Communication

Communication is one of eight day-long Fundamentals courses offered annually, teaching practical knowledge and skills in core competencies that every nonprofit leader needs to know.

Click here for an overview of Nonprofit Fundamentals

Course Description

Communicating clearly and persuasively is vital to a successful nonprofit organization. And because you're talking about a service or cause, such as child care or land conservation, rather than a product, it's all the more important to be clear.

Learning Objectives:

This workshop will cover the tools for effective communication, including

• Clarifying your unique selling proposition
• Understanding your audience and market
• Message development -- thinking through what you want them to know
• Determining the best vehicles from media to letters to visits to internet and email
• Handling outreach during a crisis
• Assessing what works best for you

You'll also get an overview of the Nonprofit Lifecycle, Four Core Capacities, and Organization Culture - a proven model for effectiveness based on the success of hundreds of other nonprofits;

At the end of the day, you'll have an outline of a strategic communications plan to help drive your organization's future success.

Follow-up Support

After the completion of the course, attendees can access coaching from the instructor in order to help apply what's been learned to the needs of their organizations.  (You must be affiliated with a WNC nonprofit in order to access this support.)

Who should take Fundamentals - Communication?

This course is appropriate for anyone from any nonprofit who wants to better understand how to use communications as a strategic tool that builds awareness of issues, organizational visibility and donor base support.  We encourage multiple representatives from an organization to attend together.

Instructor: Rachel Perry has been a journalist, consultant, managing partner of North Carolina's largest independent public relations firm, and communications and policy director for former Gov. Jim Hunt.  Perry is known for combining PR, advertising, outreach and strategy.  She currently consults with United Way of America from her office in Asheville.