Marketing & Communications

Marketing is one of NCF’s four core planning strategies for high-performing affiliated funds: To increase public awareness of and community engagement in your affiliated fund.

It is vital for an affiliated fund to showcase its value to the community—beyond dollars. Marketing for a nonprofit includes all the tools that are common to most businesses, such as promotional brochures, printed materials and displays, Web sites and links. It also includes annual letters of appeal to targeted audiences, annual reports and public celebration events, all of which are produced with the audience and the desired response in mind. 

The key to effective marketing is good communications—being able to clearly articulate your case statement of why donors should contribute to your affiliated fund. As part of a communications plan, the affiliated fund develops relationships with the media that result in visibility through newspaper articles and radio interviews.

Marketing is more than just “promoting” your affiliated fund. Marketing is everyone’s job.

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”
(American Marketing Association 2007)

Whether you are creating a brochure, awarding a grant or asking for a contribution, you are marketing…you are involved in a process that brings value for your community.  This section of the Web site includes information, techniques and templates to help you communicate the value that your affiliated fund brings to your community and to your donors.

The Nebraska Community Foundation has many tools, techniques and templates to help you spread the word about the good work you are doing in your community or organization. If you are a member of one of our affiliated funds you can access this assistance by logging into the site.  Whether you are a novice or an experienced marketer, we suggest you begin at the top with “Getting Started.”