Whether you are a team of one or a team of many, you probably have questions about how other nonprofit communications or marketing teams are set up and how they function.
We’ve done quite a bit of research on this topic. We’ve also learned a great deal by coaching and mentoring hundreds of nonprofit communicators over the last decade – it’s one of the most common questions we cover in our mentorship cohorts for emerging communications leaders.
Look below for a summary of what we know and links to further reading to dive deeper:
How many people does your communications team need?
We do see the effectiveness of communications team soar when they reach three full-time staff members. So if you are doing this by yourself, three is a great growth target. Of course, we don’t want you to stop at three. But you will likely see vast improvements in what your team can make possible as you reach three full-time people.
You’ll find lots of specific data about team size in our annual Nonprofit Communications Trends Reports. We also talk about it here in Growing Your Comms Team: How Much More Work Can You Do?
Is it time to start making the case to grow your team? Here are 5 ways to make the case.
If you are finally getting to hire someone and grow your team, congratulations! Now it’s time to think about how to delegate when you’ve been used to doing it all yourself.
Where should the communications team sit in the nonprofit org chart?
Where does the comms team sit within a nonprofit and who decides its workload? We’ve identified five different kinds of communications team structures, in order of popularity within the sector:
- Centralized Teams where the communications staff set the communications and marketing strategy and define their own workload with input from others.
- Integrated Teams where communications and fundraising staff work on an integrated team and jointly decide on the communications workload.
- Internal Agency Teams where communications staff are a tactical internal agency with its workload determined by other departments that need work done.
- CEO-Led Teams where communications staff work directly for the CEO or the executive director who determines the workload.
- Fundraising Led Teams where communications staff work primarily in service of fundraising leaders, who determine the workload.
We know from our annual Nonprofit Communications Trends Reports that Centralized and Integrated Teams are the most effective models. (It was true in 2026, and it was true in 2024, and it was true in 2019. We’ve been saying this for a while!)
If fundraising’s 5th place position surprises you, please consider that fundraising isn’t the only thing nonprofit communicators do. The extent to which fundraising is a communications team goal often influences this decision. For example, should fundraising and marketing teams be integrated or separate but equal?
Also worth noting if you’re experiencing nonprofit communicator burnout: the internal agency model can be quite problematic when comms staff are treated like they are working a drive-thru window.
What essential skills should be on a communications team?
Good nonprofit communications work is a combination of strategy and tactics. Be sure you are having good strategic conversations as you are getting all the work done.
But the reality of the work is that you are a utility player who needs to build lots of different kinds of skills and therefore you probably have lots of professional development goals about what you want to learn. For example, more efficient social media management often tops that list, along with video skills and analytics. All this might boil down into three essential functions for your marketing team.
Unfortunately, many nonprofit communicators find that they have little backup or help with many of these roles, especially when they are out of the office.
What’s not on this list? Being a doormat. It’s essential that you set boundaries so that you don’t get treated like one.
What communications roles should we hire for or contract out?
If you do have more than one person on your team, you’ll want to think through many of the different roles and tasks to figure out who does what. Always define the roles on communications work, especially who is making big communications decisions.
Of course, it’s great if you have a budget to hire help with many of these skills. We suggest five logical places to outsource comms work when you have a budget (hint: the list is topped by video and PR).
Regardless of roles, it’s essential to keep the lines of communication open and so we recommend several different types of meetings that communications directors need.
Once I have this nonprofit communications team, how can I lead it?
We are adamant that communications directors should name and own several important functions.
But for better or worse, communications teams are often asked to take on other responsibilities too, such as
- Defining the “why” behind the communications work at the nonprofit
- Enforcing content creation deadlines with program staff
- Leading their organizations through what might normally be considered executive-level decision making.
- Managing internal communications
Stepping up into these leadership roles is even more essential when your nonprofit’s leadership is really out of touch with nonprofit comms reality.
With multiple communications goals, strategies, and objectives in play, it’s all about balance. There are numerous lines that communications directors should walk carefully to find that balance. Of course, you may be stuck in the position of being a combined development and communications director, which comes with its own set of challenges.
