You can borrow best practices from product marketing or user experience design, but ultimately, your nonprofit has a superpower that for-profit companies envy.
You’re not selling a product or service – you can genuinely give people a sense of identity and belonging.
My friend and nonprofit strategist, Veronica LaFemina, made a good point that I cannot shake – nonprofits are like luxury brands in the sense that you’re connecting deeply with someone’s identity and values with your authenticity.
As a helper.
As a change maker.
As a generous giver.
But you can also go deeper as people relate to your unique cause.
As a voter.
As an environmentalist.
As an abolitionist.
Identity is a deep emotional bond that someone can fulfill through your nonprofit. That is the aspiration they’re looking for when they volunteer their time, talent, or money.
Your superpower can connect with people more deeply in an authentic way that for-profit companies envy. Because you can actually deliver on this identity.
Let’s put it into action: the next time you write to your supporters, focus on who they want to be instead of what they’re doing. People may not be able to articulate this title themselves, but if you speak it to them they’ll start using and believing the language. Plus, it’ll help you reach new people like your existing audience.
Power is a big theme in the nonprofit sector. Sometimes because we don’t have it or because it’s withheld from us. But also how it helps us scale, gather, fund, include, and share, too.
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