Constituents - Don't Take Them for Granted

Who Are They?

In every organization, some constituencies are obvious. National advocacy groups and local faith communities both count members. Clinics and hospitals monitor patients. Schools study student enrollment and try to stay in touch with their alumni. Many nonprofits whose business model is fee-for-service rely on third party referral sources. Nearly all nonprofits of whatever sort know they have donors and recognize, in theory if not altogether in practice, that it is important to keep in contact with them. After all, the next gift is always easier attained from a past donor than from a prospective one.

Very often though, nonprofits also have constituencies that are not so obvious and yet still important to its programs and development. The neighbors of an institution, for instance, sometimes represent a significantly under-rated constituency, especially when the institution is planning on some expansion of its footprint or an increase in traffic. Volunteers may be so integral to a community organization that they are not deliberately treated as a distinctive constituency. Vendors are commonly entirely invisible as a constituency, except perhaps during the annual hunt for fundraiser sponsors

The strategically savvy nonprofit organization will survey its landscape and take an inventory of all of the groups which have or may have a significant impact upon its program and its development. Attaining and maintaining this level of awareness lays the foundation for a productive constituent relations program.

Here is a list of possibilities to stir your own thinking about just who your organization’s constituencies include: affiliated groups, allied organizations, alumni, clients, corporate sponsors, customers, donors, families of clients/patients/students, government officials, grantors, members, neighbors, past board members, patients, referral sources, regulators, staff, students, vendors, visitors, volunteers…Who are you forgetting?

Building and Sustaining Relationships: Interactions and Communications

Once an organization is alert to the full constellation of its constituencies, then the question becomes: How does it relate to them, or, even more to the point, how should it relate?

Organizations build and sustain relationships in two ways: personal interactions and direct communications. Personal, i.e., face-to-face interactions usually take place on either end of a spectrum. Organizations will hold special events where participation is largely passive. Alternatively, an E.D. or Development Director will visit major donors one-on-one for more intimate conversation. Often missing from the spectrum is the middle, such as inviting small groups on a tour of the facilities or hosting a lunch for past board members.

At present, with respect to communications, all the excitement is focused on social media. Organizations are rushing to gather a following on Twitter or a fan base on Facebook. In the excited haste, leaders are forgetting these fundamentals about effective external communication:
1. The direction needs to be two-way…Don’t just broadcast your message; also listen to what your constituents (and others) are saying about you and your message.
2. The frequency needs to be consistent…Settle on a pattern and stay with it.
3. Format and content both need to match the audience…A major donor should not be bothered with a direct mail solicitation (unless he or she is funding it!). A grantor may want to know more of the story behind a staff change than was put into the annual report.

Toward a Constituent Relations Program

The key to any useful constituent relations program is being aware of all the groups that are important to your organization and then proactively designing a means of staying connected with them that is mutually beneficial. Stay alert to the whole constellation of constituencies and you thereby avoid such pitfalls as forgetting to meet with a past board president or ignoring a volunteer at some major milestone. Match method, message, and frequency to your various recipients and you honor the different stakes that they have.