Message Matters ― Succeeding at the Crossroads of Mission and Market

It's a common nonprofit complaint, "When we're dealing with such import issues…why aren't more people listening?" It may be true that everyone should care about your mission, but virtue alone isn't enough to draw them in. "Message Matters: Succeeding at the Crossroads of Mission and Market" will help nonprofits develop messages so that people see what's in it for them if they take the action the nonprofit wants. "Message Matters" gives readers a simple framework for making strategic communication decisions and guides them through five message development steps. They'll learn how to: 1. Clarify the action you want 2. Pinpoint who you want to take action 3. Discover what your audience wants, hopes for, and desires 4. Find the shared desires between your organization and your audience 5. Convey your message effectively The ideas and approach in "Message Matters" build on the author's years of work across the spectrum of professional communications and address the everyday challenges facing today's organizations. Examples from more than a dozen associations, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and government agencies show how they have advanced their causes by using the techniques in this guide. A special chapter brings the theory and process to life in a case study explaining how strategic messages helped an organization launch and build a nationwide movement to change the paradigm for preventing child abuse. Whether you want people to fund you, participate in your programs, vote your way, quote you, collaborate with you, or volunteer for you, moving people to action is essential to achieving your mission. Compelling communications is the starting point. Use "Message Matters" and start connecting to people in a way that gets them to take the action you want.

REBECCA K. LEET is principal of Rebecca Leet & Associates, which helps organizations think before they speak and speak so that others listen. She has provided strategic counsel to nonprofits since 1985, often serving organizations that are undertaking a process for the first time. For example, she developed the first strategic plan for Friends of the Earth, the first strategic marketing plan for the American Lung Association, and the first strategic communications plan for ZERO TO THREE. Prior to starting her firm, Rebecca was a congressional reporter for the Washington Star, director of news information for ABC News/Washington, press secretary to former U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker, and vice president of communications for the Wilderness Society.