“I do always think that there is room to amplify the voices of the people that you serve and center those voices. One great way is to set up focus groups as much as you can to get those ideas and voices. To show them what you've been working on, and what you made before. And then ask them, “What do you think? What are your ideas? If you could make a campaign for this organization? What would you do?””This week in the studio we’re joined by Kate Lord, Director of Advocacy and Communications at She's the First. She discusses the innovative Girl Activist Fellowship program launched last year that empowered 30 girls to create and lead four advocacy campaigns for the organization. Kate shares details about the campaigns around poetry, children's books, art shows, and interviews. Tune in for powerful conversation about how to create campaigns with blended outcomes across programs, communities, and donor engagement. You’ll hear best practices for designing community-driven campaigns that achieve mission impact at scale through grassroots leadership and partnership. Episode HighlightsKate’s journey to the work she is doing today + an overview of She’s The First (1:00)Overview of the four campaigns led by Girl Activist Fellows (10:00)Metrics and impact of the poetry social media campaign (16:00)Lessons learned from this year’s campaigns (18:30)How this year’s unique art show campaign engaged donors and communities (22:00)Learning to expect your communities to propose bolder ideas than you could ever imagine (24:00)Kate’s best practices and lessons learned for community-driven campaign design (26:00)About Kate:Kate is a social media strategist, photographer, and videographer based in Carrboro, N.C. From local newspapers to The Wall Street Journal to New York University, her career has taken her all over the globe to tell stories in newsprint, on news websites, and on social media.In 2022, she earned my M.A. in Digital Advocacy and Brand Communication from New York University. She believes that nonprofit organizations can tell stories that lead with their values, preserve the dignity of their communities, and raise money.She serves as the Director of Advocacy & Communications at She’s the First, a nonprofit that teams up with grassroots, women-led organizations to ensure that girls everywhere are educated, respected, and heard.Kate has shared, “I believe that there is a better, more inclusive way to communicate about our campaigns. It is possible to successfully raise money for a cause while keeping the focus on the needs of local people rather than the needs of donors. We can, as nonprofit communicators, create marketing that doesn’t exploit. We can include our clients in the storytelling process from beginning to end. “Guest links:Kate’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katelordAdditional links:She’s The FirstKate’s Website***Hosted by the brilliant team at Feathr (https://www.feathr.co/).Feathr is the nonprofit marketing platform designed to help mission and member-based organizations build purposeful connections with their community to grow impact with confidence.Special thanks to our producer, We Are For Good Studios, and to Feathr’s very own Max Anderson, who wrote and performed our theme song.