The following post on nonprofit public engagement was written by Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant Signe Bell and is part of our “Ten Years of Advancing Excellence” blog series, celebrating ten years of the Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant program. Signe has been working with nonprofits and community organizations since 2010. She serves as Director of Nonprofit and Community Programs and Associate Policy Scientist with the Center for Community Research and Service at the University of Delaware. She became a Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant in 2015. 

Let’s face it, nonprofit leaders are busy. You have a ton to do in limited time and public engagement can seem like just one more thing on your “to do list”. Public engagement is an important way to extend your reach beyond the clients that you are serving directly. Engaging with the public in a positive way is an opportunity to help raise your profile in your community and also help move your mission forward. Did you ever wish that you could clone yourself and your staff to help get the word out? If you engage people in your work and get them excited, they can become ambassadors for both your organization specifically or your cause generally…both of which will propel you forward. Social Media is a great tool for public engagement. It does require strategy and management, but has some great applications for reaching audiences for a variety of purposes. Public engagement is also fun! If you love what you do, what could be better than igniting that same excitement in others? 

Raising Your Organization’s Profile 

You are doing amazing things for your clients and your community. Be sure that people know about it! Take advantage of the free/low cost opportunity to use social media to engage your audience in your activities. Put some effort into developing a strong network of supporters and give them content about your activities and relevant educational information that will interest and involve them. When your supporters engage (a.k.a. “like” or “share”) with your social media content, it puts your content in front of their network of friends and colleagues. This is a great way for new people to learn about your organization! Developing and engaging your social media network is also a good role for your board members and volunteers. Ask them to connect with your organization over social media and participate in your organizational dialogue there. 

In addition to the information that you push out through your communications, making sure that your basic information is easy to find for those who come looking for it is critical and gives you credibility. If someone is interested enough in your organization to come to your website, they should be able to find information on your mission, activities, finances, board and staff quickly and easily. Make sure that you toot your horn through a concise and well-presented annual report. I know, I know…an annual report is a lot of work and almost always finds its way to the bottom of your “to do” list. Don’t procrastinate this, it is your chance to shine through a product that you can provide to donors, funders, clients, potential staff members and more. 

Advocate for Your Mission 

There are a lot of opportunities to make a difference and impact public policy through advocacy efforts. Your organization can be a leader in your community and sub-sector by leading advocacy efforts on relevant public policy discussions. If you make it your business to know what is going on in the public policy arena as it relates to your organization’s mission, you gain credibility and become the “go to” source for this information. Your clients, supporters and those who care about your impact area will come to you for this information so they can speak on behalf those you serve. These additional voices can really help move the needle when it comes to advocating and organizing for policy change. If your organization is ready to take this step, it is important that you develop a “written and board approved policy on advocacy defining the process by which the organization determines positions on specific issues” (Standards for Excellence Code VI.A (1)). Once your policy is in place and your staff and volunteers are clear on the parameters, you can get busy engaging the public in the key issues that will help you propel your mission forward. Social Media is again a great way to both gain information on important public policy issues and a way to disseminate information. It has never been so easy to share information with interested parties and mobilize for your cause! 

One cautionary note: It is important that you advocate for/against policies, and NOT for/against candidates. I know this has been a particularly contentious and difficult election season. Be certain that organizationally, you are only speaking out on issues and policies. Individuals affiliated with your organization are free to express their views politically, as long as they are clearly representing themselves and not the organization. To learn more about political campaigning regulations and nonprofit status, you can visit the National Council on Nonprofits page about it here. Staying positive and staying out of the political campaign frenzy will not only protect your tax status, it will also keep your image positive after the dust settles we all refocus our energies on making the world a better place. Developing and implementing good public engagement strategies will help generate energy and excitement around the important work that your organization is doing. It can help you generate new volunteers, donors, clients, friends and advocates and move your organization to the next level. Ready to find some ambassadors to join you in extending your reach? Let’s go!