Effective Communication In Nonprofit Organizations

Introduction
Wiggill (2011) points out that nonprofits must be managed in a manner similar to for-profit, or commercial organizations. Communication is one of the most important aspects of any commercial or nonprofit organization. How is an organization going to succeed and get their product or message out to the public if they do not make attempts to communicate? Like all businesses, nonprofit organizations have struggles developing and executing effective communication. There are proven and tested effective strategies for communication for all businesses. The communications methods employed by a nonprofit need to take into consideration the internal communications as well as external. However, the differences in volunteers and donors
Some of those challenges include a lack of funds, shortage of staff, and unclear planning. However, some of the biggest challenges are in communications. Bronson (2014) citing the Nonprofit Communications Trends for 2014, says nonprofit organizations reported two primary challenges nonprofits experience in communications: a lack of time to produce quality work and a lack of a clear strategy.
The primary goal for communicators in a nonprofit is to get the word out about the organization and its mission. This becomes a challenge when there is a lack of time to produce quality work. Most nonprofit organizations are understaffed, meaning very few people must do large amounts of work in a short period of time in order to get achieve their goal. In fact, “57 percent of nonprofit communicators feel overworked” (Bronson,
First, communicators should use curation. “Curation involves collecting and understanding content from other sources and organizing it in a way that fascinates your target audience and is a valuable part of building your own brand” (Bronson, 2014). Second, communicators can develop a calendar that will allow them to manage their time effectively and achieve tasks in a timely manner. Third, they can use technology to help spread the word about their organization. Email, social media, and blogs are a fast, inexpensive, effective method for informing people about the organization and their mission. According to Miller (2011), “Nonprofits believe that their websites and email are the two most important communication tools today.”
Stated above, the Nonprofit Communications Trends for 2014 reported that a lack of clear strategy also presents a challenge for communicators. A strategy can be unclear because there are many definitions of the term. According to Worth (2014), “There is no agreement on exactly what it (a strategy) is or how to develop it. It may be articulated in a plan, or it may be no more than an approach to reach a