There’s a saying out there that all politics are local. The same is true of nonprofits. A recent study I conducted for a nonprofit showed that people believe that nonprofits are special because of their knowledge of what works in the local community.
So where does that leave nonprofits that having national ties? The local version of the nonprofit has to know that while national may want you to use their promotion or their statistics or their fundraising materials, to be successful you have to give it a local twist.
Many communities may be too conservative or too liberal or too focused on their own issues to care about what the national organization is saying. And by using national directives on fund development, they may actually hurt the local group’s cause. Donors may not feel comfortable sending their money to the national organization because they want their donation to make a difference in their own neighborhood.
My advice is to tread carefully and to think locally no matter what the nonprofit corporate office says.
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