Case Study: Why Nonprofits Fail – Part 1

3 Sobering Lessons from a Nonprofit that Disappeared

Read Part 2 – Get Five Foundations for a Fail-Proof Nonprofit

If you’ve read any number of my blogs, you may have picked up that one injustice I care a lot about is human trafficking and all its twisted cousins. This is one reason I chose to become a fundraising copywriter and consultant.

(It also played a role in winning my wife’s heart, because she cares about this too. Guys – take a hint).

In my journeys, I’ve encountered a great number of nonprofits working to fight against trafficking. Some rescue survivors. Some restore them with ongoing counseling, education, and care. Some focus on children, some on women. Some focus on sex trafficking, others on job trafficking.

Several years ago, I came across one called Just Charisma.

Now that I have both a personal and professional interest in helping nonprofits that fight human trafficking, I decided to look them up. All I had was a business card. The image of that business card is below.

Guess what I found when I typed in their URL?

Nothing. The URL is dead.

As far as I can tell, Just Charisma is another nonprofit that failed to sustain itself.

And to be completely clear – I know nothing about this organization. I don’t know how long they survived, why they don’t seem to exist anymore, what led to that, who founded it – nothing.

But from what I do know, I think there are some lessons that other nonprofits can learn from this. And I’m gleaning all these lessons from the only thing I have left of them: Their business card.

Take another look at it.

On one side, you see a very beautiful rendering of a woman with flower and butterfly imagery that isn’t cheesy. It’s an impressive image. On the other side, you see two URLs and an email address, and more imagery.

As business cards go, it’s not bad. It could be better, but that’s not the point for today. As graphic design goes, it’s very eye-catching, and clearly identifies the brand.

So what can we learn from this?

Just Charisma represents something I see all too often in the nonprofit realm: A vast over-emphasis on graphic design, and a parallel lack of emphasis on the things that actually move people to take action, volunteer, and donate.

Let’s look at a few lessons I’ve learned about this over the years.

Lesson 1: Spend LESS Money on Graphic Design

Maybe they had a volunteer design this card and the imagery on it. I don’t know. But I do know that whoever designed that spent quite a bit of time on it. That amount of time would not be cheap. This is a costly design. Few nonprofit cards I get (and I get a lot of them) feature graphic design at this level.

Thus, it’s a safe assumption that the people running Just Charisma placed a high value on graphic design. That means they either spent a lot of money on it, or they spent a lot of time perfecting it with their generous design volunteers.

So, lots of money spent, maybe. Lots of time spent, definitely.

What does this prioritization for high quality design get you when you unveil it to donors?

Very little.

Here’s an article listing 15 reasons why people give. Not one of them is, “because the design inspired me.” That’s not why people give. So if you’re investing a disproportional amount of time and money into your graphic design, that means you’re not spending time doing the things that activate donors and grow your charity.

Graphic design matters a lot. But it should not be eating up large swaths of your marketing budget (or time). Spend those assets on donor outreach and communication. Use them to document powerful stories of impact. Invest more in your staff so you can keep your best people.

Lesson 2: Name Your Nonprofit Smartly

The founder of another failed nonprofit wrote this article about lessons he learned from his experience.

His second lesson was excellent, and I’ve encountered numerous nonprofits I wish would have heard it sooner: Make your nonprofit’s name so simple that people immediately get it.

His nonprofit worked to equip schools with solar panels. His nonprofit’s name? Three Birds. No one understood the name until after he had to waste precious time explaining it. That’s time he could have spent showing them the impact they could have through his program.

If you have to explain your charity’s name to everyone because it puzzles them, it’s probably not a good name.

Just Charisma has this same problem. Looking at their card, that name, and the image of the woman on it, my first guess would have been that they teach women how to grow in confidence and strength without sacrificing their femininity. Again, that’s what the name and the image communicate to me. Maybe you’d get something different.

I would never have guessed they help women trapped in sex trafficking. And even after being told that, my first question would be, “What does your name mean?”

That’s not a question you want would-be donors (especially major donors and business sponsors) to be asking.

A few nonprofit naming tips:

• Stay away from metaphors. You get it. But no one else does.
• Avoid acronyms at all costs. They mean nothing to anyone, and there are usually other organizations with the same letters.
• Keep it simple, not creative. Again, if your name makes them ask, it’s a bad name.

What do you do if you’re stuck with a bad name and it would be prohibitive to change it? Do whatever you can to clearly communicate your mission as fast as possible.

Your best option is to develop a really great tagline that you essentially make part of your name. Put the tagline on your logo, business cards, letterhead – everything. Because then, even though the name makes no sense, people will get it.

Lesson 3: For Goodness Sake, Write People Back

This lesson applies to Just Charisma, but also many other nonprofits I’ve met at conferences, forums, exhibits, and speaking engagements. Perhaps it applies to yours too.

I’ve written my name on lists asking to be kept updated. I’ve filled out forms. I’ve taken and given business cards. And in some cases, I’ve even proactively reached out a few weeks later, even though it was really their job to do that.

So many times after doing all these things, I never hear a word.

I went to a documentary on sex trafficking once, and the nonprofit that helped create the documentary had a booth with a signup form. They said if I signed up, I’d hear about ways I could get involved and join them in their mission. This was before I had anything to do with fundraising.

I never heard a thing. 

What a wasted opportunity! You’ve spent time and effort setting up a booth at a documentary at which almost every person in the audience is what the business world calls a “hot lead.” These people care about your mission. They’re signing up for your list. They’re practically begging you to give them a way to get involved.

Do you think writing them back matters? Maybe a little more than getting your logo just right or rewriting your mission statement for the tenth time?

Just a simple email or two every month, and you will turn these people into volunteers, donors, and advocates. If you don’t have time for this, what DO you have time for? It’s the most important use of your time aside from your actual mission!

So, Why Do Nonprofits Fail?

Failure doesn’t always mean disappearing like Just Charisma did. But it can mean a drastically limited impact where there could have been much more.

Take the lessons for today and do everything you can to avoid them – these are three reasons nonprofits fail.

They obsess over the wrong things, like graphic design.

They choose terrible names for themselves.

And they don’t follow up with communication – even with their most promising leads.

Need Help with Your Communication and Follow-Up?

That’s why I became a fundraising copywriter! Because I know how much time it takes, and that you’ve got a lot to do.

If you’re not communicating – consistently and in a variety of ways – to your donors and supporters, you need someone to help. That’s not an opinion. That’s your mission.

Ask me to help you advance your mission, engage your current donors, volunteers, and supporters, and find new ones.