Every day, your nonprofit makes decisions that impact many people within your community. Therefore, it’s your responsibility to consider their various needs, interests, and priorities whenever you’re preparing for a fundraising campaign, launching a new program, or developing a strategic plan to guide your growth. By focusing on what matters most to your stakeholders, you can ensure that you’re making the greatest impact possible with the resources at your disposal.
Stakeholder engagement allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s important to your nonprofit’s community and use their input to guide your strategies. By making your stakeholders feel like they have a voice in the decisions you make, you can turn them into long-term partners in your impact.
Put simply, stakeholder engagement refers to the process of involving and collaborating with those in your community who are invested in or affected by your nonprofit’s activities. Common stakeholders include:
One of the most important occasions for engaging stakeholders is during the nonprofit strategic planning process. Strategic planning is a time for aligning your teams, adapting to recent changes, and reallocating your resources to set your organization up for lasting success. By checking in with your stakeholders, you can make sure that you reflect their interests in the strategic priorities you establish.
While it takes time and effort to engage stakeholders authentically, doing so can bring a host of benefits to your nonprofit, including:
Fulfilling your mission is a community effort. Stakeholder engagement allows you to harness the power of your community and allow them to shape your impact, making them more likely to support your nonprofit every step of the way.
To encourage honest conversations and feedback from your stakeholders, keep the following tips in mind:
To reach as many people as possible, your nonprofit likely conducts outreach and fundraises through multiple channels. The same should apply to your stakeholder engagement activities.
Make it easy for people to participate in the ways they’re most comfortable with by inviting feedback through formats such as:
Your stakeholders each have their own preferences when it comes to how they want to engage with your organization, and by presenting them with several options, you can increase the chances they’ll want to participate.
The nonprofit sector is no stranger to shifting regulations, fluctuating best practices, and emerging strategies due to advances in technology. To stay at the forefront of these changes, many organizations turn to outside experts who have years of experience and research related to helping nonprofits make their mission a reality.
According to Laridae’s nonprofit consultants guide, there are many ways these professionals can support your organization, including:
A consultant can bring a fresh, unbiased perspective to your strategic planning process and foster deeper, more forthright conversations with your stakeholders. Additionally, they may help you build capacity by training your team on communication and relationship-building strategies that you can apply in the long term.
Remember that, when your stakeholders share their experiences and feedback, they’re going out of their way to help your nonprofit improve its operations and decision-making. Stakeholder engagement is not a one-and-done effort. Instead, you’ll need to keep lines of communication open and reach out regularly.
Keep your stakeholders engaged by always expressing your appreciation for their input. For example, you might thank your staff members using one of eCardWidget’s employee recognition ideas:
Keep the interests and preferences of your donors, volunteers, staff, and other stakeholders in mind when coming up with your thank-you strategies. As you act on their feedback and suggestions, share periodic updates to keep them in the loop.
Whether you’re planning a fundraising event, seeking partnerships with local businesses, or exploring new giving options to share with donors, gathering input and insights from stakeholders can help steer you toward success. It’ll take time to improve your workflow, but by adopting a gradual improvement mindset, your nonprofit can continuously refine its strategies and programs to deepen its impact year after year.