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“We try to come alongside people and interact with our supporters so that they know that we see them, we’re with them, and we’re in this together.” – Quote by LINDSAY KOLSCH, Chief Financial Officer of To Write Love on Her Arms.
Marketing and fundraising by NGOs for their worthy causes have always been a problem since time immemorial. The main hindrance to the good work done by NGOs in a variety of causes is lack of funds and donations. As we all know, money talks. The more money in the kitty can be more programs, more beneficiaries, and so on. Each NGO and its marketing team compete with hundreds of others for the same funds by corporate and benevolent human beings.
Covid-19 pandemic has caused the worst economic recession the world has ever seen. There is no sector in the world that has remained unaffected. Businesses have taken a major hit and savings of people have been impacted. In this case, the issue of NGOs, funding, and marketing efforts are quite strained. How does one attract spending by corporate and the public at large when there is not enough money to go around?
Also read: Why and how Nonprofits use salesforce
A recent large scale survey threw up surprising results which are of immense use to marketing teams of NGOs. These trends which are going to be crucial for 2021 are:
• Supporters of a cause connect initially because of the cause being propagated but eventually, remain connected because of the digital marketing and experiences put out by the NGOs
• Even though funding is always a problem, increasing your outreach and work is the key to finding new supporters, donors, and funds
• Clean and crucial data with the NGOs will drive all forms of decision making such as social media messaging and content strategy to have maximum impact
• 75% of NGOs believe that constituent experience distinguishes them from other NGOs in the same domain.
It’s time for all of us including NGOs to get our acts together for the life under the shadow of Cpovid-19 whose impact will be here for years to spend. An animal shelter in Gurgaon – The Karma Animal Foundation which houses over 50 stray dogs in its campus had changed their digital outreach to appeal to its support base to raise funds and donations in kind as well.
Led by the enterprising trustee Mala Sahni, their social media content is personalized, appeals to the caring instinct of its supporters, and is engaging at the same time. So even if the days are tough, they are able to pull through to ensure that the dogs are looked after well.
If you are in the non-profit sector with funds drying up, do consider the trends listed above while drawing your marketing strategy. Tech and data will keep all of us afloat with funds trickling in. So whether you are looking after orphans or animals or in the field of education or sustainable communities, leverage technology, social media, and data to improve your reach and connect in 2021.
About the Author
RS Maan
Maan joined Salesforce Ecosystem in 2008 with entry of Salesforce in APAC region. He worked on many of the underlying Salesforce Products & it’s functionality, including Heroku, Chatbots, and Einstein before leading Codleo Consulting - Leading Partner of Salesforce.com & Salesforce.org. In his spare time, he immerses himself in travel, books and spirituality.
