Last week I provided guidelines for assessing the communications that you control. How does the coverage match with your strategic communication media goals? (e.g., flickr/iirraa But that’s only half of the story–especially in today’s conversational Web 2.0 environment.

If I had one piece of advice to give any foundation or nonprofit communicator in this new financial paradigm of thrift, it would be to develop a strategic communications plan. For this series of posts, I’m assuming you don’t have money hire a firm or an external consultant to help you with a plan, but you still want to do as much as you can internally to improve the effectiveness of your communications. flickr/joebeone It may be your biggest conservation tool.

Tags: COMMUNICATIONS COOL TOOLS DESIGN MARKETING NEWSLETTERS STUDIO 501C SMART PICKS ads brochures certificates Chuck_Green Ideabook Jumpola lifehacker Microsoft_Word net2 npmarketing nptech report templates Word_template The popular Lifehacker productivity blog asked its readers to help Elyse , who works "for an earnest, mission-driven, do-good non-profit organization that, despite the high quality of our project work, has little time or expertise to devote to details such as aesthetics, formatting, and design" and who is looking for "tried and true design tips to easily spruce up a document and make it more eye-appealing."

The point of this experiment is to see what kind of communications response I get in return for unsolicited donations to national charities. This does not include the automated email receipt that I get from the payment processor; I’m looking for communication from the charity directly. In a post I’ll publish tomorrow, I’ll talk about why every nonprofit needs to figure out how to incorporate Network for Good into It’s time to share the results of my 2009-2010 “What I Got When I Gave” Experiment. On December 9, 2009, I gave $20 donations to

Many communicators consider Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and leader, to be the world's greatest corporate storyteller. One of Jobs' most ardent fans is communications coach Carmine Gallo, who decided to absorb thousands of Jobs' presentations to distill his magic formula. They're incredibly useful for program or fundraising communications, whether you're meeting with a major donor or presenting to your board: I'm just finishing up Gallo's recently-released The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and want to share a few of Jobs' most useful strategies with you.

In the midst of the global response to swine flu, it seems uncanny that only a few weeks ago a group of invited guests and speakers were sitting in the headquarters of the American Public Health Association to examine the full range of challenges, opportunities, lessons learned, and best practices in the development and application of strategy to social media and public health communications (click on image to enlarge). Federal agencies including the Departments of  Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, and nonprofits such as The Red Cross presented their experiences with

In the past two weeks I’ve taken you through the major steps in conducting a communications audit, but we’re not quite done. Do keep in mind—this entire audit is set against the backdrop of your current strategic communications plan to help you assess how effectively you’re reaching your goals. As part of your review of the communications you produce (part one of the audit), you’ve already analyzed your flickr/krazydad/jbum This week I’ll cover the final two steps of an audit—your digital identity and a competition analysis.

Two of my favorite bloggers recently published posts that, together, provide a great overview of the importance and potential of web-based communications for 501c3s. Tags: BLOGGING BRANDING COMMUNICATIONS EMAIL FUNDRAISING MARKETING RSS WE These articles would be good to share with an executive director or team that is beginning to explore how to use the web to build relationships with donors, volunteers, clients, members, and other stakeholders. Check out Nancy Schwartz's Everybody's Talking About You--Why Your Nonprofit Needs to Listen, and Listen Hard . (Be

Here are some “ Mixed Links ” - my version of a Friday cocktail hour of refreshing stuff for nonprofit communicators. Tags: Nonprofit Communications Mixed Link Happy Friday! Using Social Media (and Looking Good While Doing It) First and foremost, I ask you to contribute to the Nonprofit Technology Network’s Scholarship Fund to get underfunded nonprofits

Before digging into American Red Cross' stellar communications on the Haitian earthquake relief effort, I urge you to contribute to help the people of Haiti. At the moment of, I wanted to tip my hat to the American Red Cross for its immediate and creative communications strategy on the situation in Haiti and fundraising for relief efforts (through its International Response Fund ). Here's how the Red Cross' communication Here's a list of several organizations you can give to. Please spread the word to colleagues, family and friends.