Corporations Learning from Nonprofits

A nonprofit I work with frequently hired someone from the corporate sector to be the nonprofit's communications and event manager. After just one week on the job, he quit. Among his parting statements was this: "You need four people to do this job!" The rest of the staff, including me, all had a good laugh. Welcome to the nonprofit world! The two people in the position previously, who had each lasted three years, had been masters at juggling priorities, closing deals, pulling off events, meeting deadlines and putting out fires, often with a smile - or a smirk. And always with far less resources than they should have had.

So many people from the corporate world don't understand the nonprofit world, and they make assumptions about mission-based organizations - nonprofits, charities, NGOs, schools, etc. - that can doom any goal they might have or any partnership or support they want to provide.

Here are some of the most common misunderstandings many in the for-profit world believe about the mission-based world:

Myth: Nonprofits don't have experts, just people with good hearts.
In fact, many nonprofits are staffed by experts regarding fields that relate to the mission of the nonprofit where they are working: child psychology, counseling for women experiencing domestic violence, live performance (acting, dancing, singing, event production), nursing, public health education, outdoor environmental resource management, farming, animal husbandry, biology, and on and on. The people working in marketing, public relations, donor relations, human resources and other administrative positions also often have many years of experience in their respective fields, and may also teach at local universities, have authored books about their area of expertise and be invited speakers and trainers at various conferences.

Myth: Nonprofit staff don't mind not making much money.
Nonprofit staff do not get discounts on mortgages or monthly rent payments, medical insurance costs, utilities, dental care, student loans, university fees for their children, food, clothes, fuel for vehicles or any other expenses. They must make those payments just like everyone else. Coupled with the level of responsibility they take on at a nonprofit, they deserve a competitive salary just like ANYONE in ANY business.

Myth: Nonprofits don't know how to manage money.
Nonprofits do extraordinary things with very little money. They're constant struggles for funds are often a reflection of corporate funders who refuse to pay overhead (for salaries, office rent and utilities, computers, accounting software, etc.) because those businesses want to fund only "direct service" activities, and the board of directors of the nonprofit - members drawn from the corporate world - who don't like their fundraising responsibilities and, so, don't make much effort in trying to raise funds.

Myth: Nonprofits are tech-phobic.
Nonprofits do extraordinary things with technology when they get access to such. Nonprofits were pioneers regarding using the Internet in the 1980s and 1990s, but their contributions to those early days is largely ignored. Corporations want nonprofits to use tech, and want them to use the LATEST tech, but then refuse to fund purchases of software, computers, smart phones and the fastest Internet access available (because... overhead!!!).

Myth: Nonprofits need to be more like businesses.
Nonprofits are mission-based. They engage in activities that meet their mission. If they focus more on generating income, they often fail to meet their mission. A for-profit company may measure their social media by number of followers, number of responses, etc., but a nonprofit may measure their social media by the TYPES of followers (reaching more young people than they do via traditional outreach) and the TYPES of responses (questions and comments that reflect people may be changing their minds about an issue of concern to the nonprofit). Here's more on the difference in nonprofits and for-profits.

Myth: Volunteers are free labor.
NO. Volunteers are not free. There are costs to create assignments for volunteers as well to screen, train, supervise and recognize volunteers. Their activities have to be recorded and evaluated. It's often much more inefficient and more expensive to have volunteers undertake tasks that could be done more quickly by one or two paid staff members or consultants. In addition, managers of volunteers need resources to help them do their work better - that can be a book, that can be a workshop, that can be a conference. These are costs that get put into "overhead" - which many corporations and foundations refuse to fund.

On a related note, here is a writer from Forbes in March 2021 writing his own list of 12 HUGE Myths About Nonprofits That Need To Be Dispelled.

More than 200 charities from across the United Kingdom took part in in-depth surveys and interviews about how they are working with businesses and what could make these relationships even better. The report revealed that 6 in 10 charities believe that businesses put their own needs first in relationships and 76% say that businesses do not have a good understanding of what it takes for charities to manage employee volunteers. The report, which was released in March 2020, also had these takeaways for businesses in the UK, and I believe they are things corporations in ANY country should know:

The importance of engaging with smaller, local charities (not just the big players) and doing so in a way that doesn’t stretch their limited resources further;
How to be driven by charities’ needs (not employee preferences) when designing volunteering programmes, whether these take place online or in person; and
The largely untapped potential for charities to provide insight into how companies can better serve those who are vulnerable in society.

There is so much corporations could learn from nonprofits and other mission-based organizations, particularly with regard to doing so much with so little in terms of staffing and money, but also how what challenges a community is facing that, if addressed, could help a business have happier, more productive employees and bigger profits. Also, the people who were doing the most exciting things in the early days of the Internet, in the 1990s, were nonprofits and community groups, not corporations - it's from the mission-based sector where I learned best practices of online customer service, successful community engagement and exploring possibilities around innovation.

Before you launch your corporate giving program, your employee volunteering program, your nonprofit sponsorships or whatever philanthropic endeavor you you are exploring, keep this in mind:

You are not an expert in the mission of a nonprofit, NGO, charity, etc. anymore than they are an expert in whatever it is your company does. Go and observe some of their events. Ask the staff why a certain condition they are addressing exists: why are people homeless, why are schools cutting arts funding and why does that matter, why do some children not get proper nutrition and how does this affect their learning, how does a dirty river affect nearby neighborhoods, and on and on. And also ask them, "What do you think your organization should be doing that it's not doing, because it lacks funding for staff or training or a facility to do that?"
Everything a mission-based organization does must contribute directly to its mission. Don't ask a nonprofit theater to start a radio station. Don't tell an animal shelter they have to develop software. Respect a girls empowerment group that turns down your idea of a girls' beauty pageant or modeling program to raise money.
Don't even start with the "we don't fund overhead" mantra. Just like you, nonprofits and schools need computers, software, desks, chairs, Internet access, utilities, parking, copy machines, insurance and, perhaps, building security, as well as online safety measures. And all of that is in addition to paying salaries and sending staff to conferences and workshops to keep their skills sharp. If you want a nonprofit or other mission-based organization to succeed or innovate, you MUST fund "overhead."
Nonprofit staff deserve to be paid a wage that allows them to do the things you take for granted: buy a house with a mortgage and be able to make the payments, buy a car that runs, feed their families, pay for their children to take music lessons or play a sport, pay at least some of the fees for their kids to go to university, go on a vacation once a year, save for retirement and, of course, pay their medical and dental costs. Do not expect nonprofit staff to work for free nor for poverty wages - they cannot afford it.
You are not the smartest people in the room when you are sitting with nonprofit staff. You may be working with child psychologists who are pioneers in their field. Or nurses who have seen things that would make your toes curl. Or a theater production manager whose work schedule the week before a show launches would make your IT department weep. Treat them as the highly-skilled professionals they are, not as people who couldn't cut it in the for-profit world. Don't use jargon, especially the latest tech jargon - talk in plain English, out of respect for your audience and those they serve.
Nonprofits, schools and other mission-based organizations have ideas about what they should be doing to better address whatever cause is the heart of their mission. Ask them about this. Listen to them. Do not march in and say, "We know what you should be doing, and here is what we're going to fund."
Don't give a donation with the expectation of the creation of an activity that, in the long run, will put the nonprofit into debt.
How wonderful that you read an article in The New Yorker or The Economist or Slate, or heard some Ted Talk, that has now prompted you to be interested in a particular nonprofit. By all means, suggest to the staff that they read the same article. Do not, however, ask for a meeting with the nonprofit and, based on that article or presentation, propose a new program, especially if you are not deeply familiar with what the nonprofit does already and its current challenges. Don't ask for a meeting with an elementary school teacher and cheerfully tell them how they should be teaching something without either having many classroom teaching hours of experience yourself or without having been to at least a year's worth of local board of education meetings. Also, remember that nonprofits, schools and other mission-based organization have little budget for experimentation and absolutely NO budget for failure, and unless you are willing to fully fund what's necessary to make that happen, it's best not to walk in and say, "Hi, I'm from such-and-such company and I know how you can do your job better!"
Volunteers are not free. They cost money. They have to be screened, trained, supported and managed. Their activities have to be recorded and evaluated. They have to be well-supported and recognized or they won't stick around. All of this costs money. Activities have to be created that they can do and that they want to do, and such task-creation is an art form. Don't believe me? Remember when the boss brought his 14 year old daughter to your marketing department and said, "Give her some things to do this week - she'll be here every day for four hours"? Remember how you struggled to find something she wanted to do and that you actually needed done? Welcome to volunteer task creation. The staff members that are best at task creation - and that's NOT just the manager of volunteers, if there even is one person dedicated to this role at the nonprofit you are working with - have often had training on how to do it, and training costs money. Here is lots more on why volunteers are not free. You want 20 of your employees to get to go to such-and-such nonprofit this Saturday from 10 to 1 and have a meaningful group volunteering activity? Prepare to donate at least a few hundred dollars to cover the costs of staff time at the nonprofit for your feel-good, camera-ready volunteering activity.
You want to have a hackathon and build apps for nonprofits? Great! Step one is not booking the room for the coders. Step one is meeting with the nonprofits, more than once, and asking what their biggest challenges are, or the biggest challenges of those they serve. In addition, if no nonprofits or their clients are using any of the apps you developed three months after the hackathon, your hackathon failed. More about tech-related volunteering activities for nonprofits.
Nonprofits, NGOs and schools may need to tell you "no" in response to your offer. They may not need your used furniture. They may not need your marketing department vice president who is getting early retirement to come work for them as an "executive on loan" for six months. They may not feel that a pizza party thrown by 30 of your employees for a group of kids is the best use of their program's time and resources. They may want to use software that isn't produced by your company. They are committed to their mission and they should feel comfortable saying "no" to an offer that, ultimately, takes away from that mission or burdens them with activities they don't have the time nor budget to deal with.

Nonprofit AF is a web site, with a Twitter feed and Facebook account, that explores what it is like to work in nonprofits, including fundraising, working with donors, special events, community engagement, donor cultivation, program implementation, outcomes and metrics, etc. - but usually does this exploration in a very funny or provocative way. On Facebook Nonprofit AF featured this question in July 2020: What is the most ridiculous thing a donor or funder said to you? The answers are hilarious and... sad and should be read by all corporate giving and foundation program staff. And on Twitter, at the start of the pandemic in the USA, the #CrappyFundingPractices of several foundations got special attention, like those of the United Way, Region's Bank, or the Amelia Peabody Foundation.

Shameless plug:
The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, written by myself (Jayne Cravens) and volunteerism expert Susan Ellis and the result of MANY years of research and experience, can help your company / business in better understanding virtual volunteering and in fully-developing your company's employee virtual volunteering program. The book provides complete details on what virtual volunteering is, all of the many, many different forms in which it is practiced, various ways to support and grow virtual volunteering, and how to address various challenges that might arise.

The book can also help your company work with nonprofits and schools to help them develop virtual volunteering opportunities for your employees - something many organizations need assistance with. Many traditional volunteer centers are still struggling with the concept of virtual volunteering; corporate support could help greatly in getting volunteer centers to embrace virtual volunteering, a practice that's more than 30 years old and is undertaken by many thousands of people and organizations. Your support starts with your company fully understanding the realities of virtual volunteering, and this book can help greatly in that regard.

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