Transparency and Building Trust

Thinking back to a time before I joined the board of directors at an education nonprofit, I felt a little intimidated because I didn’t know the other directors well. I felt on the outside of a group of people who had become friends working on a common cause. During my first meeting I was nervous. That’s the feeling I try to remember when I think about communications for education nonprofits, because it helps me think from the perspective of people on the outside of the education organization, the people we want to attract to the organization.  

When considering a donation to support students, people want something out of it. Many see it as an investment, or something that they would like to be a part of. If they feel like they’re on the outside looking in, they may go somewhere else where they feel more welcome. So, how do you make people feel welcome?

A Quick Story about Fraud

I’m not just talking about financial transparency, which is really important (and required), but all kinds of transparency. The intent of transparency is to build trust. Remember the story of William Aramony, former president and CEO of United Way of America? He was convicted of defrauding the organization by diverting $1.2 million of the charity’s money to benefit himself and his friends. That scared people away from supporting United Way.

People need to know that their donation isn’t buying the CEO a yacht. People should be able to trust that their donation or time will make a difference.

Ideas on How to Be Transparent

Education nonprofits, like all nonprofits, are legally required to make financials public.

But also without sharing that information, donors wouldn’t see where their money goes.  Financial transparency helps preserve trust that donors put in education foundations and nonprofits. The National Council of Nonprofits suggests other ways to demonstrate financial transparency, such as providing the board of directors’ names.

Which leads us to other forms of transparency, for example, to take the National Council of Nonprofit’s suggestion further, I would post directors’ photos and bios as well. Here’s some other ways to make an education nonprofit more transparent on social media, the web site, and emails:

·      Talk about volunteer opportunities and give detail about the jobs, so people can envision themselves doing (and enjoying) the job.

·      Interview people from your email list or social media followers who have not donated to your organization and find out why not. Interview someone who just donated or became a sponsor for the first time and ask them why they decided to do so. Use any suggestions from these people to create a communications plan.

·      During events go out of your way to make people feel welcome—introduce newcomers to another board member or volunteer.  

·      Communicate measurable impact. A solid communication plan, including segmenting your audience so that you can tailor messages to them, will generate great results. Example: if someone has sponsored a reading program for underserved kids, send them success stories about that program.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to create more open communication and transparency with donors and volunteers. If you need any help, please email me and we can discuss more ideas and I’ll help you get started.