non profit organizations

A Modern Nonprofit Podcast: Nonprofit priorities and time management As a young college student in the ROTC program, Alisa recognized a hardship for her Australian Shepherd, JD. With Alisa’s husband deployed and as she herself was heading to training for the Marine Corps, JD had nowhere to go. After a cross country trip from CA to VA, a temporary home was found for JD while Alisa and Shawn were deployed. Then the question came: ‘How many military families struggle with the same issues?’Alas, Dogs on Deployment (DoD) was then created. The nonprofit exists today to provide a central network for America’s Heroes to find volunteers willing to board their pets during times of service or hardship. DoD’s Mission is to give America’s Heroes peace of mind concerning their pets during service or hardship through connection, compassion and care. Doing, Owning, Growing It It may come as a surprise in 2023, however when starting a platform in 2011 a lot has changed since then. Alisa mentions in the interview that her start literally began with two books: HTML for Dummies and Nonprofit for Dummies. One for writing code and the other for running a 501(c) (3) organization. Of course over time Alisa continued to educate herself, and is actually on the way towards her second Masters. As her journey expanded over time, what started as a question has now become a virtual network for dog sitting volunteers. Once she developed a very basic model of the website, this was all that she needed to understand product demand. The interesting thing about markets is that they require a product, and in the nonprofit industry, most ‘products’ are actually services. So how does it translate? Well, creating an online network via a website was just what Alisa needed to put her nonprofit product on the shelf. Once on the shelf, and a certified 501(c)(3), DoD saw support and donations come in. At this point, the true investment into website development became a priority for Alisa and her team. This comes with its own set of challenges as well. On the surface, DoD is a place for others to connect and help each other, however on the back end, program expenses nearly run the show. Tosha leads the conversation further with a question about growth after the investment of time, energy, and money into platform/product development. Yes, Alisa and her team help others with their pets and deployment challenges, but the bulk of the challenge can originate from website development and maintenance. Without this investment or focus, Alisa would be dependent on a volunteer network operating and growing organically, or offline essentially. With most things, an online platform can save time, energy, and money so the investment into developing an effective platform is essential for organizational growth, especially in Alisa’s story of Dogs on Deployment. A Detailed Market Tosha brings forth an amazing point regarding DoD’s market. In the nonprofit space, there are many supporters of animal care and military organizations, but maybe not both. Alisa says, ‘You can be a lover of pets, but maybe you’re not gung ho on supporting the military. Or maybe you’re super patriotic and supportive of the military, but not the biggest fan of animals.’ In this case, ‘when you take these two niche markets of philanthropy and social good, that’s where Dogs on Deployment bridges the gap.’ As the world has changed over the years, so has DoD’s marketing strategy. Alisa shares how initially the organization’s main focus was targeted towards those who supported military causes. At the time, active deployments were also prevalent as well, so it made sense. When priorities shifted due to the pandemic, and overseas activities decreased in comparison, a change was required. Although Alisa faces challenges with reaching the military and veteran supporters side of the equation, she recognized that the messaging could also focus on: Preventing pet relinquishment in societyPositively impacting animal shelters and their capacities Helping prevent euthanasia ratesSpay and neuter financial assistance programs The organization exists to support those in hardship or service requirement, but it isn’t limited to active military. They serve the following as well: Active military Reservists Honorably discharged veterans First responders The group exists to serve, which means their volunteers and donors may change over time, yet their mission stands tall. We hear Alisa say that it really is essential to understand what is going on in the world around them in order to stay relevant.