Women’s funds and nonprofit organizations are doing important work in reproductive health, rights and justice (RH/RR/RJ). To fulfill their missions, they need to make an effective case to funders and donors. With so many issues competing for every dollar your message matters. With that in mind, we have created this toolkit designed to help your organization determine your key messages and craft your narrative. In 2010, the Women’s Funding Network (WFN) with support from Campbell & Company and consultants in Europe and Africa sought to determine what would persuade more major donors to give to organizations working on RH/RR/RJ. This toolkit is grounded in research from the target audience of 90 current and potential donors in the U.S., Africa and Europe.

1. PUT THE POWER IN HER HANDS
A Toolkit for Communication on Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

2. Women’s funds and nonprofit organizations are doing
important work in reproductive health, rights and justice (RH/
RR/RJ). To fulfill their missions, they need to make an effective
case to funders and donors. With so many issues competing for
every dollar your message matters. With that in mind, we have
created this toolkit designed to help your organization deter-
mine your key messages and craft your narrative.
In 2010, the Women’s Funding Network (WFN) with support
from Campbell & Company and consultants in Europe and
Africa sought to determine what would persuade more major
donors to give to organizations working on RH/RR/RJ. This
toolkit is grounded in research from the target audience of 90
current and potential donors in the U.S., Africa and Europe.
THIS TOOLKIT
TIPS & TRICKS
Throughout this toolkit, look
to this right hand bar for
important Tips & Tricks,
examples and guidance that
you can use to implement
this messaging toolkit.
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3. The toolkit is intended to help cultivate funding from major
donors if you are a:
• Women’s fund;
• Donor interested in advancing women;
• An NGO working in the field of reproductive health, rights
and justice.
The toolkit was written to be adaptable for funds and
organizations working in local, national and global contexts in:
• U.S.
• Europe
• Africa
YOUR GUIDE
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4. TEXT
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Crafting a Message
• Your Message Matters
• How to Use Messages
• Why These Messages
Share Your Story
• Crafting Your Narrative
• Message vs. Narrative
• Problems and Barriers
• Shared Values
• The Language
• The Solution
• The Impact
• The Ask
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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5. CRAFTING A MESSAGE
What is a message and how do we use it?

6. Messages are a way for you to:
• Frame your work through values
• Engage hearts and minds
• Tell people a story
• Share both challenges and solutions
Compelling messages follow Head, Heart, Ask:
• Head: use common sense supported by data.
• Heart: tell stories with emotional content.
• Ask: for funding, for leadership, for support.
YOUR MESSAGE MATTERS
TIPS & TRICKS:
To tailor your organization’s
messages, interview your
stakeholders, staff and donors
to incorporate their vision.
Asking their opinion will help
strengthen your case and
increase the likelihood they
will agree with and share your
messages.
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7. Tap into shared cultural values. Some values can vary culture
to culture. What may be a key cultural value in Europe such as
individual expression, may not resonate with an audience in
Asia. However, there are many values shared across cultures,
such as education and caring for family. Use shared values to
anchor your messages and connect with listeners’ emotional
core.
• Examples: respect, self-determination, empowerment, etc.
Consistently repeat your messages and pepper them into all
your communications.
• Messages used on your website should parallel messages
used in your elevator pitch and social media and so on.
Always remember to include your call to action.
• Tell donors what you need them to do. For example: Visit
our website, donate, support our mission.
HOW TO USE MESSAGES
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DO’S & DONT’S
Messages Do
• Inspire interest
• Invite people in
• Make a connection
• Gear up for more
information later
Messages Don’t
• Explain a process
• Take the place of an
accurate description
• Convey complicated ideas
• Use jargon

8. The current framework is limiting. Taken as a whole, reproduc-
tive health, rights and justice (RH/RR/RJ) can be very broad,
overwhelming and politically divisive. While these phrases
conjures up many things for many people, most people’s first
reaction is to think of “choice,” which can be unhelpful.
Bring the issue to life. Donors want statistics and real-life
stories and to make the issue more tangible.
Less “sky is falling,” more solutions. Donors want solutions
and positive language. They do not want to be overwhelmed
by seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Make the connections explicit, not implied. Donors want to
see how RH/RR/RJ affect women throughout their lives.
Connecting to issues such as health, family and education is
motivating. Doing so also broadens the conversation beyond
limiting and polarizing topics like abortion.
WHY USE THESE MESSAGES?
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9. SHARE YOUR STORY
Building and sharing a narrative that will resonate with your audience.

10. What is a narrative...
Your narrative is your story. It is the foundation for your
content, whether that content is an fundraising appeal or an
elevator pitch to a stranger at a conference. You should ad-
just your narrative based on your focus, the audience you are
speaking with and the appeal you are making.
A narrative should:
• Demonstrate your challenges or barriers
• Speak to your audiences’ shared values
• Include proven and effective language
• Connect your cause to a solution
• Highlight the of the impact of your work
• End with a call-to-action
CRAFTING YOUR
NARRATIVE
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11. Before crafting your narrative, it’s important to understand
the difference between a message and a narrative.
A message…
Is a short, simple idea that helps to communicate your
point and, when combined with other messages, forms a
narrative.
A narrative…
Is your story. A combination of several key messages,
tailored for the person you are speaking to, a narrative is
the story that drives your organization’s mission.
MESSAGE vs. NARRATIVE
YOUR GUIDE
Crafting a Message
• How to use messages
• Why these messages
Share Your Message
• Shared Values
• Problem and Barriers
• Frame the Solution
• Describe the Impact
• Make your Call to
Action
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12. There are multiple challenges facing women in the space of
RH/RR/RJ and many barriers to raising money to helping fight
those problems.
Every organization will have their own specific challenges and
barriers, and sharing those with potential supporters is
important. However, remember not to dwell on the negative,
rather pivot the conversation towards the positive work your
organization is doing.
DEMONSTRATE
CHALLENGES & BARRIERS
EXAMPLE:
Barrier: Across the world,
women are struggling to
gain access to the
resources and tools they
need to become their own
health advocates.
Reframe: Opportunities
for women are opening up
as organizations like ours
work to educate and em-
power women and girls.
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13. • Values are the foundation of our beliefs.
• Values connect the heart to the head, bringing emotional
content to decision making.
• Facts and arguments that support our values can per-
suade us to take action.
While some cultural values vary depending on the region,
shared values across all cultures include:
• The importance of health
• Caring for family
• The value of education
SHARED VALUES
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EXAMPLES:
Below are a few examples
of shared values your
organization can use to be
effective in framing
support.
• Knowledge
• Access
• Options
• Community
• Families

14. PHRASES
“Every woman…”: It can be a challenge to start a conversation
on RH/RR/RJ without jargon. Open that door by acknowledg-
ing the shared experiences using the phrase “every woman.”
“Ripple effects”: This phrase makes the bridge right away
between reproductive issues and other important social (and
funding) priorities.
“Self-determination”: Ensuring that every woman has the abil-
ity to make decisions for herself, her family, and community.
“In a vacuum...”: To discuss the many influences in a woman’s
life and the social forces she is challenged by helps to
underscore that no woman makes a decision “in a vacuum.”
EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE
FROM FOCUS GROUPS
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15. ADVANCE & AVOID
TIPS & TRICKS:
It’s very important to
explain challenges
without overwhelming
your audience. We need to
balance the urgency with
constructive
arguments.
Use this sheet for quick
tips on what to “Advance”
and what to “Avoid.”
Advance
• Short, relatable language
• Optimism
• Solution-based language
• Empowerment & agency
• Being part of a community
• Culture is fluid
• Immediate action
• Demonstrate impact and
outcomes
Avoid
• Jargon
• Fear-based language
• Assigning any blame
• Women as victims
• Women in isolation
• Culture is fixed
• Change in the future
• All inputs without out-
comes
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16. An effective overarching mantra for your narrative is:
“Put the power in her hands”
RATIONALE
• RH/RR/RJ work generates many positive results, but the
unifying outcome is women and girls’ empowerment.
• Your work is about ensuring women’s self-determination.
It involves creating an environment that makes it possible
for her to flex her power and make decisions for herself,
her family and her community.
• “Put the power in her hands” also has a double-meaning;
it’s about empowering donors to become leaders and ac-
tivists in the areas they support and invest in.
HIGHLIGHT YOUR WORK AS
THE SOLUTION
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17. We believe every woman and girl should have:
• Power of Mind
• Power in Hand
• Power to Make Her Path
• Power to Change Her World
CORE MESSAGES
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18. Power of Mind
Information and knowledge so she can
make the right decisions for her health, her
family and her future.
FRAME THE SOLUTION
EXAMPLES:
Education, and particuarly
health education,
can empower a woman to
ask the questions that they
need answered and make
decisions about her and
her family’s health.
The more information
women have about their
health, the more informed
decisions they can make.
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19. Power in Hand
Access to the services that will keep her
and her family healthy and strong.
FRAME THE SOLUTION
EXAMPLES:
Providing affordable and
available medical care is
critical to ensuring women
are able to make their own
decisions about their
medical treatment, with-
out intervening factors.
Access to medical services
on a regular basis will
prevent small, treatable
medical issues from
growing into larger,
chronic problems. Provide
women that access and
their community will see a
decrease in the number of
serious preventable
medical issues.
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20. Power to Make Her Path
Options and the freedom to act on her
convictions.
FRAME THE SOLUTION
EXAMPLES:
Together we can empow-
er women and girls to
find their own voice and
assert their right to make
decisions about their own
body.
We will not be limited by
cultural or social barriers,
rather we will encourage
women to confront those
challenges and embrace
their right to make their
own decisions.
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21. Power to Change Her World
The training, tools and resources to
empower her to make a broader impact in
her community, for her community.
FRAME THE SOLUTION
EXAMPLES:
Through our small loan
program, women and girls
receive the education and
financial support they
need to become business
leaders in their own
community.
Our health center is
providing the knowledge
and the training for
women and girls to not
only make informed
decisions about their own
health, but become
advocates and resources
for their entire community.
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22. When donors are considering making a gift, they need to be
convinced that their dollars are going to an organization or
network that will create the largest possible impact.
DESCRIBE THE IMPACT
EXAMPLES:
Tell stories that link
donors’ actions to impacts
that enable women to
improve their wellbeing,
care for their families and
realize their goals.
“Your donation can help…
• Make a difference in a
woman’s life – at each
stage of her life.
• Create opportunities
for women and girls to
go to school and invest
in their livelihoods and
futures.
• Ensure that RH services
are not a privilege, but
a reality for the over
10,000 women our
program serves.
Whenever possi-
ble provide hard
data or infograph-
ics to demonstrate
your impact.
In messaging,
it’s imperative to
communicate the
Return on Invest-
ment (ROI). A mix
of data and
anecdotal
evidence works.
Sample for demonstration purpose:
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23. Make the donors or funders an active part of the solution.
Examples:
Your support will ensure…
• giving birth is no longer a common cause of death
worldwide.
• women of color have the resources to make lasting,
positive change in their communities.
• we can address violence against women as part of the
RH equation.
IMPACT STATEMENTS
?
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24. Making the call to action is the most important element of your
message - but it is often excluded.
• Lead with the conviction that change can happen now.
• Position their support as part of the solution by describ-
ing the impact their gift can have.
• Speak to transforming individual lives and also broader
societal change.
• Highlight connections to issues such as health, family and
education, which are motivators and help align RH/RR/
RJ to other funding priorities.
MAKE THE ASK
TIPS & TRICKS:
Making the call to action
can, for some people, feel
uncomfortable.
It’s important to remember
that these potential
supporters are:
• Compelled by RH/
RR/RJ;
• Invested in the future
of their community;
• Interested in how
they can get involved.
Your call to action isn’t a
nuisance. It’s an opportu-
nity for someone to act.
Be bold.
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25. “Did you know that out of every 100 women giving birth, 30
never live to hear the first cry of their baby?
The result of this is 1/3 of newborns growing up without their
mothers. One death is too many. Thirty is unacceptable, and
it has a direct impact on entire families and communities on
many levels.
One mobile clinic would create access that would significantly
reduce the rate of mothers dying by 50%. Your investment in a
mobile clinic is the solution. It will help save mothers’ lives, and
ensure that their children will have a healthy start in life, which
includes an education, improved health, and a strong family.”
EXAMPLE: A VALUE-BASED
NARRATIVE
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26. • Use the messages
• Trust the research
• Find the voice to represent your organization
• Get and stay on message
• Have the patience to repeat yourself
• Keep it up!
REMEMBER: MESSAGES
WORK IF YOU USE THEM
MORE
INFORMATION
Visit:
www.womensfundingnetwork.org
Contact:
Name
Email
Telephone
Updated April 2014
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