Robert Egger, President of DC Central Kitchen, recently posted a video response to Rush Limbaugh’s assertion that nonprofits, “siphon contributions as their salaries and so forth and think of themselves as good people, charitable people. These people are rapists in terms of finance and the economy.”
I love the video. Please watch and share. Widely. Thanks.
However, aside from the fact the Rush is simply wrong, I couldn’t help but think that his hateful and hurtful comments are rooted in common misconceptions about the nonprofit sector. (especially since Rush himself is a member of a non-profit).
While many of us may enter this work with a desire to change the world, enrich our communities, and create a stronger public life, we often encounter people who question the value of what we do. I asked folks on twitter, “What is a misconception about the nonprofit sector that drives you crazy?” The responses weren’t surprising:
We get no money, it’s not a real job, we make life worse for people, blah, blah, blah.
I’m always curious as to where people get these ideas from. After all, when I point out the many non-profits that people rely on-colleges, house of worship, museum, library, church, etc–or non-profits that have had a major impact on policy, they seem shocked. They had no idea these organizations were non-profits.
Is it a marketing problem? One thing I struggle with is the resistance to marketing I notice with some non-profits. It’s one thing if it is a matter of budget (although there are fabulous resources to help you market on a shoe string budget) but there’s a belief that marketing is problematic when you’re trying to do good. Is this belief holding us back from communicating with more people?
Is it a hyper focus problem? Bad things always stand out more than good. There certainly are nonprofits where the staff is over worked and underpaid. There are nonprofits that are inefficient. But does this mean we shouldn’t highlight and learn from those who are doing good work? How do we shift understanding of our work?
Is it a collaboration problem? Should we be reaching out more to each other? More to organizations and people outside of our sector? Working with others allows us to share resources and audiences but how often does this happen?
Is it an internal problem? How many of us believe these misconceptions and perpetuate them? Instead of openly sharing the good, we’re quick to share the bad. Do you consider yourself part of the sector or part of a cause and how does this affect how you share your work?
Is it our name? I think Paul Light said it best at a Craigslist Bootcamp a few years ago “Why are we being defined by what we’re not?”
I realize these questions are related, so maybe a multifaceted approach is necessary, but what do you think? Where do the misconceptions about non-profit work come from and how can we address them? How have organizations challenged misconceptions in the communities they serve?
Thank you for posting. This is a well-written article that raises some interesting points that bear more thought. Thank you!
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ajlovesya Reply:
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for commenting!
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The problem with marketing may be related to the infrastructure problem. Savvy donors are looking at agencies’ financials and steering clear of those organizations where it seems their donations won’t be mostly supporting program, services, and clients, and marketing tends to fall into an “ick” category for donors. Additionally, it’s an administrative expense to grantmakers and government funders, and government funders in particular put administrative caps on what they will or will not fund. All this combined keeps nonprofit executives and boards in a mindset of “keep admin costs low,” but you have to pay the rent soooo… marketing, IT, and ongoing capital maintenance/improvement get kicked to the curb until something breaks and they can’t be ignored. And while there are some inexpensive ways to market, you still need to have someone to do the stuff – in a time when personnel are stretched to the limit in many agencies.
I think too that “marketing” conjures up attitudes of the evils of Madison Avenue and the disdain of thinking of one’s organization as producing a product to advertise – helping people isn’t the same as making Miracle Whip. Most of the organizations I work with think “fundraising,” “grantwriting,” “publicity,” “public relations” (rare), and “community engagement,” all of which do some marketing stuff, but they don’t think “marketing” and get turned off by that term.
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ajlovesya Reply:
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I think you brought up an interesting point that I missed–constraints from funders. Not just with marketing, but anything that can’t be neatly packaged into a program directly beneficial to constituents. When it comes to making people aware of the importance sharing our message and our work, what strategies, if any, have helped move funders to not look at marketing as an unnecessary expense?
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mjfrombuffalo Reply:
September 2nd, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Damned if I know. One of the major funders I deal only funds certain programs at 95% of cost, with a contractural expectation that the agency will fundraise for the rest, but it too applies an administrative cost cap of X% of budget – and this contract generally goes to very small, community-based providers!
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One of the best quotes I ever heard about nonprofits mentality was this:
Define ourselves not by what we lack, as in nonprofits, but begin to define ourselves by what we contribute to society.
Too often nonprofits focus on the have nots components of our sector – insufficient funds, lack of resources and awareness, low staff etc as a way to market ourselves as a pity us, give us money mentality.
Rather we should focus on the positives we bring. The average person looks for ROI, production, reliability, employee satisfaction and happiness when a consumer invests in an company – for profit or not. If we measure results, and market those results to the community as dollars invested and lives changed – that is when our awareness is in the forefront and support is multiplied.
Just because we are NOT FOR PROFIT, doesn’t mean we have to take the pity me approach versus utilizing strong marketing and planning strategies.
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As with every stereotype, I think the misconceptions come from a few instances of organizations either operating inefficiently or corruptly. The truth is is that ALL businesses (nonprofits included) have the potential to create negative situations. Change will come when we actively address the misconceptions about our sector, rather than accepting them as they are…
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Thank you for posting the video. In addition to being humorous, it’s actually a very good example of a video message that’s well-presented and full of well-researched facts. Robert makes a great case in favor of nonprofits. Thank you, again, for posting!
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Once again, Allison, you have highlighted some critical issues facing nonprofits. I am so glad that you are representing our sector! We need more and more folks like you – willing and able to champion for the nonprofit sector.
I loved this question you asked on Twitter, and it inspired a blog post for me, too! Hope you enjoy: http://jessicajourney.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/career-of-choice/
Best, Jessica
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