Why Think About Design when You Start a Nonprofit?

Startup nonprofits are like a startup business.

Startup nonprofits are like a startup business. The founder thinks they want to start a nonprofit, but it’s really a business, with a nonprofit mission.

Every few weeks, we receive inquiries about how to start a nonprofit. The trend seems to be nonprofits that can raise funds, in order to support activities centered on a specific cause and area of need. As designers, we’re not experts in the “how to,” but we would like to offer some thoughts for consideration.

These questions come to us through individuals whom are looking for a firm to design a web site, and most seem to be “meeting with an attorney in a few days to get the paperwork completed.” They seem to equate printers with design firms, meeting with printers to have their logo designed; or seem know somebody who will help design their logo.

These small nonprofits are like a startup business. The founder thinks they want to start a nonprofit. What they are really starting is a business, with a nonprofit mission.

I know what you’re thinking. “A business,” you say, “is for profit, and has management, customers, revenue, and sells goods or services. They want to start a nonprofit.”

Indeed. It’s a business entity that has a mission of nonprofit service; has customers (those to whom services are delivered or who request services); raises funds in order to provide revenue for operating the organization and providing services; and requires a board of directors to provide governance and oversight to the executive director, staff and mission. And design is an essential catalyst to help every successful nonprofit (and business) grow and stay on mission.

What’s not business-like about that?

Two Questions to Ask Before Starting a Nonprofit

My first question to these individuals is “Why do you want to start a nonprofit?”

The answer is consistent: “Based on our personal experience, we see a need, and want to raise funds to impact and improve the lives of those whose experience may be similar to ours.”

That’s a worthy objective; my next thought is toward sustainability. These are the type of nonprofits that may struggle to grow and be sustainable in the long term. For any startup entity, startup capital is scarce, and they often cannot afford the fees for creating a communication plan and visual identity, which are essential to creating and maintaining a professional image.

It’s rare for a new nonprofit to have the grant or operational funding available to create a visual identity and web site, and we regret having to decline the opportunity to work with these individuals. (Aespire works with a small number of new clients every year, at a very high level. Typically, these are established nonprofits that have budgeted for or received planning or program grants that include funding for design and communication programs).

My second question is always “What other organizations are already doing similar work?”

There are two reasons for asking this question:

1. If there is a competing organization, then how will this new one be different, and what difference will it really make? You may not think of similar organizations as competitors, but there is an aspect of competing for financial resources.
2. If there is a similar organization, would it make more sense to collaborate, in order to have greater impact? Funders are continually looking to fund organizations that work together to solve problems.

Grantspace has an excellent article to help you think through these questions, about starting a nonprofit.

You can find reliable and cost-effective resources for these “DIY nonprofits” which enable them to project professionalism during the early stages of their growth. Our research and experience have led us to a few that we think are worth mentioning.

Resources for startup nonprofit branding and web sites

How-to resources

Grantspace.org, a service of the Foundation Center, is a remarkable resource for nonprofits. One of the first questions I ask is “Have you visited Grant Space or the Foundation Center online?”

If you haven’t you should. Here are the top articles you should read:

• How to start a nonprofit: questions and answers; and advantages and disadvantages about starting a nonprofit:
• Watch this: Is starting a nonprofit right for you?
• Grantseeking basics

Logos and Visual Identity

You may think of this as branding, but there’s more to it than that. We think that a logo and your visual branding is the most important aspect of creating a professional presence for any nonprofit. We don’t recommend using any online service — many create derivative logo marks based on other designer’s work — so ask friends and colleagues if they can recommend a local designer.

Contact your local AIGA chapter; designers often are interested in doing pro bono work for meaningful causes. It makes them feel good, and you’ll get a professionally designed logo and visual identity. Of course, we’re always interested in talking about creating your new visual identity, budget permitting. A professionally-designed visual identity is an essential long-term investment.

Email Marketing:

A web site is essential, the second most important aspect of communications after a visual identity. With it you can communicate with your audience and raise funds — two of the nonprofit business aspects that you’ll need to be aware of.

A popular cost-effective option is Websites Made Simple, an affordable and easy-to-use content management system (CMS) that empowers you to build landing pages and multi-page websites that anybody can manage.

• Combine Websites Made Simple (unlimited pages for $35 per month) with a Giving Fuel fundraising widget (free), and you have a fundraising web site in little time, with little expense.
• Aespire.ONE is more robust than options like Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace, and more secure for donors than Wordpress. From a low-cost $59/month plan to a 100+ page site, it’s scalable and will grow as your organization grows. It has options for accepting online payments, blogging, photo galleries, blog, email marketing and more— which make it well suited to a startup nonprofit.

If you’re starting a nonprofit, or want to start one, we’re confident that these resources that we’ve researched are an excellent place to start you on your journey of mission-driven design.

Good fortune does take preparation, and foresight. So does good communication. As a last thought, Heath Shackleford from Good.Must.Grow. offers this perspective on why Fast, Cheap and Easign Design could Kill your Nonprofit. It’s a must-read.

When you’re ready — contact Aespire. Our help you move from the startup phase to lasting impact!

The Aespire Marketing Report (powered by StoryBrand) is an online assessment that lets any small business or community foundation understand where their marketing plan is falling short and what it should look like instead.