For many charities, the relationship between social media and fundraising teams can sometimes feel complicated. Different priorities, competing demands and limited resources can create tension. Yet when you look beyond the day-to-day pressures, the reality is much simpler: communications professionals and fundraisers are working towards the same goal.
Having worked in both fundraising and social media teams, I’ve seen first-hand how closely connected the two disciplines really are. While their methods may differ, both functions are focused on engaging audiences authentically and inspiring action.
While fundraisers are busy building all-important relationships with supporters and generating income, social media professionals are telling compelling stories, protecting and strengthening the brand, and engaging audiences across multiple channels. Both are absolutely essential to helping charities achieve their mission.
As disability rights activist Helen Keller once said, ‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much’.
The same is true for communications and fundraising teams: when they work together, they’re able to build stronger supporter relationships and achieve far more than either team could alone.
So why does friction occur?
More often than not, friction develops when teams lose sight of the bigger picture. Different ways of working, competing priorities and a limited understanding of each other’s expertise can create unrealistic expectations and encourage siloed thinking, making collaboration with teammates much harder than it needs to be.
Fundraisers can often become frustrated when social media teams aren’t involving them in decisions that affect supporters, such as when fundraising appears to be deprioritised in favour of brand or campaigning work on the ‘gram.
From a comms perspective, frustrations often arise when fundraising teams don’t fully recognise the importance of brand consistency, bring comms in too late to shape the work effectively, or underestimate the time and capacity required to deliver a project well. There can also be a sense that the wider audience needs of the charity aren’t always fully considered beyond supporters.
Where the friction really comes from
One of the most useful ways to bridge this gap is to help fundraisers understand the breadth of a Social Media Manager’s responsibilities. Social media teams don’t exist solely to support fundraising. We’re often involved in every aspect of our charity’s work; from service delivery and campaigning, to research, volunteering and retail, as well as handling reactive and crisis comms.
And whilst of course supporters are a vital audience, we comms folks are well aware that they’re not the only ones! Helping fundraisers see this wider perspective helps them understand our day-to-day reality of spinning a million plates, some of which might be on fire…
But by the same token, social media teams need to recognise the pressures fundraisers face. Income generation is critical to a charity’s ability to deliver its mission – without it, the charity wouldn’t exist! And at a time when many fundraising teams are shrinking, fundraisers are feeling more pressure than ever to meet their targets. That often results in stressed- out colleagues who are laser focused on their own team’s goals, who just don’t have the brain space to consider the bigger picture.
Building better collaboration
So, what’s the key to overcoming these challenges? Mutual understanding and respect, of course!
Both teams need to take the time to understand how the other works, what pressures they face and the expertise they bring to the table. That requires a shift away from an “us and them” mentality towards a more collaborative and outward-looking culture.
Strong collaboration is built on good relationships. Something as simple as getting to know colleagues as people, not just job titles, can make a significant difference. It’s much easier to challenge ideas constructively, negotiate priorities or suggest alternatives when there’s an existing foundation of trust and respect.
Practical steps that can help:
- Get to know colleagues as people, not just job titles — trust makes it easier to challenge ideas, negotiate priorities and suggest alternatives.
- Holding regular joint meetings creates opportunities to share plans, flag upcoming projects and build understanding of each team’s priorities.
- Use shared briefing processes and aligned objectives so everyone’s working towards the same outcomes.
- Assign clear project ownership to avoid the dreaded “too many cooks” problem that can derail good work.
- Bring in external support if tensions have built up over time and need a neutral, outside perspective.
I speak about this more in this episode of Third Sector’s podcast, ‘How to solve friction between comms and fundraising teams’.
Ultimately, social media and fundraising are not opposing forces competing for attention: they’re complementary disciplines that rely on one another to succeed. And when both teams understand and value each other’s contribution, charities are better placed to build stronger relationships, tell more compelling stories and generate greater impact for the people they support.
Because when social media and fundraising teams work together, everyone benefits.
If you’d like to explore further how to build better ties with your fundraising colleagues and help your charity increase income, join me, Sarah Goddard and Alex Fearon at ‘The Great Disappearo’ event on 16 September.
AI has been used to save time by the author, in reformatting a pre-existing talk on this subject into a blog piece.
Image credit: Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
