Staying connected while staying apart

As many people transition from working in the office to working from home, effective communication becomes increasingly important. Nonprofits are responsible for communicating with many different groups of people and you need to make sure that communication remains consistent even if it can’t continue in-person. You need to make sure you can still communicate with coworkers, hold meetings and make decisions while working remotely. You want to make sure donors, volunteers and other supporters are aware of your organization’s policies during this time and explain how they can continue to support you and stay involved. You also need to continue actively communicating with the public to make sure potential clients and supporters are aware of your services and ways to stay in touch with you. Here are some tips for updating your communications strategy to ensure the right messages are still reaching the right people even while you are away from the office.

Coworkers

Maintaining regular communication with coworkers becomes especially important when you are all working remotely. Instead of canceling your regularly scheduled meetings, hold them virtually on a video call using a service like Zoom or Skype. Both tools allow you to share screens and see one another, making a virtual meeting feel more realistic. Scheduling a daily call or video check-in is a good way to keep your team on task and ensure projects are staying on schedule. You can also use an instant messaging service like Slack or Google Hangouts to keep in touch. Having a tool that lets you communicate so quickly can help with productivity and easily replaces the quick in-person chats you have with coworkers when you are in the office. While these services are helpful, it can sometimes feel isolating to work remotely. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and just call your team if you have questions or need to talk through a project.

Donors, volunteers and clients

Maintaining regular communication with your clients and supporters is especially important right now. While in-person visits with donors or meetings with clients and volunteers are always preferred, try to reschedule as much as you can online to maintain consistency. Consider using Zoom or Skype for these meetings to allow everyone to see each other. Set aside time to call your supporters to let them know how your organization is handling things and how you could use their help. If you need to cancel or postpone events, make sure you have reached out to everyone involved to let them know and remember to update your website, online calendars and other channels you use to promote events.  Keep your supporters and clients updated on social media and through your regularly scheduled newsletters as well. It is important to stay consistent and top of mind, but make sure you are not overloading their inboxes or feeds unnecessarily.

Public

In addition to your staff and supporters, it is important to continue communicating with the general public as well. If your organization is positioned to help people through this pandemic, make sure you are sharing what you are doing and how people can get involved or seek help. Make updates to your website, communicate regularly on social media and tell people how they can sign up to receive emails and newsletters from you. If you have insights or updates that need to be shared immediately, consider using Facebook Live to share your message and engage people in conversation.

Maintaining consistency and communication is extremely important right now. As you transition into this new normal of remote work, make sure you are utilizing all the tools available to continue communicating with your team, supporters and others. And, if you need help adapting your communications strategy or are looking for creative ways to tell your story and share information while you are working remotely, we can help!

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