To Sell Themselves to Donors, Nonprofits Are Turning to the Pros

Not long ago, the website for the nonprofit Colon Cancer Alliance offered a treasure trove of information about colorectal screening, colon cancer research and other topics related to the deadly disease.

What it did not do was provide a concise explanation of what the group’s aims were and, perhaps more crucially, why people should donate money to help its cause.

“There was confusion,” said Michael Sapienza, chief executive of the alliance. “It was very unclear to the public exactly what it was we did.”

For Mr. Sapienza, who lost his mother, Chris, to colon cancer in 2009, it was personal. He wanted to help others who had the disease. So he brought in marketing experts to rebrand and refocus the group’s message. Today, the site clearly emphasizes that the alliance’s goal is to knock colon cancer out of the top three cancer killers and lays out its three-pronged strategy to accomplish this: Invest $10 million in research by 2021, double the number of patients and families it reaches with support services and save 100,000 lives through increased screening by 2021.