Nonprofit Marketing Commitment #1: We Will Recognize Marketing as a Tool for Driving Social Change

2019 is finally here. I don’t know about you, but I love the sense of possibility the new year brings. There’s something about starting another trip around the sun that makes me want to drop old mindsets that are no longer serving me and challenge myself to think bigger, aim higher and expect more.

If you feel the same, now is the perfect time to begin making the commitments in the Nonprofit Marketing Manifesto. Why not make starting a marketing revolution your new year’s resolution?

There’s no better place to begin than with commitment #1, which says:

We will recognize marketing as a tool for driving social change. 

We will acknowledge that when leveraged properly by nonprofits like ours, marketing is capable of changing the world.

When marketing is at its best, and when it is fully integrated into our strategic plans, it makes it possible for our organizations to serve those in need and advocate for policy changes that improve their wellbeing. It makes it possible for us to build

valuable networks and encourage markets to work in our favor. It makes it possible for us to inspire evangelists today, sustain our impact tomorrow, and continue to adapt into the future.

We will therefore treat marketing as a core mission support function. We’ll stop confining marketing to the realms of raising awareness and raising funds, and integrate it into every single goal we set.

And we’ll even go a step further. We’ll recognize that marketing can do more than just advance our own organizations’ goals; it can change the very behaviors, social norms and societal ills that make our work necessary and relevant in the first place.

This is the commitment from which the other nine stem. You simply cannot start a marketing revolution without first making this commitment, and getting your colleagues to make it along with you.

If this commitment speaks to you, you’re going to love the next webinar in our 13-part series with Independent Sector, which is scheduled for next Wednesday (1/9/2019 at 2 p.m. ET). On our last webinar, we introduced you to the 10 commitments your nonprofit must make to start a marketing revolution, and in our next webinar, we’re going to challenge you to actually start making them, beginning with Commitment #1.

The webinar will feature two nonprofit marketers who are living and breathing Commitment #1: Kristine Brown of Big Brothers Big Sisters and Danielle Veira of A Better Chicago.

We’ll unpack the first commitment with them and learn how they’re making marketing a true tool for mission impact at their organizations. Then, we’ll discuss what you can learn from their greatest successes (and struggles) as you work to turn marketing into a top priority for your nonprofit in 2019. In addition to an interview-style discussion with Danielle and Kristine, this webinar will also feature a live Q&A, so come with questions ready!

Learn more and register for the webinar here.

Register for the Full Series

January’s webinar is one of a series of 12 hosted by Prosper Strategies and Independent Sector over the course of 2019 centered around the 10 commitments in the Nonprofit Marketing Manifesto. See the full schedule here and check “sign up for all webinars” if you want to automatically be registered for all sessions.

Here’s to making 2019 your nonprofit’s most impactful year yet.