Sustainable Waterloo values communications without much of a budget. How is that possible?

A quick recap

In an earlier post, I asked if your organization values communications? In it, I stated that you needed to pay for communications in some form if you valued it.

Then I saw how a communications firm was celebrating its anniversary by doing pro bono work for charities. That lead me to discuss with Jason Shim on Twitter whether an organization needed to pay for communications to show they valued it. Since it was a topic that was difficult to discuss 140 characters at a time, I decided to write a blog post on it where I asked if your organization is willing to pay the price for free communications? I pointed out how relying on free communications is not in a nonprofits best interests.

Jason did get me to see that it was possible for an organization to value communications without paying for it. I said so in that post but indicated that it was the exception.

Sustainable Waterloo’s approach to communications

I was intrigued though by a local example that Jason gave of a local organization that values communications without putting a price on it: Sustainable Waterloo Region. They must be doing something right because I featured their website in my weekly #WRawesome Online radio spot.

I met with Kelly McMath who is the group’s Public Relations Manager to learn more. She is a volunteer as are the other communications related positions in the organization. She explained that they value people who are so strongly committed to the organization’s cause and innovative approach that they are willing to dedicate their times and skills to fulfilling its vision. She confirmed that their website was created by volunteers.

The organization values communications expertise. Kelly brings a wealth of experience as a communications professional but they also like to bring in those who are getting started in their careers.

At about the same time, Jen Carreiro, Sustainable Waterloo Region’s Public Relations Coordinator and Social Media Manager and another volunteer, wrote “To Pay or Not to Pay?,” a blog post inspired by my conversation with Jason.

She makes several key points:

• Volunteers can be professionals including those with decades of experience.
• Sustainable Waterloo Region treats volunteer positions the same as paid staff.
• The volunteer communicators have been with the organization for one to four years.

The last two points are infused with a sense of camaraderie and enhanced thanks to the dedication to the cause desired.

So yes, it’s possible to value communications without having much of a budget for it but it takes:

• an Executive Director/CEO and leadership team that values quality communications
• a team of long term volunteers with experience or training as professional communicators who are committed to putting the time in required to meet the organization’s needs
• a strong personal attachment by the volunteers to the cause
• you need at least some pro bono support to supplement the volunteers skill set such as polished videos

I think it also helps that the organization is young and without volunteers it could not achieve its mission and present itself professionally.

Could Sustainable Waterloo Region benefit from a communications budget?

Yes, Sustainable Waterloo Region could benefit from having a larger communications budget or a communications professional.

Jenn makes that point in her post when she talks about how a name change and brand revamp was achieved because they had a budget to pay her to lead the work.

In my conversation with Kelly, we discussed how an unexpected life change could affect someone’s volunteer commitment. Finding a replacement is not as easy as it would be for a staff person or external help.

So while their model works, I’m not sure this approach is sustainable long term for any organization. However, if you know of an example where it is. Please share!

Most organizations do not have the combination of factors that make Sustainable ‘s Waterloo Region’s approach work. Too often, they rely on free or low quality communications as a cost saving measure. If that sounds like your organization, I still suggest you ask yourselves if you are willing to pay the price for free communications.