Marketing for Non-Profit Organisations - Essay Example

The attraction of resources, of charitable donations for humanitarian purposes, is an increasingly difficult undertaking due to NPO competition over limited resources. The implication here is that for an individual NPO to attract resources, it is incumbent upon it to pursue marketing strategies as would direct public and private resources towards it, as opposed to its competitor NPOs. For the purposes of forwarding this argument and of establishing the imperatives of NPO’s exploitation of marketing strategies, this essay will critically examine the implications of resource allocation and attraction within the context of NPOs. Both profit and non profit organisations are intimately concerned with both resource attraction and resource allocation but the manner in which either organisation type defines these activities/processes differs. Within the context of FPO’s marketing strategies and communication programmes target specified market segments in order to incite product/service purchase decisions. The implication here is that resources are obtained though product sales/services. This is not the case with NPOs where resources are generated through donations which are not necessarily contingent upon the delivery of a good/service. Marketing for the purpose of resource attraction, therefore, assumes a status of singular importance insofar as the success of the selected strategies and marketing mix is akin to the passage of a life or death sentence upon an organisation. If it is able to attract resources, it will survive, live, if it is unsuccessful, it will die. The above noted difference regarding resource attraction within the context of NPOs versus FPOs, extends to variances in the way in which each organisational type engages in resource allocation practices. FPOs engage in resource allocation management practices for the explicit purpose of organisational expansion and the maximisation of profits, while NPOs do so for the purpose of ensuring effective response to the humanitarian cause they are targeting. For example, GE, the leader in practically all the industries it is involved in, allocates resources to all of research and development, marketing and expansion for the purpose of maximising profits. In direct comparison, Oxfam, the UK’s leading NPO, allocates resources to marketing and organisational expansion, primarily the establishment of offices in other countries but its primary resource allocation activity involves the distribution of attracted resources among the humanitarian projects and causes in which it is involved. More often than not, resource allocation decisions are predicated on cause priority, with emergencies, such as natural disaster, awarded primary consideration. In FPO’s, resource allocation does not comprise part of the resource attraction campaign except in instances where an organisation’s philanthropic activities are utilised to further the corporation’s image of social responsibility. Resource allocation, however, is an integral component of the resource attraction marketing campaign insofar as the cause(s) to which the resources will be allocated function as the motivator, the attractor of the said resources. It is, thus, that while resource allocation hardly ever figures into an FPO’s resource attraction marketing campaign, it is often a fundamental component of NPO resource attraction campaigns and, possibly, their focal point. Although resource allocation often functions as a major component of NPO resource attraction marketing campaigns, there is a discernible trend towards differentiation. Taking Oxfam as an example, one may note that even though it has several effective marketing campaigns targeting hunger and famine in variant parts of the world, it also has campaigns which focus on the organisation itself. This latter type of marketing campaigns focuses, not only on the continued familiarisation of the market with Oxfam through the provision of information on the organisation’s history, activities and contributions to the resolution of humanitarian causes but, on the emphasis of the organisation’s credibility and effectiveness vis-à-vis its competitors. As mentioned earlier, NPOs are engaged in a fierce competition with one another over resources. In addition, the cause(s) which many of them determine the allocation of resource to, coincide. Therefore, it is contingent upon marketing strategies and campaigns to persuade private and public donors to direct their charitable resource to Oxfam, for example, as opposed to a competitor NGO. As Oxfam and its competitors may be targeting the same humanitarian cause, integrating planned resource allocation into the marketing campaign may arouse sympathy forte cause and motivate the direction of resources towards to but, not necessarily to the NPO in question. It is precisely because of this that differentiation is critical. In addition to the above stated, another key difference between NPOs and FPO’s vis-à-vis management of resource attraction and resource allocation activities, lies in their respective target groups. FPO marketing campaigns focus upon consumers, seeking to incite purchasing decisions by emphasising the value, benefits and utility of a good/service. Resource allocation, as earlier noted, does not enter into these campaigns. The situation differs insofar as NPOs are concerned. Apart from the fact that they target donors for resource attraction purposes, they also target service users. Therefore, in addition to resource attraction campaigns, they also engage in campaigns designed to incite resource utilisation. Apart from its activities in combating hunger, Oxfam is also involved in combating poverty. To this end, it has allocated resources for poverty alleviation programmes targeting citizens in Third World countries. The success of these programmes is ultimately dependant on people subscribing to them, on using them. The implication here is, therefore, that just as it must target donors for resource attraction purposes, it must also target service users for purposes of resource allocation. As may have been deduced from the foregoing analysis, marketing is integral to the continued survival of individual NPOs, insofar as it functions to attract resources, not just to a particular cause but to the NPO’s programme for the resolution of the humanitarian cause in question. It is within the context of the stated that resource attraction and allocation, and the marketing strategies which promote them, emerge as fundamental to the well-being of NPOs. Management scholars have written tomes of studies on the imperatives of effective and efficient internal organisational communication on the one hand, and on internal-external communication, on the other. The capacity of an organisation to effectively and efficiently execute its business processes is largely predicated on the presence of efficient intra-organisational channels of communication. At the same time, for an organisation to remain relevant within the context of its larger environment and for it, indeed to survive within the context of that environment, it also has to maintain efficient and effective channels of communication with its external environment. The aforementioned propositions do not only hold true vis-à-vis FPOs but, as this essay shall argue, both external and internal communication is integral to NPOs’ capacities to formulate effective marketing campaigns as which target donors for resource attraction purposes and service users for resource allocation purposes. Internal marketing communication is integral to the enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of NPOs and, undoubtedly, impacts upon their service delivery capacities. Internal marketing proceeds from the basic premise that the relevancy of the NPO and its capacity to ensure the realisation of that which service users are promised, is largely predicated on employees’ communicating with parties external to the organisation, as in potential donors and service users. Quite simply stated, through the formation and fortification of intra and extra organisational channels of communication, a number of important benefits can be realised. On the internal organisational level, improved intra-organisational communication will engender stronger bonds of trust between managers and staff, will incite the evolution of a cooperative organisational culture and importantly, will motivate greater levels of commitment to the organisation itself and its goals. That, combined with an acknowledgement of the imperatives of extra-organisational communication, or communication with the external environment, will not simply allow for a greater insight into the wider role of NPOs but will transform individuals into purveyors for customer-orientation in NPOs. In other words, internal and external communication will allow for the adoption of marketing strategies and the formulation of marketing campaigns which are relevant to the needs and expectations of the external environment, whether donors or service users. Within the context of non-profit organisations, effective external communication fulfils a number of functions, loosely referred to as DRIPS. The first of these functions/roles is differentiation. This necessitates the NPO’s continued repositioning, not just positioning, of itself within the context of its external environment so as to ensure that it is aligned with its target audience’s expectations and demands. The second of the roles which the external communication/marketing campaigns must adopt is that of reminding. It should function to remind the target audience, both donors and services users, of the benefits of the service/good which the NPO extends to the public. It should, in other words, remind its audience of the constructive benefits of the NGO in question and, thereby, elicit loyalty towards it. The third of the functions which the external campaign is expected to satisfy is information provision. It needs to inform service users and potential donors of the NGOs activities, the causes which they target, the groups which they target as beneficiaries and, importantly, the means by which donations may be made and services accessed. In other words, this particular function serves to provide such information as which makes the organisation accessible and familiar. The fourth function focuses on persuasion and involves persuading potential service users to utilise the service. The last role focuses on selling and involves persuading the target audience to donate to the NPO in question, be it good, money or their own time (Volunteers). External communications, therefore, function to ensure the survival of the organisation, insofar as it attracts both donors and service users on the one hand, and familiarises the external environment with the organisation, on the other, effectively facilitating access to it. When designing the external marketing campaign, however, NPOs have consider several factors and variables, such as would impinge upon the campaign’s effectiveness. For example, it is imperative that it consider the ethical and the political and the cultural dimensions of its campaign/service. In order to further highlight the implications of the aforementioned, one may reference global AIDS campaigns. Within the context of conservative cultures, AIDS campaigns, insofar as they discuss prevention methods other than abstinence, may be regarded as unethical and disrespectful of the culture’s conservative values. This is just one example of the practically countless type of tension which may exist between the NGO and its external environment. To avoid the aforementioned or, at least, to minimise the potentialities of consumer resistance, it is imperative that the marketing/external communications campaign be designed in consideration of avoidance of possible tensions. Proceeding from the above stated, the importance of internal and external communications to NPOs can hardly be overstated. Indeed, it would hardly be an exaggeration to conclude that internal and external communication is integral to the performance and survival of NPOs. Read More