Thursday 27 September 2007

Non profit marketing

Behind the jargon this seemed to me to be a very astute extract from a wikipedia article about marketing for not for profit organisations.
I'm doing some homework as I prepare a marketing plan for netgain - a training and support programme to help organisations with their ICT planning that scip starts running next month.
The turbulent environment comment seemed very pertinent as funding priorities are announced by capacity builders and the lottery - with no mention of ICT in either.

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Marketing Objectives for non-profit-making organizations

In the case of non-profit organizations the objectives may be less than clear. Keith Blois suggested five main reasons for the differences from `commercial' organizations:[5]

1. Ambiguous Goals [more actors and groups of actors are involved]

2. Lack of Agreement in Means-End Relationships [even where there is consensus on the goal there may be disagreement on how to get there]

3. Environmental Turbulence [non-profit organizations seem to be exposed more to turbulence than commercial ones]

4. Unmeasurable Outputs [unfortunately, by definition, non-profit organizations do not have the classically convenient simplicity of `bottom-line profit']

5. The Effects of Management Intervention are Unknown [the lack of precision caused by factors 1-4 is problem enough, but the `culture' seems to add further barriers to managing these organizations]

Even so, Kotler and Andreasen suggested some possible objectives for such organizations:[6]
1. Surplus Maximization [equivalent to profit maximization]
2. Revenue Maximization [as for profit-making organizations]
3. Usage Maximization [maximizing the numbers of users and their usage]
4. Usage Targeting [matching the capacity available]
5. Full Cost Recovery [breaking even]
6. Partial Cost Recovery [minimizing the subsidy]
7. Budget Maximization [maximizing what is offered]
8. Producer Satisfaction Maximization [satisfying the wants of staff]

Full article and references at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_plan

Wednesday 26 September 2007

Next phase of support for sector

The next phase of support for the voluntary sector has been mapped out in the prospectus for the national support servcie being funded by Capacity Builders.

There is no explicit mention of ICT but plenty of places where the use of the internet and computers will support activities, such as communications and performance development.

Much more about this in future I'm sure...

Capacitybuilders website

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Tuesday 25 September 2007

what's stopping us from working smarter

An article in Living IT magazine suggests there are a number of barriers to green computing and remote working. This relates to the business community, but I wonder whether the picture is any better in the world of not for profits?
I would certainly expect charities and voluntary organisations to be more prepared to support part time workers and those who wish to spend at least some of their working week at home. But whether they will be investing in technology for remote working is much less likely.

Culture barrier for remote working and green computing: Living IT: Making the most of business technology

   

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Thursday 6 September 2007

Volunteer needed at The Bridge

The Bridge Education Centre at Moulsecoomb, in Brighton, would like to recruit the services of a volunteer for 1 day per week that could offer IT technical support. They will provide to this person one to one support and access to training.
They are a small charity Community Education Centre based in Moulsecoomb and as such can not afford to pay for technical support.
Please direct enquiries to Sharon Maloney Volunteer Co-ordinator on either 01273 294929 or via email to eb_bridge@yahoo.co.uk marked attention to Sharon Maloney.

I should mention that we worked with their previous volunteer, who was unemployed and looking for work in the IT business and he now has a support job in the IT business.

Monday 3 September 2007

FREE Media Training in Brighton

'Introduction to Media' Training seminar - Old Ship Hotel, Brighton, 12th September, from 2:00pm - 5:00pm.

London based charity Media Trust is running a project called Improving Reach to provide FREE media and communications support for small to medium sized charities and voluntary organisations that work with the following priority groups:
- Faith;
- Black and Minority Ethnic;
- Migrant and/or Refugee; and
- Isolated Rural;
They're holding an 'Introduction to Media' training seminar at the Old Ship Hotel in Brighton on 12th September, from 2:00pm - 5:00pm to help organisations improve their media and communications needs. It is pitched at an introductory level giving participants the skills and self-confidence to gain positive coverage in the media and to produce better promotional
materials.
The training is free and they can cover travel expenses if receipts are provided. If you would be interested in attending then please contact them on 0207 874 7653 or check out their website
www.mediatrust.org/training-events/improving-reach.

Sunday 2 September 2007

Dirk Slater - Tactical Tech

I met Dirk a week or so ago - he's based in Brighton working Tactical Tech, which helps NGOs across the world make good use of ICT. Here's an interview with him on a great blog called Luck of Seven
episode 11 - Tactical Technology Collective | on the luck of seven

      

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