47. Communicating Impact in a COVID World — Beth Allen

“In 2020, every story is a COVID story.” For many nonprofits the season between Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and December 31st is traditionally a big time for giving.  It's an important time for ensuring that the nonprofit can continue to work the following year. During this time being able to communicate the impact of your work is crucial. When COVID-19 first hit the US, everyone wondered if it was going to be a season, but it’s clear that for those who work globally, this is going to stretch well into the year and into 2021.  The challenge facing everyone right now is how to connect with their audience and tell engaging stories of people triumphing and escaping adversity, while addressing COVID. Beth Allen, who is the Communications Senior Manager at Food for the Hungry, dives into how they are doing just that.  How do you keep people safe without compromising someone's life just trying to get a story?  If you work around the world, how do you get people to send you content?  How do you adjust your layouts when the quality of your content isn't as good? Along the way we also talk about what it means to have informed consent for people when you are gathering stories and how to think through the complications of talking about someone’s story without revealing that someone actually had COVID-19 and the stigma that might bring. Referenced Links Food for the Hungry FH.org FH on Insta Beth Allen Beth on LinkedIn