Topic 9 of 15 · Communications and advocacy
Nonprofit communications, storytelling and advocacy
Free nonprofit communications plan tools, storytelling guides and advocacy toolkits for nonprofits and NGOs.
- 17 resources
- 17 free
- 4 tools and templates
- 4 sub-topics
Most nonprofits communicate a lot and plan very little. A clear message aimed at the right people does more than a busy social media calendar.
This shelf helps you plan communications, tell stories that respect the people in them, run advocacy campaigns (including where civic space is shrinking) and check whether your influencing work is moving anything.
You need this shelf if
- You post often but can't say who it's for
- You use photos and stories of the people you serve and want to do it ethically
- You want to change a policy and don't know where to start
- A funder asks how you measure advocacy results
Key questions for leaders
- Who exactly do you need to reach, and what do you want each of them to do? Smart Chart 4.0 →
- Do the stories and images you use respect the people in them? Dóchas Guide to Ethical Communications →
- What policy or practice would you change if you could change one? Advocacy toolkit →
- Who are your allies, and who has the power to make the change? A New Weave of Power, People & Politics →
- How will you know if your advocacy is moving anything? The Advocacy Strategy Framework →
What's on the shelf
9.1 Strategic communications and messaging
- 9.1C117
Smart Chart 4.0
An online planning tool from Spitfire Strategies for foundations and nonprofits. It takes a team through 6 steps to build a communications plan tied to the organisation's goals, covering objectives, audiences, messages and tactics. It is used online at smartchart.org, and a PDF version can be downloaded. Teams use it in planning sessions to test whether each communications choice supports the change they want.
Start hereCurrentTool or templateFree with sign-up - 9.1C112
A Practical Guide to Integrated Communications
A workbook from Idealware that helps nonprofit staff plan communications across channels as one system. It has 18 worksheets in 4 sections: getting started with a self-assessment and an ideal channel mix, planning a campaign with schedules and a week-by-week calendar, planning ongoing maintenance content, and combining both into an integrated week and a longer-term plan. Teams can work through it from start to finish or use single worksheets.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 9.1C113
Communications Toolkit
A toolkit by R. Christine Hershey of Cause Communications for nonprofit staff who run communications with limited resources. It draws on national audits of nonprofit communications needs. It explains how to write a communications plan and set a budget, and gives tools for raising awareness and funds. The print edition has 71 pages, an index and 9 loose worksheets. Teams use it to build or review a basic communications plan.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 9.1C114
The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector
An article from the Spring 2012 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review for nonprofit leaders, communicators and funders. The authors observe that many nonprofits still use their brand mainly for fundraising. They describe a shift toward using brand to pursue long-term social goals and to build internal identity, cohesion and capacity. They set out the brand IDEA framework: brand integrity, brand democracy, brand ethics and brand affinity. Readers use it to rethink the job of a brand.
ClassicShort readFree with sign-up - 9.1C115
A Guide to Hope-based Communications
A web guide for human rights and social justice communicators. It sets out 5 shifts: talk about solutions over problems, say what you stand for, create opportunities in place of threats, show support for heroes over pity for victims, and show that change is in hand. Each shift ends with a Take Action prompt. The guide closes with tips on framing workshops and storytelling tools, plus further reading on narratives and values.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 9.1C116
Framing Issues for Social Justice Impact
An online directory from the Commons Social Change Library that collects framing and messaging research on about 35 issues, from abortion and climate to crime, economy, housing, human rights and transport. Each entry gives the title, the producing organisation, country, year, format and a short summary of findings. Campaigners and communicators use it to find tested messaging research before writing their own messages and narratives.
CurrentKey online resourceFree
9.2 Storytelling and impact stories
- 9.2C119
Dóchas Guide to Ethical Communications
A guide from Dóchas, the Irish network of international development and humanitarian NGOs, for anyone who produces images and stories about the people NGOs work with. It updates the 2006 Dóchas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages. It sets out 3 core values and 4 commitments: authentic representation, contributor-led stories, informed consent, and doing no harm. Each commitment has practical steps, reality-check questions and a final checklist. Signatories follow 10 minimum requirements.
Start hereCurrentKey manual or guideFree - 9.2C118
Stories Worth Telling
A guide from Georgetown's Center for Social Impact Communication and the Meyer Foundation, based on a review of storytelling at more than 150 social impact organisations. It covers 5 building blocks of a story: character, trajectory, authenticity, action-oriented emotions and a hook. It then walks through a story cycle of planning, production, distribution and evaluation, and ends on building a storytelling culture. Companion checklists and tools include a culture self-assessment and a story bank guide.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree with sign-up - 9.2C120
How to Write About Africa in 8 Steps
A 34-page handbook from Africa No Filter for development and NGO writers who tell stories about Africa. It sets out 8 steps: challenge unequal power relations, engage respectfully, tackle bias in hiring, address biased storytelling, use ethical guidelines and informed consent, understand the local context, avoid rushed schedules, and invest in your people. Communications teams use it to review how they gather and tell stories.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 9.2C121
Putting the people in the pictures first
Guidelines from Bond, the UK network for international development organisations, on gathering and using images and stories ethically. The 2024 update reviews the 2019 original and brings it in line with Bond's core values, including anti-racism, do no harm and locally led development. It addresses colonial legacies and racism in NGO imagery and adds a new resources section. A 1-page Statement of Ethical Practice comes with the full PDF.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree
9.3 Advocacy and campaigning
- 9.3C123
Advocacy toolkit
A Tearfund Roots guide for community groups, churches and NGOs who want to speak up on issues that affect poor communities. It has 8 sections: what advocacy is, why it matters, the advocacy cycle, issue identification, research and analysis, planning, taking action, and monitoring and learning. Each section holds teaching notes in question-and-answer form, tools that work as handouts, and training exercises with facilitation instructions.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree - 9.3C122
A New Weave of Power, People & Politics
An action guide for activists, trainers and NGOs who plan citizen-centred advocacy. Its 17 chapters move from politics, democracy and power to 4 planning moments: looking inward, understanding the big picture, defining problems and choosing priority issues. Later chapters cover mapping strategies, policy hooks, allies and opponents, messages and media, mobilisation, lobbying, leadership and coalitions. An annex gives tips for planners and trainers. Chapters can be downloaded one by one.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 9.3C124
Advocacy in restricted spaces
A toolkit from Lifeline, a consortium of 7 NGOs, for civil society groups that want to do advocacy where civic space is closed or shrinking. It uses case studies and concrete examples to show ways of advocating while keeping risk to staff and partners low. CSOs, and the funders and consultants who support them, use it to plan advocacy that weighs safety alongside impact.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 9.3C125
Influencing for Impact Guide
An 81-page Oxfam guide for civil society organisations, activists and campaigners who design influencing strategies for programmes or stand-alone campaigns. It gives steps, tools and examples on context analysis, power analysis, setting objectives, building narratives and choosing tactics. Further sections cover research, lobbying, digital and social media, mobilisation, and changing behaviours and social norms. Teams use it to plan, run and learn from influencing work.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree
9.4 Advocacy evaluation
- 9.4C128
The Advocacy Strategy Framework
A brief from the Center for Evaluation Innovation that presents a 1-page tool for setting out the theory of change behind a public policy advocacy strategy. It poses 6 questions for advocates and funders to answer. The framework helps define audiences and how they need to change, consider where other advocates stand, and choose tactics and interim outcomes. Teams use it as a starting point in place of linear box-and-arrow diagrams.
Start hereClassicTool or templateFree - 9.4C126
Four Tools for Assessing Grantee Contribution to Advocacy Efforts
A brief from the Center for Evaluation Innovation for funders and evaluators who back advocacy. Policy wins usually come from many actors, so it is hard to say what one grantee added. The brief gives 4 tools for judging a single grantee's contribution to a shared advocacy effort. Funders can use the tools at the start of a grantee relationship to agree expectations, or at the end of a grant to review results.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 9.4C127
Shifting the dial
A 16-page NPC guide for charities, funders and consultants who run or back policy change campaigns. It covers 3 areas: planning a campaign with impact in mind, choosing the right tools to evaluate it, and learning and improving as the campaign goes on. It draws on examples from several UK organisations. Teams use it to track progress, adjust strategy and respond to changes in the policy environment.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree
Related project ideas
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Advocacy campaign strategy & design
“You want to influence policy or shift public discourse but your advocacy efforts are unfocused — you don't know who to target, what to say, or how to mobilise others.”See project
Communications strategy development
“Your communications are completely reactive — you lurch from one announcement to the next with no plan, no consistency, and no shared sense of what you are trying to say.”See project
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