One of the biggest and most obvious differences between for-profit companies and non-profits is that the former has customers; the latter, beneficiaries or recipients of services. Because no money changes hands in the NGO scenario, we often think of customer relationships as reciprocal and beneficiary engagement as one-way. However, it’s not enough for NGOs to simply put assistance, products, and provisions into the hands of beneficiaries. They must also ensure that donated resources suit beneficiaries’ needs and capabilities, so that the resources can and will be used.
How NGOs Can Help More People with DIY Solutions
In certain cases, offering unfinished products to aid recipients can lead to better results — and help make the most of limited resources.
August 17, 2021
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Summary.
It’s not enough for NGOs to simply put assistance, products, and provisions into the hands of beneficiaries. They must also ensure that donated resources suit beneficiaries’ needs and capabilities, so that the resources can and will be used. But the severe budget constraints under which most NGOs operate can make this a daunting challenge. Finding out what diverse recipients want and what works for them — not to mention putting this information into practice via customised offerings — can be prohibitively expensive. One way to achieve impact at scale in the face of these difficulties is to remove info-gathering from the process entirely and provide unfinished products that recipients can complete according to their own tastes and abilities. In essence, this means moving from an off-the-shelf mode of delivery to a partial-DIY paradigm. This article goes further to argue that this strategy is an option worth considering, even when money is no object. As long as beneficiaries have diverse needs as well as some ability to self-complete, bringing them on board as co-creators can help NGOs achieve scale.