The Communications Leadership Institute (CLI) is dedicated to providing nonprofits with the training and tools they need to increase their communications capacity and use high-impact communications campaigns to achieve their goals. CLI offers the gold standard in communications training so nonprofits can use their voices in the most powerful way possible. The gold standard gets higher every year with CLI’s commitment to use the best and most current communications approaches in all its trainings.
Developing a strategic approach to communications can significantly increase an organization’s impact. However, when it comes to creating effective communications campaigns, nonprofits can face a host of challenges – from staffing shortages to tight budgets to competing demands from members, directors and other audiences. CLI is dedicated to addressing these challenges by arming nonprofits with the training and tools they need to achieve their social change goals. Through the programs described below, CLI helps nonprofits large and small leverage communications to increase the impact of their work.
CLEAR: Communicating for Leadership, Effectiveness And Results
CLEAR is a year-long skills-building initiative designed to help nonprofit leaders build a communications culture that supports their organization’s goals and drives its mission. Formerly called the Executive Training Program, CLEAR combines classroom teaching and online learning with one-on-one strategic communications counsel. Participants come together three times throughout the year to work with top communications professionals and study the elements of communications strategy, planning, tactics, evaluation and fundraising. The program also includes a series of webinars – online learning sessions – to support the classroom instruction and allow participants to share key training concepts with their staff and colleagues. Additionally, each participant receives one-on-one assistance from CLI trainers, who provide guidance as participants put lessons learned into practice. Click here for more information about CLEAR.
The SPIN Project
Serving an essential segment of successful social change movements, the SPIN Project is a nonprofit communications capacity building program that specializes in addressing the needs of social justice groups. The SPIN Project provides accessible and affordable strategic communications consulting, training, coaching, networking opportunities and concrete tools. The SPIN Project is best known for the SPIN Academy, an annual retreat offering grassroots leaders comprehensive communications training and support. SPIN also offers communications support in the form of communications audits, strategy development, training, and coaching. Click here to learn more about the SPIN Project, or visit www.spinproject.org.
Strategic Communications Grantmaker Training
CLI is launching a new program to serve savvy, effective grantmakers as they draw on an increasingly broad range of strategies and approaches to support their vision for social change. High-impact communications programs are vital to helping foundations – and their grantees – be more effective in achieving their program goals. The CLI Strategic Communications Grantmaker Training aims to help foundation program officers build the skills they need to leverage strategic communications opportunities and advance change.
Through a combination of training sessions and tailored one-on-one counsel, the program increases participants’ capacity to evaluate and shape communications strategies used by grantees in order to ensure their communications efforts support the shared goals and vision for change. Participating program officers will build the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to identify the potential value of strategic communications to support and advance all programmatic objectives, and effectively assess, apply and incorporate communications strategies into their own grantmaking portfolios. Click here for more information about the pilot program.
Tailored Trainings and Programs
CLI offers a variety of communications training consulting approaches to help nonprofits build their own internal communications capacity. We offer organizations training workshops or technical assistance to help them meet their specific needs. Additionally, nonprofits and foundations can combine training and technical assistance into a tailored training program. We can adjust our training offerings to create a one day workshop, full conference – or a series of trainings in which content builds on itself over time. CLI will create a training team combined of leading experts in the field (see our training team list for more details).
We’ve done extensive training on-site for community organizations across the country, including grantees of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. We’ve also created and managed a variety of custom-built training programs for foundations’ grantees. Click here for more information on our tailored training programs.
