The Smart Communications Podcast

Liz Ricca, Big Duck’s Managing Director, shares tools and practices that can help facilitate great internal communications. She gives tips on how to use organizational values actively as an HR tool and provides a structured feedback exercise you can put into practice to spark meaningful, productive conversations between staff. Listen in.

Should nonprofits squeeze in a full rebrand when their website needs an update? In this episode of the Smart Communications Podcast, Sarah Durham, CEO of Big Duck, outlines the basic order of operations for a successful rebrand process—from the strategic plan to the website overhaul.

Cecilia Clarke, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Community Foundation, shares her experiences listening to over 1,000 community members about their vision for Brooklyn, and how those insights helped redefine their work and organizational values. She also shares tips on how to articulate your nonprofit’s values and get to the underlying why of your work.

Elianne Ramos, Senior Director of Communications and Public Affairs at National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and prior Latino Digital Coalitions Desk for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, shares her experiences launching and maintaining a YouTube Live platform for her organization. She discusses the benefits of YouTube Live in helping maintain consistent, digestible, and shareable communications that tie together all threads of her organization’s work, what it takes for nonprofits to start their own, and more.

In this episode of the Smart Communications Podcast Claire Taylor Hansen, one of Big Duck’s Art Directors, shares digital brand guide trends and best practices in the nonprofit and for-profit worlds and offers suggestions for keeping your brand guide alive.

Dan Gunderman, Big Duck’s Creative Director, tells all about taglines. Dan defines what taglines are, the function they serve in a nonprofit’s brand, and shares tips for crafting a tagline that is simple, meaningful, and truly unique to your organization.

Jessica González-Rojas, Executive Director of National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, shares her experiences planning for her sabbatical and the unexpected benefits it brought to her organization. She also shares tips for how nonprofit leaders can prepare for their own sabbaticals and set sabbatical policies for staff.

Word choices are important! Tune in to learn what words and phrases nonprofit communicators should avoid, gleaned from our popular “Words to Avoid” annual blog, plus tips for making more thoughtful language choices.

To successfully increase their organization’s visibility through campaigns, nonprofit leaders need to ensure they’re grounded in strategy—with concrete goals, audiences, and actions in mind.

Organizational values and brand personality are related but very different, and often get confused. We’ll define and differentiate them in this podcast.

Special events and annual galas may no longer be a nonprofit’s best bet for fundraising. Why? The world is changing rapidly—and so are audiences’ expectations. Tune in to learn more.

When materials need to be reviewed by working groups, committees, and senior level staff, project managers must master the art of getting consolidated feedback and, in some cases, herding cats. In this episode of the Smart Communications Podcast, Maya Ovrutsky, one of Big Duck’s expert Relationship Managers, shares her strategies for keeping projects moving smoothly.

Photography is an excellent way for organizations to show rather than tell. Tune in for tips and insights on how to invest in great photography on a budget.

Having a dedicated communications team is out of reach for many nonprofits, but the need to communicate effectively to external audiences is still there. This episode of the Smart Communications Podcast features a conversation with Wayne Ho, President and CEO of CPC, a large social services organization located in NYC. Out of CPC’s 4,000 employees, none have “communications” in their job title. Listen in to find out how Wayne encourages all staff to be effective brand ambassadors.

Figuring out the right people to have in the rebranding process at the right time is a real struggle. In this episode of the Smart Communications Podcast, Big Duck’s VP, Farra Trompeter, and Big Duck’s CEO, Sarah Durham, share their experiences leading nonprofit rebrands and serving as nonprofit board members, plus provide expert recommendations for defining the board’s role in branding.