Communications
Bootcamp
The Communications Bootcamp is a targeted program to help you work on your essential communications materials.
What will you learn?
The bootcamp is a combination of training, up-skilling, strategy, guidance along with custom review and feedback. The program will help the orgs use your internal resources efficiently to produce the most effective materials.
Who is it for?
The program is for NGOs keen to rework their foundational communication materials in-house within a short duration. It’s designed for organisations who are working at a nascent and/or bootstrapped level, but need to get their basic comms in place.
Program Schedule
Everything you need to know about the program
Overview
We will start with a pre-kickoff meeting with all the orgs in the cohort to share program details, set expectations, and align on how to prepare for the engagement.
Every organisation will be required to submit a detailed list of documents, materials, reports, program write-ups, proposals, decks and a range of other assets and resources. This will help our team do a thorough internal study and draft an action plan for your org.
Overview
All registered organisations (with upto 2 people per org) will attend a 2-day in-person communications workshop that will introduce them to a practical and efficient approach to fundraising communications for their org.
We will dive deep into frameworks, tools and best practices in fundraising that are targeted towards strengthening the way your org communicates its brand, programmatic depth, impact and team culture.
Venue
Purpose of the Training
The sessions are curated to give orgs a 360-degree understanding of all aspects of fundraising communications from research, design, pitch writing and customisation, funder engagement strategies.
The training is specifically designed as a combination of theory, group sessions for peer learning, individual working time to apply the theory and frameworks and open discussions.
Overview of topics
covered in the 2 daysSESSION 1
The starter kit to strengthen your brand communications for fundraising and expansion
This session will give you a comprehensive run down of all materials and assets you need to elevate your organisation’s brand experience across stakeholders. You will learn about why and how to build each of the materials with details about timelines and resources needed to invest. The checklist will help you feel confident and clear about how to devleop your org’s starter kit customised for its annual goals.
SESSION 2
Customising your narrative pitch for different scenarios and stakeholder
Your pitch is your brand narrative. It acts as the core nucleus of your communication efforts. Everything you create needs a strong foundational narrative. The session will help you learn how build a powerful brand/program narrative, and customise it for varied usages and stakeholders. You will leave this session with a framework that you can confidently use and that can adapt to your org requirements.
SESSION 3
Demystifying the creative implementation process
Sometimes, the hardest part of the work is the actual "building" process. This session will provide a framework to use to build your fundraising materials from start to finish. In addition, we will deep dive into the fundamentals of design. By the end of the workshops, you should feel more in control of the process and confident to deliver top-quality creatives within set deadlines. The process will help you manage time, manage expectations with external collaborators in the creative process, and keep you on track to achieving your targets.
SESSION 4
A simplified execution plan to document and showcase outcomes and impact (qualitative)
Qualitative impact plays a critical role in engaging with external stakeholders like funders and potential partners. This session will take you through the specific role that videos, photos, stories, qualitative information play in creating a level of understanding, empathy and urgency in the work that your organisation does. You will get guidelines on how to collect qualitative data, and an execution plan on how to put it together to present to your stakeholders.
SESSION 5
Soul Searching: Finding what makes you and your organisation unique and memorable
This is an introspective session that pushes members to dive deeper to explore what really makes their work, their initiative and their intent unique in the social sector. With thousands of organisations sprouting up each year across thematic areas, the Indian social impact landscape is slowly turning into a more mature, saturated market. This session will help organisations find their own unique voice and personality to stay memorable and relevant.
1-1 Audits to Identify Goals
After the training, we will schedule a 2 hour long video call with each org’s core team to get an in-depth understanding of your annual goals across fundraising, partnership, programmatic and org growth and other key focus areas. The discussion will help us learn about your team’s strengths and key challenge areas to target.
Building the 10 week Custom Action Plan
We will collaboratively build a custom action plan that your team (in it's current capacity, with its current skill level) can effectively execute. We will brainstorm on their priorities, stakeholder needs and key milestones to achieve. This will be a detailed, 10 week execution plan with day-wise and week-wise breakdown of tasks to be implemented. The tasks will be centred around building relevant materials, documents and strong communication experiences that can assist you in meeting the big priorities and goals set by the organisation.
Overview
The Masterclasses are designed to help orgs get targeted technical guidance to execute your tasks. Multiple people from each org are welcome to attend a masterclass depending on it's relevance to you. In a nutshell, the masterclasses will be 4 weeks of technical training i.e. specific “how to’s” to up-skill and speed up your implementation plan. Each week will have a 90 min virtual group masterclass. We will shortlist 4 topics from a list that the group of organisations need the most assistance with.
Nature of the Masterclasses
We will conduct the group masterclasses using actual materials, content, and deliverables of one of the opted-in orgs. The format of the sessions will be a combination of technical tutorial, live critique / feedback round, and a quick Q/A round.
Some of the topics for masterclasses, along with formats of particular topics recommended by us as most relevant are listed here.
List of Topics
Methods and techniques for documenting and writing stories of change from the field
Quick design techniques and tools to create campaigns on social media
Dissecting and re-writing your narrative story
Photography and videography techniques to capturing work on ground
How to build a consolidated communications kit for teams and external members to use effectively
Fundamentals of creating a strong website
Specifics on creating print+digital viewing handouts/brochures
Targeted tutorial on how to visually clean up your pitch decks
Masterclass #1
Techniques for documenting and writing powerful stories of change
-
Interviewing styles and research data collection
-
Short demo on writing and constructing stories
-
Breaking down different use cases for stories and case studies
-
Language and writing styles
-
Org-specific examples of ways to bring the stories to life (technical improvements)
-
Photography and videography techniques on for capturing work on ground
-
Simple capturing techniques (using phone cameras)
-
Layouts and compositions, Basics of editing directly on your phone
Masterclass #2
How to plan and build strong campaigns on social media
-
Planning a social media calendar
-
Breaking down the construction of a campaign
-
Building topical themes to explore
-
Tips, tools and techniques to enhance creatives
Masterclass #3
Fundamentals of creating an engaging website
-
Understanding fundamentals of web experience
-
Introduction to layouts, flow and sections
-
Breaking down how to adapt your content for web experience
-
Understanding responsive design (building for mobile phones)
-
Simple design tips to bring visuals to life
-
How to provide feedback and direction to other creatives
Masterclass #4
How to build a consolidated brand guide and kit for team members and external stakeholders to use effectively
-
Components and sections in a guidebook
-
Collation and curation of information
-
Organising and laying out info across the book
-
Design and layout tips
-
Ready-to-use templates to get started
-
Format of the Session
Each week, we will dedicate an optional 60 min open house slot for participants to share questions, thoughts and get clarification on the pieces that you are building. This will be an online group discussion led by Studio Subu. The purpose of the Open House is to provide additional touch points to participants who may need a bit more assistance during the course of the bootcamp.
-
Ask questions, clarify doubts
-
Short feedback on work-in-progress pieces
-
Short discussions on uncovered topics like "ethics"
-
Optional for organisations
4 Open House Meetups (Week 4 - Week 7)
1 Open House Session (60 mins) per week
-
Overview
We will schedule three immersive 1-1 virtual feedback discussions with the orgs (60 mins each). The ultimate goal is to assist your teams with the right guidance and suggestions to take your tasks / creations to the finish line on time.
What will happen during the sessions
-
1-1 online meeting (60 minutes long)
-
Evaluation of what teams have built
-
Brainstorm on how to mitigate any roadblocks
-
Provide targeted suggestions on how to improve materials / creatives
-
Suggest alternative directions to speed up implementation process and still meet your goals
50% Ready
-
Interviewing styles and research data collection
-
Short demo on writing and constructing stories and writing styles
-
Breaking down different use cases for stories and case studies
-
Org-specific examples of ways to bring the stories to life (technical improvements)
-
Photography and videography techniques on for capturing work on ground
-
Simple capturing techniques (using phone cameras)
-
Layouts and compositions, Basics of editing directly on your phone
80% ready
-
In Round 2, Team Subu will focus on providing targeted feedback on specific elements across your materials and documents
-
Orgs are expected to have their action plan at a 75-80% stage of readiness
-
Feedback will be centred around strengthening technical aspects of writing, design, strategy and curation
-
Orgs are encouraged to push their tasks to as close to completion as possible before this feedback round to maximise the discussion opportunity
95% ready
-
In Round 3, Team Subu will focus on providing orgs with tactical feedback on how to take all components to completion
-
Orgs are expected to have their action plan at a 95% stage of readiness
-
Feedback will be centred around assisting orgs with decision making, and committing to components that can fast-track the execution process.
-
Orgs are required to be extremely prepared with their work to get a detailed, thorough feedback from Team Subu
-
Overview
This will be a 90 min online meeting with all the organisations to reflect on the project journey and share best practices and learnings. We will curate a section of the meeting as a highlight showreel to feature small wins that we thought were a game changer for each organisation. This will be the final showcase call for the project.
Format of the session
-
Each organisation will have 10 mins to showcase everything they've worked on over the course of the program
-
This will be followed by 5 mins of group feedback (share what we loved, and how the work can be strengthened further)
-
Final 15 mins of the meeting will be reserved for reflections and closing thoughts
-
Studio Subu Team
Partner, CEO/Creative Head
Harish Subramanian
Partner, Head of Strategy & Business
Meghna
Rakshit
Senior Design Researcher
Rhea
Antony
Senior Visual Designer
Gayatri
Shah
Head of Operations
Siddhika
Nagwade
Senior Visual Designer
Ankita
Kadam
Featured Bootcamp Alumni
The team communicates their message using simple language, which has helped us gain clarity and has created a strong impact. They have reduced complexity in our minds when working with different teams or while writing and designing something.
Subodh Kumar
Knowledge Management Systems Lead,
Centre For Aquatic Livelihood - Jaljeevika
Subodh Kumar
Knowledge Management Systems Lead
Centre for Aquatic Livelihood - Jaljeevika
Kedar Sohoni
Founder
Green Communities Foundation
Ankita Patil
Project Officer
Centre for Aquatic Livelihood - Jaljeevika
By the end of the program, you should feel confident to plan and build powerful communications for your org.
Application
Process
Step 1
Fill up the application form
The application form will help us get detailed information about your org and the current challenges.
Step 2
Book a call with us
Choose a time slot in the form and book an orientation call with Studio Subu to clarify doubts and ask questions.
Step 3
Get notified on your selection
Once we go through calls with all the orgs, we will notify the selected orgs on their participation in the bootcamp.
Apply & Book a Call with us
Deadline to submit the form and book a call: May 28
Note: We've limited the program to 20 organisations.
For questions please write to mail@studiosubu.com
Program Format
12 Week Cohort-based Program
2 Day In-person Training
Dedicated 10 Week Implementation
Guidance & Feedback throughout the Program
Program Duration: June to September
Start Date: 13th June
Important Dates
Program
Summary
12 Week Communications Bootcamp
Cohort-based
2 Day In-person Training
Dedicated 10 Week Implementation
Start Date: 28th June 2024
Pricing
Details
The entire program will be partially funded by Forbes Marshall & SVP. The remaining cost to be paid by the orgs:
Rs. 1.5 lac + GST
Full amount payable at the time of registration
