Top Nonprofit Shifting Focus to Supporters

Large Canadian disease nonprofit shifting focus from their HOW (fundraising) to their WHO (supporters) to evolve the org and their services

It started with a question: What would it mean to be less “program-centric” (e.g. fundraising) and more “supporter-centric”?

What followed was direct customer research that asked survivors and their families NOT what services they received but RATHER what they really needed and wanted. And their answers often didn’t align with leader perceptions. What the organization wanted from supporters wasn’t always aligned with how supporters wanted to support and more importantly, how they wanted to be supported by the organization.

The next phase of this journey is to understand specific improvements that benefit both the organization and supporter experience. Additional supporter research and leadership training will also need to take place.

Context

• ~100 years old nonprofit
• Affecting ~7 million Canadians
• Focus on ~5 executives Director+
• Engaged ~50 executives Director+

Outcomes

• Truly understanding what supporters needed from the organization (vs

Services

• Supporter research pilot
• Training and coaching executives
• Executive workshops and presentations