Any well-rounded board of directors will include professionals who are experts at analyzing financial statements, savvy in boosting fundraising efforts, irreplaceable in introducing the executive director to community leaders, and relentless at evaluating and perfecting programs. But what about developing, maintaining or implementing a strategic communications plan? Even if your organization has a communications person (or an entire team) on staff, it would be well served to include a public relations or marketing professional as a trustee.
Rhoda Barr is the Director of Client Services with Volunteer Consulting Group/boardnetUSA (www.vcg.org and www.boardnetUSA.org), a nonprofit that works to strengthen the governing and management of nonprofit boards of directors. She points out, “As nonprofits begin to recognize the potential of their board as ‘brain trusts’ for the organization, communication expertise often becomes a priority. Nonprofits have to reach many audiences – for example, an after school program would need to reach out to funders, government officials, parents, school administrators, teachers, as well as the teenagers themselves, community leaders and the general public. With limited funding, they need guidance on the most effective and efficient ways to clearly deliver their message.”
DeAnna Martin is the Executive Director of Washington Ceasefire, (www.washingtonceasefire.org), a nonprofit advocacy organization working to reduce gun violence in Washington state. She notes that inviting one (or more) communications professionals onto a board has benefits that extend beyond an occasional outreach tip. “We have several PR and marketing professionals on our board, including someone who owns his own PR consulting firm. This is a great skill set to have on the board – people with these skills bring valuable resources for making an impact in the community and meeting the organization’s mission in creative ways with the right messaging. I’ve learned a lot about how media can be used effectively to deliver messages that not only brand our organization in a positive way, but also address our advocacy/educational messages and deliver on our mission.”
Of course, acquiring the talents and knowledge of a communications professional is really only the first step. Maintaining a trustee’s commitment through clear communication, realistic expectations, and an ability to keep pace with their contributions, is where the real work begins.
Barr offers this advice: “Experience has shown that it is important for there to be clarity about expectations. For some boards, the role of the board member with communications expertise is to provide strategic guidance – other organizations expect the board member to provide pro bono services (e.g., design and print their brochure or annual report). There is no ‘right’ level of commitment. The key to success is that the commitment expected is clearly understood by both the board and the individual.”
Megan Prentiss is a communications professional with the merchant bank, The Bellwether Group (www.thebellwethergrp.org). She also volunteers as a board member for two Seattle nonprofit organizations – Powerful Voices (www.powerfulvoices.org), which addresses the issues of adolescent girls, and the nonprofit women’s clinic, Aradia Women’s Health Center (www.aradia.org). According to Prentiss, “The needs of nonprofit organizations are extremely diverse, yet it’s been my experience that even though organizations dream for communications professionals to join their team, the resources must be in place to effectively absorb their talents. Beyond providing the basic governance and fiscal management oversight, professionals from the communications industry as board members can help immensely with policies about engaging the community and donors in support. These professionals can assist with ideas of how to drive attention to the agency as well as messaging. Yet the organization itself must be in a position to keep pace with these ideas. For example, an expert can recommend how to message the mission of an organization, but the agency must own the message in principle and in practice as well.”
In addition, it is important to determine early on if your organization can keep pace with the results of targeted public relations and marketing. Prentiss continues, “A professional can certainly drum up media interest by tapping their own Rolodex, but the organization needs to be capable of responding with the right spokespersons in a timely manner. Further, as appealing as it sounds for a communications professional to help promote the agency’s work, the agency must be able to respond to increased demand for its services or even more information requested by the public.”
Clarity in understanding and reasonable expectations are essential for both parties in the staff/board relationship. Martin notes that in her experience in working with communications professionals as trustees, the board member must understand the limits of the organization they are working with. “The area that seems to be the most challenging when working with these brilliant, PR-types is in the budget arena of small nonprofits. The most difficult conversations are around how much money to spend on various publicity materials, web sites, etc. To the PR person, it seems you have to spend money to make money, right? But, in small nonprofits, there’s more of an eye for thriftiness – the four-color glossy brochure or the $15,000 web site re-design just aren’t feasible.”
Finally, Prentiss reminds us that there is another factor to consider when inviting any professional to join your board. “Communications professionals may be seeking an opportunity to volunteer so they can actually do something different from their day-to-day profession. It’s important not to assume that this professional will be interested [in] or capable of offering their services significantly on a pro bono basis. Setting expectations upfront is so important for everyone involved to feel good about the opportunity.”
Amy Buringrud is the executive editor of the Media Savvy eJournal, the communications publication for cause organizations. Download a complimentary copy at the Media Savvy Communications Web site: www.mediasavvyink.com/signin.html. Amy can be reached at: amy@mediasavvyink.com.
