After two years of working with University of Oklahoma students in the Price College of Business’ Non-Profit Marketing course, Mike Butler decided to raise the goal of his organization’s fall fundraising campaign by 25%. He was confident that the students’ skills equaled his ambition. 

His faith was rewarded when the campaign reached its goal and raised nearly $75,000.

“I'm very grateful for the students’ creativity, their innovation and their energy,” says Butler, executive director of The Mission, a Norman-based non-profit meeting the needs of the hungry and homeless. “They are professional, and their work allowed us to serve twice as many families as the previous year.”

Non-Profit Marketing students work in small groups and connect with local charitable organizations, learning about their purpose, stakeholders and problems before creating marketing strategies or campaigns tailored to their needs.

Kim Gaddie, a lecturer of marketing for Price College, created and has led the course since 2022. During that time, OU students have served 20 different non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. This year, six non-profits are being assisted. 

The OU course is unique in its aim, she says.

While marketing for a brand is directed towards one audience—the consumer—Gaddie explains that non-profit marketing must consider several different groups involved with each organization: the clientele they serve, the volunteers who often make up their workforce and the donors, large and small, who provide funding. 

“You can't reach these groups in the same way,” she says. “Thinking about how you craft your message strategy and your content and its appropriateness to your audience becomes unique when you talk about the non-profit sector. It's a mindset shift. Students might be good at thinking about, ‘How would I craft a message to sell this Stanley tumbler to college students?’ But that’s very different from, ‘How do I craft a message to recruit people to become a Court-Appointed Special Advocate,’ which is a critical, vital role?

“The very first thing these teams have to do is understand, ‘Who is this organization? What do they do, who do they serve, why is what they do important?’ ”

When done right, Gaddie says, non-profit marketing can help potential donors and volunteers identify which organizations best line up with their own values.

“If I'm making a decision on what pair of running shoes to buy, I have to pick something that meets my needs. In the non-profit world, there might be five different organizations that all address food insecurity or deal with homelessness and mental health. People can't give to or volunteer for them all. They're going to pick the organization that aligns with what they care about.”

As executive director of The Mission, Butler leads a longtime nonprofit feeding more than 700 people each month and providing housing assistance to individuals and families. When he accepted his role in 2022, Butler knew he needed help with “the business side of things.” 

“We wanted to develop our ‘Ma and Pa’ organization into a growing, emerging non-profit,” he says.

“We asked the OU marketing students for help with strategy. They agreed we were the best-kept secret in Norman.” 

That first marketing team spent a semester raising awareness of The Mission through social media campaigns. The following semester, a new team continued helping the non-profit to refine their social media strategy and messaging, including starting an Instagram account to reach a younger audience.

The Mission since has partnered with OU Non-Profit Marketing students every semester for three years. Butler credits the student teams with offering “all kinds of creative ideas,” from physical changes like planting trees and constructing a rock garden to a sales campaign that provided a free hoodie to an unhoused person for each one sold. “The students have been involved in everything, even our annual gala,” he says. 

Butler understands that the experience of working alongside the marketing team has a broader impact. “It's not only students helping us,” he says. “I think it's us helping students. I like to invest in the future.”

This semester, Transition House—a Norman non-profit that provides counseling and supported, supervised housing to people moving past difficult periods of serious mental illness or addiction—also began working with Gaddie's class to develop a marketing plan.

Transition House Executive Director Bonnie Peruttzi says that with a staff of only five people, it's hard to make marketing a priority. “The PR staff is me—during my breakfast time in the morning or while getting ready for work, I’m pushing out social media.” 

Transition House plans to use the relationship with Gaddie's students to better tell its clients' stories. “We want to take it to the next level,” she says. “Our hope is that students can provide the support needed to help us share these inspiring examples of growth and recovery, as well as general messages related to mental well-being in a more effective and efficient manner. 

“Given our staff limits, we look to the students to help us not only generate ideas for solutions related to marketing and advocacy of Transition House, but also broaden our support base to help implement strategies that align with the organization’s integrity, mission and values.”

Among the OU team members is Bridgette Dieterlen, an entrepreneurship major who plans to graduate in May. Dieterlen started her own charitable project, Forever Friends, in 2020, collecting and delivering hand-written letters to those in need. She enrolled in Gaddie’s non-profit marketing class “to gain tools I could apply directly to my own organization, but also to build skills I can use to support non-profits in the future,” she says. 

 “We’ve started by identifying ways we can help boost Transition House’s strengths, including their Instagram presence and website. We’re also brainstorming ‘wow factor’ ideas that could spread the word about the important work that Transition House does for its clients and the community.”  

Making non-profits stand out affects their bottom line, Gaddie notes.

“It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that non-profit budgets are always tight, and they're even tighter today,” she says. Many non-profits have recently lost funding or staff, which means that her students are fulfilling a vital community role. “If you have a passion for any type of service, this class helps you to understand that the principles of marketing apply.”

 “I’ve realized that marketing and service are closely connected,” Dieterlen agrees. “If you want to help people, it isn’t enough to just have a great idea or passion for serving, you have to take action to put the word out and connect with them. People won’t just find you; you have to meet them where they are. 

“In that way, marketing is really the vehicle that makes service possible.” 

Anna Andersen is a freelance writer living in Wichita, Kan.

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