On Fundraising and Marketing

There has been an ongoing debate in the US about what level of spending is appropriate for Fundraising and Marketing for nonprofit organizations.  The standards that nonprofits are held to are different than those applied to the for-profit world.  When it comes to private enterprise, we all understand that it’s a competitive marketplace and companies need to be able to spend money to be seen and heard. But that understanding does not yet fully apply in the nonprofit world. Many of us want our money to go directly to the part of the organization that “helps the poor,” but without fundraising, we literally would not be able to continue our work, and without marketing, it would be nearly impossible to find potential new volunteers or donors who are so critical to our mission of service to our brothers and sisters in need.

When you look at our financial reporting, you’ll see that we invest a modest amount of money on functions like Fundraising and “printing and promotion.”  We’d like to invest more, so that we can invite more people to get involved in the transformative work of IVC. We hope that you, too, will see this as an effective use of your support: to help us to find even more people who are willing and able to help support the mission of IVC financially and to join us through their service, so that many more people can be helped.

For additional perspective on the important role of Marketing and Advertising in nonprofit organizations, check out this article on the Harvard Business Review website.