Jessica Sharp 
At the end of 2025, more than 40 nonprofit board members and senior executives gathered at the Barnes Foundation for the annual Nonprofit Directors Dialogue, hosted by the Raj & Kamla Gupta Governance Institute at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. The theme of the 2025 annual dialogue was Governance and the Art of Impressions. An appropriate title for a day of timely discussion.
The program tackled the most pressing governance challenges facing nonprofits today including navigating legislative scrutiny and executive actions targeting tax-exempt organizations, managing financial volatility as government funding becomes increasingly unstable, overseeing digital transformation responsibly, reclaiming advocacy as a core leadership responsibility, and managing public perception in a fragmented media landscape.
Throughout the day, several critical themes emerged including the importance of mission clarity, trust as a form of capital, advocacy as a governance responsibility, mission stewardship, and perhaps most importantly that fear is not a strategy.
I had the privilege of co-facilitating the final session of the day with Travis Coley, Director of Growth & Strategy at Whitepenny, and Evan Urbania, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at ChatterBlast. Our discussion centered on public perception and the importance of communication. Throughout our discussion we reiterated the point that how organizations communicate can be just as consequential as what they communicate.
Why Communications Can No Longer Be an Afterthought
The operating environment for nonprofits has fundamentally changed, and many organizations’ communications strategies haven’t kept pace. Nonprofits working in advocacy, education, immigration, climate action, DEI, and international grantmaking are facing an unprecedented volume of congressional inquiries, executive orders, and litigation strategies designed to challenge their missions, scrutinize their funding, and question their tax-exempt status. Even organizations that aren’t in politically charged spaces are navigating donor anxiety, staff concerns, and questions about their relevance and sustainability.
In this environment, strategic communication is no longer a “nice to have” function that gets attention when there’s a big announcement or a crisis. It’s essential infrastructure that affects every aspect of organizational performance from governance and oversight, fundraising effectiveness, partnership development, internal culture and alignment, crisis preparedness, and ultimately, mission delivery.
Organizations with strong mission-aligned communications strategies are better positioned to manage regulatory scrutiny, navigate legal challenges, maintain donor confidence, preserve staff morale, and control their narrative when others try to define it for them. Those without? They’re finding themselves in reactive mode, scrambling to respond to narratives they didn’t shape and damage they didn’t anticipate.
The Foundation: Internal Alignment Must Come First
Throughout our session, we emphasized that effective communication begins long before you craft an external message. It starts with internal alignment. When boards, CEOs, senior leaders, and staff share a unified narrative about who the organization is, what it stands for, and what it’s trying to achieve, the organization avoids the contradictions and mixed messages that weaken credibility. This is particularly critical now, when misalignment can quickly become public. In the age of social media, an off-handed comment by a board member or an unauthorized statement by a staff member can undermine months of careful positioning.
Internal alignment requires regular, honest conversations about mission, values, and risk tolerance. It means ensuring that external messages reflect internal practices and priorities. It means being clear about what the organization stands for and what it won’t compromise, even under pressure.
This means that nonprofit leaders and especially boards must play a critical role in ensuring that what’s being shared externally reflects internal practices, priorities and values. When there’s daylight between what an organization says and how it operates day-to-day, stakeholders notice. And right now, for many nonprofits, there are more eyes – and AI bots – watching than ever before.
Three Pillars That Build Stakeholder Trust
During our discussion, we kept coming back to three interconnected elements that determine whether stakeholders trust a nonprofit: transparency, proximity, and authenticity.
Transparency means stakeholders can clearly understand what you do, how you use resources, and why your work matters. It’s not about sharing everything, but rather, it’s about sharing strategically and consistently so that donors, staff, community members, and partners have confidence in your stewardship and decision-making. Transparent communication deepens stakeholder connection. Opaque or inconsistent messaging erodes credibility across every stakeholder group.
Proximity is about how close you are to the people and communities you serve. The dialogue made clear that trust in individual nonprofits increasingly hinges on this. Stakeholders want to see that you understand their concerns, that you’re responsive to their needs, and that you’re embedded in the communities you’re trying to impact. The closer nonprofits are to the people they serve, the more credible and trusted they become.
Authenticity requires coherence between what an organization says and how it operates. This is where many organizations stumble, particularly when facing external pressure. Authenticity doesn’t mean you can never adjust your language or refine your messaging. In fact, sometimes that’s necessary to enhance clarity, minimize risk, or improve resonance with key audiences. But modifying the message cannot mean abandoning mission or walking away from core values. Stakeholders can tell the difference, and they’re far less forgiving of organizations that appear to compromise their purpose for convenience or comfort.
Every Nonprofit Needs a Crisis Communications Plan. Period.
Our conversation naturally led to crisis planning, where nonprofits in the room shared a varying level of preparedness.
Every nonprofit, but especially those reliant on government funding or working in politically charged spaces, needs a crisis communications plan before a crisis ever occurs. Having a plan in place mitigates the inevitable scramble when the inquiry letter arrives or the hostile media story breaks.
The most resilient organizations we work with at Maven have clear communications strategies, trained spokespeople, and well-defined response protocols in place. They’ve done the hard work of identifying internal and external risks ahead of time and built response plans to address each.
A strong crisis communications plan includes:
- A designated response team with clear roles and decision-making authority
- Defined spokesperson roles so everyone knows who speaks for the organization and when
- Clear decision-making thresholds so leadership knows which issues require board involvement and which can be handled by staff
- Operational continuity plans that ensure the organization can continue serving its mission even while managing a crisis
- Messaging frameworks for different stakeholder groups, recognizing that donors, staff, partners, and community members will have different concerns and need different information
When nonprofits face funding crises, political pressure, or reputational threats, how they communicate can either reinforce or undermine trust. Responding with clarity, authenticity, and mission alignment becomes a strategic advantage.
Taking Control of Your Narrative
At some point, every nonprofit leader realizes that if you’re not actively shaping your narrative, someone else will. The good news is that nonprofits no longer have to rely solely on traditional media to reach stakeholders. With so many “owned” media options, like websites, email, social platforms, and video, organizations can tell their stories directly to their target audiences. This creates tremendous opportunities, but it also requires strategy and resources.
In a noisy environment, the goal is not to be the loudest, but to speak with clarity and resonance. Strong narrative control depends on:
- A clear understanding of your brand and its values and the ability to articulate them
- Deep insight into your key audiences including what matters most to them
- Meeting stakeholders on the platforms and channels they actually use
- Using appropriate messaging for each platform
- Proactive, rather than reactive, communication
One trend we discussed at length is how dramatically the digital landscape has shifted. Search, social, and AI-powered discovery are converging. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube increasingly function as search engines, and AI-powered search experiences on traditional search tools now pull content directly from social platforms. Stakeholders are seeking authentic connection but have shorter attention spans.
This means nonprofits need to think differently about visibility and discoverability. Some practical strategies that are working for organizations right now:
- “Flood the zone” on digital channels, don’t just post once and hope for the best
- Amplify earned media, written content, and announcements across multiple platforms to maximize reach
- Use social strategies like tagging and hashtags to increase visibility and make content discoverable
- Share ready-to-post content with staff, partners, and board members so they can easily amplify your message
- Embrace “snackable content” like short-form video and other high-engagement formats
- Prioritize authentic engagement and genuine connection over polished perfection
The organizations that are thriving in this environment are those that embrace technology with agility and share authentic, compelling content that they know resonates with their audiences.
Your Brand Is More Than a Logo
As the discussion turned to branding, Travis emphasized that a nonprofit’s brand is the strategic asset that shapes perception, clarifies identity, differentiates your organization, and frames how the public understands your purpose. It’s not just a beautiful logo or catchy tagline.
In a crowded field where thousands of nonprofits are competing for attention, funding, and support, a strong brand reinforces mission, elevates credibility, strengthens reputation, and positions organizations for long-term sustainability.
The current moment presents an important opportunity to revisit messaging, sharpen narrative, and ensure brand identity mirrors organizational purpose. For some organizations, that might mean refining language to enhance clarity or minimize unnecessary risk. For others, it might mean doubling down on distinctive positioning that sets them apart. What it shouldn’t mean is abandoning mission or compromising values out of fear.
Moving Forward with Confidence
The conversation during the day of dialogue reinforced what I’ve seen during the various ups and downs in the nonprofit sector over the last two decades: nonprofits that will thrive in this environment aren’t necessarily those with the biggest budgets or the most resources. It’s the ones that have a plan in place and communicate with clarity, lead with values, and refuse to let fear dictate their strategy. They recognize that in an environment marked by uncertainty and scrutiny, the ability to control their narrative is a competitive advantage.
The full Nonprofit Directors Dialogue Digest includes insights from all five sessions and is packed with actionable guidance for nonprofit leaders navigating today’s governance challenges. Click here to download the complete digest.
Posted In Crisis Communications, Nonprofit