María Cano, head of communications and marketing of the Spanish Association of Foundationshighlights the importance and the keys to communication in the foundation sector. Foundations, and third sector organisations in general, are agents of change and transformation. For a long time, they have been wrongly perceived as unprofessionalised entities that practice charity without great pretensions or demands in their impact, management and obligation.
Over the last few years and protected by the constitutional right to found, foundations, more than 8,000 in number, have grown extraordinarily in volume, professionalisation, good governance and influence on the development of our society. They currently employ 256,000 people, invest more than 8,000 million euros a year in projects of general interest, generate 0.8 % of GDP and serve more than 35 million people. Their diversity and agility allows them to reach all kinds of situations and groups, so that we can say "where there is a need, there is a foundation".
The keys to good communication are based on three aspects:
- Report
- Connect
- Involve
Each is essential and complementary. We cannot improve the perception of the sector without informing. To this day, there is still a high percentage of the population that is unaware of our capabilities to improve their situation. Our mission is to reach out to citizens with their needs, shortcomings and problems. But how can we help them if they do not know us? There is no other way. On the other hand, information generates transparency, which is the great and greatest demand and criticism of the sector. For a long time we have confused humility with opacity, gratuitousness with responsibility, which has generated great currents of mistrust. This excess of information zeal has had very negative consequences for the sector.
It is necessary to connect with citizens' emotions in order to create a state of opinion and joint action. We are not simply service entities, oblivious to people's sensitivities, motivations and concerns.
The foundation sector is full of stories worth telling, real stories of people who give their work, their talent and their time generously where it is most needed. There are few things in life that connect us more as human beings than stories. And if we can connect, they will embrace our values and goals as their own. Most importantly, they will develop that trust that validates our existence.
Finally, if we manage to inform and connect, it will be easy to reach the third milestone, involvement. With involvement we move forward, grow and inspire civil society to collaborate in our projects. Together we are more and we are more when we are able to involve and create community. Nowadays, interest groups, the so-called stakeholders, not only want to know what is being done with their donations, with their contributions. Now they want to participate, they want to be there, and that is why we have to know how to connect.
In this context, the digital transformation offers us a thousand different possibilities to communicate effectively. The Internet acts as a loudspeaker for who we are and what we do. Social media are great conversation platforms that allow us to connect with users' emotions and provoke responses.
But we are also great experts on what is happening. Our knowledge and experience in the different areas of the sector, as many as situations, is of great value in the analysis of current affairs and their transformation.
With good communication we generate trust, inspire, raise awareness, connect, transmit, involve and transform. That is the challenge and the way forward.
María Cano, Head of Communications and Marketing of the Spanish Association of Foundations