What makes your organization the only one of its kind?

Many organizations share a ‘why’, i.e. you are probably not alone in believing all children deserve access to quality education or that animals should be treated humanely or that we should protect our planet for future generations.

You would likely find yourself filed with at least a few other orgs under the same mental file folder, e.g. elementary school math, climate change advocacy, microfinance in Latin America, etc.

Your why is critically important. (It’s why the Messaging Roadmap starts at the Belief Proposition.) But it isn’t necessarily unique or compelling.

However, what and how you are going about solving your why should be unique and compelling. (Otherwise you wouldn’t have created an org to do it, right?)

Look at your lists from last week on competition. What makes you different? What sets you apart? What is it about your organization that would make a busy, busy person take the time to learn more?

This will help you answer the question we all ask when deciding whether to engage: “Why you?”

“Because we’re wonderful,” isn’t a compelling enough answer.

This Week’s To-Do

Go ask your donors, volunteers, members, donors, and fans why they decided to engaged with your organization. (To the extent possible, write down what they say verbatim. This will be handy when you write your top-level message.)

Next Week

Your Engagement Proposition (and, no, it doesn’t involve rings or getting down on one knee!)

Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp

This is week #4 of our Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp. If you’re just joining the Bootcamp, here’s what you need to do to get started: 1. Download the Messaging Roadmap, 2. Sign up for our free Tune-Up Tuesday videos, and 3. Complete messaging to-do’s outlined for you each week on our blog. Get caught up by reading posts from Week #1, Week #2, and Week #3!

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