Embracing a Marketing Orientation in Nonprofit Organizations

Donna Leigh Bliss, Ph.D.

Purpose
The purpose of this presentation is to help

administrators/boards of nonprofit organizations to rethink their relationship with the environment in a manner that proactively allows for the accessing of a diverse array of resources the organization needs to not only survive, but to thrive This requires a paradigm shift in thinking and acting regarding the notion of marketing your nonprofit organization

What Resources Do Nonprofit Organizations Need?

Tangible Funding Clients Staff Board members Volunteers Infrastructure Intangible Political support Social support Sense of making a difference Hope of sustainability

So How Do We Access These Resources

Writing grants

Charging for services

Fundraising Recruiting

Referring
Buying Donations Building Creating

What is Marketing
While selling is offering something in

exchange for money, marketing is a process that entails satisfying certain needs of clients or consumers through an exchange process

Examine how your organizations mission statement addresses needs such as the need for learning new skills, the need for improved functioning, the need for increased opportunities, etc.

I Hate Selling!
People who care

passionately about their nonprofit programs can also have a strong distaste for the term marketing because they imagine it to mean having to try to get people to give up their money

Unfortunately, this narrow view of marketing can actually serve to block the flow of many kinds of nonmonetary, as well as monetary, resources a nonprofit program needs in order to thrive

Therefore, we need to shift our perspective on marketing from one that emphasizes what we want to get from another party, to establishing a win-win relationship whereby, when we meet the needs of various audiences, they reciprocate by providing us resources

So, what then, are some of the needs an organization can try to meet that various markets care about?
And how does meeting these needs then help to facilitate an exchange process whereby our organization receives resources (including, but not limited to, money) that it needs to thrive?

Information Compassion

Hope

Feeling Needed

Accountability Peace of Mind

Services
Redemption Social Justice

Why is This Shift in Marketing Perspective Critically Important

One hypothesis

emphasizes the interconnected nature of people and holds that all people are only separated by six degrees of separation

What then, are the implications of this, in terms of marketing?

You have no way of knowing then, how, what appears to be an apparently informal interaction or chance encounter with one person, can potentially lead to a gold mine of resources your program could use, from sources you might not normally meet or know exist

taking action in order to receive

Think about

potentially unlimited sources of resources rather than solely trying to find ways to get money from other sources

Three Essential Tools

There are Three Tools Board Members, Administrators, and Staff of an Organization Should Have in Order to Optimize Marketing Opportunities
1. Elevator speech 2. Business card

3. Website

Elevator Speech
Be able to articulate clearly and simply in 30

seconds what your organizations mission is

8 to 10 seconds is even better

Make sure to emphasize the human needs

your organization meets rather than a technical description of what it does Helps facilitate the exchange of resources that your organization needs

Business Cards

Website

So What is the Next Step?

Identification of Your Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Markets and Their Hard and Soft Needs
Need to know who your consumers or

potential consumers are and what they need and want Dont assume you have only one market

All people arent the same What about other markets such as potential volunteers, board members, donors?

Once you have identified your

potential market(s)

What do you know about them in terms of their needs? What do you need to know?

Identification of the Market and Its Needs (cont.)

Once you have identified your markets, learn

everything you can about them Dont forgo market research on the assumption you know what the market wants and needs, even if you think you are an expert on it or are a member of that market Identifying needs is not a one shot deal

Markets can change rapidly in todays fast-paced environment

Funders ?

Potential Recipients of Services

Your Organization
Donors

Former Recipients

Stakeholders Media Volunteers

The Marketing Plan

Identify your target What resources do you

markets and describe their needs

need to implement these strategies

How does your story speak to these needs?

Personnel, expertise, money, time, etc.

Decide what you want

When do you plan to

to accomplish

start?

Why should the markets care about your program

How long should the strategy go on?

What strategies are

How will you evaluate

most likely to succeed

Think about relationships

the effectiveness of your strategy? Adapt, evolve, persevere!

Contact Information
Donna Leigh Bliss, Ph.D. University of Georgia School of Social Work

(706) 542-2585
dlbliss@uga.edu www.donnaleighbliss.com