How can not-for-profit brands survive and thrive in a competitive sector?
The charity sector, once relatively protected from scrutiny, has, over the last year been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Stories of aggressive marketing tactics, the trading of donor information and questions over fundraising practices has culminated in the publication of a government commissioned review calling for reform.
According to the Register of Charities there are a total of 189,061 charities in the UK, making the sector one of the largest and most diverse in the country. An intimidating number and one made even more so when you take into account how the traditional lines between the ‘for-profit’ and ‘not-for-profit’ sectors have become increasingly blurred.
There is an emerging trend amongst for-profit businesses who are recognising and capitalising on the growing public interest in brands seen to “be and do good” as well as turn a profit. Whilst charities, needing to fundraise and capture their share of the public’s empathy and donations in an increasingly competitive sector, have professionalised and adopted many of the practices and behaviors associated with for-profit businesses. From an increased focus on the measurement and monitoring of their impact, to highly proficient brand and communications strategies, to well managed, professionally run operations. The traditional delineation between for-profit and not-for-profit has become rather more fuzzy.
This, in conjunction, with the aforementioned news stories of dubious practices and the aggressive tactics adopted by a few charities has created an air of skepticism amongst the public and the media.
With this in mind, we look at how not-for-profit brands can survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive sector where public trust and empathy must be won and retained, rather than assumed.
Identify and articulate your role and purpose, beyond fundraising.
For many not-for-profits, the importance of fundraising cannot be underestimated and is a huge part of what they do and the role they play, on behalf of the causes they support. However it is critical, particularly as organisations grow in scale and size and look more like for-profit businesses from the outside that they are able to articulate the role they play beyond just ‘fundraising’.
For agencies like ourselves this is where we argue ‘brand’ can play a critical role. Brand strategy can help provide a clear definition of purpose. Thus supporting and helping drive marketing and fundraising efforts whilst shaping and informing the role a charity plays. How a modern not-for-profit impacts and influences on behalf of the causes it supports, beyond raising money, is an incredibly important part of the story and should be reflected in any brand strategy within this sector.
Global challenges and the root causes of complex issues require multi-disciplinary, collaborative working across organizational boundaries and across sectors. So modern not-for-profits need a brand strategy that can not only inform a coherent story around purpose and need, but also identifies and articulates the role they play within a complex ecosystem. By identifying their role, defining and articulating their ethos and how they work, they can identify like-minded partners and collaborators who perform complementary roles but have a similar ethos and ideals.
In this way their relative impact on the causes they support is magnified and multiplied through reach, convening power and influence above and beyond financial aid and support. And their impact and role in the world is viewed and understood beyond simply fundraising, helping drive trust and credibility.
Empowering others to communicate their story, rather than speaking on their behalf.
The importance of clearly and consistently communicating ‘need’ has long been a challenge for fundraisers. Ensuring the public is aware of, focused on and empathetic to the causes they support though is an increasingly challenging task. Given both the expanding, busy and competitive sector not-for-profits find themselves competing in, as well as the backdrop of tumultuous world events dominating the news headlines, from Ebola epidemic to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Equally, charities and not-for-profits often adopt the approach of speaking on behalf of the communities they support, rather than empowering and enabling them to tell their stories directly. Finding new and innovative ways to enable and empower communication from the ‘frontline’ to convey powerful messages of need will become more important in ensuring cut through and maintaining public understanding of the issues and challenges faced. Whilst ensuring this approach remains focused on powerful communication, rather than straying into exploitation of vulnerability, will remain an important judgment call professional fundraisers need to continue to make.
Connecting donors and donations with impact, in real time.
Public reporting of impact and influence is common practice, as not- for-profits have grown in number and size and increasingly needed to demonstrate and communicate the impact of the donations received as well as their influence and impact on the causes they support. However, the ways and the channels through which this public reporting takes place are often as tried and tested as the practice itself. Instead, finding news ways to harness technology that connect donors and donations with impact, in real time, will become an increasingly important opportunity. To drive emotional empathy, connection and loyalty in the long-term, whilst also demonstrating and reflecting the responsiveness expected of a modern, not-for-profit.
Empathy is everything.
Charities are naturally perceived as empathetic to the causes they champion but this empathy must also extend to those who give them support. Loyalty isn’t a given so understanding how, when and what you communicate to donors is essential.
As the public scrutiny of tried-and-tested practices and approaches traditionally adopted by charities (direct marketing, door to door sales, cold calls) increases and continues to call into question the motives and ethics behind these tactics, which are increasingly perceived as unnecessarily aggressive. Professional fundraisers need to consider how they can build empathy with donors and prospective donors in new ways. Technology and platforms that enable and empower public participation easily and seamlessly — in both the giving and the supporting of causes — can provide fundraisers with new ways to innovate and drive empathy and dominate the headlines for the right reasons, rather than the wrong ones.
Claire Rigby is Strategic Partner at True North.
