Elevating Your Non-Profit Support

One of the pillars at DNW is Community. We use it as a dual functioning phrase to both represent supporting the local communities marketing efforts and highlighting how it takes a large group of skilled individuals to bring any campaign to life.

Over the past 5+ years we have a lot of experience across pro-bono and discounted fee non-profits in the Seattle community. Through that we have seen first-hand the structure of marketing teams at these organizations and some of the challenges they face. It is with that experience that we can say, agencies should be stepping up to help support the non-profits in their community more deeply, even going beyond their normal client scope to get work done for these under-resourced groups. We are a digital media shop, but we are helping source creative support, website design work, set tracking up on the site (usually Google Analytics), create marketing personas and more. So pretty much, we ecome marketers versus trying to just fit a specific need. We get scrappy and help. They understand we don’t know it all, but they appreciate the help.

How can you help with non-profits and go deeper? Well, not all non-profits are created equal so below are the 3 categories we typically see  [ES1] and the different depths you can help them accomplish their marketing goals.

Types of Non Profits:

Mom and Pop

These are local community organizations that may have at best 1 marketing person. They almost certainly have no money for media and if so it’s a few thousand here or there. Their biggest issues are the fundamentals. Their website is usually not up to par and they just don’t have the bodies to even take on the work. This is sometimes the hardest organization to help because the needs are endless, and the answers are open ended.

While it sounds daunting, the bar is low so roll up your sleeves and take on a few tasks.

How to help

·      Website cleanup: The website is usually the first thing. Clean it up because its hard to garner a donation or drive an action on the site when a lot of the fundamentals are missing.

·      Social Strategy: Help with a social strategy. Often they aren’t on the platforms they should be and need help with creating a plan, let alone executing.

·      Goals & Benchmarking: Set goals and benchmarks. There isn’t usually a frame of reference being so small and being able to give guidance on expectations is so important.

Small and Scrappy

These organizations typically have a 1-3 person marketing operation. They are big enough to have plans, but the people in marketing are so overworked and stretched its hard for them to connect all the marketing to a central theme.

How to help

·      Conversion Rate Optimization: Similar to a mom and pop, the website probably needs some love, especially on “conversion” pages. There are solid bones to it, but they could use some expertise on driving more conversions easier (sales/donations/etc…)

·      Network: Use your network to help support their needs. As noted, their resources are limited and they have the needs of a bigger business. The network of the agency might be the most important thing because you are tapped into the right people to get work done and they will appreciate the help.

·      Campaign Setup: Usually they’ve boosted some posts or run some low level ad campaigns (maybe even had a freelancer) but there can be a disconnect between best practices on platforms and what they have don’t in the past. Agencies know where the bones are buried in these ad platforms (i.e. Google/Meta) and can help make sure any spend is done right with limited waste.

The “For-Profit” Non-Profit

These are often organizations that are quite large with a goal of making a profit, but are labeled a non-profit. These groups have a marketing team with a strong structure, but also still need a lot of outside resources. We work with some like this and we do even charge a monthly fee, but its severely discounted to help their bottom line. Don’t feel bad asking for some money, but also understand that the scope is just a guide and work to go beyond for them as they need it.

How to help

·      Creative Messaging: Creative and messaging strategy is an enormous opportunity. Usually there is loyalty to the organization and a healthy bottom line, but also the marketing can be piecemealed together. The team is often overworked and get pulled in so many directions they cannot step back and ask, “is this all connected to our overall marketing vision.”

·      KPIs and Benchmarking: Benchmarking is so key. They spend on ads, have a strong digital presence, but don’t have the industry knowledge like an agency to know what average or good or great looks like. Help them set benchmarks and create a measurement mindset.

·      Paid Approach: Dial in the paid strategy. Often they are spending on Google and Meta, but may not know how to pull the levers correctly. Get them in a better place on the core platforms while expanding their horizons on new ones they were intimidated to try.

In Summary

In the end the benefit of an agency’s resources goes towards that organization, but it also has an impact internally as well. It’s fun to go beyond your typical role as a contributor and its rewarding to the team. Seeing someone who does media help with an email design or create a graphic is a great way to show off the many talents we have.

Find some non-profits at varying levels that align with your core values and go help. Don’t worry about scope and just do the work because it’s rewarding and those teams need it. I know so many agencies are already doing this, but it feels like we need to somehow do more, with the more outside the comfort zone that it is, the more rewarding the effort becomes.

Chris Okroy