Amazon is known for efficiency. Zappos has built a customer-centered company. The marriage announced last week merges a $1 billion-a-year shoe-selling enterprise with a $20 billion behemoth online seller. Many industry watchers have been boo-hooing the deal, assuming that Amazon’s culture will subsume Zappos and, frankly, ruin it.
But I have another take. When one enterprise knows how to deliver What the Customer Wants, When She Wants it while the other one Builds Community and Brand Loyalty with customers, then it can be a match made in heaven. That’s because we are in a world moving away from “hard brands”—i.e. what the PR and marketing people traditionally pushed towards the customer/media and towards “brands-in-conversation”—entities that evolve in a dialogue with their customers. The same goes for nonprofits struggling in this downturn. Many of them are facing going out of business because they are just not making ends meet, even though they do great work.
Where do nonprofits stand?
At last count, we had more than 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States (that’s according to The Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, based on organizations that filed form 990’s with the IRS within the last 24 months). Thats a lot of brands competing for dollars and volunteers. And unfortunately, many of these organizations have mission overlap. In addition, some are better at delivering results, some are better at outreach and organizing, and some are better at promoting a great donor or volunteer or member experience. But few are good at all of these tasks.
So what can a nonprofit do? Consider a partnership or merger.
Considering a merger with another entity can be scary, as nonprofits are fiercely independent. But a merger/partnership can really strengthen your brand. That’s because your brand is all about delivering on mission. When you share responsibilities with another entity, you can increase your “ROI” with the people you serve, while decreasing costs, overhead and inefficiencies.
A joint effort doesn’t have to happen overnight. Here are some baby steps to creating a productive brand merger.
- Introduce your boards to each other at a social, not business-oriented, “mixer.”
- Engage staff of each organization in a brainstorming session—the goal is better meeting the mission.
- Try a joint venture—a project with a measurable outcome consistent with both organizations’ goals.
- Host an event together so you can share ideas, showcase strengths, and get feedback from attendees on how your two organizations worked together.
- Share each other’s content—through your web and social media venues; Tweet about each other’s successes and events, for example.
- Consider the donor’s point of view. What additional services or geographic reach would enable each organization to give a lead donor more bang for their buck?
These are just some of the ways you can increase brand impact and build trust between two enterprises. Remember that the goal is always delivering on the mission. If you can keep your staff and board mission-focused, then the ROI of a partnership or merger can bring great benefits to the people who need them most: those you serve.
Join Amy this Wednesday on a free teleconference about Engaging Boards for a More Successful Fundraising Auction. To register, click here.
chool year draws to a close, it’s common for many organizations that run on this calendar to assess how they’ve done. Specifically, board and staff may do self-evaluations, and boards evaluate the executive, the one staff member for whom they are responsible. But these assessments are just part of the picture of how an organization measures its effectiveness or shortfalls.
