Funding Formula Stage 4

Increase your visibility

Checklist 1: Increasing visibility

Use this Checklist to help identify ways of increasing visibility.

What	Details
Clear brand guidelines	How does your Member Association’s brand represent you? What does it say about you? How does your organization brand its clinics, other service delivery points and associated structures, including vehicles, and signposts for your main service delivery points? Are these in strategic places – for example, in between foreign Ambassadors’ homes and your main clinic?
Visibility activities	Does your organization conduct any “visibility” activities? This could include: – newspaper or magazine editorials (UK or foreign) or interviews, newsletters – presentations, attending workshops and conferences, – contributing to parliamentary groups – networking with other international, regional and national Civil Society Organizations – participation in working and advisory groups, social dinners, or other fundraising/networking events.
Clients’ feedback	Do your clients provide positive comments and evaluations? If so, how can you use this positive evaluation to your advantage?
Visibility events	Does your organisation organise and/or attend donor-targeted local, regional and international events (including conferences)?
Other stakeholders	Do your volunteers provide access to other stakeholders? If so, how do they do this, is it recorded, and can this be built on and strengthened?
Opinion leaders	Would and do opinion leaders recommend your organisation to donors? If not, how can you support and encourage this?
Social media	Does your organisation make the most of social media? – for example: who visits your website? How many people visit it? What do you do with that data? Make sure it is accurate and up to date. – Do you have the resources to run your website? Do you have accounts with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn? Do you update them regularly? – Blogging is an excellent way of sharing stories about your work – who would be the best staff member(s) to write blogs for you? – Google: is your organisation first or easy to find in a Google search?
Mass media	Does your organisation make the most of mass media, – Do you contribute editorials and formal articles for development, Civil Society Organisations or sexual and reproductive health and rights journals, websites and other media? – Do you receive publicity in magazines and newspapers through advertisements, readers’ columns, radio spots (especially on youth-friendly stations) and TV shows? They are expensive but can reach thousands of listeners and viewers – Do you provide interviews at key conferences, with parliamentary working groups, in the media, or in technical journals? This can be done with the support of your PR/Comms team
Printed and promotional materials	Does your organisation produce printed and promotional materials, such as a: – corporate brochure: this will tell the donor about your organisation, its goals, mission and its scope of work; it will also outline clearly defined, measurable and relevant success; try not to use jargon: this will make the brochure more useful to a wide number of donors, especially new ones. – regular bulletin: to keep donors and partners updated with your current work and achievements – case studies: testimonials and human stories are very important as they illustrate the impact of your work and your organisational expertise through the eyes of your stakeholders, especially clients; donors find these extremely helpful as they can use them in their own publications and promotional materials; also government donors can pass them ‘higher up’ so that they are included in, for example, speeches by MPs, Ministers and Senators – capability statement/factsheets: can contain concise information about your Member Association’s environmental challenges – for example, political opposition or unmet need for services, policy research, advocacy platforms; information that is factual must be well-researched, well-documented and up to date; this should also contain details about your organisation’s expertise, experience, achievements (for example, advocacy wins and the role that the organisation played in them) and unique selling points – films: a short promotional film about your organisation can convey very strong, emotional messages about your work, especially if it includes human stories; films can be uploaded onto your website and YouTube, for example, and can reach audiences that other media cannot – promotional materials: for example, leaflets to hand out at particular conferences; or items such as memory sticks – especially those that contain a recent presentation to donors, for example, can be a very useful aide-memoire – project brochures: these can contain information about specific projects, including goals, objectives, how it is being implemented, beneficiaries, intended results and how they will be measured, documented and disseminated; results are key as it shows that not only are you busy –but you are achieving outcomes – donors and other partners can include your organisation in their own publications, promotional materials, annual reports, speeches, and on their website: this can range from simply displaying the logo of your organisation, to writing articles about your organisation’s work or showcasing a particular project; tools such as Google Alert can help you find mentions – business cards: include three bullet points on the back, which communicate the three most important messages about your organisation
Public speaking and public events	Do staff from your organisation organise or speak at events, for example: – high profile conferences, workshops, meetings, consultations and summits? – parliamentary and legislative groups? Working and advisory groups? – sponsored events and challenges, such as walks and marathons? These can raise funds for your organisation and help to raise awareness at the same time – trade fairs and other relevant exhibitions or key public events which are heavily attended by influential members of the public and potential clients? These offer the opportunity to increase services and visibility – peer education, such as street theatre and community-based activities? – advocacy, public marches or demonstrations, as part of your advocacy programme?