I had the opportunity to serve as a communication resource for NASSCOM Foundation’s partner NGOs who gathered at Bangalore today, December 2, 2011 to learn more about marketing and communication pointers to improve reach, get donor commitment and enhance image. The event held at Thomson Reuters office invited marketing and communication professionals from organizations to serve as subject matter experts for NGOs invited for the day.
Called ‘BRing the Change Week’ the event runs from November 28 till December 3, 2011. If you haven’t figured, the ‘BR’ in’ Bring’ refers to Business Responsibility. The Foundation is involving the IT-BPO industry through volunteering – in one mega event spanning the country.
After the initial table top discussions (I preempted the needs of NGOs assigned to me by sending a questionnaire in advance to solicit inputs on their work and specific challenges) each group had to share their top three take-aways. By asking each NGO to talk about their next project and how they envisaged communicating, I guided the group with recommendations on making their communication stick.
The learning shared by representatives from partner NGOs ranged from their understanding of the communication process to better ways to use social media effectively. Some were impressed by the quality of the discussions and vowed to stay connected with the corporate resources. Other inputs people took away were about tools and templates to implement, tips on preparing an ‘elevator pitch’ and ideas to blend the power of communities with fund raising.
Personally, I felt there is limited understanding of the impact communication makes and even less investment by NGOs to grasp basics of this key function.
Overall, based on the NGOs who participated and their expectations from this workshop it is evident that opportunities exist to leverage communication to their advantage.
Thank you very much Aniisu… It was well informed workshop.
Many of us are guided by our passion rather than the strategies,and thats where we many times fail. We usually neglect the audience perspectives and
our messages and needs doesn’t get through. Your section on ‘Elevator Pitch’
was interesting, I really felt the need to improve in this area as we have to convey our messages in less than 5mins (the rich are always running like anything) while doing fund raising and bringing in supporters for our causes. The answer to ‘Why should we care’ makes a huge difference..
The importance of listening to our supporters, the integration of messages and values with the the employees, Communication and the NGOs credibility,
the proper/improper use of social media, Audience segmentation, were well explained..
But first We’ll have to do lot of unlearning, and then I do believe implementing these ideas into our work will bring a big difference in our cause..
Anish Thayil
Diya foundation
(Vocational training center for differently Abled)
Bangalore