5 Reasons Why Charities Should Partner With Agencies
There is a lot that goes into effective fundraising, and it is hard to do everything in-house, even with a larger staff. Partnering with an agency can go a long way toward increasing your year-over-year revenue and preventing headaches on a daily basis.
Here are 5 reasons why charities should partner with agencies:
1: Staffing
It is hard to find, pay, and keep excellent people. Your agency will assume a large part of this responsibility, and as a result, you get the benefit of a larger team focused on the area of support you need. Often for the price of one employee you are getting access to many who are experts in the field. It is nearly impossible to find one person who can specialize in every aspect of fundraising that you need help with. Agencies hire qualified staff with diverse areas of expertise so that you don’t have to. Most charities follow seasonal periods of growth, which means additional help is needed at times. Working with an agency ensures that you don't have to hire during peak levels at your organization. You can simply hire to make sure you are covered all year and use agencies as additional capacity when needed.
2: Your Success Is Their Success
Partnership agencies – not just agencies who are doing a one-off project for you – are incentivized to care about your long term success. If an agency wants to keep working with you, they need to help your charity improve, whether that’s through increased members, volunteers, or donations. An agency can be single-mindedly focussed on these pressure points without having to worry about the other aspects of your organization’s day-to-day challenges that can get in the way. In doing so, they become an extension of the charity itself. Some agencies also provide training sessions, helping your team become better at their jobs.
3: Continuity
Burnout is a big problem in the charity and non-profit sector, and you shouldn’t be back at zero if an important member of your team leaves. If a key leader leaves, and a more inexperienced team member steps in, they may not be up to date in industry trends or new legislation; or should you hire someone new to fill the spot, it takes time to onboard new staff and get them up to speed. In either scenario, you are losing momentum on campaigns, which in turn can hurt your donations. Having an agency partner is instrumental in keeping things afloat when you have key staff changeovers. Even if you think you can handle all of your marketing or fundraising efforts in house – and without additional cost – there is an inherent risk in keeping all of your eggs in one basket. Your agency will act as that bridge helping you adjust from one key staff change to another, and ensure that nothing is derailed.
4: Optimized Practices
An agency will often work with other charities in the same vertical as you, such as wildlife protection or poverty relief. So while you may send five direct mail pieces a year, they may send 500. This data helps inform new campaigns, and having a larger sample size makes a big difference. You should always be running A/B testing to make sure you are performing at peak levels, and agencies can run tests among clients to lessen potential risk. It is their job to keep up with industry trends and optimized practices. Additionally, since agency staff achieve high levels of repetition between clients, they learn how to optimize tasks. A novel assignment that may take a charity staff member three hours may be achievable by someone with agency-level experience in 30 minutes. You will be saving money by having your staff do the essential work they were hired to do and outsourcing the rest.
5: Second Opinions
Sometimes having someone external to the organization will help with getting changes made, especially people who are experts in their field. Charity staff are passionate about the work they do, and of course they should be! However, it can help to have someone slightly more objective weighing in when making decisions. Additionally, just because an organization has been doing something one way consistently doesn’t mean it’s the best way to do it. The value of an agency is that they are coming in with a new perspective obtained by working with multiple charities, and can provide essential insight on how your charity decides to move forward.
At the end of the day, it’s not just about understanding why you should work with an agency, but finding the right one. Make sure to ask any potential agency about what similar clients they have and what they specialize in so you can make the most of your partnership! If you want to learn more, contact Frontier and see if we are the right partner for you.