This blog post was inspired by Katilyn's post earlier this week and our discussion in class about business versus non-profit sector. I agree with her statement that non-profits should be treated like business and at the same time, I believe non-profit sectors should act like a business too. In Melinda Gates' Talk, Melinda Gates Ted Talk, she shares how she believes non-profit should learn from Coca Cola.
By looking at a successful company, Melinda shares Coca Cola's marketing strategy to inspire non-profit sectors to raise awareness and branch out to local communities more effectively. The use of data have driven many companies to success. By analyzing how to target their audience, Coca Col was able to brand their products with the idea of unity and community respect. When villagers purchase Coca Cola products, they feel happy and unified. Coca Cola shows the villagers why it is important for them to buy coke. In the same sense, non-profit should reach out to the community and show why they are important. For instance, if non-profits are targeting education and if they can show a correlation between higher education received versus lower crime rates, people are more likely to donate and help the organization towards its mission. At the same time, these local organizations should think of ways to bring their mission to the community. How can they effectively reach the children who need education?
This is similar to the new strategy Hardwood Institute is implementing the way they focus on issues. Phil (from United Way) said by focusing on the community instead of the organization, non-profit sectors will be able to target the people more effectively than they would have otherwise. Do you agree with Melinda about non-profits adopting Coca Cola's strategies? Do you think focusing on the outward approach is helpful for local organizations?
Another interesting idea that Phil brought up today in class was the fact that sometimes we do not have the capacity to change a pressing issue. By working on smaller sections, we can see success and improvements rather than using our money to fund bigger projects where we cannot really affect fully. Our recent reading, "Scanning the Landscape," proposed an idea about how funders should "understand how their efforts fit within a wider field of activity". To scan is to be open to new perspectives on tackling an issue, by questioning and learning more about the unknown. This is useful when we need to decide where to donate the $10,000 to effectively and have a meaningful impact in the Broome County.
This blog post was really insightful in that it brought something new and refreshing to the table about non-profit branding strategies. I've never heard of the Melinda Gates Ted Talk but after watching some snippets of it, I completely agree with her Coca Cola Approach. I feel that a lot of the times, non-profits do not get the attention that they desire because the way that they are advertising, or lack there of, is not new and up to date with the current times. Using the Coca Cola Approach to create a sense of unity amongst all those who buy Coca Cola products has proven to be a huge success throughout the years and I think that this would be a very useful tactic when it comes to strategy branding for local non-profits.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not all local non-profits may have the publicity that United Way has for an example (since they are partners with the NFL), it is still not impossible to use the Coca Cola Approach. Since local non-profits attract community leaders and people that live in that area to donate or volunteer his/her time, local non-profits should really focus on advertising the community leaders that donate his/her time and money into that respective organization. Showcasing these community leaders dedicating their time into a local non-profit can provide good publicity as well as influence those in the community who may or may not know the community leader to participate.
Lastly, I believe that focusing on an outward approach is very important but I think that it can be hard for a small local non-profit due to the lack of necessary funds. Of course the United Way can really focus on this outward approach because they have an ample amount of funds from their partnerships. However, for a local non-profit it is hard to even keep an office up and running let alone have members try to recruit people to volunteer his/her time to help out the community. Despite that fact, I still think it is more beneficial to the community when non-profits/organizations focus more on an outward approach when it comes to helping out because not only does it provide immediate results but it also gives satisfaction to the volunteers as well.
This blog post was really insightful in that it brought something new and refreshing to the table about non-profit branding strategies. I've never heard of the Melinda Gates Ted Talk but after watching some snippets of it, I completely agree with her Coca Cola Approach. I feel that a lot of the times, non-profits do not get the attention that they desire because the way that they are advertising, or lack there of, is not new and up to date with the current times. Using the Coca Cola Approach to create a sense of unity amongst all those who buy Coca Cola products has proven to be a huge success throughout the years and I think that this would be a very useful tactic when it comes to strategy branding for local non-profits.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not all local non-profits may have the publicity that United Way has for an example (since they are partners with the NFL), it is still not impossible to use the Coca Cola Approach. Since local non-profits attract community leaders and people that live in that area to donate or volunteer his/her time, local non-profits should really focus on advertising the community leaders that donate his/her time and money into that respective organization. Showcasing these community leaders dedicating their time into a local non-profit can provide good publicity as well as influence those in the community who may or may not know the community leader to participate.
Lastly, I believe that focusing on an outward approach is very important but I think that it can be hard for a small local non-profit due to the lack of necessary funds. Of course the United Way can really focus on this outward approach because they have an ample amount of funds from their partnerships. However, for a local non-profit it is hard to even keep an office up and running let alone have members try to recruit people to volunteer his/her time to help out the community. Despite that fact, I still think it is more beneficial to the community when non-profits/organizations focus more on an outward approach when it comes to helping out because not only does it provide immediate results but it also gives satisfaction to the volunteers as well.
Hello Christy,
DeleteI am glad you found my blog interesting. I agree that community leaders should spend time on advertising, especially to college students. Although we only make up a portion of the Binghamton Area, I believe we have really loud voices. And hopefully, we can spread awareness around campus about different non-profit's mission.
I think the Coca Cola example definitely can be applied to other areas within philanthropy work. Bringing communities together, creating awareness, and actually going into the community as the philanthropist to see what is really going on are all important aspects of the field. How to reach the people in need is one important aspect and the only way to actually determine where the problems are and start working toward a solution is to interact with the community and “scan the landscape”, as the reading and our guest speakers demonstrated. A website I found on “scanning the landscape”, in contrast to the reading, actually provides the resources to connect people to the current news, potential partners, and more. I found this to be a great tool to help further the idea you mentioned of an outward approach, rather than simply focusing on improving the organization itself.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I agree with you and Phil that smaller steps are necessary in order to create larger changes. However, I believe this is only possible when the smaller changes are then taken to new levels and enforced in other areas to be able to even begin to touch on the larger issue. Yes, every small change helps, but no one should feel confident enough to rest on one of these small changes. Under the circumstances that there are plenty of resources to continue such progress, it is crucial to continue replicating such improvements in order to begin to tackle the larger issues at hand. As the assigned “Scanning the Landscape” reading concurs, it is important to “treat scanning as a more or less continuous activity – a frame of mind or set of routines that helps them stay aware of the larger context... and connected with broader networks.”
The hyperlink of the website I was referring to did not work but it is: http://foundationcenter.org/grantmakers/scan-the-landscape/
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this video! I think it does a great job at showing how two very different sectors (Businesses and Non-Profits) can benefit from an outward approach to their mission.
ReplyDeleteI especially agree with her idea of utilizing "local entrepreneurial talent" because it encourages more solution based answers to a long-term problems, rather than just providing resources which will eventually deplete. Encouraging the community members to take part in the development process really does help with marketing a cause and implementing a program because it makes us feel personally connected to the effort.
This is true when we consider what organizations we would donate to on the first day of class. Each of us mentioned organizations that we were familiar with due to personal involvement or relation. So I would then encourage NP's to really get to know the community members, and I think Phil made this point of knowing the community when he mentioned the grant that had incorrectly listed local groups involved due to having a grant writer that was not familiar with the area. I also find it ironic that still many of us did not really know how United Way works in our community until the presentation last class.
In regards to your questions about how to address education, encouraging students to become involved with mentoring and extra-curricular activities as an outward approach beyond the normal school day would be a great step towards encouraging their academic success in my opinion. Just like Coca-Cola gives a sense of community and unity to the people involved, having a relationship with a mentor or an extra-curricular interest also encourages students to thrive and feel empowered in their work because they can find a sense of self and purpose in knowing someone believes in them and that they have a community to encourage them.
I really enjoyed reading this post and what you have to bring to the conversation. I agree with the fact that nonprofits should learn from businesses such as Coca-Cola. Businesses have very specific goals and strategies to help them achieve these goals and this is something that nonprofits should also have in order to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI believe that people are more likely to give to a nonprofit if have seen them at work and involved in their community. In my personal life, I chose to run a specific race because the proceeds go to the Danielle House, a nonprofit organization in Binghamton that supports family members visiting patients in Binghamton Area Hospitals. The Danielle House directly impacted people in my life and because I am aware of the positive effect they have on the area I chose to support them.
I like the fact that you brought up the point that Phil talked about the fact that we don’t always have the capacity to change an issue. As a person who likes to see the best in every situation and have an overall positive attitude at first this was hard for me to hear. But as I thought about it and listened to him talk, I realized that the approach that the United Way and so many other organizations take makes sense. I know for me, the fact of how our money would make a larger difference in a smaller section is certainly going to play a role in how I think about donating it most effectively.
I really liked this post. I agree that nonprofits could really learn from for-profit businesses when it comes to how they want to be viewed and what they want their image to be. When it comes to marketing, coca cola clearly knows what they are doing. If nonprofits were able to emulate this idea of brand awareness and market themselves in a way that made people understand and relate to their mission, they would potentially get more donations. An example of this is UNICEF. Although UNICEF is not a nonprofit, they are an organization that collects donations (multi-billions of dollars) to help many nonprofits around the world. Through marketing and licensing they have turned their "brand" into a household name, extending their organization into different product categories with their name on it...and people want to buy these products!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Jessie in that sometimes, and especially in our case, you can't always focus on the big things. Although $10,000 is a lot of money, when thinking about "stopping" all drug addictions or "curing" hunger in Broome County, $10,000 is not enough money to completely fix these problems. Instead focusing on a way to help make these problems less prevelent is what we should be spending our money on. This will still help make a positive impact, just on a somewhat smaller, more effective scale.
Thanks for sharing this post, it was insightful and really made me think about the role of marketing in philanthropy. I recently came upon an article (I put the link at the bottom) about the role of emotion in getting donations for nonprofits. The study in the article said that in order for charities to get the most donations, they should appeal primarily to emotional arguments and NOT data and statistics. Showing personal stories that appeal to the heart would actually bring in more donations than showing those same stories in addition to data. This seems very similar to when Melinda Gates explained that it's not enough to give people what they need, they have to want what they need first. In both cases, people are not convinced by the statistics and data (e.g. "toilets improve health"). However, when emotion and good marketing was involved (e.g. toilets being linked with relationships with women) results improved.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important to think about marketing when making our decision. On the one hand, it is our job to look past the emotional appeals made by charities to donors and use data and our logical minds to decide to which groups to donate. On the other hand, we should try to see how well charities market their strategies to the groups with which they are working.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/to-increase-charitable-donations-appeal-to-the-heart-not-the-head/
Really interesting read. I think there is a catch-22 when it comes to marketing strategies. Everyone has seen those "donate 17 cents a day and you can feed a child in a third-world country" ads. The issue is that these ads often perpetuate stereotypes and inherent racism and ignorance. They can also be extremely patronizing. There is a fine line between bringing awareness to an issue and exploiting a group of people and misrepresenting members of a culture. This is especially tricky when it comes to children, who can not consent to being used this way. Furthermore, it becomes an issue when organizations put large amounts of money into funding (and their own pockets) than into actually directly helping people. Take March of Dimes, for example. The widely known charity is called March of Dimes because they actually only use a little more than 10 cents of every dollar to actually do the work of their mission and only 64.6% of their funding actually goes to help the needy. Where does the rest go? http://genfringe.com/2012/11/where-do-your-donation-dollars-really-go/ . While there is a value in advertising and education, the spending on that should be marginally insignificant in comparison to what they spend actually making a difference on their mission. For the most part, I think it is a large financial investment for a smaller local nonprofit to work on advertising so I would worry about donating based on their outreach/advertising success. While an organization may seem like they're doing a great job being visible within the community, it might be that they've decided to fund their bark more than their bite.
ReplyDeleteThis is a well worded post and an interesting view. The coca cola approach is one that seems very productive. Non-for Profit organizations should market their productivity, community activism, and successes, as well as themselves. I think that marketing is a big way to help out a business, which is very similar if not the same as a non-for profit with different goals. The Hardwood institute which you mentioned seemed to be a productive organization and Phil did a good job showing us how it works. His approach should be considered for other organizations. I think that people need to talk more about non-for profits. Every time some one mentions one it could possible get another individual involved. Just conversations raise awareness and the chance for assistance. Scanning the landscape was also a good issue. It is a good idea to know what organizations are helping the most and how funds will be used.
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