In kind donations for nonprofits does exist, however non-profit organizations less keen to get that. The reason is logic. It is because they have a fear to get wrong products at the wrong period. Some researchers recommend that managing in-kind donations carefully will provide a big help for non-profits. But, they covered the gap between their resources and their goals. To receive the donation, it is all about how to create a long-term partnership between the donor companies and the nonprofit. Both parties should get the benefits from the partnership. For nonprofits, this approach offers more control over what they get and when they get it.
In Kind Donations for Nonprofits And The Things Behind
For an in-kind donation, the same donor may offer the bigger market value than a cash donation. It is because the cost of the good to the donor is about the product’s marginal cost, which can be only a half of the market price. In addition, many corporations go with their spare capacity for non-profit with the negligible extra cost. For instance, transportation companies have spare container room, IT consultancies, and engineers.
The big question is why a corporation does not mind to let the nonprofit to use their resources. It seems by giving in kind donations for nonprofits, those recipients have no position to discuss and the corporation is able to dictate. To build a business partnership, donors may assume that the suppliers and the nonprofits are the customers. At the same time, the nonprofits should offer the donors for something valuable as the return. One of the benefits corporations get from in-kind donations is they are able to meet their corporate social responsibilities. By giving the donations, they can communicate to achieve the goal of their public relations. Besides, corporations get an internal benefit, because their employees have high satisfaction in working, which back to their business achievement.
In Kind Donations For Nonprofits And How It Works
The first step to create the mutual value of this partnership is to know about the benefits of the donation for both nonprofit and the corporate donor. For example, a timber company is able to support a social and an environmental issue. What they can do is providing a construction material to help resettled refugees and repatriated. They can help them to rebuild their new homes for their new life. Alternatively, they can donate their timber grown for the area of the settlement to make sure that the local vegetation not cleared. This action sounds positive when the company has press releases provided by the nonprofit organization.
The similar case is an automotive company is able to get a good name and valuable exposure to their new product line. To do so, they can donate their vehicles to a relief agency. The agency is the recipient should work under the media exposure. Therefore, their name is easy to blow up.
In Kind Donations For Nonprofits – Things to Solve
So, what is the problem of in kind donations for nonprofits? There should be some problems to solve. For example, companies go with nonprofits to throw away their low-quality products like tents that cannot deal with high humidity in a refugee camp. The fact is the cost of its maintenance and transportation is too high. Besides, the size of the donations and the timing are hard to control. In case that the donations do not arrive on time, it means the organization should spend their budget to buy the substitutes.
A good partnership that we recommend is a telecom company. They can offer equipment and expertise for their international aid organization’s field operations. What the company does is to install telecom equipment in emergency warehouses. For the nonprofit organization, this donation has a big value. However, the benefit for the telecom company is the project keeps the spirit of their employees, especially in an economic downturn.
How To Work With In Kind Donations For Nonprofit
To work with the in-kind donations, a nonprofit organization should have an integrated approach. They have to involve the donations, the fund-raising unit, and the departments for its operations. They should also manage the resources. For the operation unit, they should specify the requirements of the products and the services. Meanwhile, the resource management and the fund-raising units must break down the operational budget together into some categories. These units have to rank the potential target companies to approach with their business idea. These units also should tell the donators clearly about the benefits they can get from the nonprofit organization. For example, a nonprofit organization can provide courses to handle problems when the company’s people have to work in unfamiliar settings and cultures. This offer surely makes the media interested to join the project.
Make sure that your company has a good unit to manage the donation. Your company has to manage the money to repair, send, and complete the administration of the donated goods. Consider that the donations are beneficial for your business company is the key point. It is because no one wants to get a donation but it does not work for their business. Most donors surely want the feedback and the progress of your project. Therefore, they need to see the progress through a report to know how far their involvement is. Another way they can do to get the information is by having a field visit.
The Final Words
Having in kind donations for nonprofit need many things to think. It is better to make a business contract in the first place. The business contract should tell about the details of the required resources. Besides, it should inform the expectations of both parties. The expectations should help you to achieve the goal of your business. Remember, the expectations you made can answer how far the donation is beneficial for the business you are going with.
In conclusion, it is beneficial to have in kind donation for nonprofitif you can manage everything very well. At the first stage, you must know with whom you cooperate, how can you keep the long-term cooperation, how can you find the benefits from the donations, and how can you manage the donations without spending too much budget are the things you must handle.
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References:
- http://www.karmayog.org/startanngo/startanngo_11111.htm
- Image: thebalance.com
