You’re a busy nonprofit communicator, successfully creating content for your organization, but something feels off. You’re publishing consistently and staying visible, but you have nagging doubts about the topics you’re showcasing or the stories you’re telling. Your messages sound fine in isolation, but together, they’re starting to feel disconnected.
If what I’ve described sounds familiar, you might be experiencing a case of messaging drift. Nonprofit messaging drift is when an organization’s communications gradually lose strategic alignment, often showing up as inconsistent, reactive, or confusing content across channels.
Messaging drift doesn’t happen overnight, and it isn’t anyone’s fault; it can gradually happen to busy, well-intentioned teams. The key is spotting it and getting your messaging back on track.
What are the signs your nonprofit’s messaging is starting to drift?
I’ve worked with dozens of nonprofit teams experiencing messaging drift, and the signs are remarkably consistent. Here are a few examples:
1. Your social content is fun, but fuzzy.
Although your social media posts are engaging and well-written, their connection to your mission isn’t clear. Your content might get good traction online, but if someone new to your organization saw your feed, they wouldn’t understand who you are or what you do.
2. Your website tells a disjointed or lopsided story.
Over time, as your programs evolved or your nonprofit’s priorities shifted, you’ve made website content tweaks. But those one-off additions and updates have diluted clarity. As a whole, your website content has drifted away from your goals and no longer tells a cohesive story.
3. Your storytelling is heartwarming, but… It’s a bit confusing.
Without alignment, even great stories can cause drift. If you’ve been telling touching stories without clear links to your broader goals or priority areas of work and impact, your audiences might start to get confused about your mission.
4. Your team feels frustrated.
When messaging drifts, the creative process can feel inefficient and draining. If internal contributors are noticeably frustrated by either content creation struggles or inconsistencies across teams and channels, you may have lost your anchor in strategic messaging alignment.
What causes nonprofit messaging to drift?
There are many potential causes of messaging drift, and they can sometimes overlap. Examples may include:
- A lack of a framework to follow (such as brand messaging, a communications plan, or an editorial calendar)
- Staff turnover that disrupts continuity
- Content designed more for engagement than strategy
- Reactive communications (common when the marcom function is treated like an order-taker)
- Urgency-driven content, created “because we need to post or publish something”
- “Shiny object syndrome”
These causes of inconsistent nonprofit messaging are understandable, and often result from teams trying to keep up.
A case of messaging drift – and realignment
I worked with one nonprofit that was producing a steady stream of practical, fun content on social media, but that content was increasingly disconnected from the organization’s core mission and positioning. They were unsure what to share on their blog and in their newsletter (due to a lack of anchor in strategy), so those channels were relatively quiet. The result was social media content that significantly skewed their messaging.
After a communications audit, we began developing a new brand messaging platform aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities. They have since used their brand messaging to guide storytelling and content planning, as well as to evaluate new content ideas. Years later, they still rely on the framework to keep their messaging focused, balanced, and mission-driven. They publish substantial content across various channels, positioning them as a leader in the space with a clear focus.
Quick check for messaging drift in your nonprofit’s communications
If you suspect that your organization has experienced messaging drift, take a closer look at a few recent communication samples and answer:
- What is the purpose of this communication? Which strategic priority or goal does it support?
- Which current priority audience did you create the content for?
- What engagement are you inviting? What’s the connection between the call to action and a current priority or goal?
Your ability (or inability) to answer these questions is one of the easiest ways to diagnose messaging drift.
Nonprofit messaging drift is common — and fixable. What matters is noticing when your content is pulling away from strategy and taking small, intentional steps to realign it.
If you’d like an outside perspective, I can help; most of my clients come to me with some degree of messaging drift. My priority content assessment offers a quick, focused consultation designed to help you spot inconsistent nonprofit messaging and refocus your content where it matters most. And if you need a more in-depth review, consider my communications audit service for nonprofit organizations.
