Non-profit organizations have been successfully developing and growing for many years. Each year more and more people are getting involved in nonprofitable activities, and are running their own nonprofit projects, events, and activities.
For example, more than 10 million nonprofits worldwide are estimated to be active. Imagine how difficult it is to reach their audience, raise necessary funds, manage their activities, and succeed with their mission.
The nonprofit sector usually sets big goals and there are so many people involved that the head goes around with the amount of work that has to be done daily to support those organizations. Not only do they have leaders but also volunteers, workers, partners, and donors. No matter what activity you are seeking (full or part-time employment, volunteering, and so on) there are many things you should know about this sector, and today we are going to take a closer look at it.
Location & people
Among 10 million nonprofits and NGOs worldwide almost 2 million are located in the US. It is essential to consider this fact in case you have a choice where to locate your nonprofit or want to have as many options to choose an organization to volunteer as possible. Where exactly in the USA? According to the Cause IQ, those are New York, California, and Texas. Knowing how many nonprofits are there in the US there is no surprise to learn that more than 12 million people in the US are employed exactly by non-profit organizations. This is why HR techniques and professional tools are more than essential for the nonprofit sector. When completing your strategy and planning the organizational issues for your nonprofit you should consider developing a strong HR department. For example, if you are working with volunteers you will need to include a coordinator and a mentor, at least, to meet the requirements for hosting organizations (in case you work through international volunteering programs).
Financing
Financial planning is an integral part of your nonprofit activity and should never be neglected when completing an action plan for either a whole organization or a separate project, for example. The general amount nonprofits spend each year is about 2 trillion dollars. That amount includes the marketing budget, for example, to design and maintain a website by a non-profit web design agency. Marketing expenses will also include a budget for running ads, doing influence marketing, and operational expenses (for example, managing software, rental of spaces for different events, and so on). Actually, 50% of each nonprofit organization’s budget goes for goods, services, utilities, equipment, office supplies, food, and so on. Only a bit more than 826 million are spent on taxes and salaries. Of course, it is very difficult to plan your expenses when you basically do not have income but each project and initiative still need a proper pre-planning. Understanding how much you will need to cover expenses for a project, for example, you will be able to prepare a fundraising campaign for it.
Volunteering
Encourage people to volunteer with your organization and include them in your development strategy as volunteers are actually the vital power for all nonprofits. For example, in the USA more than 60 million people have volunteering experience. Moreover, they have been volunteering with nonprofit organizations – almost half of Americans volunteer with NPOs while more than 90% donate on a regular basis, according to the information given by Indiana University.
Volunteers not only share your ideas, strivings, mission, and principles, but they also form a strong social community, sharing information about your organization and helping you reach a wider audience. Those are volunteers who donate twice more than people with no volunteering habits.
Schedule
It’s a very good practice for nonprofits to plan their activities in advance and actually implement something like a marketing calendar, scheduling different fundraising and marketing campaigns. Of course, to do so you need to follow the habits of your audience to choose the best time. For example, the best fundraising campaigns are those that have been launched and completed in December. There are even more details available on this subject by Network for Good. almost ⅓rd of all the donations organizations receive within December while 1/10th they actually receive within the last 3 days of the month.
Communicate
Basically, choose the best communication channels for your audience. Of course, you can use different ones for different audiences. The best way is always to ask your audience how exactly they would like to receive updates, for example. Useful stats tell about 70% of people to prefer emailing as the main communication channel. There are about 7% of people, who prefer being contacted through social media.
Use these important figures and tips to make your nonprofit’s performance, organization, and activities easier and better.
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