Big, Little, and In-Between

Last week, I was interviewed for Catholic School Web Design about my work in higher ed web marketing. One of the questions has kept me thinking:

“You blog about non-profit marketing at nonprofitchas.com – what is the difference, in your experience, between secular marketing and marketing for a Catholic school?”

The first part of my answer had to do with the size of the non-profit, and the challenges therein. After all, the constraints of a small non-profit keep up focused on the basics while large non-profits (like a University) have paid staff to do the marketing, fundraising, and so on.

Yesterday, Katya posted an article about nonprofit technology trends for 2011 which echoed my thoughts. Her skepticism and hesitation around these is due largely to the struggle simply to survive, never mind embracing the cutting edge.

She notes that “most nonprofits are still [struggling] with the basics: a decent home page and an optimized donation page. Walk before you run.”

This is certainly my experience in non-profits. Marketing, fundraising, strategic planning, and non-profit management – what are the basics for each of these areas and how can we ensure we’re doing them well before we try to run?

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