Stakeholders vs. Audiences: What’s the Difference?

Why understanding this distinction is critical for effective strategic planning and communications.

Our team gets asked all the time during strategic planning sessions: what’s the difference between stakeholders and audiences? Let me break it down.

Stakeholders literally have a stake in your work. They have skin in the game. These are your funders, your donors, people who have made financial contributions to strengthen your organization or cause. They’re invested in your success because they’ve made a meaningful contribution to your growth.

But stakeholders aren’t just about money. They’re also the people for whom the stakes are very high if your work succeeds or fails. If you’re an advocacy organization, your stakeholders are the communities you serve. If you’re an education group, your stakeholders are the students, the parents, the school district leaders. These folks are directly impacted by what you do.

Audiences are different. In the traditional sense, an audience is more passive. They’re bearing witness to your work, but they’re not necessarily invested. They don’t have direct stake.

Now, audiences can become stakeholders. If there’s a group that hasn’t engaged with you yet, and they come across your work and really want to support you, they might become a donor or funder. At that point, they’ve transferred over to being a stakeholder because, again, it all goes back to what stake and investment they’ve made through time, money, volunteering, all of those things.

Your audiences would include members of the press. You’re conducting media interviews, doing speaking engagements, talking about the impact of your work. Folks start to pay attention, they get curious, they want to learn more. In the case of the media, they want to profile you and help you tell your story. But they don’t have a stake in your organization because they’re supposed to be an objective party. Still, they’re a very important member of your audience because they can help get the word out. They can really make or break your reputation and the storytelling around what you do.

So remember – stakeholders have made direct investment through time and money. Audiences are more passive, may be supportive, but they’re not necessarily heavily tied to the work. When you’re doing your strategic planning, make sure you’re very clear about the differences.

Janet A. Dickerson is Co-Founder and Principal of Human Impact Solutions. She is also an expert media trainer and coach, and creator of the “Power Your Presence” media training program.