Teach For America: Nonprofit Working to Improve Education in US - Essay Sample

Introduction

Teach for America is a non-profit organization that was founded to improve the quality of education of children in America. The organization develops and maintains a large group of professionals in different fields to increase the opportunities available for children to learn and broaden the range of skill development activities available for children. This is an endeavor that requires pooling together a lot of resources to facilitate. Based on the fact that Teach for America is a non-profit organization, there is a need to develop well-integrated marketing, fundraising, and public relations strategy to effectively achieve the mission. Bearing in mind that many non-profit organizations in the united states are facing a sustainability crisis, the only solution is to develop strategies that are meant to increase support (Agozzino & Fleck, 2016). It is crucial that teach for America increases the awareness of its mission, core values, programs, and ideas to increase their income (Young, 2001). This report explains why such a strategy is necessary, evaluates the expected outcomes and impacts of the strategy, and provides a recommendation and implementation process of the strategy and underpinnings.

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The Necessity of the Strategy

Just in two decades, teach for America has developed a program that facilitates more than 4000 teaching professionals in over 35 regions of different socioeconomic backgrounds to improve their ability to equip learners with skills through various education initiatives (Rouschman, n.d). Founded by Wendy Kopp, the non-profit organization is based on her belief that enabling teaching professionals with non-traditional skills will go a long way in improving access and quality of education in America. Now, TFA has proven to be an organization that everyone wishes to be a part of. However, due to the many initiatives that the organization involved in, its resources are overstretched. The organization has become one of the organizations that graduate students aspire to launch their careers. According to the New York time, 2018), 12% of the graduate of the 2018 Harvard class applied for placement in the organization.

The Current Strategy

Although TFA has built a sharp brand image in America, it is still insufficient as there is still a significant deficit in the organization's budget and the available resources for the achievement of its goals (Rouschman, n.d). The current strategy includes a clearly stated, compelling mission statement that loudly communicates the organization's approach to the public. The organization also ensures that the process of recruitment is aggressive and well-coordinated. This is meant to ensure that a lot of professionals in the American education system are equipped with non-traditional skills intended to enable them to provide learners with knowledge. Commitment to continuous development and training is also an issue that the TFA considers important. The organization understands that teaching professionals need constant training and development to keep up with emerging issues. For instance, due to technological advancements such as web 2.0, 4G, etc., that have increased the use of online teaching methods, the organization has programs that equip teachers with refresher courses to better impart knowledge and skills to learners from all backgrounds of the American society. The strategy of TFA is also result-oriented.

Recommended Marketing, Fundraising, and Public Relations Strategy

Social Media Marketing

Research shows that 55% of all social media users reached by social media marketing campaigns take either a positive or sometimes negative action (Najev Cacija, 2016). With the right social media marketing strategy, teach for America will be able to increase awareness of its mission and supplement its budget, which is dependent on donors. An effective social media marketing strategy for the organization will have specific goals that will support the process of achieving its goals of improving the quality of education in America, conducting pre-service and in-service skills development, and training on teaching professionals (Sargeant, 2001). The marketing team will also have to identify the target audience and the most appropriate social media platforms on which to launch the social media marketing campaign. An understanding of the target audience is crucial as it will help the team connect better with the users (Sayer, 2004). The process of creating content will need to be optimized to ensure that it attracts many readers, communicates the goals and mission clearly, and has a higher probability of achieving positive results (Najev Cacija, 2016). The recommended social media strategy will also have a method of tracking the performance and measuring the results. The measurement of the results will be based on the effectiveness of the strategy towards increasing awareness of the organization and its goals and attracting more donors and volunteers.

Fundraising Through Social Media

Research studies have shown that approximately 96% of all Americans aged between 18 years and 35 years have a higher likelihood of following brands through social media platforms (Howard, 2007). Therefore, TFA must implement a social media marketing strategy that will be able to communicate and relate strongly with social media users and also encourages or compels them to make donations to support its activities.

TFA should focus on Facebook and Twitter as they have the most significant number of users. The number of Facebook and Twitter users grew by 42% and 37%, respectively, in 2019 (Rouschman, n.d). The two social media platforms have also shown their effectiveness in marketing, fundraising, and public relations, as applied by other non-profit organizations. 98% of non-profit organizations in America use primarily use Facebook for their social media marketing campaigns and fundraising drives, while 70% use twitter (Body & Breeze, 2016). However, I would recommend the integration of both social media platforms into the current social media strategy.

Using social media features such as live streaming, using hashtags, sharing live events, and broadcasting will ensure that the audience is up to date with the activities of the organization (Key, 2001). This will be more appealing and will have the impact of attracting more potential donors. Posting such content will also increase internet traffic to the organization's website. From the sites, the visitors will have access to more information about the organizations, their activities, and also contact information. The website will also provide visitors with information on how to make donations or how they could support the organizations to achieve their goals (Wilhelm, 2003).

Conclusion

Creating, maintaining, and improving the public perception of an NPO is crucial for the achievement of its goals. Teach for America has to implement a strategy that will increase its awareness as a brand to attract more donors and also volunteers (Bhati & McDonnell, 2019). Using social media for marketing, fundraising, and public relations to supplement the current strategy of the NPO is not expensive. The only expenses that the organization will incur will be the remuneration of the marketing management team. This will go a long way in cutting the recurrent expenditure that the organization spends on other expensive marketing methods. The saved up funds can then be channeled towards the organization's efforts to achieve its goals. Such a strategy will also go a long way in helping TFA deal with other non-profit organizations in the education sector of the united states.

References

Agozzino, A. & Fleck, R. K. (2016). Examining non-profit strategy for fundraising on a social media platform: A content analysis of top 10 u.s. Non-profit power brands fundraising efforts on Facebook. Public Relations Journal, 10(1), 1-33, https://prjournal.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/Fleck.pdf

Bhati, A., & McDonnell, D. (2019). Success in an Online Giving Day: The Role of Social Media in Fundraising. Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 0899764019868849.

Body, A., & Breeze, B. (2016). What are 'unpopular causes,' and how can they achieve fundraising success?. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 21(1), 57-70.

Howard, A. W. (2007). How to Plan a Successful Fund-Raising Event. Chronicle of Philanthropy, 19(21), https://www.philanthropy.com/article/How-to-Plan-a-Successful/178729

Key, J. (2001). Enhancing fundraising success with custom data modeling. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 6(4), 335-346. doi: 10.1002/nvsm.159

Najev Cacija, L. (2016). The non-profit marketing process and fundraising performance of humanitarian organizations: Empirical analysis. Management: journal of contemporary management issues, 21(2), 1-25.

Rouschman, C. (n.d). Teach for America | Learning to Give. Www.Learningtogive.Org. https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/teach-america

Sargeant, A. (2001). Using donor lifetime value to inform fundraising strategy. Non-profit Management and Leadership, 12(1), 25-38. doi: 10.1002/nml.12103

Sayer, K. (2004). Making the case for investment in fundraising. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 9(2), 159-162. doi: 10.1002/nvsm.243

Wilhelm, I. (2003). A Payment Plan for Charity. News and Analysis. https://www.philanthropy.com/article/A-Payment-Plan-for-Charity/189685

Young, D. R. (2001). Organizational identity in non-profit organizations: strategic and structural implications. Non-profit Management and Leadership, 12(2), 139-157. doi: 10.1002/nml.12202