When a nonprofit decides to strengthen its fundraising or communications, the focus is usually on what needs to change: a new major gifts program, a redesigned website, or a clearer way to communicate the organization’s impact.
But there’s another question worth asking before the work begins: who needs to be involved to make that change successful?
These projects often involve new processes, tools, or ways of working. But developing a plan is only part of the job. The people responsible for carrying it out need to understand the change, have a voice in how it takes shape, and be prepared to sustain it.
Why Nonprofit Leaders Wait to Involve Staff
The concern about slowing things down
Executive directors who hold off on involving staff usually have good reasons. They want to keep momentum, protect their team's time, and share a plan once it feels ready. There's also the concern that involving too many people will slow decisions or make a project harder to manage.
The cost of waiting
The people closest to the work often understand things that aren't visible from the leadership level. They know where processes break down, which tasks take longer than expected, and what gets done through informal workarounds. When that knowledge surfaces late, the result can be rework, avoidable delays, and training that has to be redone.
Involvement doesn't mean everyone decides
Involving staff early doesn't mean involving everyone in every decision. Before the first conversation, clarify whose expertise the plan depends on, who will be affected, who makes the final decisions, and who will own the work once it's running. This gives people a meaningful voice without sacrificing accountability or momentum.
What Early Staff Involvement Makes Possible
Bringing staff into a project early does more than make them feel included. It gives you information you need to design a change that works in practice and prepare the people responsible for carrying it forward.
Build a Plan That Reflects How Work Actually Happens
Your development coordinator knows what happens between a gift arriving and a thank-you going out. Your marketing lead knows how long a website update really takes and which approvals tend to slow it down.
These details matter. Without input from the people doing the work, it's easy to design a process that looks good on paper but doesn't account for the time, tools, and handoffs it requires.
Help People Navigate the Change and Carry It Forward
A new process can shift people’s responsibilities, routines, and priorities. Giving staff room to ask questions and raise concerns brings those impacts to the surface before implementation begins.
These conversations also give you a chance to explain what’s changing and what it means for each person’s work. People may disagree with some decisions, but they should understand the reasoning and have a chance to contribute.
What you hear will also show you where staff need training, which processes need clearer documentation, and what support they’ll need after the project wraps up. At Forward Cadence, we use these insights to shape training around the actual work each team does.
How to Involve Staff in a New Fundraising or Communications Plan
A few intentional conversations are enough to get started. They help you understand who will be affected, how the work happens today, and what people will need to make the change successful.
1. Identify Who Needs to Be Involved
Start by identifying who does the work, who contributes information, who makes decisions, and who will be responsible for the new process once it's in place.
On a small team, you may be able to name everyone quickly. In a larger organization, a stakeholder map can be a useful tool. It gives you a quick sketch of the working relationships around a process, showing who’s involved and how they connect to each other.
Pay attention to the people whose knowledge or responsibilities are essential to making the change work.
2. Explain the Change Before Asking for Input
People need context before they can give meaningful input. Explain what needs to change, why the organization is pursuing it, and what you hope to accomplish.
Be clear about what's already been decided and where staff input can shape the approach. This helps people understand the purpose of the conversation and sets realistic expectations about their role.
3. Map How the Work Happens Today
Talk with the people closest to the work and map the current process before designing a new one. Start with a simple question: What happens first, and what happens next?
For example, a fundraising process map might trace a gift from the moment it arrives through recording it in the CRM, sending an acknowledgment, and updating the donor's record. A communications process might follow a program from the initial idea through promotion and delivery.
As you map the steps, ask where work slows down, where handoffs break down, which tasks depend on one person's knowledge, and what works well that shouldn't be lost.
A whiteboard, sticky notes, or a shared document is enough to make the process visible and give staff a way to identify what needs to change.
4. Understand What People Need to Adopt the Change
Mapping the process shows you how the work gets done. The next question is whether your team is ready to do it differently.
Use what you've learned in your conversations to explore a few questions:
Understanding: Do people understand why the change is needed and what it is intended to accomplish?
Motivation: Do they see a reason to support the change? What concerns, competing priorities, or practical barriers might make it difficult for them to get on board?
Knowledge: Do they know what the new process will involve and what will be expected of them?
Ability: Do they have the skills, tools, time, and resources to put the new process into practice?
These conversations help you identify what kind of support people actually need. One person may need more context about why the organization is changing direction. Another may have concerns about how the change will affect their workload. Someone else may be ready to move forward but need training to use a new tool.
Addressing these differences early helps you prepare people for the change rather than assuming that communicating the plan and providing training will be enough.
Set Your Nonprofit Team Up for Successful Implementation
fundraising strategy or communications plan holds up when the people carrying it out are ready for the change. Without that preparation, even a well-designed plan can stall.
Successful implementation starts before launch. It means understanding how your team works today, involving the right people in shaping what comes next, and preparing them to put new processes into practice.
At Forward Cadence, we help nonprofits connect fundraising and communications strategy with the project leadership and change management needed to turn plans into lasting practice.
Have a fundraising or communications initiative on the horizon? Bring it to a Forward Cadence office hours session. We'll help you identify where implementation could get stuck, whose involvement matters most, and what to address before you launch.
