Marketing for Not-for-Profit Organizations, Essay Example

Web marketing for not-for-profit organizations is not an easy task. Not-for-profit organizations must balance scarce financial resources with the need to market their services more efficiently. For this assignment, I chose two not-for-profit organizations: Africare and Feed My People Food Bank. I tried to assess their web marketing approaches from the viewpoint of the efficiency and emotionality of their marketing message.

In case of not-for-profit organizations, the principal marketing tasks are to make people aware of the organization’s message and activity, make people care for the causes and tasks the organization seeks to accomplish, and make people donate their resources to meet the organization’s goals (Brinckerhoff 22). Both organizations provide an insight into their mission and vision. They present information about the latest changes, news, charity campaigns, and their achievements. Both organizations extensively rely on graphic presentations and pictures, to reinforce the importance of their charity message and make their emotional appeal more compelling. Valuable content is the key element of their marketing strategies. That Africare and Feed My People Food Bank list a wide range of opportunities for every user to donate or get involved with their activities is another serious advantage. The organizations apply to the benefits of social networks like Facebook or Twitter and offer online users to track their activities online. Finally, Africare and Feed My People Food Bank suggest that users contact them online, via telephone, snail mail, or visit them directly. These contact details make the whole marketing strategy more personal.

Unfortunately, Feed My People Food Bank misses one essential component of successful web marketing for not-for-profit organizations: it does not provide any information about it financial operations and does not let the users see how it allocates the financial and non-material resources from the volunteers. In its turn, Africare provides a wealth of information about its financial performance and gives online users an opportunity to explore and evaluate its annual reports. I believe that accountability is the determining element of any not-for-profit organization’s web marketing success. This is the element that adds value to any marketing message and persuades volunteers and online users to donate and stay with the organization. Improved accountability and financial openness are the two factors that make me willing to support Africare in its charity endeavors.

Works Cited

Africare. “Improving Lives, Building Futures.” Africare, 2010. Web. 24 October 2010.

Brinckerhoff, P.C. Mission-Based Marketing: Positioning Your Not-for-Profit in an Increasingly Competitive World. John Wiley and Sons, 2010.

Feed My People Food Bank. “About Us.” Feed My People Food Bank, 2010. Web. 24 October 2010.