Dissertation on

Non-profit marketing

SUBMITTED TO:
Name of the Faculty Mentor: POONAM MA’AM
Designation of the Faculty Mentor: PROFESSOR

PRESENTED BY:
Name of the student: GARVIT DEVEDI
Roll No: 05
University Enrollment: AJU/180024
B.B.A 2018-21.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to thank my faculty mentor, Professor, ARKA JAIN UNIVERSITY,
for her valuable guidance, closely supervising this work over with helpful suggestions, which
helped me to complete report properly and present.
More importantly, her valuable advice and support helped me to put some creative efforts on
my project. She has really been an inspiration and driving for me and has constantly enriched
my raw ideas with her vast knowledge and experience.
Specifically, I would also give my special thanks to my parents whose blessings and love
enabled me to complete this work properly as well.

Name of the student: GARVIT DEVEDI

University Enrollment: AJU/180024
B.B.A 2018-21.
 DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT

I, GARVIT DEVEDI, hereby declare that the project on “NON-PROFIT MARKETING”

has been carried out by me and hereby submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement
of the ARKA JAIN UNIVERSITY for the award of the degree of the Bachelor of Business
Administration.
To the best of my knowledge, the project undertaken has been carried out by me and is my
work. The contents of this report are original and this report has been submitted to ARKA
JAIN UNIVERSITY and it has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any
Certificate/degree etc.

Name of the student: GARVIT DEVEDI

University Enrollment: AJU/180024
B.B.A 2018-21.
 Index

Sl.no topic Page no

01 Objectives of Study 01
02 Introduction 02
03 Characteristics 03
04 Types of Non-profit Marketing 04
05 How Non-Profits work 05
06 Ways How Non-Profit marketing can help 06
07 Examples of Non-profit marketing 07-08
08 Platforms for Non-Profit marketing 09-10
09 Create a Non-Profit marketing plan 11-12
10 Non-Profit marketing strategies 13-20
11 Tips to boost marketing 21-23
12 The role of Social Media 24
13 Unique Issues with Non-profits 25
14 Constrains 26-27
15 Why should Non-Profits invest more on advertising 28-29
16 Conclusion 30
17 Bibliography 31
 Objective of the study

The Primary objective of the study is to understand what does Non-Profit Marketing actually
means and what is the significance of this type of marketing for organisations.
Objective:
❖ Know about Non-Profit Marketing.
❖ Explore types of Non-Profit Marketing.
❖ Know the importance of it.
❖ Know about various platforms of Non-Profit Marketing.

A list of questions that can be answered through this study:

• What is Non-Profit Marketing?
• How is it different from Profit Marketing?
• Issues & Constrains with Non-Profit Marketing?
• Why is Non-Profit Marketing important?

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 Introduction

Non-profit marketing is the use of marketing tactics by a non-profit organization to promote

the message and the organization, as well as raise donations.
What Is Non-profit Marketing?
Non-profit marketing is the use of marketing tactics by a non-profit organization. Marketing
goals may include promoting the organization and its message, raising funds, encouraging
membership, engaging volunteers, and driving political or social change.
Marketing is as important for non-profit organizations as it is for businesses and uses many of
the same marketing strategies to connect with donors and volunteers.
Note:
Non-Profit Marketing can be challenging, as the organisation must convince its audience to
give money without getting anything concrete in return.

Understanding Nonprofit Marketing

Not all nonprofit marketing is the same. How a nonprofit markets itself and its cause can vary
with each cause. There are some similarities in how nonprofit organizations and for-profit
companies approach marketing, but the differences are significant.
For one, nonprofit marketing can be challenging in that its ideas and causes can be harder to
market and sell than products and services. On the upside, nonprofits—by their nature—have
something that business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) marketers lack: a
well-defined mission.
Nonprofits also have smaller marketing budgets than for-profit businesses, and therefore tend
to receive less social media attention. Such budget constraints can make content
marketing far more difficult, even though having a well-defined mission may make
compelling storytelling far easier to accomplish. For example, causes that nonprofits
frequently champion—like social issues, the environment, and healthcare—are far more
conducive to compelling storytelling than most products or services.

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 Characteristics of Marketing in Non-
profit Organizations (India)

Non-profit organizations attempt to achieve objectives other than profit. These objectives are
varied in nature and include poverty alleviation, providing education to less privileged
children, increasing awareness about health, etc...
They are not uninterested in earning money as they have to generate cash to survive. But their
primary goal is not profit generation. Most non-profit organizations operate in the services
sector. Marketing is important for non-profit organizations because they have to motivate
individuals, organizations and governments to fund their activities. Many non-profit
organizations rely on membership fees or donations, which means that they must
communicate with individuals and organizations, and persuade them to enroll as members or
make donations.
This requires as much marketing skill as is required by a for-profit organization to acquire
customers. Non-profit organizations compete amongst themselves for funds the way for-
profit organizations compete for customers.
Non-profit organizations that rely on government sponsored grants need to continually
demonstrate that they are helping the society in definite and identifiable ways. Non-profit
organizations must keep reminding their funders that they are meeting some urgent needs of
the society, and the society, is benefiting because of the work that they are doing.
The role of non-profit organizations is going to increase as governments withdraw from most
areas of social sector. A lot of society’s resources are going to be channelized through the
non-profit organizations and a lot of society’s welfare would be dependent upon the
effectiveness of non-profit organizations. It has become imperative that non-profit
organizations become more marketing oriented, i.e., focused on the needs of both their
customers donors and clients.

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 Types of Non-Profit Marketing

No matter what specific goals are pursued using nonprofit marketing, most campaigns fall
into one of the four categories.

▪ Traditional fundraising asks consumers to make a monetary donation to a cause or

charitable campaign. Some businesses partner with nonprofits to create long-term
fundraising around causes that their employees care about.

▪ Consumer charity is a partnership with a for-profit business that encourages

consumer to use their purchasing power to assist charitable organizations. This
usually takes the form of cause marketing, in which consumers buy products because
part of the purchase price will be donated to a specific cause.

▪ Message-focused campaigns attempt to build awareness, encourage political change,

or affect consumer behavior. They are generally paired with or followed by specific
fundraising or volunteer sign-up campaigns.

▪ Event marketing is focused around a single charitable drive or promotional event,

usually one at which donations will be collected or the cost of admission will go
directly to the nonprofit. These marketing initiatives often include a special guest or
celebrity partner whose public image and connections are used to drive attendance.

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 How Non-profit Marketing Works

Non-profit marketing works by serving multiple functions in keeping charitable organizations

running.
Creating awareness. Like any business brand, a non-profit must make its audience aware of
the organization and the causes it supports.
Promoting a cause and services. Donors, volunteers, and groups the non-profit works with
need to know about the work the organization is doing.
Fundraising. Non-profits rely on donations in order to pursue their charitable initiatives.
Fundraising is an essential function of non-profit marketing, and it can take the form of
encouraging general donations or promoting specific fundraising events or campaigns.
Encouraging memberships and recurring donations. Non-profit marketing should be used to
encourage long-term membership. This increases the relationships that the non-profit can
draw on for fundraising initiatives and helps provide recurring donations.
Engaging volunteers. Most non-profits need people to take action or participate in initiatives,
as well as donate.
Driving political and social change. Skilful non-profit marketing can put pressure on opinion
leaders, politicians, and ordinary people to create social and political changes addressing the
non-profit’s causes.

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 Ways how nonprofit marketing can
help
Here are several ways nonprofit marketing can help:
• Create awareness. Marketing can help inform and educate key stakeholders and the
general public about your cause, why it’s important and what your nonprofit
organization is doing to support it.
• Raise funds. Marketing can help you solicit donations and funds required to operate
and grow your nonprofit organization. This can be done in various ways, such as
communicating the donation process and how your nonprofit makes use of the money.
• Establish an image. For a nonprofit to thrive and grow, it needs to establish a
powerful, reliable image in front of its target audience. Marketing helps reinforce an
organization’s mission and values, which can build positive associations with the
nonprofit’s name over time.
• Seek volunteers and partners. Marketing can encourage more people to participate
in your organization’s events and activities. It can also help catch the attention of
potential businesses who want to assist in furthering your cause or form mutually
beneficial partnerships with your nonprofit.
• Drive social and political change. The main purpose of any nonprofit organization is
to bring about a positive change. Marketing can help you drive that change by
gathering enough support to put pressure on powerful groups and decision makers.
These are just some of the ways marketing can help your nonprofit grow. The next section
talks about how to create an effective nonprofit marketing plan to help define your goals and
how to achieve them.

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 Examples of Non-profit Marketing

No matter what specific goals are pursued using non-profit marketing, most campaigns fall
into one of four categories.
Traditional fundraising asks consumers to make a monetary donation to a cause or charitable
campaign. Some businesses partner with non-profits to create long-term fundraising around
causes that their employees care about.
Consumer charity is a partnership with a for-profit business that encourages consumers to use
their purchasing power to assist charitable organizations. This usually takes the form of cause
marketing, in which consumers buy products because part of the purchase price will be
donated to a specific cause.
Message-focused campaigns attempt to build awareness, encourage political change, or affect
consumer behaviour. They are generally paired with or followed by specific fundraising or
volunteer sign-up campaigns.
Event marketing is focused around a single charitable drive or promotional event, usually one
at which donations will be collected or the cost of admission will go directly to the non-
profit. These marketing initiatives often include a special guest or celebrity partner whose
public image and connections are used to drive attendance.

Tips for Marketing a Non-profit

Non-profits can use and adapt many of the tactics that traditional marketers use. A solid
understanding of traditional marketing techniques is as essential for marketing a non-profit as
it is for marketing a business.
Before you begin marketing you’re non-profit, take a page from traditional marketers and
develop an ideal customer profile. The information you outline will help you decide where
and how to effectively reach donors, volunteers, and more with your marketing plan.

Understand your audience. Every marketing campaign should have a target audience in
mind. Knowing what demographic group you are trying to reach will inform every aspect of
your campaign.
Have a goal. Are you trying to raise money or awareness? Encourage volunteering? Promote
a political cause? Every marketing campaign needs a concrete goal in order to be successful.
Make it personal. Consumers are more likely to respond to the stories of individuals than
broad groups. Make your campaign feel personal in order to appeal to your audience's
emotions and drive action.
Segment your list. Like any business, you will be better able to communicate with your
audience if you segment your list into groups based on demographic information and other
traits. Use these segments to tailor your messaging and calls to action.

7
Use current events. Is there a story related to your cause in the news? Take advantage of that
public awareness to create a timely marketing campaign.
Follow up with donors and volunteers. Non-profits need systems in place to keep up with
people who are already involved. Use a variety of email, direct mail, phone calls, and other
marketing tools to encourage past donors and volunteers to stay active.

8
 Platforms for Non-profit
Marketing

Non-profits can take advantage of many of the same platforms for marketing that for-profit
businesses use. The main difference is often that non-profits have a smaller budget and must
be strategic about how they contact donors and spread the word about their work.
There are many free and inexpensive marketing platforms out there, and non-profits should
use a variety of them to create an effective marketing mix.

Social media.
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can be used to share important information,
keep in touch with your audience, and comment on current events.

Online ads.
Take advantage of programs like Google's ad grants to run targeted campaigns at no expense.

Search engine optimization.

Use SEO techniques to drive visitors to your website, where you can encourage them to
volunteer, donate, or sign up to receive news via your email list.

Partnerships.
Corporate and celebrity partnerships allow you’re non-profit to take advantage of another
organization's brand or connections to drive publicity and build public involvement in
specific events or campaigns.

Email marketing.
Use an email service provider to fundraise, welcome new subscribers, spread the word about
initiatives, encourage involvement, and share success stories with your members.

Events.
Organizing high-profile events to raise money or awareness for your cause can create a surge
of donations, along with generating press coverage and increasing public interest.

9
Public relations.
Like for-profit businesses, non-profits can use public relations campaigns to spread the word
about their work, as well as establish their authority and trustworthiness.

Infographics.
Use design tools like Canva to create informative graphics that can easily share important
information with the public through websites, social media, and blog posts.

Webinars.
Use free webinars to educate volunteers, roll out fundraising campaigns, and answer
questions about your work and cause.

10
 Create a Non-profit Marketing
Plan

Just like any other organization, a nonprofit also needs to plan ahead to effectively execute its
marketing strategy and achieve its goals. The best way to do that is by creating a solid
marketing plan for your nonprofit.

A nonprofit marketing plan is a document that outlines an organization’s marketing goals,

strategies, target audience, budget and more for a specified period of time.

It acts as a guiding hand for your marketing team so they don't end up spending money in the
wrong places and are able to help your organization achieve its goals. A good nonprofit
marketing plan is simple, straightforward and comprehensive. Below are four steps to
creating a nonprofit marketing plan that your team can rely on.

1. Set goals and objectives.

The first step is to define SMART goals for your nonprofit’s marketing plan. Here’s an info
graphic to help you better understand what SMART goals are. Using the SMART
methodology, you can translate bigger organizational goals into actionable and strategic
marketing objectives.

For example, here’s how an animal shelter that wants to encourage the adoption of rescue
pets could define a SMART goal for its marketing plan.

• Specific: Encourage rescue pet adoption by sharing a rescue story on Facebook once
a week.

• Measurable: Increase adoption form conversions by 5%.

• Attainable: Last year, the conversion rate for rescue pet adoption was 10%.
Increasing that rate to 15% by investing more time and resources is realistic.

• Relevant: Sharing rescue stories can help the audience build emotional connections
with the animals and encourage adoption. This ultimately aligns with the
organization’s mission to help all animals live a happy life.

• Time-bound: Start posting weekly stories on Facebook from May 1, 2021 to October
31, 2021.

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Setting goals and objectives early on lays the foundation for the rest of your marketing plan
and strategy. It helps explain the “why” behind your actions, and keeps you motivated and
focused towards achieving the end result.

2. Understand your target audience.

Before jumping into the marketing strategy for your nonprofit, you need to identify the key
audience for your campaigns. Defining your audience helps guide every aspect of your
marketing campaigns, from the channels you choose to the language, design and tone of
messaging you use.

For example, your nonprofit may want to attract volunteers, donors and business partners.
Since these are three different types of audiences, you’d want to tailor your marketing
campaigns for each segment.

3. Outline your marketing strategy.

Now that you have a clear idea of your goals and target audience, it’s time to create a
comprehensive marketing strategy that details:

• What to do

• How to do it

• What channels to use

This is the part where you focus on crafting key messages for each audience segment, and
then decide on the best way to communicate those messages.

Make sure your marketing strategy is clear and actionable so it can easily be understood and
executed by your marketing team.

4. Define budget and timeline.

Once you have a well-defined marketing strategy for your nonprofit, it’s time to plan out its
execution.

This involves allocating a pre-determined budget to each channel or activity, as well as

creating a timeline or calendar to help your team stay on track.

Defining the budget and timeline is key to ensuring that your marketing strategy is executed
smoothly and cost-effectively.

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 Non-profit Marketing Strategies
If you want to raise funds and support for your nonprofit, you need to show people how your
organization can make a difference and why it matters.

This is best done with the right marketing strategies that can help you effectively
communicate your mission, services and passion to the people who truly care about your
cause.

Here are the top marketing strategies used by nonprofit organizations all over the world.

1. Email marketing.

Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels out there—especially
for nonprofits.

The biggest advantage of using email is it feels more personal than other channels, which is
ideal for building long-term relationships with your audience.

Build an email list.

The first step is to build a healthy email list of people who are part of your target audience,
and so, will be more likely to engage with your emails. A good strategy to build your email
list is by offering lead magnets, or incentives, to convince people to leave their contact details
with you.

For example, if your target audience is business owners, you can get them to sign up by
offering an eBook on CSR initiatives or social marketing ideas.

Offer value.

Once you have a growing email list, you can start sending emails that offer value to your
subscribers. Avoid asking for donations immediately after sign up.

Start by building a relationship by welcoming new subscribers, sending updates and telling
stories about your volunteers, donors and beneficiaries.

This will help your audience feel more emotionally connected to your nonprofit and its cause,
and they’ll be more likely to respond when you ask them for a donation.

Timing is everything.

To make the most of your email campaigns, try to send the right message at the right time.

13
For example, you can invite subscribers during the holidays to share the charitable spirit and
donate to your cause.

Here’s an example of how charity: water does this.

Along with helping you get more donations, it will show contacts how dedicated you are
towards your cause. Plus, ensuring your emails are relevant and timely is always great for
engagement and building a good sender reputation.

2. Social media marketing.

Social media is an incredibly useful avenue for nonprofits looking to build a brand, and
engage with followers and community members.

According to Hubspot, below are the top reasons nonprofits use social media.

• Sharing news about their organization and cause

• Improving brand recognition and awareness

• Raising funds

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 • Recruiting volunteers and employees

• Showing recognition to donors and volunteers

The key to building a powerful nonprofit brand is to keep your messaging consistent across
all social platforms.

If you’re still wondering how to use social media for your nonprofit marketing, here are some
ideas to get you started.

Post user-generated content.

Sharing relatable content is the secret to high engagement rates on social media. And there’s
really no better way to relate to your audience than by involving them in the content creation
process itself.

For example, you can ask donors and volunteers to share their stories related to your cause,
and then repost these stories on your pages.

Another idea is to create a unique, branded hashtag for your campaign with the goal of
making it go viral.

Malala Yousafzai launched the #WithStrongGirls and #strengthies hashtags to inspire women
to show their support for sexism in poverty. It went viral with plenty of celebrities joining in
and sharing their own #strengthies on social media.

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Reposting user-generated content on your social media pages, like Malala Fund did, shows
your followers that you appreciate them and recognize their support.

Go behind the scenes.

Every nonprofit needs to establish credibility if it hopes to get massive public support.

People don’t want to donate money to shady organizations. They want to be sure that their
contributions are going to the right people.

The best way to establish credibility is by showing your audience that your organization is
made up of people just like them. People who are truly devoted to your cause.

Share behind-the-scenes content with your audience that show your staff and volunteers hard
at work, such as during an event, distribution drive or fundraiser.

Make use of tools like Instagram Stories and Live Video to give people real-time updates on
what’s going on. This helps your supporters feel more involved in your organization’s
activities, even if they couldn’t be there in person.

Showing people a raw, authentic side of your nonprofit helps build trust and empathy. The
more credible your organization is, the more support you’ll be able to get.

Facebook helps nonprofits raise money by letting them sign up for some exclusive charitable
giving tools.

If your organization qualifies for these tools, you can add a Donate button to your Facebook
page, and allow your followers and supporters to raise money for your cause. It’s getting

16
increasingly common for people to start fundraisers for their favorite nonprofits on their
birthday. In fact, Facebook even notifies people with approaching birthdays.

Use the “donation” sticker on Instagram Stories.

If you qualify for Facebook’s fundraising tools, you can also add a “donation” sticker to your
Instagram Stories in your efforts to raise money.

Leveraging these tools on different platforms lets you tap into a larger pool of potential
donors.

3. Content marketing.

The best way to educate your audience about your nonprofit’s cause is by publishing high-
quality content on your blog.

For example, an environmental nonprofit working can publish informative content that
explains why planting trees is beneficial for humans and the planet, what global warming is
and how it can be prevented, and other related topics.

Not only does this create awareness and generates support, but it also helps improve your
visibility in search results. Plus, people love to share great content about topics they care
deeply about, which means free PR for you. Make your blog posts even more engaging by

17
adding info graphics and colorful calls-to-action throughout. Here’s an animated CTA
template you can edit and use.

4. Video marketing.

According to Animoto, video is consumers’ favorite type of content from brands. Since your
audience loves watching videos so much, use this to your advantage by creating educational
and shareable video content for multiple platforms.

For example, you can create videos that introduce your organization to the public, and shed
light on your efforts to make a change.

Video content is much more engaging than text, which is why it has higher emotional value.
It can help you leave a stronger impact with your message, build trust in your organization
and drive more support for your cause.

Marketing for nonprofits requires reaching people on an emotional level.

5. Search engine optimization.

While creating quality educational content is important, you should also make sure it gets
enough visibility.

The best way to do is by optimizing your content for search engines, and that process starts
way before you even create a piece of content. Conduct keyword research in your niche to
identify what people are searching for. This will help you address specific issues and
concerns in your content.

Let’s assume your nonprofit helps people who are experiencing depression. Through
keyword research, you can find out the top search queries in a region related to depression.

For example, you could notice a high search volume for the keyword “symptoms of
depression.” You can use this information to create insightful content around this keyword.
Doing your homework beforehand lets you create high-ranking content that people would be
more likely to engage with, share with their friends and family, and generally find useful.

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6. Paid advertising.

There’s so much competition for visibility online, you need to pay to play. That’s why it’s so
important to balance your organic strategy with paid advertising on select platforms.

Here’s a Facebook ad template you can use to get more eyeballs on your nonprofit.

7. Print marketing.
Along with a solid digital marketing strategy, you should also create print material to
promote your nonprofit locally.

8. Event marketing.

Event marketing is one of the most popular ways to spread awareness and raise funds for
nonprofit organizations. Events are not just fun, they’re also an excellent way to bring
together people who share the same passion for your cause.

Here’s a flyer template you can edit to promote a local event or fundraiser.

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You can organize events like charity runs, bake sales, auctions and more to raise funds, get
people involved and generate awareness for your nonprofit. Submitting a press release is
another great way to raise awareness about your events.

9. Webinar marketing.

If you want to organize events on an international level, you can hold webinars, or virtual
seminars, to educate, inform and train your audience. To get more people to register for your
webinar, choose a topic that’s relevant to your nonprofit and interests your target audience.

For example, you can invite influential speakers in your nonprofit’s field to discuss issues
and present solutions.

Boost your webinar’s participation with an automated email campaign that reminds
registrants to attend the event on time, and follows up after the webinar.

10. Influencer marketing.

Working with influencers, even at the micro- or Nano-level, can help build credibility for
your nonprofit, spread awareness and gather support.

Reach out to influencers who share a passion for your cause, and discuss opportunities for
mutually beneficial partnerships.

UNICEF works with tons of celebrities and influencers, such as soccer star Messi, to create
content that supports and promotes their cause.

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 Tips to Boost Your Nonprofit
Marketing
Now that we’ve covered the various marketing strategies used by nonprofits, let’s talk about
how you can create innovative campaigns that get more results for your organization.

Below are some tips on how you can leverage techniques like visual marketing and
storytelling to push past the barriers and grow your nonprofit.

1. Tell a visual story.

Visual content has the ability to tell vivid stories, evoke emotions and form connections with
your supporters.

But creating a great visual takes time and effort. If it doesn’t have a solid purpose behind it or
a story to tell, it won’t have much of an impact.

Focus on building a compelling narrative around your visuals. A visual is powerful when it
conveys a strong message. It helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Take a look at this image shared by Feeding America.

Even though this visual uses minimal text, it tells a powerful story about how a seemingly
tiny donation can help buy so much food for those in need.

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2. Take a multi-channel approach.

As a nonprofit with the goal of reaching as many potential donors, supporters and volunteers
as possible, you can’t limit yourself to one channel. Every channel caters to a different kind
of audience, be it Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, blog or email. You need to be present on all
the popular platforms where your audience might be, but you also need to tailor your content
to each platform. Consider factors like audience demographics, usage, nature of content and
optimal sizes for images and videos.

Twitter, for example, is a fast-paced platform focused on current events and trending news.
It’s ideal for mobilizing supporters or informing them about cause-related news or campaign
updates.

On the other hand, a platform like Facebook is more focused on community and engagement.
It’s a better option for short videos, like documentaries and visual content that inspire
conversation. Something that people would share or tag their friends and family in.

3. Publish info graphics.

The biggest struggle for a nonprofit is getting their voice heard in a sea of information-
overload. This is where info graphics can help you out. Info graphics let you present
information, like facts and statistics, in a fun, visual way. They help you illustrate concepts to
make them look more meaningful and catchy. You can use info graphics to solve problems,
visualize important data and raise awareness and support for your cause—without being
boring.

For example, not many people would be interested in reading a dry, multi-page report. Make
your reports more interesting by transforming them into attractive info graphics.

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You can also prompt readers to take action, like signing a petition or making a donation, by
including a compelling call-to-action.

Another great way to use info graphics is by being transparent about your donation process.
Use this donation info graphic template to create one for your own nonprofit. The best part
about info graphics is you can easily make them shareable with the help of social sharing
buttons.

Also, make sure the facts and statistics you’re presenting in your info graphic are actually
relevant and interesting for your audience. Better yet, they need to have a point. Why are you
publishing the info graphic in the first place? What emotions or thoughts are you trying to
trigger? What action do you want your audience to take?

Keep in mind that your audience will automatically pay more attention if you focus on their
pain points and interests, instead of on your own organization

4. Get your team to collaborate.

People learn to build associations over time. If you’re not consistent with the style of your
visual content, it won’t contribute much towards your branding. In most nonprofits, people
come and go. The advantage is that it’s hard to run out of ideas in such a dynamic
environment.

But the drawback is that you can’t always rely on one person, like a professional designer, for
all your visual content needs in the long term. To inspire a visual storytelling culture in your
organization, you need to get every member of your team on board. This allows for smooth,
collaborative creation of visual content that’s always high-quality and on-brand.

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 The Role of Social Media

One of the challenges of non-profit marketing is to encourage people to donate to a cause

without receiving anything immediately in return. However, many non-profits are finding
that social media helps with this because it enables people to easily share why they are
donating and to encourage friends and family to do likewise. In a sense, this is similar
to word-of-mouth marketing. Social media creates a collaborative experience and gives
participants a sense of actively making a difference in issues important to them.

In fact, social media is now dominating many areas of marketing, making it more of a pay-to-
play game. This means nonprofit marketers, with their more limited budgets, can be at a
disadvantage. Accordingly, one way to improve a nonprofit's ability to leverage the power of
social media may include having each employee shoulder some of the responsibility of
getting the word out as part of a concerted, grassroots social media marketing effort.

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 Unique Issues in Nonprofit
Marketing Strategies
A non-profit organization’s (NPO) business goals tend to focus on the “organizational
mission,” which is the basis for the organization’s governmental status or its non-profit, tax-
exempt status. However, non-profits may also focus marketing efforts on optimizing revenue.
The primary difference between for-profit and non-profit organizations is that for-profit
organizations try to maximize wealth, while non-profit organizations look to provide a
greater good to society. In non-profit organizations, creative tensions may develop in the
effort to balance mission with revenue.
Marketing strategy involves careful scanning of the internal and external environments.
Internal environmental factors include the marketing mix, performance analysis, and strategic
constraints. External environmental factors include customer analysis; competitor analysis;
target market analysis; and evaluation of any elements of the technological, economic,
cultural or political/legal environment likely to impact success. A key component of
marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a company’s overarching mission
statement.

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 Constraints

Marketing Strategy Constraints

A marketing strategy can allow an organization to concentrate its resources on the optimal
opportunities with the goals of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive
advantage. Marketing strategies are designed to fill market needs and reach marketing
objectives. Also, plans and objectives are generally tested for measurable results.
However, the major goal of an NPO is to further its non-financial objectives, and NPOs are
not necessarily competing with others. Furthermore, the veracity of an NPO’s ability to
measure the success of its marketing plan is limited because their measurements are based on
more subjective factors. For example, a for-profit business may measure sales, the number of
customers, or repeat purchases. On the other hand, NPOs do not have sales, and it is difficult
for an organization whose goal is to provide social services or disaster relief to quantify its
success. For example, the Red Cross would measure success as the number of lives saved
rather than the amount of money raised.
American Red Cross Disaster Relief: The Red Cross is dedicated to saving lives and
helping people prepare for and respond to medical emergencies. As a result, any measure of
their marketing strategy’s success must use non-financial measurements such as lives helped.

Financial Constraints
NPO’s use surplus revenues to achieve their aims rather than distributing the revenue as
profit or dividends. While NPOs are permitted to generate surplus revenues, they must be
retained by the organization for its self-preservation, expansion, or plans. Designation as a
nonprofit and an intent to make money are not related in the United States. The extent to
which an NPO can generate surplus revenues may be constrained, or the use of surplus
revenues may be restricted.
The downturn in the economy has affected all business, but NPOs started out with limited
resources before the recession hit. While NPOs may not generate revenue for the sole
purpose of profits, they rely heavily on donations to keep the organization running. NPOs still
incur daily expenses, lawyers’ fees, and promotional campaign expenses. Fewer charitable
donations means NPOs have less money to spend on websites, advertisements, and benefits
that raise money for their causes.
Furthermore, NPOs have to compete with other “worthy causes” for their limited resources;
there are over 1.9 million NPOs in the US. How can one say that saving kids in Africa is
more important than feeding kids in Atlanta? With the economy down, competition will only
increase, as state governments and private foundations cope with resources that have dropped
sharply?
Another challenge is that limited budgets, resources, and staff limit the options available to
accomplish goals. Some strategies and tactics may be removed, which forces NPOs to come
up with more creative solutions.

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Formation Constraints
Most countries have laws that regulate the establishment and management of NPOs; these
laws require compliance with corporate governance regimes. Larger organizations are
required to publish their financial reports detailing their income and expenditure publicly.
They are similar to corporate business entities in many respects, though there are often
significant differences. Both not-for-profit and for-profit corporate entities must have board
members, steering committee members, or trustees who owe the organization a fiduciary duty
of loyalty and trust. A notable exception to this involves churches, which are often not
required to disclose finances to anyone, including church members.
As mentioned earlier, external environments, such as the legal environment surrounding
NPO’s, can have an effect on marketing strategies, and should be carefully considered.

Nonprofits are hit with the biggest digital marketing challenge of all: having no money. To
operate, thrive, and raise awareness for their cause without spending a substantial amount of
money can seem impossible in a world of bigger, louder, and more financially equipped
online advertisers.
Even though the challenges sound momentous, the people in these positions are often super
passionate and driven by a cause that feels bigger than themselves.

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 Why Nonprofits Should Invest More in
Advertising

The main sections of the New York Times and the Daily News contained big ads for
Hummer, T-Mobile, AT&T, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, and a host of electronics and furniture
retailers. The home page of the Huffington Post right now is running an ad for Delta Airlines.
On CNN.com it’s Netflix. ABCNews.com — Choice Hotels. Oprah.com — Crystal Light
beverages. No ads on any of these pages for Darfur, ending AIDS, or curing breast cancer —
indeed no ads for any 501 (c) 3. This is not an anomalous day. Gigantic consumer brands
advertise. Gigantic causes don’t.
Total annual U.S. marketing expenditures for all purposes are estimated to be about $730
billion. A rough estimate of annual nonprofit sector marketing spending puts it at $7.6 billion.
Take away nonprofit universities, museums, and other quasi-businesses, and a liberal
estimate of annual health and human service nonprofit marketing spending is $1.9 billion —
one dollar for charity, $384 for something else. In 2005 Save the Children (one of the larger
charity advertisers) spent about $6.4 million on advertising. The Walt Disney Company — or
Entertain the Children — spent about $2.4 billion — 359 times more — about the equivalent
of the difference in height between the Sears Tower and a 4 year-old child. It’s a testament to
the dearth of advertising in the sector that the I.R.S. Form 990 doesn’t even have a specific
line item for reporting it.
John Kenneth Galbraith wrote about the tragic difference in the value society gives to private
goods over public goods, i.e. we value a new car for ourselves much more than we do a new
park for the community. He placed much of the blame on the gigantic engines of marketing.
He wrote of the “institutions of modern advertising and salesmanship,” that, “their central
function is to create desires — to bring into being wants that previously did not exist,” and
that, “a broad empirical relationship exists between what is spent on production and what is
spent synthesizing the desires for that production.”
Sadly, charity goes without this function with respect to the mass market; in part because of a
reactionary disdain for anything that smacks of commercialism, but mostly because of public
pressure to maximize short-term program spending without regard for building scale or long-
term problem-solving. Donors consider paid advertising wasteful. “It’s OK if you can get
advertising donated, but I don’t want my donations spent to buy advertising.” (Imagine if we
told Coca-Cola it could advertise, but only if it could get the ads donated — ads that would
run at 2 in the morning.) The donor prejudice is that advertising spending steals from “the
cause,” so charities are loathe to do it, for fear of donor reprisal. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola,
which understands the power of advertising, is spending to indoctrinate us for life.
As a result, charitable giving in the U.S. has remained constant at about 2% of GDP since
we’ve been measuring it. Charity is not taking market share from the for profit sector. How
can it if it is never allowed to market?
People have a natural desire to be altruistic. When that desire is stimulated, we will give more
money to urgent causes — possibly much more. When it is not, we will give more money to

28
the consumer brands that do stimulate and create desires for private goods. A disaster like
Katrina received tens of millions of dollars of media equivalents in the form of 24/7 news
coverage for weeks on end. Billions in donations poured in. How much would have come in
if the story were never reported? Spending money to build demand for the great causes of our
time is as central to those causes as direct service — maybe more central, as it is the only way
nonprofits have any hope of reaching the scale of the problems they confront.
The best way to create a world that works for everyone is to start doing the same thing Apple
did to create a world in which everyone wants an iPod: start building demand for the idea on
a massive scale. If the New York Times every morning were full of ads for ending AIDS,
eradicating poverty, and curing cancer, those causes might just stand a chance against
Bloomingdale’s and Netflix. And make no mistake about it — that’s who the competition is.

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 Conclusion

Non-profit organizations play increasingly significant and diverse roles in the development
and maintenance of civil society and communities throughout the world. Consistent with this
trend, the demand for sophistication and skill in leading and managing these organizations is
growing. Leaders from across the globe are asking more and more of non-profit
organizations—more with regard to creativity and innovation, more with regard to
responsiveness, and more with regard to impact and results.

• Nonprofit marketing is the use of marketing tactics by a nonprofit organization to

promote the message and the organization, as well as raise donations.
• Marketing for a nonprofit can be challenging, as the organization must convince their
audience to give money without getting anything concrete in return.
• A solid understanding of traditional marketing techniques is as essential for marketing
a nonprofit as it is for marketing a business.
• There are many free and inexpensive marketing platforms out there, and nonprofits
should use a variety of them to create an effective marketing mix.

As a nonprofit marketer, you are well-positioned to tell stories that have impact. Just make
sure you don’t let obstacles get in your way. By creating a comprehensive content marketing
strategy, realigning your marketing dollars, and ensuring that you have the necessary talent to
implement your strategy, your great stories will go further, attracting and motivating your
audiences to do more even if your budget is small.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

❖ Berman, E. M. (1998) Productivity in Public and Non-profit Organizations: Strategies

and Techniques. London, UK: Sage Publications.

❖ Brand Raising: How Non-profits raise visibility and money through smart

communications. – Sarah Durham.

❖ The Non-Profit Marketing guide: high impact, low cost ways to build support for your

good cause. – Kivi Leroux Miller.

WEBLIOGRAPHY

❖ https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-nonprofit-marketing-2295530

❖ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nonprofit-marketing.asp

❖ http://eder671nonprofit.pbworks.com/w/page/18541473/Conclusion#:~:text=Nonprofi

t%20organizations%20serve%20the%20public,life%20of%20individuals%20or%20c

ommunities.&text=However%2C%20they%20often%20face%20problems,part%20of

%20their%20organizational%20practice.

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