As a nonprofit organization you might feel as though your options for connecting with your audiences are somewhat more limited than that of a traditional business, due to the variables relating to income. You have to work with what you’ve got, and sometimes that simply doesn’t seem like enough. However, while means are certainly important and having such limitations can be frustrating, having a thorough knowledge of alternative options can liberate you from feeling stuck.
There are many organizations in similar situations as you, which means that some services have identified an opportunity and an audience. Seeking these services out can help you to reach your audiences and continue to work towards your goals.
Fundraising Platforms
In the case of nonprofit organizations, a large part of your interactions with your customers might be a bit more two-way than a traditional business/customer relationship. It’s true that businesses rely on their customers to exist, but the service that a business provides is what the customer wants. In your case, the cause that you are supporting is a cause that your audience members want to support too, and you are their way of achieving that end. Therefore, fundraising becomes something that you are regularly focusing on, and knowing all the ways that you can do this can help you cast a wide net.
While there are physical fundraising events that you can host, you should also make use of digital platforms that do the same, such as texting services for nonprofits that can help you engage directly with your audiences.
Survey Software
Customer feedback is always important, and even when your audience members aren’t strictly customers, knowing what they want and how you can improve in their eyes can help you to improve. While feedback might be informally given in person or through social media discussions, establishing a base for this feedback can allow you to gather useful, actionable information. You can do this through the plethora of survey platforms that let you construct your own questionnaires to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.
However, it’s necessary that you understand the importance of a strong sample size before taking action on feedback, as you don’t want anomalies to guide the direction your organization takes.
Social Media
The most obvious answer that you might think of is social media, and the various platforms encompassed under this umbrella are likely tools that you’re already making use of. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t more to understand here. Not only can establishing yourself across different platforms help you to reach different audiences, but making use of the various functions, such as polls can help you to gather more casual information and give you an idea of how to host an event or function – or to gauge public interest in something that you had planned.
Additionally, local groups can help you to find communities that might be relevant to your cause, perhaps creating appropriate destinations for your content.
