The Nonprofit Marketing Ideas Blog

I was listening to NPR today. One of the stories concerned a nuclear power plant this about to close. The plant is a major employer in that area, so this closure will be a huge economic hit to lots of families and local businesses. Can something be done about this? Well, no. The only approach in this situation and thousands like it around the world is to creatively replace the lost income and tax revenue. One can assume the jobs, and associated tax revenue, will not be coming back in the case of that power plant closure. Another source of money must be found by local governments, displaced workers, and small businesses. I'm sure there are some programs for this now but the story sparked an idea: A group like the Taproot Foundation or the De Bono Group could offer pro bono consulting on new ways to cut costs, or generate revenue, for the communities and new business models for local businesses that are in danger of going under.

I was staring at the recycling instead of taking it outside and a money-making idea came up. Nonprofits are always looking for ways to generate funds. Constant fundraising is just part of the nonprofit world, unless you have a huge endowment or a profit center to generate some income. How could a big supply of old bottles be turned into money by an enterprising social activist? It seems likely that collecting and recycling the bottles is going to be a massive waste of time. This may not be true. If you are ambitious you will decide to recycle the bottles by making them into something. The crushed glass could be sold to artists, I suppose. The bottles could be melted down and made into decorative pieces like flower vases and tiles. So, there are a couple of bottle business ideas. The basic idea of looking for "trash" and turning it into something marketable can be extended to other types of junk and other types of buyers. The point is to figure out what you have availabl...