Profits for a non-profit? HUH?
Sounds like a complete paradox, right?
Well no, not really.
Because every time I work with a non-profit organization of some kind, to improve their marketing, I run into some of the strangest ideas about marketing.
It’s completely understandable, and fixable too, by the way.
Such sentiments are a real shame but oh so common.
Some of these ‘greatest hits ‘include:
- Oh, we’re not really in this to make money. Bzzzt. Oh yes you are, only you’re expected to invest it back in making good some more. Don’t let that fact delude you into thinking you can do a subpar job in your marketing! You need results as much as a business does… maybe even more.
- People will find us just because our cause is so gosh-darn good! Bzzzt. Face it, you have competition. Everybody does, or you have no appeal to speak of. Today everyone has more or less equal access to people, so the positioning and the marketing is where you can expect to stand out.
- We’ll just do what worked 20 years ago, surely it will keep working? Sadly, that’s not likely. Not unless you based your marketing on timeless principles, and even then you need to keep adapting. Your cause may have stayed the same… but nothing else has. The market changes, the competition changes… Everything. Stay with it.
BZZZT! On all counts.
In my work as a marketing strategist and copywriter, I’ve created successful campaigns for causes of all types and sizes.
Everything between a single mom needing to raise 15 thousand euros for a professional course within two weeks (she succeeded, by the way)… to international spiritual organizations raising hundreds of millions, even billions. Several of them.
I’ve even consistently gotten through the hordes of gatekeepers to reach the likes of Bill Gates and even The Vatican… in the middle of their papal election.
There’s no limit to what you can achieve when your cause is a worthy one… AND you enlist a savvy copywriter to make it attractive to those you want to reach.
Whether your cause is a decades old behemoth or a fledgling Kickstarter campaign, it makes no sense for you to leave your success to chance.
It really breaks my heart when I see perfectly valid and universally beneficial causes without getting the funding they so richly deserve.
If you’re in charge of a non-profit, looking to generate more donations, a member drive or even a global campaign… get in touch.
There’s much more you can do and achieve in your non-profit than you realize… BUT you need an experienced hand writing the magic words you need to get your people to respond. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. You owe it to your beneficiaries – in this equation, everyone benefits.
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide commentsWhat i think is that …. some work should be done for humanity… not for profit…
Of course, all of the so-called non-profit work should be done for humanity. But the point I was making is you can’t really do that effectively if you’re not getting results from your marketing. Seems like I may have to write a sequel some day…
G’day Juho – I completely agree. All businesses need profits to
continue to do anything. “Non-profit” is just a name that describes
that it’s business model makes money and then reinvests ALL profits
back into the business. No distribution of the profits as dividends to
shareholders or ANYONE else.
Keep up the good word mate!
Cheers!
Cheers!
~ Jonathan Dune
Direct Response Marketing Consultant | Copywriter
(over 40 years assembling profit producing copy)
Two Comma Copy Pty Ltd
(Assembed in Sydney… and sometimes at my office in
La Jolla, California in the States)
Hey Jonathan – good points, people mess up these concepts so easily it seems. Thanks for dropping by!