Special considerations for marketing a nonprofit

Marketing for a nonprofit isn’t the same as marketing for a for-profit company. When building the marketing strategy for your nonprofit, it’s important to keep a few considerations in mind.

The obvious

One of the biggest unique considerations for nonprofits is, well, their lack of profit. Nonprofits don’t have the same goals and operating structures as for-profit companies. This often creates a scarcity mentality, which prioritizes optimizing operations over spending on growth-focused activities like marketing. While a nonprofit shouldn’t be run with the exact same principles as a for-profit company, savvy nonprofit leaders shouldn’t shy away from using aggressive marketing tactics common in other industries. When nonprofit marketers are willing to roll up their sleeves and get crafty, we’ve seen them raise millions in donations.

Mixed audience

Nonprofits can function like a B2C company, a B2B company, or a bit of both. Nonprofits come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and the marketing strategies (and budgets) of any two are likely to be very different. When developing your plan, first start with an understanding of your audience, and look to both nonprofit and for-profit organizations that serve that same audience for inspiration on how to best reach them.