It’s no secret that the majority of non-profit associations’ issues and challenges revolve around finances and funding support. Identifying new funding sources and acquiring new sponsors have become quite big challenges for the majority of non-profit organizations worldwide.
One major factor contributing to this, is the impact of economic recession on the global financial capacity. On top of this, the Internet has contributed to the equation since it levels the global playing field for everyone anywhere in the world, thereby increasing the competition for the same financial support.
Financial sustainability is another huge issue. Take note that the first step towards getting funding support is, of course, advocating your cause to the community. With strong backing and recognition from the community, comes great potential for funding and donors.
However, to maintain and sustain the same support and enthusiasm of the community, as well as current donors, is a difficult task. The majority of donors continuously demand updates, accomplishments, and progress relative to the organization’s end goal. And to satisfy this demand means having to spend limited manpower and resources.
Ways and Methods to Address Financial Challenges
To address the financial issues mentioned above, here are some of the effective ways and methods that an organization can utilize.
1) Develop an engaging marketing and branding strategy. As mentioned, community support, recognition, and acceptance play a vital role in gathering possible donors and sponsors. To get this support from both the local and global community, you’ll have to develop an appealing and interesting advocacy strategy.Non-profit organizations are not so different from for-profit entities in this aspect. But instead of having a service or product, these organizations have to sell an idea or a concept to other entities, and try to convince them to believe in the same cause that they’re working for. In other words, their marketing strategy has to attract as many people as possible.
2) Identify potential revenue streams.There are a lot of activities that social organizations can do to generate income. Among these are:
Getting sponsorship from corporations and multinational entitie The evolution of the Internet didn’t only intensify the struggle for getting funding support; instead, it also opened up additional avenues of getting funding support from big corporations and multinational entities.
A lot of companies nowadays are open to the idea of sponsoring a social cause, since it’s a proven marketing strategy for businesses to freshen up their image with the general public,by associating their business with social change and humanitarian causes. Sponsorship, in this situation, doesn’t apply only to the financial aspect. It can also come in the form of getting expertise, skills, and additional manpower, to widening network and connections.
Creative fundraising. Traditional fundraising techniques are smaller in nature. But with the current struggle for financial support, organizations should focus more on individuals and groups that have the financial capacity to helptheir cause, as well as foster productive relationships with big corporations, business entities, and investors, for financial sustainability. Also, there are companies that specialize in providing help for nonprofit fundraising, such as “TheFundraisingAuthority.com”, “YouCaring.com”, and “VDM.BornsGroup.com”, to name only a few. These companies can help you improve your fundraising strategies, as well as reach out to more audiences, which translates into more potential investors.
Crowd-funding. It’s a recently coined term for getting a lot of people to contribute to your cause in small amounts. An example of this is a donation drive.
3) Promote a culture of giving.To maintain existing donors and sponsors, non-profit organizations should make them feel the impact their donations have on the organization’s cause. You have to show them that they’re not merely giving money away; instead, they’re influencing a certain aspect of life which is highly significant, and can never be bought with money.
