The Gift of Communication: The Untapped Power of Communicators in Driving Community Change

Are you looking for ways to give back to your local or regional community? This is a story about a simple way to do so and the chain reactions and generosity you’ll discover along the way.

Supported by IABC, the Border North East Communicators’ Network recently held a Gift of Communication event in our corner of the country, Victoria, Australia. It’s not a major centre and, in many ways, it’s probably not much different than where you live. There are many nonprofit organizations and community groups supporting local communities. Many have fewer and fewer resources to do so. Sound familiar?

Do you realize that what you have in terms of your professional communications and marketing skills offers a huge boost to these groups? The Gift of Communication is one of the IABC Foundation’s pillars and matches local communication professionals like you with volunteers from community groups, so you can give them advice tailored for their needs.

Like me, you may not have heard of the Gift of Communication. It’s mainly offered as part of World Conference for more than 14 years, according to Gift of Communication cofounder Jan Graves.

So, what are the chain reactions and surprising things that happened when we offered the Gift of Communication in our area?

It all started when I was told about the Gift by Zora Artis in an unrelated conversation. Zora started the giving chain reaction. She sent me some initial information. I knew our community groups would benefit from that, so I asked how to get started in our region.

I committed to organizing the event and, four months before the date, magic started happening.

This was a new idea but so simple to explain. When I began talking about it locally, people came forward with offers of help.

Eleven members of the local Communicators’ Network said yes, they would volunteer their time on the day. Members and other community leaders donated funds to cover lunch, and the event was free for participants. One Network member raised it the with the local federal member of parliament who was very supportive, as she is constantly seeking ways to assist community groups. She donated a financial prize.

Because they deal with community groups seeking publicity, local media got on board with the call for applications and post event coverage.

The water corporation said yes, they would provide use of their auditorium for free for the day.

IABC members from Melbourne volunteered to drive the seven-hour return trip and give up their day to be part of it.

This meant lots of people were talking about the Gift and Ross Monaghan, chair of IABC Asia Pacific, was one of them. Anyone who knows him knows he has a vast network. There’s now interest in holding a Gift in Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, in more regional centres in Victoria — and you could hold one in your area.

What was the main thing we learnt?

We found matching the communication and marketing skills and experience of the advisor to each community group’s needs was important. That way, they could maximize the time they had together. We offered early career communication professionals to sit with a more experienced peer as a learning opportunity. You could offer this event as a professional development day for your communication and marketing team or as part of your corporate social responsibility days, if you have them.

Having eight tables busy with discussions all in the same room produced a buzz and made the work fun. Getting each group to speak about their experience before the day finished also showed groups there were similarities in their challenges and needs and provided a networking opportunity for them.

The Gift received highly positive feedback. The representatives from a local organization that supports young people said they developed a “greater understanding of how we can communicate with our audiences, that will help change people’s perception, reasoning and behaviours in our mission to create a brighter future for our young people.”

Those from a new community group said the Gift “was a fresh, informal and yet highly productive way to learn. We were able to develop specific messages and processes to promote our work.”

The creative director of a major arts event praised the benefits of “working with a purpose,” she said. “It was fantastic and really allowed the specific focus on the area of communications we needed greater confidence and more support with.”

While the Gift helped community groups practically, it also demonstrated the power of our work more broadly — its importance for any organization or event.

It also created new connections and lit some sparks. This event can do the same in your community. Why not consider being part of the global community of communications professionals helping local groups?