The CMO-CCO Combination Becoming the Norm for Many Non-Profits
I recently came across this great piece in Digiday, “The CMO-CCO split is becoming a corporate fiction” by Seb Joseph. The reality is that the combination of CMO and CCO functions isn’t just a trend in the for-profit world, it’s been true in the nonprofit sector for a while now.
As Digiday’s article notes and as I’ve observed, many organizations already blend marketing, communications, external affairs, and storytelling into unified efforts, rather than working in silos. Here are a few reflections: Nonprofits thrive with a unified mission and voice. Having a single, authentic narrative for constituents, donors, policymakers, and beneficiaries strengthens engagement and trust. Aligning comms and marketing is about more than consistency; it's about authenticity.
Managing risk and reputation is key to relevance. Integrated teams can proactively handle crises, align messages, and maintain trust. Uniting growth and stakeholder trust functions offers nonprofits a strategic advantage, as a single misstep can have wide-reaching consequences. Combining marketing and comms requires leaders skilled in brand growth and reputation management. In nonprofits, this integration is even more important: hybrid leaders must balance demand generation, awareness building, impact storytelling, and risk management, rather than excel in just one area. Even with merged functions, team design is critical.
Many nonprofits merge marketing and communications out of necessity, as a response to limited resources rather than an intentional strategic choice. But the real opportunity is to shift from reactive consolidation to purposeful integration: treating these functions not as interchangeable, but as complementary disciplines that can drive mission, reputation, and growth more effectively when aligned by design rather than by constraint.
Specialized expertise must be supported within cross-functional structures. Teams should respect distinct fields: brand, product, and content marketing, digital communications, PR and crisis comms, etc., while sharing learnings and data for collective success.
The bottom line: The convergence of marketing and communications is inevitable in nonprofits. Smart stewardship requires integrating these functions not just for external reasons, but for mission success. Nonprofit leaders: assess your structure for deeper integration. Communications and marketing professionals: seek collaboration and advocate for systems that balance reputation and growth.
Originally published on LinkedIn
