By Mary Ellen Schaafsma, Purpose Advisor and Coach at Purpose Pathways Consulting

When businesses adopt a social purpose as the primary reason for their existence, it holds great positive potential to transform the world, and along with it – the relationship between business and charities. If businesses started to bring more than their philanthropy and volunteering to help solve the world’s issues – and they bring all the business has to bear (resources, ingenuity, and risk-taking acumen, investments), we may at last get at the root causes of societal issues (social or environmental). More and more, people are demanding this of businesses – to take on a new role in society.

What does it mean to be a Social Purpose Business? A Social Purpose is a company’s reason to exist that is an optimal contribution to the long-term well-being of all people and planet.

There are a few powerful implications in this statement.

First, the company now has a reason to exist that goes beyond profits and creates a new sense of responsibility, urgency, and opportunity to innovate around the issue they can impact upon.

Second, because it is about the company’s optimal contribution, it elevates what they must do beyond ‘random’ charitable acts to focused business activities on the issue that they can have the most impact on, because of who they are as a business.

Lastly, it is a mindset change that now a company must consider how they impact all people and planet. This expands their thinking beyond the usual suspects and helps them see how they can grow into a new role within society and maximize their impact.

Powerful stuff.

Let’s assume social purpose becomes the new normal in business. Here are three of the changes you can expect will begin to happen:

Collaboration and Partnerships: Businesses with a social purpose are more likely to seek out partnerships with charities and non-profits that align with their Purpose. This can lead to more collaborative efforts to address social and/or environmental issues. Charities may find it easier to access funding, resources, and expertise through these partnerships.

Shared Values and Objectives: Social Purpose Businesses and charities will come to share common goals, making it easier to work together on solutions. They may even go so far as to co-locate and/or share employees with a charity that helps them work towards their Social Purpose in a symbiotic way, supporting and strengthening each other’s organizations as they work together.

Innovation and Problem-Solving: Social Purpose businesses bring innovative approaches to address social and environmental challenges. They may work with charities to develop new solutions and technologies, bringing more of the company’s resources to the table on shared initiatives, products, or services. It could even become a revenue-generating, social enterprise opportunity for the charity.

Overall, the shift towards businesses adopting a social purpose can lead to more symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationships between businesses and charities. However, the success of these partnerships will depend on effective collaboration, transparency, and a genuine commitment to shared social and environmental goals and a willingness to capitalize on what each brings.

Charities know the issues and communities they work with. They have identified the root causes of issues and have ideas of how to tackle them – but there are not enough resources, and they are less able to take risks on new things.

Social Purpose Businesses have a heart and mandate to bring their business to the table to make a greater impact on the world. They have the resources and the ability to take on risk – to innovate new things that will be good for their business and good for society.

Charities that create new relationships with aligned Social Purpose Businesses could be starting a match made in heaven and be just what the world needs!

By Gabriela Gonzalez, Wow Digital Inc.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential digital marketing strategy for organizations of all types, including non-profit organizations. By optimizing their online presence to appear more prominently in search results, non-profits can increase awareness, drive more website traffic, and support their missions more effectively.

Before diving into specific SEO strategies for non-profits, it is essential to understand the differences between SEO for for-profit businesses and non-profits.

SEO for Non-Profits vs For-Profit Businesses

While the foundational principles of SEO apply to all organizations, the objectives, content strategy, keyword strategy, link building, local SEO, and focus on donations or e-commerce may vary.

1. Objective: For-profit businesses typically aim to drive conversions like sales or sign-ups, focusing on product/service pages and commercial keywords. In contrast, non-profits may seek to raise awareness, generate donations, attract volunteers, or disseminate information, focusing on informational and long-tail keywords, storytelling, and trust-building.
2. Content Strategy: For-profit businesses design content to address consumer needs and promote products or services. Non-profits, however, focus on storytelling, sharing success stories, providing educational resources, and demonstrating the impact of their work. 
3. Keyword Strategy: Companies target transactional and commercial investigation keywords, while non-profits often target informational and branded keywords related to their mission. 
4. Link Building: Businesses build links through guest blogging, partnerships, sponsorships, and high-quality industry content. Non-profits have similar opportunities but can also create links through partnerships with other non-profits, government agencies, educational institutions, or corporate social responsibility programs
5. Local SEO: While local businesses focus on attracting local customers, non-profits may also need local SEO, mainly if they serve a specific community. However, they might also focus on national or global SEO if their mission is broader. 
6. Donations vs E-commerce: For-profit businesses optimize their e-commerce platforms for search visibility, while non-profits focus on their donation pages. We have seen firsthand how optimizing a donation page can increase conversions and overall donations. 

It should also be noted that some for-profit strategies may be beneficial for non-profits who integrate a social enterprise business model, so it is wise to consider your model and use the tips that best suit your comprehensive goals.

The Benefits of SEO for Non-Profits

Now that we understand the vital differences let us explore how SEO can deliver many benefits for non-profit organizations:

1. Increased Visibility: By improving your search engine rankings, you can increase your visibility to potential donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries. This can lead to greater awareness of your mission and more support for your cause. 
2. Credibility and Trust: Websites that appear high in search engine results often appear more credible to users. Improving your SEO can enhance your organization's perceived legitimacy and build trust with your audience. 
3. Long-Term Sustainability: Unlike paid advertising, which stops when you stop paying, the benefits of SEO can last for a long time, providing a sustainable source of traffic and visibility. 
4. Cost-Effective Marketing: Many non-profits operate on tight budgets. SEO is a cost-effective marketing strategy that can deliver an excellent return on investment.
5. Better User Experience: Good SEO practice often aligns with good user experience. By making your site user-friendly for SEO, you are also making it easier for visitors to find and access the information they need. 

Leveraging SEO for Non-Profit Organizations

1. Focus on Your Mission with Keywords: Suppose you are a non-profit focused on reducing plastic pollution. You might target keywords such as "how to reduce plastic use," "effects of plastic pollution," "plastic recycling programs," or "donate to plastic pollution cause." 
2. Optimize Your Website: Ensure that your website loads quickly (under 2–3 seconds is often a good benchmark), is easy to navigate, and adapts well to mobile devices. Tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights can help identify any speed issues you might have, and using a responsive design can help ensure mobile friendliness. You might like to engage with a provider of website optimization services to help improve your site's performance and SEO. 
3. Create Quality Content: If your non-profit works to promote literacy, write blog posts about the importance of literacy, how-to guides for teaching reading skills, success stories from individuals you have helped, and updates on your literacy programs. 
4. Optimize Your Donation Page: Your donation page should be easily accessible from your website's homepage and other principal pages. On this page, you might use keywords like "donate to the literacy program," "support reading education," or "give to help improve literacy." 
5. Leverage Regional SEO: If your non-profit is in Vancouver, ensure your Google My Business listing is claimed and includes your Vancouver address. Encourage volunteers, donors, and supporters familiar with your work to leave reviews on your Google listing. 
6. Build High-Quality Backlinks: Let us say your non-profit runs a successful annual event. You can contact local news outlets to cover the event, earning backlinks from their online articles. You could also write guest posts for environmental blogs, sharing your expertise on plastic pollution and linking to your resources. 

Extra Tips for Great SEO

Share Success Stories

Use your website to highlight your non-profit's impact and success stories. For instance, share testimonials or examples of how your organization has helped your community attract new donors or increased event attendance through your work. This boosts your credibility and provides compelling content that can rank for related keywords. 

Incorporate Educational Content 

Your website can become a hub of information related to your mission. Create and share educational content that your target audience will find valuable. This can enhance your SEO and position your organization as a thought leader. 

Strategize your Calls to Action 

Make sure your website includes clear and compelling CTAs. Whether you want visitors to donate, volunteer, sign up for a newsletter, or participate in an event, your CTAs should be easily identifiable and action oriented. Use keywords related to your mission in these CTAs to enhance SEO. For example, instead of a generic "Donate Now" button, consider using language like "Donate to Support Literacy Education." 

SEO is vital for non-profits, helping them promote their mission, reach a larger audience, and make a difference. The unique goals and needs of non-profits call for a specialized approach to SEO, prioritizing storytelling, mission-focused keywords, and high-quality, impact-driven content. You can optimize your donation page, build high-quality backlinks, and enhance local SEO to reach those who need your services. 

Remember, SEO is a long-term strategy. While results may take time, SEO's sustainable and far-reaching benefits make it worthwhile. By implementing the methods outlined in this guide, you can harness SEO's power for your non-profit. 

Success in SEO, like success in your mission, is a journey. But it is a journey worth embarking on.

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Wow Digital Inc. is a leading provider of website services for non-profit organizations. If you’d like to learn more about using SEO to benefit your non-profit, you can Book a Free Consultation with Wow Digital Inc. 

By Erin O’Byrne, Work Wellness Coach and Vantage Point Knowledge Philanthropist 

Well-being at work is increasingly on the radar as humanity continues to navigate life after the pandemic. As the stressful strain of limited financial resources places even more demands on our human resources, psychological health & safety is at the forefront. As leaders in non-profits, you especially know the importance of taking care of your people. 

The Mental Health Commission set national standards for psychological health and safety a decade ago. You can read about the standard here. As a voluntary standard, some workplaces were early adopters, others dabbled, and some only started investing in the last few years based on the rising need. WorkSafe BC also helped make this priority through their education initiatives and by including elements in inspections for some industries these past few years. You can read more about their strategic initiatives here. 

While there are vast resources available to support psychological health and safety there is a lot to navigate and integrate successfully into your workplace and for all your volunteers. 

Often organizations and leaders are not sure where to start. 

As a mental health strategist and coach, I help organizations review, design and implement these standards successfully. Here are three tips to get you started: 

1. Get familiar with the 13 factors that lead to psychological health and safety. 

When you review this list what are the top two to three your organization does well?  

Where would change have the most impact?  

You can read more about each factor here. Recently indicators of inclusion, stress and trauma are included within these factors. 

• Organizational Culture 
• Psychological and Social Support 
• Clear Leadership & Expectations 
• Civility & Respect 
• Psychological Demands
• Growth & Development 
• Recognition & Reward 
• Involvement & Influence 
• Workload Management 
• Engagement 
• Balance 
• Psychological Protection 
• Protection of Physical Safety 

There are many opportunities for implementing the standard in your organization. The Mental Health Commission has put together a guide to support the process. You can read about it here. At first glance it is a lot of information. Pick one or two areas as part of your annual mental health strategy.  

2. Focus on leadership development

We know that for the most part people leave managers not companies. In a world that is constantly asking people to do more with less, we’ve got to prioritize conversations around wellness. This is tough since everyone’s threshold for stress is different as is our comfort in talking about it all.  

• As a leader do you truly understand how each of your team members are doing?  
• Do you have enough rapport where they feel safe to really share?  
• How about the collective capacity of your teams at any given time?  
• How comfortable are you talking about mental health stressors and challenges?  
• What do you do to proactively lead by example, to promote wellness?  

Considering these will help inform your action plans and leadership development needs. 

Along with soft skills, as a workplace culture you’ll want to look at policies, systems and processes, resources and training too. Your Employee Assistance Program and any wellness initiatives you offer go a lot further if behaviours of leaders and the structure of your organization can help foster an integrated and truly lived culture of care and support: proactively. After all, the wellness of your people makes for wellness in the community. Healthy organizations have a healthy impact on individuals and the collective.

3. Take action and share best practice

All workplaces seek to find their way to better and are at varied stages of this discovery. Mental health and wellness is vital. Share what works. Get ideas from other leaders. Keep talking. Need more ideas? Recent research from Deloitte highlights some helpful insights and action items. You can read more here.

Given these three tips, what’s your next step? 

Erin O’Byrne, Work Wellness Coach is dedicated to helping individuals and organizations take their wellness to the next level. workwellnesscoach.com

By Alina Emery, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator at Vantage Point

At Vantage Point, Knowledge Philanthropist (KP) is how we refer to our skilled volunteers. It is a term that spotlights the experience and value our KPs have to offer Vantage Point and its networking community. Our Knowledge Philanthropists share their lived experiences, expertise, and passions through a multitude of opportunities including facilitation, content creation and program enhancement, blog writing and sharing their knowledge as guests on our podcast, “From our Vantage Point”.  

Being the new Volunteer Engagement Coordinator for Vantage Point, I knew that the role would come with the great responsibility of not only getting to know our existing KPs and onboarding new ones, but really taking the time to get to know who they are as individuals: people with talent, passion, and the drive to give back. As a founder of a volunteer recruitment non-profit When I Becomes We, I understand the significance and value that volunteers bring to an organization. I hope to create deeper connections with Vantage Point KPs through our Knowledge Philanthropy model and really bring the focus back to them through collaboration, personalization and, at the forefront of it all, educating each other for the benefit of strengthening our non-profit sector.  

Our Knowledge Philanthropist model offers our experienced volunteers a unique opportunity to share their skills through facilitating trainings for non-profit leaders seeking to strengthen their organizations. These opportunities allow our KP Facilitators to dive deep with individuals and organizations teams to see where they are at now, and discover how they might improve or expand. The learning is not only a gratifying experience for our participants but our KPs too.  

The Knowledge Philanthropist model extends even further and offers our valued Digital Hosts the opportunity to support our facilitators by providing technical support and coordination for sessions. At the same time, these KPs are learning, networking, and supporting the session participants. They have an opportunity to learn from others, meet leaders in the sector, and put their tech skills to use. In a post-pandemic world, it is of incredible value to have our KP Digital Hosts fully support the tech portion of sessions so our KP Facilitators can deliver comfortably and confidently. 

As we have looked at the ways KPs can engage and participate with Vantage Point, a part of our mission is to collaborate with our Knowledge Philanthropists to find new and exciting opportunities for them to expand their involvement, and also brainstorm “out-of-the-box” ideas as to how volunteerism at Vantage Point can evolve. Our staff is committed to asking themselves when starting new projects, “how might a KP help support the success of this project?” to ensure that we prioritize a range of opportunities and offer our KPs, one of our most valuable stakeholders, the chance to get involved in internal projects. 

In addition to expanding the ways we engage our Knowledge Philanthropists, we hope that through the results of our BC Non-Profit Network Feasibility Study, we will be able to further extend our geographical reach and connect with more Knowledge Philanthropists outside of the lower mainland. This would include opportunities for session facilitation, digital hosting, speaking engagements and more. Follow our socials and newsletters to keep up to date with our progress and next steps from the study! 

This volunteer week, we hold gratitude for all our Knowledge Philanthropists that have contributed to Vantage Point’s 80 years in the sector. Should this be your first time encountering Vantage Point’s Knowledge Philanthropy model (or a nice reminder if you’re already involved), I’m always happy to set up a meeting to check in, brainstorm or talk through ideas our KPs have and to expand our thinking about volunteerism in non-profits. I’m just an email away!  

Happy Volunteer Week!  

Alina Emery
Volunteer Engagement Coordinator
aemery@thevantagepoint.ca