The Nonprofit Marketing Ideas Blog

Nonprofit executives report the same issues in survey after survey. Fundraising, communication with donors, budget woes, effectiveness, and efficiency come up in some form. Performance measurement is a cause for concern, though that goes to efficiency and effectiveness - How do you know how well you are doing? How do potential donors know? Is there a simple system out there that could make it easier to answer such questions, and deal with those other issues too? At the risk of sounding like an Internet marketing hack, the answer is a qualified 'yes' to both halves of that question. Allow me to explain. To have an effective organization you need ideas, people, money, and a plan. There are a few other things too, but I think you follow. Ideas - Look for ideas that promise more impact for less cost. Look for ideas that allow you to attack the real problem instead of the symptoms. Doing so will probably require breakthrough thinking. Do not expect inspiration to come from som...

President Obama’s 23 proposals to curb gun violence sparked an obvious thought. In the minds of sane people, the President is trying to curb gun violence in sensible ways. As many commentators have pointed out, banning assault weapons or other types of guns will not get them off the streets. There are almost 300 million (give or take a couple of million) in the hands of Americans. This post is focused on getting guns off the streets in ways that are legal and consistent with American values. So, I just gave you a challenge and two rules for what counts as a good idea. Yes, I know “getting guns off the streets” does not seem like a valid approach to many people. I’m going to address that challenge with a lateral thinking tool called provocation. Provocation just represents a way of forcing us out of our normal mode of thinking, with the hope that new ideas will emerge. Several methods of provocation exist. I am just going to use the basic random word type of provocation. Turning ra...

So, there was no formal brainstorming involved in this post. I just randomly came up with some ideas related to gun control. You guessed that part from the title. Should we ban assault weapons, or large magazines, or what? "Or what" seems like the best answer. Here are some random ideas on how to potentially reduce gun violence: 1. (Source unknown) Let anyone buy any type of gun but ban sale and possession of all forms of ammunition. Realistically this is not going to happen. 2. Voluntary buy-back program - The federal government could transfer funds from (insert unpopular program here) and use the money to buy guns, no questions asked. 3. Ammo check - A system that allows gun dealers to check IDs of ammo buyers. If a buyer turns up on the computerized list of people judged mentally ill (e.g., unfit to own a gun) then the gun dealer can deny them their ammunition. The attempted purchase could also be recorded at the time. Now the authorities know that a nutcase is try...

Issues like gun violence, climate change, and fiscal crisis call for new thinking for workable solutions. Fortunately, there are tools available for just such thinking! Each week I will post a new idea for addressing a social issue that's been in the news. I might post twice a week if I'm on a roll. The ideas will be practical - "The state could set up a no-interest loan fund for consumer cooperatives who are setting up renewable energy stations" - to cite one slightly odd example. This blog might give you some ideas you can use. If you can't use the ideas, maybe you can work with someone else who can. And this blog will go beyond looking at problems. Who likes to think about problems all of the time? That's right. There are always opportunities out there for those who care to look, and then take decisive action. I hope some of my future ideas will help. Where will these ideas come from? Well, some I will simply steal and adapt to the challenge at hand. ...