I had never realized until working at one, that non-profits are not the well-oiled machines that corporations are. One could argue that the work that they do is much more valuable from a social standpoint, but moving information and coordinating with people outside of the organization is proving to be more and more difficult as I go through the summer. What I can’t figure out is whether this trait is inherent to non-profits and once they compromise quality for efficiency, they become the corporation they were trying to fight in the first place.
This might be true, but I think the most valid argument that can be made for non-profits not reaching their full potential relates to something we learnt in out Professional Writing seminar this week. Hayley spoke to us about how many non-profits don’t invest enough money in visual information or marketing because they feel that they don’t have the money. I think if any organization looked deep enough, they would find that the money they could put into marketing would bring them a higher return.
I’m lucky that at Food and Water Watch we’re a large enough organization to be able to afford to advertise and understand the importance of investing in education. But many organizations are not this lucky, or this aware of its benefits.
It’s great that Food and Water Watch is able to advertise and get themselves out there. The churches that I am working with, while they are obviously well-known to their members, I have found that advertising events and services we currently offer is troublesome. And getting in touch with people to work with on these projects even more so (though they are sometimes from for-profit organizations, as well). I think each organization is different in how it operates, but the lack of rigidity in structure for each non-profit might also contribute to how slow certain processes can be.
I also find that it is difficult to coordinate and facilitate communications between organizations, and I am glad that your organizations have enough fundings for advertisements and marketings.