April 2009

My old pal Anne Melanson asked me to write an essay exploring the “how-to basics of effective communications with stakeholders.” I’m happy to do so, but let’s put it in simpler language. 

This column will look at how to talk with people to make them feel good about your organization. 

Having said that, a disclaimer -- there is nothing new here.  But after 30+ years of learning by making mistakes, I have chanced upon a few tried-and-true practices that actually work.    

#1. Be sincere and passionate. 

I can’t emphasize this enough. Even in good times, there are too many organizations asking for too little money. Now, in these very tough times, getting people to part with their money is harder than most of us could have ever imagined. So, the need for sincerity and passion in your communications has never been more important. 

Yes, “urgency of your need” and “demonstration of impact” are important (see point #3 below). But I always buy into a pitch where I have been made to feel that the organization asking for my support means what it is saying. The people you are talking to need to see that you are not just raising money for the sake of it, or because it’s that time of the year, but because you believe passionately in your cause and the good that it can do. 

How do you do that? Think back to the speeches Barack Obama gave over the past year in his bid to become U.S. President. Now, that was sincerity and passion.      

 #2. Make it personal. 

I regularly receive a fabulous magazine from a national research organization.  For a long time, it would come to me rather impersonally with a mailing label on it. I would read it, enjoy it and then put it away in my huge pile of “Organizational Publications.” 

I might remember the magazine, but I never really remembered the organization. And then that organization started attaching a letter from the CEO to the magazine. It came this time in an envelope and the salutation in the letter was to me -- “Dear Mr. Fraumeni.”  They even spelled my name correctly (and most people don’t). With that simple act, I immediately moved from a position of really liking that magazine to really liking that organization. 

Just because of that personalized letter, I began taking the organization’s mission seriously.  Now, I’m thinking about giving it some money. And I adopted the practice of the personalized attachment letter with the magazine I publish for the University of Toronto. So, when I say “Make it personal” up there, you see where I’m going?   

#3. Detail is essential.

Stakeholders need detail. No one likes to support an organization that is fuzzy about its intentions.  You need to be able to explain:

• Why your organization needs this money. What, specifically, you are going to do with the money
• After the donation has been made, what you are doing or have done with the money.

 #4. Use the right tools. 

Brochure?  Magazine?  Advertising?  Website?  Facebook?  A video on YouTube? Sure, I can tell you how to produce effective print and electronic materials. But before getting to that, think hard about which materials you need to use to communicate with your stakeholders. Just because Organization X is doing a glossy brochure doesn’t mean you have to. Maybe YouTube will work better. Or maybe a great event.     

Does your stakeholder need another print newsletter in her in-basket? Is he going to open up the e-newsletter you send him? Is the full-page ad you take out in the daily newspaper or national magazine really going to be worth the cost? 

 #5.  And finally… 

Say “thank you.”  Of every strategy out there, this is the most important.  Saying thank you has a remarkable track record of success.

Paul Fraumeni is Director of Research Communications at the University of
Toronto and an award-winning writer and editor.  Prior to joining U of T in 1998, he was a fund raising communications consultant for two national firms.