How Fostering a Digital-First Culture Propels Your Nonprofit's Mission

In today’s digital-first world, the success of your program work is inextricably linked to your digital presence. In fact, there’s only one surefire way for your nonprofit to reach its full impact potential. And that is to invest in your digital marketing and communications as diligently as you invest in your program work.

Smart social impact leaders are ready to go all-in on digital. They understand that building and nurturing a digital media platform — a dynamic, action-oriented website complete with scroll-stopping content and multiple digital distribution channels — is a synergistic way of propelling their organization's work forward. The bigger challenge lies in figuring out how to make it happen.

Of course, it all starts with the right building blocks — the brand strategy, theory of change, digital strategy, technology platform, thought leadership content, and distribution plan. But you won’t be able to sustain even the best-laid plans unless your organization embraces a digital-first culture.

Building Your Digital Media Platform is the First Step — But You Don’t Have to Do it All at Once

When your nonprofit organization decides to adopt the digital media platform model, you are making a long-term commitment. Building the foundation — the strategic and technological infrastructure to support your digital media platform — represents the beginning of your efforts, not the end. In order to reap the rewards of what you build, you’ll need to invest in ongoing content creation, marketing, and maintenance efforts.

Once you’ve resolved to commit, the next step is to build your infrastructure and expand your team’s capacity for the ongoing work. Depending on where your organization is today with respect to its digital capabilities and culture, this may look like a small shift or a major evolution. Either way, you don’t have to do it all at once. It’s perfectly fine to tackle the task of digital-first culture-building incrementally.

Start by putting together a simple digital presence. At a minimum, this should include a cohesive brand, storytelling website, CRM, social media channels, and an email list. You can either build these components in-house, or, if you don’t have the necessary expertise, partner with an external agency. If you don’t have the resources to lay the foundation all at once, create a roadmap detailing how and when you will get there. Remember, these basic elements set the stage to amplify your mission, grow your email list, foster supporter engagement, and swell donations. Finally, don’t forget to spell out the “next-level” digital media platform components you’ll add in the longer term, such as an activist toolkit or an action center.

Once you have the basic pieces in place, it’s time to start creating and distributing thought-leadership content — content that establishes your organization as a leading voice in your niche of the social impact ecosystem. You’ll absolutely draw on your own team’s writing and video production skills. But it’s key to recognize that you aren’t limited by your internal team’s current capabilities. For example, you should plan to selectively crowdsource your content.

Your agency partner may be another invaluable resource. They may be equipped to act as an extension of your team in creating content for your digital media platform and executing your distribution strategy and marketing campaigns. Depending on your needs, you could choose to leverage their expertise and production capabilities in an ongoing way. Or you could simply engage their assistance in the early stages to “get the flywheel spinning,” so to speak.

The major takeaway? There’s no one right path or timeline to construct and nurture your digital media platform. While it’s good to have a sense of urgency, the individual elements can be accomplished in phases.