from our Monthly Nonprofit Writing Prompts email newsletter. Fill out the form below to get October’s prompts emailed to you the week of September 4th.

On the Calendar

You’ll find events with specific dates on the shared Google Calendar.

9/02: Labor Day. Is your organization helping find jobs for those out of work? Interview a volunteer on how they juggle a career and volunteering.

9/06: Read a Book Day. Review a book that highlights your cause. Suggest books to your volunteers that will help them get fired up. (International Literacy Day is on the 8th)

9/08: Grandparents Day. If you work with seniors, do a photo spread of them with their grandchildren. Or have people who have lost their grandparents write letters to them.

9/09: National Boss/Employee Exchange Day. Swap roles with your boss (or vice versa) and document the day for Reels, TikTok, etc.

9/10: Swap Ideas Day. Find another nonprofit to collaborate with to share ideas on a common problem. Find a staff member who works in another area and ask them their thoughts on a problem your area has (like what should we include in our content).

9/12: National Day of Encouragement. Get those quotes ready and give your followers a boost of confidence. Or share how your clients have overcome the odds to show others they can do it too.

9/13: Positive Thinking Day. Share how you WILL eradicate the issues your cause faces. Or talk about toxic positive thinking as it relates to mental health issues.

9/22: Autumn Equinox. Relate the changing of the leaves or fall trends to your cause. Or just make fun of the pumpkin spice everything that’s coming.

9/25: National Comic Book Day. What comic book hero would stand for your cause? What villain would be against you? Can you compare these characters to real-life people in you organization? You can also create your own comic book hero!

9/28: Ask a Stupid Question Day. Is your organization one that’s hard to explain? Know some people who are embarrassed to admit they don’t know the answers? Do a top-ten list of stupid questions you have received. Or turn this idea upside down and take an “apathetic” question like “How can we possibly make a difference, so why bother?” and tell how you will.

September is also:

• Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th – October 15th)
• National African Immigrant Heritage Month
• National Preparedness Month
• Baby Safety Month
• Self Improvement Month
• Classical Music Month
• Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
• Hunger Action Month
• Ovarian Cancer Month
• National Prostate Health Month
• Pain Awareness Month
• National Recovery Month
• Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

Other Dates in September:

• International Day of Charity is the 5th
• International Literacy Day is the 8th
• Stand Up to Cancer Day is the 13th
• World Suicide Prevention Day is the 10th
• 911 Remembrance Day is the 11th
• International Day of Democracy is the 15th
• Mexican Independence Day is the 16th
• Talk Like a Pirate Day is the 19th
• International Day of Peace is the 21st
• Business Women’s Day in the 22nd
• World Rivers Day is the 22nd
• Native American Day is the 27th

Metaphor of the Month

This month’s metaphor is School. Think about classrooms, virtual learning, textbooks, a syllabus, principals, teachers, students, tests, desks, chalkboard, smartboards, recess, dress codes, subjects, computers, detention, field trips, homework, back-to-school shopping, and report cards.

How can you relate these things to your organization?

Pop Culture, Events, and News

This NFL season kick offs on the 5th.

The US Open for tennis will wrap up the 8th.

There is a Presidential Debate scheduled for the 10th.

The MTV Video Music Awards are the 11th.

The Emmy Awards are the 15th.

The 37th Hispanic Heritage Awards are on the 27th.

Oktoberfest in Germany happens as well as local fests in the US.

Movies coming out in September include Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Transformers One, Speak No Evil, The Killer’s Game, Megalopolis, The Wild Robot, Lee, and Never Let Go .

On streaming platforms, we have Apollo 12: Survival, Uglies, Wolfs, and Rez Ball.

TV Premieres include English Teacher, Last One Standing, Slow Horses, Tell Me Lies, The Perfect Couple, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, Power Book II: Ghost, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Selling Sunset, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Bob’s Burgers, Billionaire Island, Emily in Paris, The Old Man, How to Die Alone, Three Women, The Great North, Universal Basic Guys, My Brilliant Friend, Sister Wives, Tulsa King, Halloween Baking Championship, Dancing with the Stars, High Potential, Agatha All Along, The Golden Bachelorette, Survivor, Frasier, The Penguin, 60 Minutes, Matlock, Rescue HI-Surf, 9-1-1: Lonestar, Brilliant Minds, The Voice, Murder in a Small Town, Penelope, Chicago Fire, Med, and P.D., Grotesquerie, The Masked Singer, 9-1-1, Doctor Odyssey, Grey’s Anatomy, Hell’s Kitchen, Nobody Wants This, The Simpsons, and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – The Book of Carol.

Source of the Month

Blog Round Up. Pick a topic related to your cause and create a blog post with links to recent articles, studies or blog posts.

If you would like these ideas sent to your inbox a month in advance, sign up for our Monthly Nonprofit Writing Prompts. I send this email newsletter the first week of every month with prompts for the following month. For example, I will email the prompts for October around September 6th.

Sign up now to get prompts emailed to you in advance monthly.

Can’t see the form? Try this.

As we enter the fall season, many nonprofits are starting their annual planning processes. With that comes the need to set communications goals for the coming year. And with that comes the need to work with the programmatic teams in your organization and how you will collaborate. (Note that the annual goals we are discussing here are actually what we would call objectives in a larger communications strategy.)

Use the Three Stages of Engagement to Set Communications Goals

One helpful approach to discussing and setting communications goals with others is to structure the conversation using our definition of engagement.

Engagement has three stages: Awareness, Interaction, and Participation.

Think of participation as completing the call to action. So, what do your program folks need people to do? Do they need people to RSVP, sign up, volunteer, donate, attend or what?

But before they participate, people have to be aware and then they typically need some kind of interaction to warm up or prepare. 

Let’s look at awareness goals first. Are you growing your email list or getting more followers on social media? Is getting more traffic to your website through organic search or paid advertising important? These are all ways to build awareness that require investing time and money.

Next is interaction. Are people opening emails and clicking on the links? Are they liking or commenting on specific social media posts? Are people returning to your website or spending a reasonable amount of time on certain pages? These are all forms of interaction that have a higher level of engagement than just awareness.

At the interaction stage, you also present your calls to action for consideration and make the case for them.

Hopefully, those who have been made aware and are interacting with your content will follow through and become participants. 

As you create your plans for the coming year and try to set communications goals, consider using this framework in discussions with other teams. It should help them understand how your communications and marketing work can get them closer to their programmatic goals.

Earlier today I presented a brand new webinar Easier Content Creation for Nonprofits: Mastering AI, Repurposing and Curation. In addition to tips on repurposing and curating content, I included a whole section on writing better AI prompts for your communications.

Want to watch the recording of this webinar? Become an All-Access Pass Holder! You can watch this webinar and hours of other recorded webinars, PLUS attend as many live webinars as you want for 365 days.

What Is Generative AI?

Think ChatGPT. Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create content based on a user’s request.  That request is called a prompt. And how well your prompt is written is the key to getting the best results from generative AI.

(If you aren’t familiar with AI, see How Marketers Are Using AI (Plus 4 Helpful Tips) to get started.)

There are several different types of AI prompts including:

• Creative – when you’re asking AI to create or compose
• Informational – you’re asking for details, facts or other information
• Reasoning – you’re asking AI to draw thoughtful conclusions about a subject
• Listicle – you’re asking AI to give you the results in a list format
• Instructional – you’re asking AI to give you the results in a step-by-step guide
• Differing Viewpoints – you’re asking for AI to take the opposite side of an argument (AI can’t actually give you an opinion)
• Summary – you’re asking AI to summarize a larger amount of information
• Keyword – you’re asking AI to focus on specific words or phrases and include them in its results

If you have tried using generative AI like ChatGPT, but just don’t like the results you are getting, it may be time to work on your prompts.

Writing Better AI Prompts

Use these tips to write better AI prompts that give you the BEST results:

1. Provide as much context as possible
2. Be specific and detailed
3. Explain what you want to achieve
4. Give the platform
5. Define tone of voice (and use it)
6. Give desired length
7. Ask for more than one result

When writing your AI prompts, be as specific and detailed as you can. And provide as much context as you can including where the content will be posted, how long it needs to be, and the tone/voice you want. And be sure to use that tone and voice even in the prompts. AI pays attention to everything you input.

For example, instead of just saying “I need a blog post about hiking safety,” your prompt should be something like:

I need a 400 to 500-word blog post written in a casual friendly tone about the dangers of hiking the Pacific Coast Trail during summer. Make it a top 10 list. The target audience is people in their 30s.

The second prompt will give you more tailored results meaning you don’t have to work as hard to edit it. And don’t be afraid to refine the prompt based on the results you get.

And be sure to ask for more than one result especially if you are using it for email subject lines or titles.

If you didn’t like the content AI comes back with, follow up with a prompt that explains what you liked about the results and what you didn’t. If you didn’t like the tone, give it an example of something written in that tone and ask it to try again.

Think of generative AI as a freelancer and give it the same feedback you would give a graphic designer. It’s really just a conversation.

But remember:

DOUBLE-CHECK EVERYTHING!

Harmful content, racial bias, copyright violations, and misinformation are all real issues. If your organization doesn’t have an AI policy, then go do that first! (And yes, Pass Holders have access to our AI policy webinar recording and templates)

AI is here to stay whether you like it or not. And it can be a helpful tool in your content creation process if you use it right.

Want to work together on your prompts? Join us for a Community Study Hall: Creating Better AI Prompts. Not a member of our community? Join now! It’s free.

We love to see nonprofit communications teams grow! I always do a little dance in my chair when someone in our community says they’ve been approved to hire a new comms team member. But then the question becomes, what should that new communications hire do? How should we write that job description?

In other words, what’s the vision for how your nonprofit communications team should grow?

There’s no right or wrong answer, but there are a few ways to think about this.

Don’t Try to Clone Yourself

This is an easy mistake, especially if you’ve been working as a team of one for a while. You need another person like yourself!

But that’s a trap for you and the person you hire. They will never meet your expectations, and honestly, you probably won’t even be able to define those expectations well. It also robs you of the most significant benefits of growing your team: adding diverse skills and insights that will hopefully balance you out rather than trying to duplicate you.

Instead, Think of Additional Roles or Specialties

First, consider what you and any other team members already do well. Then, think about where you and any others hope to grow professionally. Then, consider what gaps that leaves in your team.

Next, consider whether these approaches make sense for your organization.

Hire By Communications Skills

Do you need someone who is good with words and can take on a lot of original writing and editing of work drafted by others? Is the amount of written work your organization produces overwhelming current staff?

Or do you need someone who is at home with visual communications, like photography, graphics, and video? We can all make do with tools like Canva, but it may be time to hire someone who really knows what they are doing and can produce much higher-quality design work faster than everyone else who has learned on the job.

Hire by Communications Channel Management

Do you need your new communications hire to understand email marketing from start to finish, for example? This person might need to know about email list building and segmentation, crafting good conversion copy for emails, and creating the right graphics, too. The same could be said for a media relations/PR position, which requires particular skills and relationships.

Hire by Roles on Projects

In other cases, you may be looking for someone to fill a role within a project management framework like MOCHA, RACI, or CALM. You may need more helpers or contributors to many different projects (more of a utility player), or you may need people who can lead projects and make final judgment calls.

Hire by Internal Service Lines

I’m not a huge fan of this approach because I think it often leads to too much fragmentation of the communications and marketing strategy. Still, you could also hire team members who work for the comms team but are essentially embedded within programmatic teams, too. So, if you serve both children and elders, you might have a team member who focuses on comms related to children’s programs and another who focuses on comms for programs serving elders.

Hire to Fill Gaps in the Marketing Strategy

Yet another approach would be to look at where your team is missing someone who understands and can implement work on a core part of your marketing strategy. For example, do you need people whose job is to focus on the people you are communicating with, such as market researchers, data managers, or “business” development folks? Do you need a brand manager? Or a content strategist who drives messaging decisions?

You can’t expect someone to do all the things. I hope this post helps you sort through your options!

Want more? Big Duck has helped many nonprofits grow their communications teams and shares advice on their blog. 

If there’s one thing nonprofit marketers could use more of, it is likely time and resources. Working with multiple social impact organizations, I constantly search for ways to optimize both and increase overall nonprofit productivity. During my journey, I have discovered the benefits of systematizing processes.

Words like these are not naturally attractive to us right-brained thinkers. Policies, protocols, standard operating procedures (SOPs), guidelines, documentation, and workflows all give an initial feeling of boring rigidity. The idea of sitting around and mapping out every step of a process or workflow for someone else to follow, isn’t my idea of creative progress. But over time, I’ve learned the many benefits that result from these concepts.

Why Nonprofit Productivity Matters

An intentional focus on nonprofit productivity is helpful if you’re looking to maximize mission output. Efficient use of time and resources ensures that more efforts go towards achieving your mission. We cover this concept a lot at the Nonprofit Marketing Guide including how to do this while remaining Calm, Not Busy. By implementing things like SOPs and other productivity tools, nonprofit organizations can streamline processes, reduce errors, and enhance overall productivity.

How many times have you found yourself onboarding a new staff member or walking a colleague through a necessary process? Or perhaps covering for a teammate who’s suddenly gone out, trying to pick up the pieces where they left off? Frequently, these involve recurring processes or campaigns that would benefit from being cataloged for easy future reference. There’s typically a set way of going about these processes or campaigns that has to be shared time and time again.

The Role of SOPs and Other Tools 

This is where the “boring rigidity” of documentation, standard operating procedures, and guidelines come in. They help save us time and frustration by eliminating the need to redo, re-teach, or remember how to perform a necessary task or process accurately. The idea is to take the time to catalog it once so that anyone who might need to can reference and follow the process moving forward in the right way.

Being able to move our ideas, teams, and organizations forward relies on our ability to organize and communicate clearly and seamlessly. It also means doing so in the most efficient ways possible. SOPs, project management tools, and automation software help with consistency and quality control. They ensure the same level of service or outcome each time.

Furthermore, we have a duty to our teams, donors, and those we serve to keep the mission moving forward. Implementing productivity concepts like SOPs and automation tools helps ensure business continuity. They allow an organization to continue its essential functions despite significant changes. This is something we should all be invested in.

Key Concepts and Tools

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of these time-saving and business continuity concepts.

• Workflows are visual representations of the sequence of steps in a process.
• Processes are a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end.
• Policies are principles or rules to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes.
• Procedures are specific methods or steps for performing tasks or activities.
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are written instructions with loads of detail that achieve uniformity in performing a specific function.
• Automation Tools are software that performs tasks automatically to reduce manual effort, such as email marketing automation.
• Systematization is arranging something according to a system or plan.

Get Started

I like to start by cataloging the most critical processes and tasks. Focus on those that impact our primary functions the most, such as managing brand reputation, donor and donation management, and other stakeholder engagement and communication. Here is a sampling of specific areas or processes you can start with:

• Create a SOP in detail for how log, process, and acknowledge donations.
• Develop guidelines for creating, scheduling, and monitoring posts on various platforms.
• Document each step involved in planning and executing events, including timelines and key responsibilities.
• Outline the process for recruiting, training, and integrating new volunteers into your organization.
•  Specify the steps for researching, writing, and submitting grant applications, including necessary approvals and follow-up.

Implementing SOPs and Tools for Enhanced Productivity

There are several platforms and companies that can support the development of workflow mapping and SOP documentation. However, you can also start simply with screenshots and step-by-step instructions documented in Microsoft Word or your favorite word processing application. If you want to get more visual, you can also screencast and record your processes via Loom, PowerPoint, or other platforms. Whatever you use, just be sure that you are cataloging the most critical steps and doing so in an easy-to-follow way. Before you finalize it, it is always helpful to have someone else test, follow, or read through your procedure, workflow, or policy for clarity.

Systematization for the Win

Training and operations manuals, handbooks, and training videos may not be things we look forward to creating or following, but they are all useful in our desire to keep our work moving forward efficiently and effectively. By investing time in systematizing our processes and leveraging nonprofit productivity tools, we ensure our missions stay on track and our organizations thrive.

If you are looking for more ways to maximize output and work smarter not harder, check out 8 Productivity Hacks you Might Want to Try

And if you need a pulse check on if you are already doing to much, definitely review our bit on Toxic Productivity!

Finally if you want to chat about this topic and more with your fellow nonprofit communicators, join our FREE private community.