Insufficient Funds Allocated to Marketing
Just like in many non-profit organizations, most of their projects and plans are always dependent on donor funding. However, many of them do suffer from insufficient funding like in the case of IWMN. As a result, they do not have sufficient funds to market themselves. Besides, currently, the organization has not yet adapted to the current digital trends and as a result, they are not able to reach a wide mass of potential donors. Based on socio-cultural trends, the internet and social media are a vital resource for any organization and this reiterates the need for IWMN to adapt to the digital trend as some of the most successful NGOs. Most of the successful NGOs such as Red Cross and UNICEF have managed to adopt digital trends in their marketing core and through this, they can solicit funds from potential donors across the world. While IWMN is stationed in west Sydney, there is a need for it to look for ways in which they would be able to solicit funds for their marketing.
As mentioned earlier, one way to solve the core problem of insufficient funds allocated to marketing is by partnering with other non-profit organizations with whom they share a similar idea or objectives such as the Multi-Cultural Network(MTN) (Boddewyn & Doh, 2011). MTN is also stationed in West Sydney and somehow they have enough resources that if IMWN can manage to collaborate with them it would be easier for them to market themselves efficiently. First of all, IWMN can come up with a project and indulge in MTN. Through this, both organizations can decide on the most appropriate plan to be used to implement the project as well as a budget. With the project in the pipeline, both organizations can use their networks to solicit funding for the project and as a result, this would put them on the map. The other way to seek funds is through fundraisers. The organization can come up with a specific topic that would be used to drive funds for the project, for instance, building houses for the less fortunate. Through such a plan, invitations can be sent to various individuals and organizations that could support the drive. Besides, by collaborating with the municipality(government), it would be easier for the fundraiser to be successful. While both recommendations are great, the first one is the most appropriate, since, by IWMN collaborating with other fellow NGOs, they will be able to improve their portfolio in terms of branding and networking in their field. As a result, more networks provide continuous funding and support from interested parties. On the other hand, fundraisers are a one-time thing and are only efficient for the short term rather than in the long-term (Toyasaki & Wakolbinger, 2014). The organization has to strategize its outlay for the long-term if they are to be viable.
References
Boddewyn, J., & Doh, J. (2011). Global strategy and the collaboration of MNEs, NGOs, and governments for the provisioning of collective goods in emerging markets. Global Strategy Journal, 1(3‐4), 345-361.
Toyasaki, F., & Wakolbinger, T. (2014). Impacts of earmarked private donations for disaster fundraising. Annals of Operations Research, 221(1), 427-447.