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A promise made must be a promise kept — Aristotle

We make promises every day. We promise our kids they can have an extra 30 minutes of screen time if they get their homework done. We promise our boss we’ll have a report ready by Friday. We even promise ourselves a reward if we go to the gym. Have you ever thought about the promises we make to the people we serve? Or to our volunteers or donors? You might say that a nonprofit’s mission is a promise but it’s really only half of the equation. Your mission is the aspirational end result. How will you get there? That’s where a strong Value Proposition (VP) is important. It’s the path to get there.

There are not very many prospective donors, volunteers or employees who will invest their time, talent or treasure into any social cause unless they have a clear understanding of how their support will help the organization to fulfill their mission. Your VP is the promise that it will.

What is a Value Proposition?

Wikipedia defines a VP as “a promise of value to be delivered, communicated, and acknowledged. It is also a belief from the customer about how value will be delivered, experienced and acquired.” [1]

A VP sets an organization apart from competition. It should not only persuade constituents to be involved in an organization, it should also outline how their support will make a difference or bring them an opportunity or benefit that they won’t find elsewhere.

For a nonprofit organization, the VP describes the value a donor or volunteer will gain by supporting the cause. It also describes how the cause will benefit a client or an employee. It’s the “how” and the “why” connected to the “what” of the mission. It’s your mission statement written from the constituents’ perspective.

Why Should We Have a VP?

It may seem like an unnecessary exercise to write a VP. But a well-written VP can be a critical part of your organization’s overall marketing strategy. A VP is basically an overview of the best reasons why your critical constituents should support your organization. It differentiates you from other nonprofits and sets your organization up to be the only choice for your targeted audiences. Your marketing team should use the VP as the basis for all strategic messaging including direct mail, advertising, social media, email marketing and more.

How do I Write a VP?

First, review your organization’s goals, both long- and short-term. What is the organization’s strategic plan? How are you addressing your mission and what you plan to accomplish in the next 5 years, 10 years, 25 years? Are you planning to eradicate a community problem or make a significant change in behavior? Do you hope to build your organization’s footprint or service area? Do you want to grow your donor base or change government policy? Any or all of these strategic avenues should be reflected in your final VP from the perspective of how it will benefit your constituents’ lives.

Second, consider your brand. How do you want supporters and the community to perceive your organization? If you don’t have a positioning statement, this is the time to write one. It’s important to understand how your audience sees you and use your VP to make course corrections if you need to.

Third, think through who your target audiences are. Your organization has more than one. Donors are always important but what about volunteers, employees, board members, clients, corporate leaders, government leaders, or media partners? For greatest impact, choose all constituent groups that are important to your organization’s strategic direction and write a VP for each.

Fourth, review your mission, values, structures and systems. Is your organization set up to meet your goals? This is a great time to do a SWOT analysis of the organization to identify possible roadblocks to attaining your promise or potential differentiators to include in your benefits.

I’ll include a real-life example here. I work for Lutheran Social Services in Columbus, Ohio. Our 100+ year-old-organization recently developed a long term strategic plan that included a rebrand and a new strategic focus for our organization. We created a long-term strategy map that included a goal of engaged constituents. This led to a deliberate review and rewrite of our VPs. We chose four groups, volunteers, donors, clients and employees as our critical constituents. It was important for our future that each group is engaged in our mission. We wrote targeted VPs for each group.

Craft your Unique Value Proposition

Once you’ve reviewed your strategic plan and made some decisions as to who is most important to your organizations future, you can start to craft your VPs. Remember, a VP is a clear and impactful statement of who you are, what you do, and why supporters should champion your mission. It’s the promises you are making to gain their support.

Here are some tips:

  • Focus on the promised benefits for each group. What is their return on investment? Outline how your organization will solve a problem or provide a benefit.
  • Speak their language. Write the VPs from their point of view. Tailor your VP to their needs, views, sensitivities and attitudes. Use active verbs and descriptive language that is inclusive and succinct.
  • Emphasize how your promise will be kept. Critical constituents will not trust smoke and mirrors. Be as specific as possible. Outline not only what your organization will do but also what the constituent will be able to do as a result.
  • Highlight how unique your organization is compared to others like it. This communicates how your organization is best equipped to champion their specific needs.
  • Most importantly, remember that your VP is a promise. It should be hopeful, positive, forward-thinking and most of all, achievable.

Because LSS offers more than 20 different programs, we had to keep our client VP somewhat general on the “what”. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t be clear on the “how” and “why”. Here’s what LSS created for our clients.

“For people in need of shelter, food, healing, safety and hope, LSS is a faith-based, social service network of hope that empowers those seeking our services to reach their highest level of self-sufficiency. Using an individualized, person-centered approach, we help our clients and residents remove barriers and achieve independence. We do so with compassion and respect because everyone deserves dignity and the recognition that there is more to their story than their current situation. Through strategic initiatives, we strive to restore lives and communities one person at a time.”

For donors, our benefits and promises are a little simpler but just as important. Here’s what we created for our donors.

“LSS provides diverse opportunities for our donors to engage and make a difference. By developing trusted relationships with our donors to fulfill their philanthropic desires, we help our programs compassionately and effectively serve people in need. We articulate the voice of the donor and the needs of our mission. We promise to demonstrate fiscal accountability and express our sincere gratitude.”

Future Planning

LSS has four VPs, one for each critical constituent group. Our marketing team uses the language in each VP when we write any targeted messaging to these groups. And we hold each and every staff member to the promises made in each VP every day. Our intention is that if we deliver on these VPs, our strategic objective of engaged constituents will be achieved. Engagement is critical to our organization staying viable and relevant for another 100 years. We need engaged clients, donors, volunteers and employees to get there.

Take a look at your organization’s strategic plan. Are you engaging the people who are important to your future with clear and compelling promises? If not, start now by creating dedicated Value Propositions. As Aristotle said “A promise made must be a promise kept.”

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