Reviewed April, 2023 – Ronan McHugh, Trustee
Date of next Policy Review: May, 2024
Introduction
The purpose of this strategy document is to provide a guiding aim and objectives for the staff and trustees of ICYE UK to build and develop the communications and marketing programmes over the calendar year, aligned to the organisation’s vision and mission.
While the ICYE UK Sending Programme remains paused at this time, the approach to communications and messaging will be used to build a pipeline of volunteers for the future, or more generally on the ethos of the charity and our unique selling points as a whole, such as the ethical approach to intercultural volunteering and community enhancement benefits.
ICYE UK Vision
A world where the sharing of cultures and ideas is embraced, celebrated and lived.
ICYE UK Mission
At ICYE UK, we work in partnership with an international network of locally managed ICYE organisations and partners to:
- Provide supported international volunteer opportunities that directly benefit local communities.
- Encourage young people from around the world to live, learn and work together.
- Engage volunteers in the on-going development of the organisation.
Comms & Marketing Strategic Aim
The aim of this strategy is to guide maximising the reach and impact of the ICYE UK messages to all of our stakeholders, for the purposes of informing and engaging our varied audiences in support of the organisation’s vision and mission, accounting for our ongoing capacities and capabilities.
Communication Strategic Objectives
These guiding objectives may be considered with the aim of targeting specific audiences, or on a more generic basis. The main stakeholder groups thought to be of consideration include:
| Prospective receiving volunteers | Current volunteers | Alumni |
| Prospective sending volunteers | Prospective projects | Organisational sponsors |
| Individual sponsors / donors | General public | Trustees / staff |
| Current projects |
Where direct partnerships or connections are made, consideration should be given to aligned or supporting visions and values, and avoiding or mitigating conflicts of interests.
- Within the next four weeks, an initial review and update to the ICYE UK website will be completed to the extent that all outdated information is removed and replaced with current information and, where possible, longevity of content maximised so that only low-level or infrequent updates required.
- Instagram and ICYE-UK website/blogs have been identified as the current dedicated social media platforms. A yearly review will be completed to identify the appropriate social media platforms and communication channels to be used by ICYE UK, and to create or review the profile information. The various channels should account for our various key stakeholders as mentioned above and platforms for consideration could include, but not be limited to:
| Email / letter / phone | WhatsApp / SMS | |
| TikTok | Website / blog posts | Telegram |
- Consider social media supporting platforms such as “Buffer” that would facilitate preplanning of content across multiple social media channels plus tracking of their impact, and build any accounts or profiles as needed. Such support platforms, or alternative options should also be considered to facilitate the recording, analysis and reporting of the impact of our social media presence to drive future work.
- Maintain a calendar of content on a rolling eight-week basis as a guide. This may be dependent on contributions or contributors, but can allow for content to be planned based on camp schedules, seasons or holidays such as Christmas, summer holidays, etc. Owners for each piece of content could be identified at the planning stage if necessary and also the use of the organisation’s vision and mission can be considered as rotating themes for the content. Content will, where possible, evenly cover all of the main stakeholders on a rolling basis.
- Maintaining the task of monitoring and / or reviewing of communications and marketing tasks. In the event of a reduction of staffing resources (eg. departure of intern), considerations should be given to transferring ownership to a trustee. Content will be copied into a separate document to ensure reviewing of communications can occur if access is lost to a social media platform.