As a communications consultant that works exclusively with nonprofits, I found this article extremely helpful. It thoughtfully deconstructs ‘diversification’ as the only smart way to fuel fundraising growth.
Just wondering why the Susan G. Komen foundation wasn’t mentioned at all in this article. They’ve raised about 1 BILLION dollars since the late 80’s - I think that a lot could be learned from the way they operate.
Great article. The best take away point from the article for me was that even if its a not for profit company, it has to make sure that it has financial stability to achieve its goals. A lot of what you have said applies to for-profit corporations too specially in the web 2.0 space. A lot of companies start with a profit + goodwill mixed mission to help connect the world or provide a way to friends to connect via phones etc. However, so many companies forget that they need funding and good financial runway to keep their idea alive. I personally work at a site, we can use your ideas in our corporation too. On the topic of sources of funding, I am surprised to read that most big non-profits have a few sources of major funding. I always assumed that big non-profits would be getting contribution from many companies and individuals.
Thank you for your comment Henry. In Kenya, it must be very hard to get hold of all you need for the clihdren. I spoke to DonorTec and unfortunately for you there service is for Australian nonprofits. From where do you usually source your materials?
@Carol- Your position on this article perfectly displays why our future as Americans is built on a foundation of sand. “There are already bad people fucking things up in the world, so we should just…go… against…. everything…?” I too find myself angry at the previous generation for living so oblivious to the doings of the corporate world around them, but you gotta admit, they knew how to make money. Adopting the same principles for nonprofit social marketing only helps their ability to stay relevant in an America where >43% of resources are claimed by <1%. I suppose you are an Occupy supporter as well?
What a fascinating read. Very counterintuitive thinking that one sole funding partner would provide the best way to grow. I’m working with several nonprofits and we talk all the time about diversification of funding. This article makes an interesting article that I’m going to need to research more.
It makes sense though. In business, it’s the weird, crazy, contrarian ideas that always end up being major breakthroughs. For nonprofits it’s even more apparent, you can’t use what others have done to create your strategy, influence it maybe, but your strategy has to be completely original if you want to have a hope in hell of success.
The funding game is very complicated having spent 6 years in it with community development. Much of the government funding (foreign government) funding is not about the project itself but many times is about political influence in the region. I think government use funding as marketing their country and not so much about development.
Look at Africa and see how funding is allotted based primarily on what resources are available in the region. If you have nothing you are not going to get any funding.
I am really loving the theme/design of your weblog.
Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues?
A small number of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not working
correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox.
Do you have any advice to help fix this issue?
A tremendous source of information! It would be great to read an updated version one which included statistics regarding the effectiveness of crowd funding websites which 7 years ago were largely non-existent.
Crowd funding does work but we are talking about governments now. Many NGO’s have had use of crowd-funding in the past.. The biggest is Razoo and they have managed to raise $230million for 90,000 different projects. On a ratio that is not bad at about $2,500 per project.
The biggest stumbling block is how the we present the causes. Razoo gives you the option to search for what it is that you would like to fund. If you can get the mainstream media into highlighting many of these crowd-funding organisation that do charity then we have a winner. As for government doing it - good luck. I have given up hope in bureaucracies. The only issue which remains now is who becomes accountable for these donations once money passes hands.
Brilliant Article. Thank you very much for this. I learned so much as a business professional in the nonprofit sector. I look forward to more articles by the same writer or topic.
I’m Gary Pope by name, from United States. I want use this channel to say a special thanks to Jon Billy a wonderful man who made it possible for me to improve my business by helping me and my organization with a large amount of loan when we were stuck in a financial catastrophe. If you are out there in need of any financial assistance/loan then i will recommend you all to contact Jon Billy Funding a private firm via e-mail below, with low interest rate of 2% and better repayment plan. Take it for success.
Contact e-mail; .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thank you all.
Nonprofits get big just like any business that gets big: by offering world-class services and products that people need and want.
Tech innovation usually plays an essential role in this. As with any organization, nonprofits need funds and capital to operate and fulfill their mission. Utilizing technology to assist in this can be a gamechanger.
If your nonprofit has a smaller budget, we offer a text to donate service that is affordable and effective. Research shows that many nonprofits will raise more overall with an SMS donation program in their marketing mix than they will without one. Learn more http://gmg.cm/text-to-donate
Non-profits are working for the sake of goodwill and more and more people are joining their hands to support good causes and hence they are also getting expanded with time.
Most important aspect is that funding non-profit allows you to be exempted from tax, therefore it is good for both people and organizations that are working for the people.
As a brand strategist promoting nonprofits, I see too many organizations being pulled in different directions. The key success is focus — in mission, and fundraising. They key to raising more money in the long-term, is to have a clearly defined mission and brand.
As a former nonprofit CEO multiple times, I always suspected that diversification had a dark side, now I know what it is. This is a terrific analysis that I have used many times in my own practice in re-engineering nonprofit revenue programs. I appreciate that they did the research.
COMMENTS
BY Sarah Durham
ON February 20, 2008 07:10 PM
As a communications consultant that works exclusively with nonprofits, I found this article extremely helpful. It thoughtfully deconstructs ‘diversification’ as the only smart way to fuel fundraising growth.
BY Charles
ON March 31, 2008 10:18 AM
Wow 144 non-profits with $50M or more in revenue per year. Pretty impressive but I think has a lot more room for growth.
Charles
BY Morten
ON October 31, 2008 06:16 AM
Extremely valuable article. Cut to the bone without being shallow. Very well-structured.
BY K RO
ON November 1, 2008 03:57 PM
Just wondering why the Susan G. Komen foundation wasn’t mentioned at all in this article. They’ve raised about 1 BILLION dollars since the late 80’s - I think that a lot could be learned from the way they operate.
BY Vivek
ON August 14, 2009 08:00 AM
Great article. The best take away point from the article for me was that even if its a not for profit company, it has to make sure that it has financial stability to achieve its goals. A lot of what you have said applies to for-profit corporations too specially in the web 2.0 space. A lot of companies start with a profit + goodwill mixed mission to help connect the world or provide a way to friends to connect via phones etc. However, so many companies forget that they need funding and good financial runway to keep their idea alive. I personally work at a site, we can use your ideas in our corporation too. On the topic of sources of funding, I am surprised to read that most big non-profits have a few sources of major funding. I always assumed that big non-profits would be getting contribution from many companies and individuals.
BY Fabiano
ON October 5, 2012 04:47 PM
Thank you for your comment Henry. In Kenya, it must be very hard to get hold of all you need for the clihdren. I spoke to DonorTec and unfortunately for you there service is for Australian nonprofits. From where do you usually source your materials?
BY Carol
ON June 30, 2013 01:21 PM
Philanthropy under Capitalist relations of production only serves to ensure and expand exploitation of the masses.
BY austin
ON October 23, 2013 10:31 PM
@Carol- Your position on this article perfectly displays why our future as Americans is built on a foundation of sand. “There are already bad people fucking things up in the world, so we should just…go… against…. everything…?” I too find myself angry at the previous generation for living so oblivious to the doings of the corporate world around them, but you gotta admit, they knew how to make money. Adopting the same principles for nonprofit social marketing only helps their ability to stay relevant in an America where >43% of resources are claimed by <1%. I suppose you are an Occupy supporter as well?
BY Jeph Maystruck
ON November 24, 2013 12:15 PM
What a fascinating read. Very counterintuitive thinking that one sole funding partner would provide the best way to grow. I’m working with several nonprofits and we talk all the time about diversification of funding. This article makes an interesting article that I’m going to need to research more.
It makes sense though. In business, it’s the weird, crazy, contrarian ideas that always end up being major breakthroughs. For nonprofits it’s even more apparent, you can’t use what others have done to create your strategy, influence it maybe, but your strategy has to be completely original if you want to have a hope in hell of success.
Great read mate!!
Jeph
BY Andre
ON December 10, 2013 09:33 AM
The funding game is very complicated having spent 6 years in it with community development. Much of the government funding (foreign government) funding is not about the project itself but many times is about political influence in the region. I think government use funding as marketing their country and not so much about development.
Look at Africa and see how funding is allotted based primarily on what resources are available in the region. If you have nothing you are not going to get any funding.
BY Calvin John Mcphee
ON December 22, 2013 08:51 PM
the Australian government provides several funds for individuals and companies. here’s a detailed information about it http://www.australiantrainingschool.com.au/
BY Amelia
ON January 30, 2014 03:22 AM
I am really loving the theme/design of your weblog.
Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues?
A small number of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not working
correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox.
Do you have any advice to help fix this issue?
BY M
ON January 30, 2014 06:35 PM
A tremendous source of information! It would be great to read an updated version one which included statistics regarding the effectiveness of crowd funding websites which 7 years ago were largely non-existent.
BY Tracey
ON September 15, 2014 10:54 PM
Crowd funding does work but we are talking about governments now. Many NGO’s have had use of crowd-funding in the past.. The biggest is Razoo and they have managed to raise $230million for 90,000 different projects. On a ratio that is not bad at about $2,500 per project.
The biggest stumbling block is how the we present the causes. Razoo gives you the option to search for what it is that you would like to fund. If you can get the mainstream media into highlighting many of these crowd-funding organisation that do charity then we have a winner. As for government doing it - good luck. I have given up hope in bureaucracies. The only issue which remains now is who becomes accountable for these donations once money passes hands.
BY Sonia
ON June 21, 2015 10:35 PM
Brilliant Article. Thank you very much for this. I learned so much as a business professional in the nonprofit sector. I look forward to more articles by the same writer or topic.
BY Gary Pope
ON November 16, 2016 09:40 AM
I’m Gary Pope by name, from United States. I want use this channel to say a special thanks to Jon Billy a wonderful man who made it possible for me to improve my business by helping me and my organization with a large amount of loan when we were stuck in a financial catastrophe. If you are out there in need of any financial assistance/loan then i will recommend you all to contact Jon Billy Funding a private firm via e-mail below, with low interest rate of 2% and better repayment plan. Take it for success.
Contact e-mail; .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thank you all.
BY Eric Bryant
ON May 13, 2017 09:34 AM
Nonprofits get big just like any business that gets big: by offering world-class services and products that people need and want.
Tech innovation usually plays an essential role in this. As with any organization, nonprofits need funds and capital to operate and fulfill their mission. Utilizing technology to assist in this can be a gamechanger.
If your nonprofit has a smaller budget, we offer a text to donate service that is affordable and effective. Research shows that many nonprofits will raise more overall with an SMS donation program in their marketing mix than they will without one. Learn more http://gmg.cm/text-to-donate
BY Nancy Donnaperna
ON June 27, 2017 06:09 AM
Hi William,
Non-profits are working for the sake of goodwill and more and more people are joining their hands to support good causes and hence they are also getting expanded with time.
Most important aspect is that funding non-profit allows you to be exempted from tax, therefore it is good for both people and organizations that are working for the people.
BY Howard Levy
ON September 7, 2017 08:45 AM
As a brand strategist promoting nonprofits, I see too many organizations being pulled in different directions. The key success is focus — in mission, and fundraising. They key to raising more money in the long-term, is to have a clearly defined mission and brand.
BY Laurence A. Pagnoni
ON November 13, 2018 03:22 AM
As a former nonprofit CEO multiple times, I always suspected that diversification had a dark side, now I know what it is. This is a terrific analysis that I have used many times in my own practice in re-engineering nonprofit revenue programs. I appreciate that they did the research.