Industry Insights

By Joy Portella, President, Minerva Strategies ̶ As a communicator who deals with global issues, I constantly struggle with how to convey the work of our clients to people who will never see that work firsthand. I’m not talking about trying to construct victims’ narratives. I want people to understand and respond to the plight…

By Sara Veltkamp, Senior Associate, Minerva Strategies — Infographics, as in ‘informational graphics,’ have been around for a long time. Maps, for example, are infographics, and cartography was an up-and-coming career long before we had things like computers, or even the wheel. According to the crowd-sourced knowledge of Wikipedia, the earliest of map-like infographics were…

By Katy Penrod — Minerva Strategies Communications is often viewed as an afterthought in the field of philanthropy. Many are of the mind that communications falls outside the real “meat” of what an organization does. We know this to be untrue. Communications is an integral part of how organizations promote positive change, and a new…

By Sara Veltkamp, Minerva Strategies — While we know that people use social media, we tend not to think of social media users as people. They are metrics; they are likes, shares, and sometimes, unfortunately, trolls.  However, it’s important to remember that each avatar connects to a person with a personality, private life, stressors, and all…

By Rebecca Zanatta, President and Founder of RJZ Connections, Inc. and a Senior Consultant at The Ostara Group  ̶ Rebecca (Becca) is one of Minerva’s partners.  We team up with her for work with clients that need smart fundraising expertise on their team.  We love Becca because she understands the connections (and differences) between communications and development.  Plus, she…

By Kini Schoop, Director of Media Relations for Change.org— Confession: I don’t read celebrity tabloids or watch Entertainment Tonight. I avoid most celeb-tainment as a rule. This was not always the case for me, as I spent many years working in communications for fundraising organizations that had tremendous support from the entertainment community. (I have recently…

By Sara Veltkamp, Minerva Strategies — Domestic is different Communicators for U.S.-based international development organizations are often put in a tough spot.  We’re in the U.S., busily drafting content for websites, brochures, and social media posts about how the work of our organization or our client’s organization is changing the world for the better. However,…

By Joy Portella, President, Minerva Strategies — This week NPR and ProPublica did a scathing story on The American Red Cross and how they spent the $500 million raised after the Haiti earthquake in 2010. I was the director of communications at a large international NGO for several years, including during the Haiti earthquake response, and…

Roger Burks, Online Communications Officer, World Bank— There is no template for nonprofit storytelling – but there are truths. I’ve seen and heard many examples of how storytelling has failed or fallen short at a variety of organizations, from big to small, local to international. Most of the time, it comes from a fundamental lack of…

By Roger Lloyd, freelance marketing and communications writer — Ok, everybody break off into groups! Collaboration is the magic dance of creative communication and is an essential element of what we do. It builds successful relationships, adds weight and buy in to our work, and gives ownership of ideas to all parties involved. When it works…