Whether online or offline make sure your marketing materials further your nonprofit’s goals, by making people aware of its mission, willing to donate, interested in joining or eager to participate in its fundraising event.
An e-newsletter, like all points of contact with your organization’s stakeholders, should bring your organization closer to meeting its goals and keep its mission clear in people’s minds. Make sure outreach materials reflect what your organization does as well as what it hopes to achieve.
Your nonprofit may be facing big changes: a new location or program, a merger or change of focus. Or your main funding sources may be drying up as government fundings shrivels or donors age out so replacement funders are needed. Just as likely, the organization has experienced “mission creep” so what it does now is not fully reflected in its current name, tagline, and logo. In any of these instances, your marketing messages may not be catching the attention of the people your organization now needs to engage.
Part of building your brand is ensuring that outreach is conveying the right messages to the right audiences. Building such a brand requires a clear understanding of just what your organization’s mission and goals are.
Define Your Needs
What do you want your outreach to accomplish? That’s the first question you need to answer, and doing so may require input from your development department and your program heads as well as from your board and staff.
Is funding needed for a specific goal or project? Have programs changed but clients don’t yet know about the changes? Are there opportunities for new revenue sources, such as partnerships or sponsorships? Is your advocacy organization gearing up to support specific legislation? Does your nonprofit school want to attract more students or a more diverse student population?
A fresh look at the goals your marketing materials are designed to attain can be prompted by any of these. Goals can be categories in many ways and the categories often overlap. Here, we’ve used four categories as a guide for establishing what your nonprofit’s goals are.
Organizational Goals
Goals derived from your strategic plan and your organization’s mission determine where your organization is going in the future. Organizational goals have to do with your agency’s services and facilities, staffing and board, major initiatives, and partnerships — essentially, the overall direction and operations of your organization, such as:
- The demographics of the neighborhood served by a social service agency is changing and with that change, new services are needed. The agency wants to introduce new programs and make the community aware of its the change in focus.
- A senior center wants to leverage its reputation and experience with seniors to start a fee-for-service consulting service.
Fundraising Goals
Fundraising goals may be short-term — money for a special project — or long-term — establishing new revenue sources to ensure sustainability, for example:
- Diversifying your fundraising base
- Starting an individual donor campaign
- Attracting corporate sponsors
- Starting a planned giving program
- Raising the money for the new location
Marketing Goals
These goals are about reaching your audiences and change as you organizational needs change. They are as varied as the mission of nonprofits and include:
- Attracting new members
- Encouraging people to use your services
- Creating goodwill for your organization
- An organization with an aging membership and board wants to attract younger members to its performances and its board
- A civic organization wants to galvanize more businesses to participate in its programs
Branding Goals
Branding goals define your organization in the public eye and make sure its mission and value are recognized. Most branding goals incorporate several areas, meeting both organizational and fundraising goals, such as:
- A community organization known for one signature program wants to create awareness of the parent organization so overall fundraising is more effective.
- An international relief organization wants to create a more seamless connection between all of its chapters and affiliates so its full reach is recognized.
Once you know what your marketing should accomplish, your next step is determining who your audiences are and how best to reach them. We’ll address that next.
