By Seth Klukoff, Principal, Eoan Strategies
Several years ago, during a lunch meeting with colleagues from a nonprofit professional group, one of my table mates shared that her organization had always wanted to “do thought leadership,” but continually shied away because they were stuck on identifying the right framework. She expressed that her organization was uncertain about what thought leadership tactics made the most sense for its mission, especially in light of an ambitious development campaign they were contemplating.
These sentiments are common, and perfectly natural. For many nonprofit organizations—regardless of size—considering thought leadership, particularly in the context of a development strategy, can be daunting. As my lunch colleague shared, there’s a tendency to think that you have to adapt a detailed framework or model for thought leadership, and the fear of adhering perfectly to every step or guideline can inhibit organizations from getting started. There are also oceans of definitions of what thought leadership is and is not—and picking one can serve as an obstacle to movement as well.
My approach is to eschew the many words spilled on frameworks and definitions and boil down thought leadership to these components:
Developing, or refining, a distinct Point of View;
Identifying the appropriate audiences and communicating tangible knowledge (in the case of business development, the “ask.”) that supports the POV and inspires those audiences to do something; and
Understanding the right platforms through which to articulate that knowledge.
In short, thought leadership must inspire audiences to act, answering the question, “why should people care enough to do something?”
In this article, I’ll riff off this approach to thought leadership and offer some thoughts on how infusing thought leadership into development efforts can help nonprofits stand out in a crowded funding landscape. This focus is particularly critical during a time of great political and economic uncertainty, in which the work of nonprofits is needed even more, amid real threats to their financial sustainability.
Key Component: The POV
I often feel like the missing element of a thought leadership strategy is the most important—the overarching POV that provides a “so what” for the conveying of knowledge. The POV must invoke passion and illuminate solutions, rooted in expertise, to challenges faced by potential funders. In addition, a POV is not a mission or vision statement. Rather, a POV is a belief in a concept or idea that reinforces the goals of those statements, and should be clearly visible in the organization’s thought leadership communications.
One national organization that focuses on education and workforce development built its thought leadership strategy around this POV: despite recent statistics showing that only half of children grow up to earn more than their parents, with outcomes often worse for young people experiencing poverty (Opportunity Insights), many communities are beginning to transform systems to turn these numbers around. The organization believes that evidence-based decision making— using data to make better decisions, track progress, and improve strategies across political, racial, ethnic, and economic lines— is an essential element of this strategy to strengthen economic mobility for children and families.
Key Component: The Audiences
After developing or refining the organizational thought leadership POV, I suggest taking a closer look at the most appropriate audiences for this effort, breaking down your current and prospective audiences into two “spheres;”
Who you know. This group typically includes your closest relationships—individuals with whom you have regularly worked or partnered (e.g., contacts at foundations and other nonprofits, community leaders and influential community members, government agencies, as well as donors and impact investors).
Who you want to know. These individuals could come from the same types of organizations as your closer relationships, as well as from a broader sphere of donors, or they could represent new “markets” for your work.
As you consider who you know, and who you want to know, there are opportunities to learn more from them (and them from you), which could lead to potential funding relationships. For instance, if your organization and its programs focus on improving access to affordable health care, you may want to gain a deeper understanding of the different funders in that landscape, as a way to define how your organization’s thought leadership strategy can best resonate with those audiences. As you scan the sector, you should consider how your thought leadership can inform or strengthen foundation programming that focuses on affordable care, or capture the interest of individual donors or donor advised funds that center their giving on health care topics. This assessment of the audience landscape can lead to conversations that unlock opportunities to share your knowledge and build bridges to funding.
Key Component: The Platforms
Regardless of audience sphere, you should incorporate a mix of platforms into your thought leadership strategy. These platforms can include the typical blend of blogs, social media, articles and op-eds, webinars, and conference presentations. But along with these venues, you might consider convening local funders as a way to demonstrate your organization’s knowledge and impact, along with expanding its visibility and credibility
Either individually or partnering with another organization, you can create a topical roundtable for local funders. The roundtable should focus on priority issues for local community foundations, donors, and impact investors, and it can provide an opportunity for those audiences to learn more about your work and impact—presenting your organization as a facilitator of conversations to identify new practices and solutions to organizational or regional challenges. You might also reach out to a local philanthropy serving organization (PSO) and gauge its interest in bringing funder members together for the roundtable.
As an example, a policy and strategy organization partnered with its local PSO to design a roundtable conversation on incorporating equitable practices into community programming. More than 10 local foundations attended the roundtable and identified practices they can use in their grantmaking. Following the roundtable, the organization published a blog summarizing the major themes and practices that were discussed. This opportunity enabled the organization to enhance its visibility as a knowledgeable resource on equity issues in front of prospective funders, and it gained several new projects.
Key Component: The “Ask”
Now let’s shift to the “ask.” I like to use the image of a house as a way to organize an “ask” to prospective funders. Remember, the activities we just discussed can put you in a stronger position to make the ask, because you now have visibility with those audiences. In this example, we’ll focus on an organization in the healthcare sector.
The overall message (which supports the organizational POV) is the roof: “Our work demonstrates that cross-sector collaboration is a successful way to improve access to healthcare for underserved populations.”
This overall message is supported by three supporting points (or beams)—one of which is the “ask.” For instance: “Based on evidence from our community, cross-sector approaches have resulted in a 40% increase in healthcare access. We would like to share with you our learnings, and the impact of this cross-sector approach. Your funding will enable us to grow this important effort to build a healthier community.”
At the base of the house are supporting data and stories. It is important to keep this information concise and compelling, and it should incorporate key data points and examples of successful efforts from the community, including experiences of residents.
Measuring Thought Leadership to Support Development
When establishing metrics for a thought leadership strategy, I like to consider three sequential areas of focus that reinforce each other:
First, it is essential to build buy-in for the strategy throughout your organization, aligned with clear goals and expectations for how leadership and staff can participate. Example metrics include: incorporation of thought leadership messages and POV into proposals and presentations; and leadership and staff attendance at “lunch and learn” sessions to discuss thought leadership efforts.
The next area is visibility for and engagement with the POV and core messages of the strategy. Example metrics include: consistent growth in social media engagement (e.g., shares of thought leadership content on LinkedIn); and number of conference presentations accepted that incorporate thought leadership messages.
Building off internal support and a deep presence among key audiences and the field, your organization will be in a stronger position to achieve the primary aims of the strategy—influence and impact. Example metrics include: increase in new business or partnership opportunities due to resonance of thought leadership messages; and organization or company mentioned more frequently as a “thought leader” in field or industry.
It is important to note that designing and implementing a thought leadership strategy takes time, and “quick hits” are rare. That “caveat” may seem counterintuitive in a climate where it is imperative for nonprofits to sharpen their POVs, hone their target audiences, and clarify their messaging and “ask” to ultimately increase funding. However, devoting time to achieve buy-in for the strategy and being judicious about opportunities for influence and impact will place your organization in a better position for success—and sustainability.