Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) —
Even when a successful nonprofit takes in a lot of money, much of it is earmarked for carrying out their main mission. Things like advertising, design work, and other activities, while valuable, are expendable if funds are limited. Now, a creative services company is helping them, pro bono.
Crowdspring– a for-profit crowdsourcing company for creative work (logo design, website design, etc.) – has an alternative approach to deciding between spending funds on your mission vs. creative marketing and other endeavors. It’s called Give Back, and it’s sure to make a lot of nonprofits very happy.
Here’s how it works. A legitimate 501(c)3 organization or its equivalent applies to Crowdspring for help with creative work. The co-founder of the company, Ross Kimbarovsky, vets the nonprofits and helps them summarize their needs. Then, Crowdspring’s community of creatives volunteers work and waives their fees. So far, Crowdspring has helped about a dozen nonprofits in this manner, for a total value Entrepreneur magazine lists as $20,000 at present.
Adding shared value for Crowdspring, its creative community, and the nonprofit beneficiaries doesn’t immediately add to the bottom line, but it builds goodwill that reflects well on the brand – and likely indirectly attracts more paying customers and makes more money over the longer term. And it is a creative way to address an important social need.
Dr. Mark Drapeau is part of the Microsoft Office of Civic Innovation in Washington, DC.
Image from CoolTownStudios.
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