Nonprofits Forced to Compete for Cash
Terry Hazen, who normally spends her time helping young pregnant women with nowhere to go at Tender Life, her Ventura shelter, has been forced to think about marketing.
Presentations. Schmoozing. All those office things that seem so far away--and less important to her--than the mission of the nonprofit organization she operates.
But it’s the reality she has to face.
The Ventura County nonprofit community has begun to look more like the business community, as a large number of charities, many of which duplicate services, find themselves competing for limited resources.
In such an environment, many of the county’s 1,300 private nonprofit agencies, from the small to the sophisticated, are talking like marketers to capture the business dollar.
The Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County is in the midst of an extensive survey to discover just how nonprofit organizations fit into the Ventura County economy, and how they affect business.
In the meantime, the organization has sponsored--in conjunction with the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. and Ventura County Community Foundation--several workshops to help often-overwhelmed fund-raisers for nonprofit groups.
The county doesn’t have sure figures on the growth of nonprofit organizations, but statewide statistics show a 66% increase in the number of groups over 15 years, according to Jennifer Bigelow McGovern, the Economic Development Collaborative’s project manager.
There has been a parallel rise in entrepreneurial technology and non-community-based companies, making the local environment even more competitive for nonprofit groups.
“We’re seeing more international and global corporations,” Bigelow said--businesses that tend not to focus on their communities. “The old style is shifting. Now no one has time to think of those things.”
The collaborative’s hope: to help nonprofits understand businesses and tap into some of those resources.
Some unsophisticated nonprofit organizations have no clue how to get to a business’ decision-makers. They don’t do market research. They haven’t mastered the art of a concise presentation.
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“This is all new for us,” said Hazen of Tender Life. “We don’t have a handle on this, but we know [businesses] have the money.”
Even so, some generous donors say they feel burdened by the demand.
“We hear from businesses all the time who are feeling, quite frankly, overwhelmed,” said Kate McLean, president of the Ventura County Community Foundation, an umbrella organization for nonprofits. “They feel frustrated that nonprofits don’t understand that they can’t support every single one of them.”
“We’re getting hit left and right,” said Joe McClure, who handles charity giving at Pacific Bell. “They don’t know the bottom line. They think because they feed the homeless, I ought to give them money.”
McLean said her organization received five to 10 calls a week from people who would like to set up a nonprofit charity.
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The organizations have to do their research, many experts said. Businesses want results. They want to know who benefits from their money, and how their public image benefits as well. And they need to be shown that healthy nonprofits--from drug-treatment centers to symphonies--improve a community’s quality of life, keeping employees happy and on the job.
Even though many companies are feeling overwhelmed by nonprofits, some experts say there is a wealth of potential resources in the east end of the county, where many young technology companies that haven’t yet created a culture of giving are just waiting to be approached by an enterprising charity.
“Our point is, there are a lot of new businesses in the area,” said Sue Chadwick, a senior vice president at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust who handles the bank’s charitable donations. “The bottom line is, we need to help [nonprofits] learn how to tap into it.”
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The secret is not really a secret. As in so many other facets of the business world, those involved in nonprofits simply need to learn to network. Build a relationship. Get a donation. The rest will come naturally.
“If they can say that they do get donations from XYZ Co., that goes a long way,” said Sylvia Munoz Schnopp, who handles donations at AT&T; Wireless in Camarillo. “It’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”
And it’s hours and hours, and months and months, of work. Chamber of commerce mixers. Cocktail party schmoozing. Pitch refining. All the things that have very little to do with their typically altruistic goals. But, nonprofits are learning, it’s the name of the game. Like it or not.
“It takes passion to keep doing what you’re doing,” McLean said of working in a nonprofit organization. “It’s frustrating when you can’t convey that to a funder. You know it so well. You’re living it every day. You think this is the most important thing in the world.”
* DISC DEAL: A Camarillo firm will produce tens of millions of computer discs for Microsoft under a new pact. B8
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