Nonprofit communicators play a unique role in the profession, often working for mission-driven organizations and with limited resources or even serving as the sole comms person. To get a better understanding of how this sector operates, we spoke with two IABC members: Christine Clayton of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey — sharing insights on behalf of herself and her colleagues Arek Gazda, MA, SCMP, and Britt Musolino — and Gurpreet K. Bhatia, SCMP, of Heifer International.
Get a glimpse into their year in review, as they share moments of achievement — including building a team from the ground up — lessons communicators can learn from nonprofits, opportunities on the horizon for 2025 and more.
What was one of your proudest achievements this year and why?
Christine Clayton: Our proudest moment this year was really coming together as a team. This is the first year our organization has had a full-fledged internal communications team. (There are three of us.) We’ve spent the year learning how to best work together, play to each other’s strengths and become a cohesive group. And it’s really paying off.
Together, we’ve implemented our first internal communications strategy, built metrics into our work, started to shift our organization’s focus from outputs to outcomes, created an internal storytelling program and modernized our weekly newsletter. We also just launched our brand-new internal digital communications platform to replace our outdated intranet. Through teamwork, collaboration and support, we’ve accomplished a tremendous amount and are putting in place a truly strategic internal communications approach.
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatia: One of my proudest achievements this year was the creation of the Changemaker docu-film in partnership with NDTV, an Indian news channel, which brought Heifer International’s impact stories in Asia to a mainstream audience. This collaboration allowed us to tell the powerful stories of smallholder farmers, particularly women who have transformed their lives through Heifer’s support in regenerative agriculture and sustainable livelihoods. By working with NDTV, we amplified these voices across Asia, showcasing their resilience and achievements.
The docu-film reached diverse audiences and created a ripple effect in raising awareness about our work and mission in the region. It’s an example of how strategic storytelling, in partnership with influential media, can not only expand our reach but also inspire viewers to support sustainable, community-driven change. I’m incredibly proud of this achievement because it exemplifies the potential of communications to connect people with our mission, while also celebrating the stories of those who are truly changemakers in their communities.
What’s something communicators not in this space can learn from the nonprofit sector?
Christine Clayton: There’s actually great opportunity for different sectors to learn from each other. When building a team, be open to people from different sectors and backgrounds. Relish the opportunity to disrupt your team culture and work in different ways.
As our team has grown, we’ve brought together experience in philanthropy, nonprofits and finance/banking. Sometimes these perspectives clash, but every time they make our work so much better. Our nonprofit/philanthropy side ensures we’re leading with empathy, curiosity, and courage. Our for-profit side keeps our pace quick and shows us how to be agile. Together, we think and work, course correct and turn things around faster. And rather than being transactional, we focus our communications on people first.
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatia: Communicators outside the nonprofit sector can learn the value of a mission-driven approach to storytelling. In the nonprofit sector, the focus is on the people and the impact, rather than product features or profitability. This requires building genuine connections, using an empathetic lens and often sharing complex narratives in simple, relatable ways. Nonprofit communicators also have a deep commitment to purpose-driven work, where success isn’t measured by sales but by lives improved. This can inspire brand authenticity in any sector and foster a connection with audiences that goes beyond transactional relationships.
Additionally, nonprofit communicators often work in lean teams, where we wear multiple hats — taking on roles that span storytelling, marketing, crisis communications, campaign management and even elements of fundraising. This environment teaches us to be resourceful and adaptable, equipping us to pivot quickly to meet the needs of diverse audiences. Working in an increasingly volatile environment shaped by climate change, conflicts and pandemics, nonprofit communicators navigate uncertainty with resilience.
What challenges and opportunities are you planning for in 2025?
Christine Clayton: One of our biggest challenges will be bringing employees along with us on our journey to practice outcome-focused, strategic internal communications. We are working hard to respond to what we’re hearing from our colleagues. They want clearer, jargon-free and cohesive messages that help them connect to our work and each other. They desire consequential communications that help them know why something is important to them, their colleagues, and/or the organization at large. They also ask for less noise and fewer channels so the information they need and want is easy to find. That is a tall order.
In 2024, we’ve focused on our channels. We’re lifting information in ways that help employees know what they need to know and should know. We’re cleaning up some of the clutter. We’re taking responsibility for making it easier to find and understand the information. Our challenge is getting our colleagues to take responsibility for reading and acting on it. That’s a change for us. We’ll be making the information easily accessible and helping our employees become more self-sufficient.
While challenging, this really offers us a tremendous opportunity next year — to help our colleagues become more autonomous in their work and how they interact with the things they are responsible for knowing and doing as employees, become more engaged with the work we do as an organization, tell their stories and become more connected with each other. We can’t wait!
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatia: In 2025, a key challenge will be to continue to create authentic, impactful communication that brings human stories to the forefront, keeping us aligned with Heifer’s mission to end hunger and poverty while caring for Earth. We need innovative communication strategies to engage partners for increased resources to continue supporting smallholder farmers facing multiple and intensifying challenges, especially given the increasing severity and frequency of climate-related disruptions and environmental degradation.
On the opportunity side, we’re excited to leverage emerging tools, such as AI-driven insights and culturally relevant storytelling formats, to engage broader audiences and amplify our impact. Additionally, we’re focused on building stronger partnerships with mainstream media integrating smallholder farmers’ stories to broaden our reach and influence.
Any closing thoughts to share?
Christine Clayton: Some tenants we have lifted for ourselves this year:
- Even though we're in communications, we’re businesspeople first. As communication professionals, we need to understand several aspects of the business so we can provide better counsel to our leaders and partners.
- We have an internal communications strategy that centers on organizational need, and we focus our internal communications on outcomes, not outputs.
- Curiosity, networking and continued learning keep us and our work fresh and engaging. We’re never in a vacuum, and our team stays connected to our local networks through IABC.
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatia: I’d like to highlight the importance of building resilience within communications teams in the nonprofit sector. As a leader, my goal is not only to communicate our work effectively but also to nurture talent and encourage innovative thinking within the team. Investing in capacity-building and creating spaces where team members feel empowered to share ideas and take creative risks is essential, especially in our line of work, where flexibility and adaptation to new challenges are constant.