New Survey Data Pinpoints 3 Timely Challenges Facing Social Good Communicators
September 25, 2025
By: Peter Panepento
Foundation and nonprofit communicators are facing what amounts to a perfect storm.
As philanthropy grapples with myriad threats, most organizations are under-resourced and understaffed — at a time in which many face a barrage of crises without clear roadmaps for how to respond.
And all of this is happening as the explosion of AI is creating new communication opportunities and challenges that are difficult to navigate.
Today, with the launch of our first-ever Community Foundation Communications Benchmarking Survey, we have fresh data that puts this perfect storm into context — offering lessons that apply not only to community foundations, but organizations throughout the nonprofit and philanthropy world.
Here are three timely challenges we discovered in collecting this data:
1. Insufficient Communications Resources
Effective communications are central to the success of community foundations, yet most communications teams say they lack the financial resources or people they need. More than 9 in 10 of the more than 100 community foundations surveyed said they need more communications resources to meet their organizational goals.
Adding to the challenge: nearly half of those surveyed said they expect their communications budgets to decrease or stay the same over the next two years.
2. A Lack of Guidance on AI
Community foundation communications teams have been quick to embrace AI tools for an array of functions, though few have adopted policies to govern its use.
In fact, 75% of those surveyed said they do not have a formal AI policy for employees — which creates numerous risks for organizations as they attempt to navigate this fast-emerging technology.
3. Crisis Communications Risks
Community foundations are increasingly setting up response funds and coordinating community partners in the wake of hurricanes, floods, fires, mass shootings, and other tragedies.
Yet many community foundations report they don’t have crisis communications policies for these events, which can affect their ability to respond effectively during fast-moving events.
More than 4 in 10 don’t have policies to govern their response to natural disasters and roughly one-half don’t have communications protocols for addressing internal crises.
If your organization is dealing with any or all of these issues, the findings from this new survey demonstrate you are not alone.
Clearly understanding the challenges you face offers the first step toward finding solutions, advocating for more resources, and developing effective policies and procedures.
