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The message is on-brand. The strategy checks every box and best practice. And yet, something’s not quite there. It is polished, but not deeply felt.
Marketers and fundraisers shape the voice of your organization, but they’re often one step removed from the mission delivery. Does it matter if they’re not in the field or at the program site, as long as they’re good at their craft? It does.
Mission connection isn’t just nice-to-have. It is essential. Caring and passion breathes life into your campaigns and gives your messaging authenticity. Passion doesn’t always have to start with your cause, but when organizational leaders hire passionate people and create opportunities to engage, you are nurturing talent who will propel your cause.
When Comms Is Disconnected From Cause
Fundraising and marketing teams are the lifeblood of a nonprofit’s mission, raising money, motivating constituents into action, creating visibility for the cause. But when you look at organizational staff charts, they’re typically not on the front lines of day-to-day service or program delivery. Many are knee deep in setting up forms, writing copy, pitching media, planning campaigns, optimizing ads, and designing shiny brochures.
They can carry out these tasks, but there is enormous value in encouraging authentic connection to the work, both cognitive and emotional.
It is worth noting that small organizations or those with a chapter structure have an advantage because everyone on staff wears multiple hats and has a firsthand view of the impact. Much of mission exposure becomes secondhand as nonprofits grow more established with dedicated marketing and fundraising functions. Even staff members who have a role that involves talking to donors directly are often not getting exposure to the mission and services delivery.
Marketers are your organization’s spokespeople and ambassadors, yet they seldom work directly with the people who benefit from your mission. Because of this distance, they can miss out on emotional depth and nuances of organizational impact, creating a disconnect between those who are communicating and the mission they’re representing.
The result is messaging that rings hollow, full of platitudes and catchy soundbites lacking in genuine emotion and understanding. Without that direct connection, you risk your campaigns being shallow at best or at worst misrepresenting the cause.
This connection to the mission is necessary. We’re in our authenticity era. When asked, most donors and supporters say that authenticity is a key factor in deciding whether to support a nonprofit.
Beyond the impact on how you represent your work to the world, this organizational structure that separates promoters from doers can affect the mood within the nonprofit. Program teams are sometimes frustrated that colleagues in marketing and fundraising do not have a deeper understanding of what feels fundamental to their mission delivery work.
These disconnects may be a missed opportunity to align teams behind the mission to build morale and motivation that comes from feeling that our work is meaningful.
Pre-Existing Passion Is A Plus, Not A Prerequisite
There’s an easy solution, right? Simply hire staff who are already connected to your mission. You gain a better understanding of the cause and “lifers” in the process, but this approach seriously limits your talent pool, except for a few causes that are nearly universal. For example, statistically, everyone knows someone, or even has a close family member or friend, who has been diagnosed with cancer.
But for most leaders, hiring only “mission-connected” employees would narrow the talent pool to an extreme and potentially lead to weaker hires, holding the organization back. Prioritizing mission over skills in most cases will be a misstep.
There are other downsides. The existing personal connection can bias decision-making, with emotions driving business strategy and limiting diversity of perspectives, background, and skills.
There’s also the risk of burnout. When someone lives the mission both at work and in their personal life, boundaries blur, and exhaustion sets in. Robin Kingham was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and she first volunteered and then worked in various roles at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation for nearly a decade. This was a rewarding experience for Robin for a long time until she reached a point when it did not. “I had a hard time having my entire personal life revolve around recovering from that and then going to work and serving patients. It was really hard to have every single minute of every day be focused on my disease. And so I had to step away.”
It is crucial to seek out candidates who are curious and open to learning and embracing the mission. People’s passions can evolve over time. Exposure to the issue and connecting with others can bring about a real and lasting connection.
Bridging The Gap To Mission
Don’t expect new hires to immediately make your organization’s cause their life’s purpose. People switch jobs and they’re not discovering a brand-new passion with each move. However, alignment in values and a genuine commitment to making a difference are non-negotiables. It’s important to identify candidates who care deeply about social impact and are curious and open to building that connection over time.
Beyond their employment history, candidates with experience in volunteering, activism, civic engagement, or community work bring valuable perspectives. They know what it’s like to engage with a cause in a nonprofessional capacity, which helps them relate to constituents to develop strategies that connect and resonate.
When employees seek out opportunities to connect and experience organizational mission, they gain a deeper understanding. Here are a few practical recommendations to begin immersing yourself in mission and building a culture that encourages engagement in the cause.
- Read Client, Volunteer, Or Program Participant Stories Regularly. While not a substitute for a face-to-face conversation, stories can be incredibly powerful. Make it a habit to read stories, listen to testimonials, and watch videos about those you serve to understand their experiences and challenges.
- Attend Programs, Volunteer Activities, And Public Events. Look for opportunities to participate in your organization’s events and activities to see mission in action and engage directly with the community. Even the most passing interactions can leave a lasting impression. It is important for organizations to encourage staff type of participation.
- Build Relationships With Frontline Staff and Volunteers. Building connections with colleagues who are directly involved in service delivery can be immensely valuable. But with hybrid offices and depending on how staff is distributed, this connection might not always happen naturally. You can plan “mission immersion” conversations to help staff across teams connect. Fundraisers and marketers themselves can also initiate informal discussions and build relationships with colleagues from various departments to share experiences and perspectives.
Organizations where leaders build mission into the DNA of the daily work and encourage staff participation forge stronger alignment behind the cause. A more connected marketing and fundraising team will be able to communicate the mission with greater authenticity and conviction.
A standout example is Special Olympics. Leadership there has made a deliberate commitment to hiring athletes and integrating people with intellectual disabilities into meaningful staff roles. This inclusion not only provides employment opportunities but also enriches the organization’s internal culture. Ben Collins, a Special Olympics athlete and employee, plays a key role in introducing new staff to the organization, sharing firsthand insights that help ground employees in the mission from day one. (Hear him in his own words here https://www.specialolympics.org/video/welcome-to-my-world.)
Ben’s presence at the office creates a connection, promotes authenticity and ensures the voices of those served are embedded in the organization’s day-to-day work. While this approach might not work for every type of cause, there are many ways to incorporate mission into organizational operations. Here are four more ideas:
- Making it a habit to start meetings with short, real impact stories to help your team align behind the purpose can make a real difference. Of course, incorporating mission moments into every working meeting would not be practical but this is a simple way to reiterate why we do what we do at organizational gatherings. It is critical to avoid superficiality; your staff will sense it immediately.
- Ensure that onboarding processes include experiences that connect new hires to the mission. This can come in different forms, from something as simple as briefings by mission staff to on the ground bootcamps and mission immersion.
- Encourage and support staff participation in programs and duties outside of their day-to-day work. For example, encourage joining Advocacy Days or Volunteering Days beyond daily responsibilities, or “Mission Sabbaticals” for marketing/comms staff. Advocate for policies that allow staff to take time off to engage directly with the mission.
- Leaders set the tone. When they purposefully prioritize mission alignment in how they communicate, recognize, and engage staff, it signals that connection to the cause is core to the culture.
When marketers and fundraisers are connected to the mission, their messages and efforts will carry greater weight capturing the nuances and emotion of organizational mission. Mission alignment is a must for nonprofits where leaders are aiming to connect, build trust, inspire action, and stand out as an authentic voice.
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Olga Moshinsky Woltman is vice president, strategic communications at the ALS Association and also is founder and principal of LemonSkies a fundraising and strategic communications agency. Her email is owoltman@gmail.com
