May 29, 2026
What if sporadic communications are doing more damage to your fundraising than donor fatigue or a tight economy? In a sector where small, underfunded comms teams and pressure to “stay humble” are the norm, too many nonprofits are under-communicating their impact and missing out on vital support and deeper donor connections. In today’s episode, Josh Gryniewicz interviews Justin Reid to discuss the value of consistent, human-centered communication. Tune in to learn how to build basic narrative infrastructure even with a small team, use AI as scaffolding instead of generating more “slop,” and create content that helps your donors and beneficiaries actually see themselves in your work.
Want to suggest a topic, guest, or nonprofit organization for an upcoming episode? Send an email with the subject "NPFX suggestion" to contact@ipmadvancement.com.
Additional Resources
[NPFX] How a $10M Mindset Can Break
the "Who You Know" Funding Barrier
https://www.ipmadvancement.com/npfx/how-a-10m-mindset-can-break-the-who-you-know-funding-barrier
[NPFX] Co-Creating Solutions: The
Next Level of Community Listening
https://www.ipmadvancement.com/npfx/co-creating-solutions-the-next-level-of-community-listening-narrative-strategy
[NPFX] How to Measure the Impact of
Your Narrative Change Strategy
https://www.ipmadvancement.com/npfx/how-to-measure-the-impact-of-your-narrative-change-strategy
[NPFX] Authentic, Ethical, and
Effective Messaging — From Theory to Practice
https://www.ipmadvancement.com/npfx/authentic-ethical-and-effective-messaging-from-theory-to-practice
Guest
Justin "Jay" Reid is the founder of Renaissance Digital, a Durham, NC-based production
company and consultancy built on narrative-led, culture-centered
storytelling and creative infrastructure for organizations. Jay
spent a decade developing content and communications strategy at
Cities United, a national organization dedicated to supporting
cities in reducing homicides and shootings through comprehensive
public safety plans. That work shaped his approach to storytelling
as advocacy, and his belief that narrative infrastructure is the
key to producing consistent, quality content at scale. Through
Renaissance Digital, Jay supports organizations and events with
creative production and strategic consulting, developed an
AI-powered content and storytelling tool, Creative Studio, and partners with organizations to
develop the creative systems they need to show up consistently. At
the center of Jay's work is culture as infrastructure: the thing
that shapes how people connect, trust, and make meaning.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinireid/
https://www.renaissance.digital/
https://studio.renaissance.digital/
Host
Josh Gryniewicz is
the founder and Chief Narrative Strategist at Odd Duck,
a storytelling-for-social-change creative consultancy focused on
impact-driven organizations. Josh is the co-author of the
award-winning national bestseller, Interrupting Violence. For over a decade, he
has worked in nonprofit communication. In 2018, he founded Odd Duck
to combine his passions for storytelling and social change. The
agency’s Navigating Misinformation for Community Health framework
has been shared with over a thousand community health
organizations. Odd Duck has worked with nearly a hundred
change-making organizations and advised hundreds more, including
the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the Harvard School of
Public Health, and the White House.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgryniewicz/
https://oddduck.io/
https://www.interruptingviolence.com/
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