OVERVIEW
Mama Cash works to ensure that feminist collective action led by women, girls, and trans and intersex people is resourced, supported and connected within and across social movements. We use our role as a feminist funder, our experience supporting feminist activism, and our geopolitical location in the Netherlands to mobilise and move funding to feminist initiatives and groups.
For additional information about our work, please see: http://www.mamacash.org/
Mama Cash mobilises money from donors toward feminist movements via two complementary strategies: fundraising and donor influencing. With each, we are committed to ensuring that more and better money moves to feminist movements: through Mama Cash, via other women’s funds, and/or from other funders directly to self-led groups and activists. Our Strategic Guide calls for Mama Cash to reach the following fundraising and donor influencing goals: 1) Secure more funding from individual donors. 2) By 2030 annually raise €25 million in funding from all sources. 3) By 2030, leverage for feminist movements double what we fundraise for Mama Cash.
To enable Mama Cash to deliver on our fundraising and donor-influencing ambitions, we need to develop a communications strategy. This work will result in a new strategy that is rooted in the 2021-2030 Strategic Guide. The individual hired for this position will work closely with Mama Cash’s Communications team to create a robust and adaptable communications strategy that increases our brand awareness, enables us to reach new audiences and grows our supporter base.
BACKGROUND
While individual donor income can be unpredictable, it continues to be important and necessary. We know that generating support from individual donors is a relationship-building exercise that strengthens our connection with people who care about funding feminist activism. We seek to sharpen our strategies so as to mobilise money from individual donors and seek to increase individual giving both in the number of people and overall income.
We have learned that people are inspired by stories about how feminist activists are challenging and shifting injustice, but they need clear, simple communication and a direct call to action when we want them to donate money. While our online communication, engagement and donations have increased over the past decade, our online platforms and systems still do not enable people to give quickly and easily online. And while our fundraising has been bold and creative, it has lacked focus, clarity and the investment required for growth at the scale we seek.
While we will continue to nurture – and grow – our presence in the Netherlands, in Dutch, we are also pivoting and sharpening our focus on international, English-language audiences. We need a communications strategy to achieve this.
SCOPE OF WORK
The key elements of the project are outlined below, and we welcome the advice of specialist consultants on alternative or adjusted approaches to the work.
We seek a consultant to:
Research and Analysis
- Conduct a comprehensive analysis of Mama Cash’s current communication practices, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
- Review internal documents relating to our communication strategy.
- Conduct a critical analysis of communication trends, best practices, relevant policies, ethical narrative standards and identify what has worked for stakeholders and actors within the global movements related to gender equality and social justice, and the donor community.
- Engage and consult with staff on the direction Mama Cash’s communications work should take.
- Get input from a selected number of stakeholders.
Goal Setting and KPIs
- Assist Mama Cash’s Senior Communications Officer in:
- Defining specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives that reflect the organisation’s commitment to resourcing feminist activism.
- Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the strategy’s effectiveness, such as number of supporters converted into donors, increased engagement, changed perceptions, increased brand awareness and broader awareness of feminist issues.
Target Audience Analysis
- Assist Mama Cash’s Digital Marketing & Campaigns Officer and the Media Officer in:
- Segmenting target audiences based on demographics, psychographics, and attitudes towards gender and social justice related topics.
- Developing personas for different audience segments to better tailor communication messages and approaches.
Message Development
- Assist Mama Cash’s Writer and PR & Media Officer in:
- Crafting clear and compelling messages that resonate with feminist values, foster radical solidarity, challenge traditional gender norms, and inspire action.
- Developing messaging guidelines that emphasise respect, inclusivity, and the use of non-binary language.
- Promoting the involvement of marginalised voices, to ensure that they can share their experiences and perspectives.
- Developing protocols on how to engage and gather input from Mama Cash’s grantee-partners to support the communications work
Channels and Platforms
- Assist Mama Cash’s PR & Media Officer in:
- Evaluating existing communication channels (website, social media, email newsletters, etc.) and determining their effectiveness in reaching the target audiences.
- Recommending new channels or modifications to existing ones to ensure maximum reach and impact.
Engagement and Participation
- Assist Mama Cash’s Digital Marketing and Campaigning Officer in:
- Developing strategies to encourage active engagement, including converting supporters into donors, and participation from the audience, including interactive campaigns, discussions, community building and calls to action.
- Assist Mama Cash’s Events Project Manager in:
- Developing a strategic guide and protocol for the implementation of transformative, consistently high-end, and accessible events – whether in-person or virtually – that:
- align with the organisation’s vision, mission, messaging and brand, and
- inspire, inform and promote Mama Cash’s work.
Crisis Communication and Risk Management
- Assist Mama Cash’s PR & Media Officer in:
- Developing a protocol for addressing potential controversies, backlash, or negative reactions related to crisis in the organisation.
- Training the communication team in strategies to navigate such situations while upholding feminist principles.
Implementation Timeline
- Create a detailed timeline outlining the phased implementation of the communication strategy, with specific milestones and deadlines.
DELIVERABLES
The consultant will produce a Communication Strategy Document – A comprehensive document outlining the overarching communication strategy that integrates intersectional feminist principles and praxis.
This document will serve as a guide for Mama Cash communication work. It will include:
- 1. Feminist, Anti-disablism and anti-racism Style & Messaging Guide:
A clearly defined feminist style & messaging guide that outlines the core principles and values that will guide all communication activities. This style & messaging guide will ensure consistency in communication across different channels and materials, all the while ensuring accessibility and alignment with intersectional feminist praxis.
- 2. Content Strategy Plan:
A comprehensive plan outlining content themes, formats, and distribution strategies. This plan will ensure that the organisation’s communication materials effectively convey feminist values and engage the target audiences in line with the organisation’s fundraising goals.
- 3. Engagement and Participation Strategy:
A strategy to encourage active engagement and participation from the audience, including interactive campaigns, discussions, and calls to action. These activities will foster a sense of community and involvement.
- 4. Event Strategy & Guidelines:
A strategy and guideline for in-person and/or virtual events that are accessible, inspiring, informative, consistently high-quality, and are in alignment with the organisation’s vision, mission, messaging and brand.
- 5. Target Audience Segmentations and Personas:
A detailed breakdown of target audiences segmented based on demographics, psychographics, and attitudes towards gender-related issues. Along with this, audience personas will be developed to provide a deeper understanding of each audience segment’s needs and preferences.
- 6. Recommended Channels and Platforms:
A recommendation for the most suitable communication channels and platforms (e.g., social media, website, email newsletters) to reach and engage the identified target audiences effectively.
- 7. Crisis Communication and Risk Management Protocol:
A protocol outlining how to address potential controversies, backlash, or negative reactions and crisis in the organisation. This protocol will help the organisation respond thoughtfully while upholding feminist, anti-disablism and anti-racism principles.
- 8. Implementation Timeline:
A detailed timeline outlining the phased implementation of the communication strategy, including milestones, deadlines, and responsible parties.
- 9. Monitoring and Evaluation Framework:
A framework for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the strategy’s performance. This framework will include methods to collect data, analyse results, and make informed adjustments to optimise the strategy’s impact. The framework will feature a set of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives that reflect the communication’s team mandate and goals (fundraising, brand awareness, socializing programmatic and influencing activities, and supporting strategic partners). Each objective will be accompanied by key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress and measure success.
- 10. Presentation and Training Materials:
Presentation materials that can be used to communicate the developed strategy and its components to internal stakeholders. Training materials may also be included to educate the organisation’s communication team on implementing the strategy effectively.
These deliverables will collectively ensure that the Communication Strategy Document constitutes a well-defined and actionable plan that reflects feminist, anti-disablism and anti-racism principles, promotes gender equality, and empowers marginalized voices.
SUBMISSIONS
Required skills, competences and experience
The candidates should be aware that Mama Cash ascribes to specific values and we will support the selected team of consultants to make sure these values are adhered to during the course of the assignment. Specifically, this translates in the following expertise:
- Knowledge of (funding) feminist movements, women’s, girls’, trans people’s and intersex people’s human rights, philanthropy and international development.
- Proven experience in developing and implementing successful communications strategies for (feminist) organisations.
- Ethical approach to data collection and content gathering.
- A deep understanding of digital communication trends, social and traditional media platforms, and online engagement strategies.
- Strong analytical skills to assess communication effectiveness and recommend data-driven improvements.
- Familiarity with cutting edge story telling methodologies.
- Understanding of how data can be used for campaigns and fundraising initiatives.
- Exceptional writing skills for public communication to diverse audiences.
- Fluency in oral and written English, good working knowledge of Dutch, French, Spanish and/or Russian is an asset.
- Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and lead workshops or training sessions.
- Experience working in an international, virtual working environment across time zones with sensitive data.
- Lived experience of resisting injustice and different forms of systemic oppression including but not limited to sexism, racism, homo-antagonism, trans-antagonism, classism and/or disablism, and their intersections.
Expression of Interest
Interested parties should submit a concise Technical and Financial Proposal (maximum 5 pages).
The Technical Proposal will focus on the consultant’s interpretation of the TOR, their relevant experience and qualifications and the experience of the proposed team members. The Technical Proposal should include a draft workplan and feature the consultant’s proposed approach to delivering the objectives of this assignment in view of feminist, anti-disablism and anti-racism principles and praxis. The proposal should be accompanied by a cover letter and include two examples of previous work with similar scope as this assignment.
The Financial Proposal will focus on the cost of delivering the entire task including logistics and presented in Euros.
The completed proposal should be submitted to Olave Basabose ([email protected]) with the email subject reading “Communication strategy consultant Mama Cash”. This TOR represents the requirements for an open and competitive process. Proposals will be accepted up to 13 December 2023. Contract terms and conditions will be negotiated upon the selection of the winning applicant for this TOR. Only selected parties will be contacted.
Key dates
Contracting: 31 December, 2023
Final deliverables: 30 April 2024
Project Budget
The budget available for this project is to not exceed 35,000 Euro, including VAT. Any possible costs outside of the above-mentioned budget are to be discussed with the Senior Communications Officer ahead of expenditure.
Project Governance
The successful consultant will work closely with Mama Cash’s communications team. The successful consultant will be supervised by the Senior Communications Officer and the Deputy Director of Partnerships and Communications. The consultant will be available for bi-weekly check-in meetings with the Mama Cash communications team.