families moving forward

Three Steps to Great Messaging by Jeanne Murray

Your organization communicates purpose and inspires support through your messaging. While a good starting point is crafting a great mission statement, the day-in/day-out communication of your organization’s message doesn’t end with a declaration of mission. Continual messaging conveys the impact, energy, and needs of your organization – and, importantly, supports your development efforts. How do you know good messaging from the kind that needs improvement? Good messaging communicates value, encourages consistency, and identifies clear action. Good messaging communicates value. Messaging that communicates value is less about what you do, and more about what gets done with donor support. Words and images that bring impact to life tell donors that your organization is a worthy investment of time, money, and attention. Do your communications identify a donor’s role in achieving the mission? For example, I’m on the board of a Durham [...]

From the Front Lines

moss+ross helps clients plan and run campaigns of varying sizes and purposes, from under $1 million to $400 million. We asked two of our clients to talk about the benefits of working with us at various stages in their campaign planning and execution. The Rams Club at UNC has a long history of great fundraising, but a big campaign creates the opportunity to look creatively at complex messaging and funding structures as well as develop strategic funding goals. Executive Director John Montgomery reached out to moss+ross for involvement at multiple levels, and had this to say in response to the following question: What did you find helpful about working with moss+ross on campaign readiness? “We have just finished our second campaign planning retreat with Mary, Susan and Kim and they have provided our organization with an excellent roadmap for [...]