December 23, 2024 — Welcome to Season 2 of the Illuminate Philanthropy show powered by Daylight.

“Season 1 focused on our 8 Trends, and in Season 2, we focus on sharing insights from leaders in the philanthropy community,” explains Daylight’s founder, Dien Yuen. “These interviews support the three areas of work we provide to help advisors develop their craft, careers, and field — Research, Learning, and Practice.”

Our host: Megan Bell, Daylight’s Director of Engagement

In this episode: You’ll have the opportunity to hear strategic insights from Seth Klukoff, Principal of Eoan Strategies. His consulting firm focuses on thought leadership strategy and communications capacity building. He has a 30-year background in thought leadership, strategic communications and public affairs, policy advocacy, social marketing, and writing. He has worked extensively with organizations in the nonprofit arena—from foundations and think tanks to advocacy groups and large research organizations—as well as in the for-profit sector. Seth is also a faculty member for and participant in Daylight’s inaugural Impact Philanthropy Advisor certificate program.

Seth most recently served as Vice President of Thought Leadership at Equal Measure, where he led thought leadership and communications campaigns for foundation, nonprofit, and government clients such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation, Lumina Foundation, StriveTogether, and Citi Foundation; facilitated communications capacity building workshops for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the NSF INCLUDES program, the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and JEVS Human Services, among other organizations; and led ideation and content development for national and regional thought leadership convenings. He also led Equal Measure’s business development strategy.

Seth has also served as an advisor at Mike Worldwide’s Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. He was a senior consultant with Worldways Social Marketing. In that role, Seth led communications and policy advocacy campaigns for public health organizations and foundations, such as the Nemours Foundation and Public Health Dayton and Montgomery County. Seth also served in communications roles with the American Board of Internal Medicine and the Center for Health Care Strategies. He has also led communications campaigns with two national public relations firms.

Seth has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan. He serves on the National Steering Committee for the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers and most recently led NNCG’s Communications and Fundraising Task Force. Seth resides in Cherry Hill, NJ, and loves walking, 3,000-piece jigsaw puzzles, reading about history, Abbott Elementary, and all things Philadelphia and University of Michigan sports.

In our Q&A with Seth, you’ll learn his perspectives on: 

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For more: Scroll down to read our Q&A with Seth.

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Illuminate Philanthropy: Seth, please share your philanthropic journey. What influenced you in your work?

Seth Klukoff: It started in Bucharest, Romania, when I was 8. My father received a one-year Fulbright Scholarship to teach literature at the University of Bucharest. He relocated our family to then-Communist Romania, led by the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Rather than reside with other international ex-pats, we lived among Romanians in a post-WW2 apartment complex on the city’s outskirts. I also had the opportunity to attend a school with students from all over the world. This experience was formative because it sparked a lifelong fascination with cultures across the globe and in my own country. I wanted to understand why people think what they think, feel how they feel, and do what they do. It also led me to want to become a journalist. I started on that track, but it was short-lived.

Fast forward to the early 2000s, when I moved from Chicago to NJ and took a position with the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). That was my entrance into the world of philanthropy and the relationship of nonprofits to funders. Most of the work was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and we were grantees. It was a learning relationship between the foundation and CHCS, not transactional, and I saw its importance as a strategic connection. My knowledge of and work with philanthropy deepened when I worked with Worldways Social Marketing and had on-the-ground experience shaping public health campaigns in Delaware and Ohio – emphasizing the role of philanthropy in improving lives and experience with the importance of storytelling.

Illuminate Philanthropy: Why IPA and more about your involvement with Daylight?

Seth: I became involved with Daylight through a mutual colleague, Tony Macklin. I was invited to write the Impact Philanthropy Advisor (IPA) module focusing on Defining Purpose and Strategy. I’m also a member of the inaugural cohort for IPA certification. As someone who works with foundations and focuses on the inextricable link between thought leadership and philanthropy, I think the content of the IPA program is invaluable. We cover all aspects of the consultative relationship between the advisor and philanthropist within the broader context of trends in the social sector. And I know that will make me a better consultant and partner.

Illuminate Philanthropy: Your work has focused on thought leadership, strategic communications, storytelling, and narrative change. Those are concepts that we hear a lot in philanthropy. How do you describe these concepts?

 Seth explains:

• Thought leadership: I boil down thought leadership to three basic components: 1) A distinct Point of View or Stance; 2) Knowledge that supports that POV and inspires your audiences to act. This is useless if it sits in a computer folder; and 3) An understanding of the right platforms or venues to articulate this. Thought leadership is also an organizational strategy.
• Strategic Communications: I view strategic communications as the thoughtful mix of audiences, messages, and tools (e.g., blogs, articles, social media, conferences, etc.). Strategic communications serve as the engine for thought leadership.
• Storytelling: I see storytelling as “strategic communications done well” and a means to a tangible goal—such as narrative change. When embarking on this, ask these five questions: What’s the “What”? What’s the “So What?” Who are the Audiences? What do you want them to do? How will you measure the impact? Consider developing the story with an Asset Frame rather than a Deficit Frame.
• Voice and Authenticity: These elements are essential to good storytelling.
• Narrative Change: I see narrative change as essential to systems change. Narrative change can lead to mindset shifts, which can transform systems. I also like the definition developed by ORS Impact: “It is the effort to challenge, modify, or replace existing narratives that perpetuate inequity and uphold an unjust status quo through the creation and deployment of new or different narratives.” It’s important to measure shifts in narrative, including Organizational Capacity, Reach, Media and Cultural Discourse, People’s Attitudes and Beliefs, People’s Behaviors, Social Norms, Policies, Institutional Practices, and Power.

Illuminate Philanthropy: Can you tell us about the difference between one’s brand story vs. storytelling?  

Seth: I think one’s brand story is inherently individual by definition – What are your core values? What do you stand for? How do your core values drive your perspective and thinking about the world, community, neighborhood, and particular issues? What is your lived experience that helps define your perspective on those things? What have you done to support those values through the lens of your perspective? I think all those things illustrate your brand story.

I see storytelling as how you take your brand story, values, perspectives, and lived experience and apply it to how you describe or relate certain experiences—whether from your life or the world around you. Moments in time, banked in our memory and rekindled through reminiscing, are the seeds of stories. These moments can be tied to objects from our lives, like old baseball cards savored over many years, and woven into a narrative that evokes emotion and reflects an experience that can be singular or shared.

I also believe that moments in time tied to certain objects can simplify stories. While the context for a story can be complex—certainly more serious than baseball fandom and card collecting—and the outcomes more daunting and far-reaching, moments tied to objects provoke memories that can represent inflection points in a narrative. These moments signify the progression and point of view of the story. And it is these moments that unlock the feelings that underlie the storyteller’s intent.

Illuminate Philanthropy: Why is storytelling so important, specifically to philanthropy?

Seth: Storytelling allows philanthropy to attach the human experience to its programs and, if done well, can hit home the impact of its investments. Storytelling can invite funding to develop, scale, or sustain a program or organization. Storytelling can also help philanthropy make the case for its value. For both those reasons, great storytelling will be imperative as we enter and navigate an uncertain and even uncharted national political climate.

Illuminate Philanthropy: What advice would you offer our audience—especially wealth managers, financial planners, estate planners, and other philanthropy advisors—regarding storytelling and communications?

Seth: If you think about storytelling in the context of making the pitch for your philanthropy, ideally, your pitch should be concise and direct and convey a strong commitment to collaborate with the foundation or organization to achieve its program mission and desired impact. That story should also bring in your brand story and be informed by it.

A simple way to start is to break this down into four basic questions:

1. Who are your audiences?
2. What do you want them to do?
3. Why do you want them to do it?
4. How will you share your messages to inspire action?

Now, begin to analyze this:

• In thinking about audiences specifically, consider these five basic questions: 1) What do they care about? 2) What do they need to know? 3) Who do they listen to? 4) How might they use this information? 5) What is the best way to reach them?

• I suggest structuring your pitch around the following questions: 1) What is your issue of focus? 2) Why is it relevant to the foundation or organization’s mission and vision (or to a specific program)? 3) How might your philanthropy expand or strengthen the impact of the mission/vision or program? 4) What is the impact you would like to see? 5) How can we partner to bring this philanthropy to fruition?

Illuminate Philanthropy: You described thought leadership strategy as an organizational strategy earlier. Can you expand on what that means?

Seth: While a thought leadership strategy can amplify the organization’s mission and point of view and inspire its audiences to act, it can also boost the visibility of its team in ways that can bring learning, talent, and business into the organization. In short, thought leadership can help an organization catalyze impact in its field and among its staff—and ultimately makes this a strong organization to consider for funding.

I believe there are five ways thought leadership strengthens an organization:

1. Thought leadership strengthens development and fundraising: By creating more visibility for leaders and staff and positioning them as credible sources of knowledge in the sector or industry, it exposes the organization to new funders, markets, and revenue streams.
2. Thought leadership strengthens strategic communications: By providing a clear, compelling, and distinct “so what?” for communications activities and a tangible “why” to inform those efforts, it guides an organization to inspire action among its audiences and field.
3. Thought leadership strengthens hiring and retention: By enhancing an organization’s reputation for its mission, expertise, and impact, as well as offering staff more opportunities for professional development and learning, thought leadership serves as an important component of a talent management strategy.
4. Thought leadership strengthens organizational knowledge: By infusing knowledge and trends learned from conferences, convenings, webinars, articles, and other sources into an organization, thought leadership informs programs and products—as well as client or customer service.
5. Thought leadership strengthens a strategic plan: By offering an overarching POV articulating mission, vision, and desired impact, thought leadership undergirds an organization’s strategic plan—creating a roadmap for goals, audiences, programs and services, activities, and KPIs.

Do you have more questions for Seth? Connect with him at eoanstrategies.com.