We communicate, therefore we exist

Should I communicate this? How should I communicate it? Let’s meet for a second, we need to talk...who hasn’t encountered one of these situations sometimes? They all share the same basis, which is no other than communication; an everyday action that some simply love, and others loathe.

The truth is that, whether we like it or not, human beings communicate from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep. We do this when we go to buy in the shop around the corner, at work, in class or during our free time, with our partner, friends, children or other family members.

Yet such a natural action can potentially entail complications when it becomes an obligation, as is the case in non-profit associations. Despite everything, we live in the era of information, where communicating means existing, and anything you don’t communicate and explain becomes invisible or inexistent to others.

We must feel proud of the Catalan fabric of associations and the valuable task they develop day after day to help society and the most vulnerable groups, but in many cases more visibility is needed for their activity. Let’s not be mistaken, it is not about calling out how good we are doing what we do just for the sake of it; it is about making ourselves known, reaching out to as many people as possible and thus make our task more effective.

If we communicate and therefore exist, it will be easier to find funding, opt for grants, find collaborators and volunteers and grow the number of people who may benefit from our work.

However, when it’s about communicating, we need to plan in advance, and have a clear image of what we are trying to achieve. Which digital profiles should we target? What task do we want to communicate? Who are we addressing? These are some of the questions we should ask ourselves before getting started.

Once we know our image and what we want to communicate, we must choose the most appropriate channels to do this, always bearing in mind our audience and contents. Living in an era of information also has positive sides and one of these is the broad array of applications, social media and mechanisms to reach out to the world. Being original is always rewarded.

Also, we must never forget that we are non-profit organizations; this limits us, but it also allows us to benefit from specific promotions and discounts in some communication channels.

In this day and age, anyone can communicate. We have free tools, promotions for non-profit organizations and, most importantly, we have ourselves, the network of associations. We shouldn’t hide; if we need it, ask for help, work together, but we must communicate and disseminate our task because the work we do is essential; it very often goes unnoticed, and only we, working together, can make it visible and exist. We communicate, therefore we exist.