CSA: The Link Between Two Worlds
I had an experience recently that really pointed out a unique feature of CSA.
I was in a local retail establishment and ran into one of CSA's major donors. We had not seen each other in a long time, so we spent several minutes catching up, talking about CSA and what's going on at the agency. This person is a major reason why CSA can provide the services we do.
Within moments, I was at the checkstand paying for my purchase. The person at the cash register was a CSA client. We spent a few minutes talking about what's happening at the agency and about one program in particular.
CSA is in a very unique position---even among other nonprofit groups---in that the people who pay for our services are not the people who receive our services. Imagine running a business where some of your customers paid so that other customers could get the product. No doubt it would be a pretty difficult sales pitch!
This puts CSA at a disadvantage when we raise funds for our services. People are much more likely to give money to organizations and issues that affect them or their loved ones. This also has an impact on our visibility in the community.
People are also much more likely to pay attention to organizations and issues that affect them personally. CSA is featured regularly in the local papers. We try to be good evangelists of our services and issues. I find myself speaking to all kinds of groups all the time. And we do reach civic and community leaders. Yet few people beyond our donors and volunteers, civic leaders and clients really know who we are and what we do. To many people, that speech they heard from me, or the newspaper article at the top of page 8, may or may not stand out as they compete for attention in an information saturated world.
To counter that lack of visibility among the average resident of Mountain View and Los Altos, our board of directors has established a Marketing Committee. This group of board, staff and volunteers has begun to plan for ways to increase CSA's visibility in the community. This takes greater importance as we will soon commemorate our 50th anniversary.
Will this work? Who knows? What I do know is that it will continue to be difficult to get people's attention for CSA---just as it will continue to be a challenge to get people to pay for a service that they don't receive.
I was in a local retail establishment and ran into one of CSA's major donors. We had not seen each other in a long time, so we spent several minutes catching up, talking about CSA and what's going on at the agency. This person is a major reason why CSA can provide the services we do.
Within moments, I was at the checkstand paying for my purchase. The person at the cash register was a CSA client. We spent a few minutes talking about what's happening at the agency and about one program in particular.
CSA is in a very unique position---even among other nonprofit groups---in that the people who pay for our services are not the people who receive our services. Imagine running a business where some of your customers paid so that other customers could get the product. No doubt it would be a pretty difficult sales pitch!
This puts CSA at a disadvantage when we raise funds for our services. People are much more likely to give money to organizations and issues that affect them or their loved ones. This also has an impact on our visibility in the community.
People are also much more likely to pay attention to organizations and issues that affect them personally. CSA is featured regularly in the local papers. We try to be good evangelists of our services and issues. I find myself speaking to all kinds of groups all the time. And we do reach civic and community leaders. Yet few people beyond our donors and volunteers, civic leaders and clients really know who we are and what we do. To many people, that speech they heard from me, or the newspaper article at the top of page 8, may or may not stand out as they compete for attention in an information saturated world.
To counter that lack of visibility among the average resident of Mountain View and Los Altos, our board of directors has established a Marketing Committee. This group of board, staff and volunteers has begun to plan for ways to increase CSA's visibility in the community. This takes greater importance as we will soon commemorate our 50th anniversary.
Will this work? Who knows? What I do know is that it will continue to be difficult to get people's attention for CSA---just as it will continue to be a challenge to get people to pay for a service that they don't receive.
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