Communications Innovation Lab

The Innovation Lab serves as a playground to test bold new ideas and innovative strategies. Perhaps your organization is expanding its area of focus. You know the end goal, but have not quite figured out the best communications tactics. The Lab can support bringing this vision to life. Whether it’s trialing new storytelling formats, exploring narratives that help shift audience sentiment, or pioneering new approaches to communications for behavioral change, our Innovation Lab is where creativity knows no bounds.

Identifying the messaging and narratives your organization needs to better engage donors, elected officials, influencers and other audiences to make your mission and impact more tangible and relatable.

The Lab uses analytics and research methods to gain insights into audiences. Our approach allows us to forecast future conditions. We look to identify emotional triggers and market signals to support communications activities. By understanding these trends, we can develop communications strategies for your organization that are timely, relevant and impactful.

Your organization needs a step-by-step communications plan to execute using internal resources. You get the expertise of a team working together to craft a communications plan rooted in ethnographic principles and neuroscience to advance your cause.

Language is ever-evolving, reflecting changes in society, culture and identity. For social change, this evolution is particularly relevant as nonprofits and foundations are often among the first to observe social constructs requiring the need for more formal language to reflect justice and equity in relational dynamics.

If your organization is seeking to take a thought leadership position to define and drive priorities on a social issue, or amplify specific narratives to advance your organization’s field of expertise, we will help you strategize to engage your sector, or other actors, toward a shared vision. The Innovation Lab provides the generative, novel thinking-space and guidance to influence the trajectory of a sector or mission.

By tailoring messages and creating customized narratives for donors, you can enhance donor loyalty and increase fundraising effectiveness. This can take many forms, for example, bespoke events or the development of communications scripts for fundraising communications.

Your staff can learn new skills and approaches to communication. This type of training can have a long-term positive impact, enabling the organization to sustain innovative practices even after the engagement with the lab ends.