“Strategic communications is much more than a set of tools. It's also a process guided by the relentless pursuit of answers to deceptively simple questions. What do you want to accomplish? Who has to think or act differently for that to happen? What would prompt them to do it? Those are the same questions that also drive good grantmaking, and that's no surprise.”

– Frank Karel,
Former vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and
Rockefeller Foundation, and founder of The Communications Network

Savvy, effective grantmakers are drawing 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. Effective communications strategies are critical to the success of many grantmakers’ program goals, and program officers are positioned to drive those strategies, create greater impact and increase the effectiveness of the entire nonprofit field.

To this end, the Communications Leadership Institute (CLI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the communications capacity of nonprofit organizations and foundations, offers a training for grantmakers based on its hugely successful program for nonprofit executives, CLEAR: Communicating for Leadership, Effectiveness And Results. Piloted in 2007, the 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 to ensure their communications efforts support the shared goals and vision for change. Participating program officers build the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to:

• Identify the potential value of strategic communications to support and advance all programmatic objectives – whether or not a given program is explicitly centered on communications per-se;
• Successfully review, critique, and evaluate communications efforts submitted to them for funding;
• Assess and gauge the communication potential of prospective grantees as part of the grant selection process;
• Effectively assess grantee progress and gauge the viability of grantees’ strategies and tactics – which will ultimately determine grantee success or failure in their foundation-supported program work;
• Closely review communications proposals with an informed eye for grantees’ capacity to effectively execute on proposed strategies and tactics; and
• Effectively assess, apply and incorporate communications strategies into their own grantmaking portfolios.

Upon completing the CLI Strategic Communications Grantmaker Training, participants will possess:

• An improved grasp of the need for strategic communications planning as an integral part of every campaign or program they are recommending for funding;
• Increased knowledge of key components required in a communications plan, and the ability to determine if these are present and accounted for in grant requests;
• A better understanding of the challenges grantees face when trying to convey their messages and meeting their communications goals; and
• With added communications savvy, an ability to strengthen the nonprofit community by funding communications campaigns that are most likely to succeed.

The CLI Strategic Communications Grantmaker Training features two training sessions. Session One runs September 9-11, 2009 and covers the fundamentals of communications grantmaking. Session Two runs November 19-20, 2009 and offers advanced strategy and skills-building sessions. All participants must complete Session One before moving to Session Two.

Click here to view the 2008 sample agenda.

Training sessions are led by top communications practitioners in the field, including CLI director Holly Minch; Spitfire Strategies president Kristen Grimm; storytelling and presentation skills guru Andy Goodman; and more. The same all-star faculty members that regularly lead CLEAR are joined by guest speakers from the philanthropic field. Curriculum for both sessions is shaped by our experience leading trainings for the staff of the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. For those who elect strategic counsel as a component of the training package, participants can also benefit from one-on-one coaching as they integrate lessons learned into their work. Participants can combine the training with strategic counsel tailored to each participant’s individual needs, to help them make the training actionable in their day-to-day work environments.

The Strategic Communications Grantmaker Training is ideal for foundation program officers who are regularly called upon to review proposals, advise grantees and channel resources to implement the vision of their funding institutions. Participants should appreciate the role of communications in effective social change efforts, but need not be communications experts. While the training is geared towards program officers, communications staff are welcome to participate as a team with program staff from their foundation.

Click here for a list of past program participants.

CLI is now accepting applications for the 2009 class – the application deadline is May 29, 2009 and space is limited. Fees for the program are as follows:

Sessions One and Two: $3,750 (total for both sessions)

Tuition includes the cost of the sessions plus all training materials and also covers breakfast and lunch during the training sessions. Participants are responsible for their own travel and lodging for the trainings and other related costs.

To learn more, contact us at info [at] communicationsleadership.org