Turning the Page as a New Leader

Embarking on a development communications project—especially to translate a strategic plan to fundraising language—can have a whole host of additional benefits for chief executives (or the equivalent) who are new in their roles. 

In addition to being an opportunity to articulate one’s voice as a leader, it’s also high-stakes, high-visibility work that can set the tone internally and set the stage for organizational success. 

Here are three benefits of partnering with development communications experts:

Finding One’s (External) Voice

Development communications are powerful tools for expressing a leader’s vision. But for leaders who are new to fundraising, there’s often a learning curve for using language that’s both accessible for an average donor and that captures the essence of their vision.

Partnering with development communications professionals creates opportunities for new leaders to test language, take chances, and see what resonates with their audiences, all while building confidence and authority in their new role.  

Tone and Style

New leaders frequently inherit the stylistic tastes and preferences of the last leader, and we don’t just mean office décor. 

Embarking on a consequential philanthropy communications project creates an opportunity for new leaders to assess style and brand guidelines and develop purposeful changes that make their influence visible in the organization’s comms. This is a good way to stop irksome practices in their tracks (e.g., eliminating hideous secondary colors, stopping overly formal phrasing, etc.) without doing a time- and resource-intensive rebrand right at the start. 

Unfiltered Stakeholder Feedback

Many board members and other high-level stakeholders are reluctant to provide critical or unfiltered feedback to new leaders, even if it might benefit them. But they usually don’t have any qualms about passing that feedback along to consultants. 

Simply by being third parties, development communications consultants are more likely to receive direct and constructive feedback than leaders themselves. For us, this has frequently meant getting very useful information about what donors want to see that we could share internally, benefiting the leader, the donor, and setting the stage for future communications and fundraising efforts.