The Smart Communications Podcast - podcast cover

The Smart Communications Podcast

The Smart Communications Podcast helps busy nonprofit leaders build their communications skills and develop their organization’s voice. Every episode shares insights and practical tips to help you leverage strategic communications to advance your nonprofit’s mission.
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Episodes

Episode 121: Why should you prioritize internal communications?

Communicating first or at the same time with your staff as external communications roll out builds trust. Farra Trompeter, co-director, chats with Fatima Jones, senior director of marketing and communication, at The Apollo, about what a high-functioning internal communications team can look like.

Sep 28, 202216 min

Episode 120: How can you engage your community in your brand?

Why is it important to center your community in shaping and representing your organization’s brand? Ally Dommu, director of strategy, talks with Farra Trompeter, co-director, about the value and practices of community-informed branding.

Sep 14, 202215 min

Episode 119: How can you create and use your vision, mission, and values?

Clear vision, mission, and values are essential to establishing and reinforcing your brand. Farra Trompeter, co-director, and Ryan Gerhardt, senior copywriter, explore how your vision, mission, and values can help provide clarity and build stronger, lasting connections with your audiences.

Aug 18, 202215 min

Episode 117: How does branding make things easier?

Farra Trompeter, co-director, chats with Elandria Jackson Charles, chief development and communications officer at Blue Engine, about their decision to rebrand and the freedom and confidence that comes from being clear on who you are and what you stand for.

Jul 20, 202214 min

Episode 115: Why does belonging matter in the workplace?

Farra Trompeter, co-director, talks with DEI thought leader and author, Rhodes Perry, about the benefits of fostering belonging and inclusion in our workplaces–and the costs when we don’t. They discuss how to build power, understand exclusion, and steps you can take to actively make things better.

Jun 22, 202220 min

Episode 114: What can white managers do to reduce racial harm?

Farra Trompeter, co-director, talks with equity and justice practitioner, coach, and consultant, Yejin Lee to discuss how white managers can disrupt harmful and racist behaviors, the importance of identification, reflection, and accountability for transformation.

Jun 08, 202231 min

Episode 113: How can you use research to understand your brand perception?

Looking to raise awareness, increase visibility, and become a household name? Before any of this can happen, it is important to conduct research to understand your organization’s brand perception. Farra Trompeter, co-director, and Ally Dommu, director of strategy, share tips on how to get started with research, ways to engage your community, and how to process insights to make changes.

May 25, 202219 min

Episode 112: How can you facilitate inclusive conversations?

Ally Dommu, director of strategy, & Key Jackson, deputy executive director for programs & power building at GLSEN dive into facilitation practices and how to create spaces where all people can engage and feel comfortable joining in the discussion.

May 11, 202219 min

Episode 111: How can your organization stay human-centered in an artificial world?

Farra Trompeter, co-director, chats with Allison Fine and Beth Kanter, co-authors of The Smart Nonprofit, Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World about how we can reduce potential harms such as embedded bias and surveillance capitalism, and share some insights into how nonprofits can prevent these harms from taking root.

Apr 27, 202224 min

Episode 110: How can technology create an equitable world?

How can tech better meet community needs? Farra Trompeter, co-director, chats with leading public interest technologist, Afua Bruce, and CEO of NTEN, Amy Sample Ward about their book “The Tech That Comes Next, How Changemakers, Philanthropists, and Technologists can Build an Equitable World.” and how to use technology for social change.

Apr 13, 202224 min

Episode 109: How can workers tap into their own power and voice?

How can organizations promote worker democracy? Learn how worker-ownership can help solve social problems and ways to share leadership with your team and community. Farra Trompeter, co-director, and Esteban Kelly, executive director at the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) and worker-owner and co-founder of Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA), chat about these topics and more in this episode of the Smart Communications Podcast.

Mar 30, 202228 min

Episode 108: How can you promote legacy giving?

Farra Trompeter, co-director, interviews Lori Kranczer, founder and CEO of Everyday Planned Giving, about her work in the planned giving space and how organizations can develop their legacy giving programs and have better connections with their donors.

Mar 16, 202211 min

Episode 106: Protecting one's time: How can wellbeing play into decision-making?

How do you describe how you make decisions in your role? Hannah Thomas, director of learning and innovation at Big Duck, talks with Fatima Jones, senior director of marketing and communications at the Apollo Theater, to discuss how to set up boundaries to protect your time and wellbeing and how to enforce these boundaries in your decision-making process.

Feb 16, 202223 min

Episode 105: Why do government agencies need strong brands?

How do government agencies use communications to connect with the public? Listen as Ally Dommu, director of strategy, and Charlotte Levitt, director of marketing and communications at the NYC Campaign Finance Board (CFB), reflect on CFB’s rebrand journey and shed some light on the factors that go into branding for government agencies.

Feb 02, 202222 min

Episode 103: Tiny Habits: How can small changes change everything?

It’s a new year! Do you have new behaviors you want to adopt or unwanted behaviors you want to stop? Tiny Habits is a simple and effective method to change behavior. Learn how to change behaviors or adopt new ones with Farra Trompeter, co-director and Edith Asibey founder of Asibey consulting.

Jan 05, 202223 min

Episode 102: How can you create a healthy workplace in remote settings?

How can your organization prioritize wellness and productivity? Farra Trompter, co-director, talks with Meico Marquette Whitlock, founder and CEO of Mindful Techie, in this episode packed with ways to add a more mindful approach to your work-life and tech-life balance.

Dec 16, 202126 min

Episode 101: How do you know when your nonprofit has a jargon problem–and what can you do about it?

Jargon is common in the nonprofit sector. For some it can communicate knowledge, but for most people, using jargon, acronyms, and complicated phrases can be alienating.. Big Duck’s founder and board member, Sarah Durham chats with Bill Furmanski, senior director of communications at the Fair Labor Association about de-jargoning the messaging in your organization and how to make sure your audiences can understand who you are in plain language.

Dec 01, 202123 min

Episode 99: Who should be on your communications team?

Sarah Durham, Big Duck’s founder, and Kivi Leroux Miller, founder and CEO of the Nonprofit Marketing Guide, share tips that will help any nonprofit strengthen their communications team and improve its capacity to succeed.

Nov 03, 202122 min

Episode 97: How nonprofit communications have changed over the years

Nonprofit staff have become more sophisticated in prioritizing the goals, audiences, strategies, and tactics to guide their communications. Listen in as Sarah Durham and Farra Trompeter talk about the changes in communication approaches and activities and the importance of communications in the nonprofit sector.

Oct 08, 202127 min

Episode 96: How can you use donor personas to guide your communications?

How can you use donor personas to guide your communications? At Big Duck, we define personas as tools that define a segment of your audience, who they are in connection to your work, what they care about, how to best reach them, where to find them, and more. Farra Trompeter chats with Mica Bevington, US director of communications and development at Humanity and Inclusion about how their team defines personas.

Sep 23, 202119 min

Episode 95: Equity: How can we design organizations where everyone thrives?

Equity helps leaders create more inclusive organizations using human-centered design and behavior change principles. Farra Trompeter talks with Minal Bopaiah, founder of Brevity & Wit and author of “Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives” about her passion for equity and why it is critical for nonprofit organizations.

Sep 08, 202118 min

Episode 94: How can you update an iconic brand?

A classic brand identity is hard to change. Old perceptions about your organization’s brand or internal shifts can be challenging. Listen in as Sarah Durham talks with Mark Graham, chief marketing & communications officer at American Friends Service Committee about AFSC’s distinctive brand and the organization’s journey to evolve its iconic identity.

Aug 26, 202121 min

Episode 93: What can a good tagline do for your nonprofit?

Ever wondered what a good tagline can do for your organization? In this episode of the Smart Communications Podcast, Farra Trompeter, partner and chief growth officer, discusses taglines, brand strategy, engaging community in your brand, social justice, and more with Chandra M. Hayslett, communications director, from the Center for Constitutional Rights and Ambar Mentor-Truppa, vice president of communications, from the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.

Aug 11, 202124 min
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