Nonprofit Marketers Cannot Escape Change

Let's face it … whether you've been around for a long time or a short time, it's not possible to have missed all the change. Nonprofits have experienced a dramatically changed climate in the last decade—yet, unfortunately, most nonprofits have not changed themselves.

The sector is largely reactive, and has a "get through it" attitude versus being proactive and realigning itself from inside. The marketplace changes are far-reaching and involve a different and evolving profile of the philanthropic audience, and increased financial scrutiny by watchdog agencies and nonprofit constituents themselves. On top of this, new channels for communication and outreach add additional complexity—and opportunity.

And let’s be honest, the shifts in retention and growth alone over the years should be enough of a catalyst for organizational change.

Nonprofits have always prided themselves on consistency and the certainty that comes from being underpinned by a long history of traditional operating methods for fundraising and marketing. Alarmingly, given a new and evolving landscape, the refusal or inability to change will not only erode the security of our market positions, but degrade our ability to deliver on our critical missions.

The future is bright for organizations willing to begin the transition from the old pattern of operating in an internally centric manner to the essential new paradigm of delivering an integrated and satisfying experience to constituents.

Driving Change Systematically

There are critical leverage points organizations must consider in becoming more constituent-centric. Alignment in each area is necessary to begin the organization's evolution and secure its success. Of course, each organization will have unique steps to take and different priorities to set.

• Organization alignment: Alignment at the executive, departmental and affiliate level within the organization is critical. Becoming constituent-focused is not just a marketing and fundraising decision, it is a business strategy that affects every area of the organization.
• Culture alignment: The way people view the organization's "new" goals and approach to doing business is a critical part of evolution. Of even more importance is how they view their individual roles not only as part of the new organizational vision but also how their roles affect the overall constituent experience. Change management is as much for the culture as it is for the marketing and fundraising efforts.
• Constituent strategy alignment: Most organizations have a structure that is built around departments and programs. Therefore, the strategies deployed across the organization are typically developed, honed and deployed with a view to what is needed for that department and/or program. Constituents are segmented via the same method, and the strategies deployed are typically built around a transactional view within the programs. For an organization to evolve as more constituent-based, constituent strategy needs to be understood and activated across the organization. Segmentation needs to be viewed at the organization-wide level, not the program level. Understanding overlap and duplication across departments must be seen through the eyes of each constituent group and how that experience affects the entire brand. A fully integrated constituent strategy must continue to be deployed within programs across the organization, yet the strategy is centralized and is the driving factor for execution.
• Metric alignment: Similar to how strategies are aligned in today's nonprofit, metrics of success are often based on program and department strategies. The evolution to a constituent-centric organization requires a set of goals and metrics. Constituent-based metrics must be developed to measure the overall relationship with the brand, retention with the brand, satisfaction and commitment to the brand, and the long-term view of the strength of those relationships. These metrics are additive, and do not replace the metrics being used to measure and evaluate specific programs in the organization.
• Operations alignment: Once an organization begins the process of integrating strategies and viewing actions from a constituent-based approach, the operational framework in the organization must be reviewed to ensure that integration can actually occur. The development of new metrics may require changes in data, databases, financial tracking, etc. The integration of communication strategies may require new decision-making processes across departments and/or programs. Ensuring staffers across the organization understand their roles and accountability to ensure satisfying constituent experiences may require new performance management components. Depending upon the changes required to assure organization-wide success, it is likely that the issue of how the business operates must be reviewed and realigned.

Change is not easy, but it’s worth it. As organizations across the sector have made improvement in key areas, retention rates have increased, improvement in satisfaction and loyalty to the brands has increased, and engagement with brands has been maximized. All these improvements drive greater revenue to fund the mission.

Consumers around the globe are demanding a better experience. And when it comes to the demands for better nonprofit experiences, those will only be achieved through better integration across organizational silos, and a clear view of constituents' value and needs across the organization.