Episode 128: Who is Your Competition? What a Funder is Really Asking
Nonprofits these days are rarely unique. Funders ask "Who is your competitor?" to see if you've done your research and have explored opportunities to collaborate. They're looking for a return on their investment. Learn how to respond to this question and how to leverage your research to increase your organization's impact in this episode.
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🔦 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT 🙌🏿
Mirror Memoirs Pt. 4
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https://fusion.amberwynn.net/nonprofit-mastery-academy/
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Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding impact and sustainability. And now, here's your host and resident, Philanthrepreneur Amber Wynn.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, fam, it's your girl. Hey, hey, hey. We're on air with Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur, and today I'm going to ask you a question that is very frequently asked on grants. Who is your competition?
(00:39):
Who is your competition? Who in your neighborhood is doing the same thing that you're doing? I'm asking you this question because a funder, when they ask you this question, they're trying to find out a couple of things, right? They're trying to learn about you, and so I won't so much say that it's a trick question, but having sat in the funder's seat, how you answer this question says quite a bit about your organization. When we get back, we're going to take on the question, who is your competition? Most founders don't realize that there are more applicants than there is money. This fact impacts a nonprofit's fundability. Nonprofit founders should administer research on their competitors, determine if their community is oversaturated, and identify their competitive advantage before they start a nonprofit. Check out how to validate your nonprofit idea, a step-by-step guide on how to administer the research you need to validate your idea before spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars only to struggle to fund it. Get your copy today. Welcome back to On Air with Amber. Today we're talking about who is your competition and what it is that a funder's really asking. So that's one of the questions that we had on our application, like who's your competition? I can't tell you how many times people have said, I don't have any competition, or I'm the only one doing this, and it's never true. It's never true. There is rarely a cause out there that hasn't.
(02:19):
There's rarely a, there's nothing unique out there is what I'm trying to say. What do I mean by that? You're not the only person that's delivering the service to address a cause. If you've thought about it, there's somebody else out there doing the same thing, and when you say there's no one out there doing it, you're saying something to the funder. You are saying you haven't done your research, which is important because a nonprofit is a business when you submit for a for-profit. That's one of the questions, have you done a competitor analysis? And why is that important? Because number one, I'm going to tell you why it's important for you as an executive. I've had as a part of the 90 days to a profitable nonprofit, one of the things that I have you to do is to look and see who your competition is, number one, so that you can answer that question.
(03:14):
When you write a grant, you're prepared for that, but number two is so that you can learn about what's going on in your community. I had one client who did the work, and she came back and she was like, oh my god, Amber, this organization has been in my community for almost as long as I had. I had no idea she was there. And why is that important? Because my client was charging a fee for pretty much the same service, and she found out that her competition was charging three times as much, and guess what? Her programs were full and my clients' programs, she had to scrimp and scrape to try and get people to come, and she was like, how is this even possible? I didn't even charge for my programs and she's charging this amount and her programs are full. So it gave her the confidence that she needed to create a competition because the reality was they were like, well, if it's for free, it must not have any value.
(04:10):
And so it's just the psyche of the mind, and so they were paying this person when she was giving it away for free. When you do a competitive analysis of other nonprofit organizations, you learn something about your organization. Number one, how much does the regular people who've been doing it longer charge for their programs? You want to be competitive. You get to learn other things. Who is funding them? When you do that research, when you go on their website and you look to see who's doing it, you get to say, oh, these are the funders who are funding them. Because guess what? If you're doing the same thing, you're going to be reaching out to those funders as well. You get to learn about what it is that they're doing because you may be able to slide in and fill a gap instead of doing the same thing in the same community.
(05:00):
That is a waste of time and energy. If this organization is focusing on sex trafficking and their focus is on getting emancipated youth directly into housing so that they're stable and they're giving them the resources that they need and that's all that they're doing, you can slide in and say, and we are doing workforce development, so they're stable. We want to make sure that they can afford to keep that apartment, so we're going to talk to them about, so there is a perfect alignment so that you guys aren't duplicating services, they're specializing in something. You are specializing in something because the thing, as a funder, I want to get as much bang for my buck as possible, so I'm going to fund them so that they can do the housing part. I'm going to fund you so that you can do the workforce development part, and then I'm going to fund this other organization who's going to do the life skills.
(05:55):
I want to get as much bang for my as possible, but collaboration is key from a funder's perspective. And if you say to me, there's no one out there doing what I'm doing, then you're saying to me that you're also not business savvy. You haven't done your research. You're just existing in this silo. So when a funder asks you who competition is, never, ever, ever say, I don't have any competition, never ever say, there's no one out there doing what I'm doing. Instead, you can say, this organization is doing this. What I'm doing is slightly different because dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, right? This organization is doing this, but I'm doing this in this way. Here's how I'm different. Because if your funder is funding this, cause trust and believe they know everybody in your neighborhood who's doing the work. So you never ever want to be arrogant. It is arrogance or laziness because you haven't done the research and saying, no one's done it. I've had clients call me and I've asked them that question, and while we're talking, I'll do a quick Google search and I'll say, well, actually there are three organizations around you and they're doing something similar. And they're like, oh, well, they're not doing this. Nope, nope, nope. But my question was, who is your competitor?
(07:12):
This question is important because it is an eligibility screening question. There are always more applicants than there is money, and so funders ask you specific questions so that they can legally eliminate you from the whole process. This is an eligibility screening. What it says to me is you aren't invested in your community to do the work that says where you fit in. There are organizations that have been around much longer than you. When you just step into the space, you need to know who those pioneers are. You need to know what the gaps are so that you can fill them. You're not going dethrone them. So if you're saying, oh, well no, no one's doing it like me, that gives me an opportunity to say, okay, we're going to put you over here in this no pile. But if you say, yes, these pioneers have been around for 20 years, you could say something like, and they're doing what they do really well, but this is where they're missing.
(08:07):
And I want to step in and then I'm going to say, as a funder, yes bet. Got it. Because it's about collaboration. The purpose of me having this conversation today is just to warn nonprofit founders out there that you don't want to answer that question by saying, there is no competition and no one is doing what I'm doing. Never, ever. You just don't. You want to talk about the fact that you know that they're there, you know what they're doing and this is how you can collaborate usually. The second question, if your competition is out there, are you collaborating? The answer should never be. No. It should be we're in the process of looking at how we can supplement each other's work or there's conversations being had because a funder wants to know that you are making the effort to collaborate with the people who are your competition in the nonprofit sector, in my opinion, there's really no competition.
(09:08):
It's just you're doing something, they're doing something and you guys are doing it differently. A funder wants as much ROI as possible. So they're looking to see that both of you guys are finding ways to work together. All right? So that's what a funder's really asking when they asking, who is your competition? Who's out there that you can potentially partner with so that they can get as much bang for their buck? Do not ever say that no one is doing what you're doing. That's the bottom line for this conversation. And if you're not sure how to position yourself to be distinguishable, if you're not sure how to outreach and connect with another organization who's doing something similar so that they don't feel like you're a threat or you don't feel like you're stepping on their toes, I got you in my The Nonprofit Mastery Academy. I give you templates. I help you to understand how to look at another organization, your competition, how to potentially partner with them. All of that's already laid out for you. You don't have to guess. It's all provided for you. I have the roadmap and it's called The Nonprofit Mastery Academy. Let's check it out.
(10:21):
Are you struggling to fund your programs? Can't get a grant to save your life. Most consultants will share the what of how to start a nonprofit or how to fundraise. They may even share the why, but they don't share the how because that's where they make their money. Now, I'm not hating. I'm a businesswoman too, but I've been where you are trying to make the world a better place, struggling to keep the doors open up to the wee hours of the night writing grants and doing whatever needed to be done. And because I've walked in your shoes, I'm not here to make you spin your will waste your time or your hard earned money. We ain't got time for that. The world needs you. I'm here to show you how to transform that pit. You keep dumping your hard earned money into a profitable nonprofit.
(11:10):
I take my 30 years of nonprofit experience as a founder, executive director, program developer, grant writer in funder, giving out over $7 million annually in grants, and I save you literally thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours. I walk you through setting up your nonprofit organization so that you can be generating enough revenue to cover your monthly expenses in just 90 days. How would that feel? Not paying bills from your personal bank account. I share my insider secret tips, tricks of a trade and provide you with a step-by-step roadmap on how to turn your bootstrap organization into a profitable nonprofit. Within six months, you could be generating enough revenue to pay your salary or fully fund your programs. The choice is yours, but you have to get the blueprint, and it took me three years to develop it, but it's here and it's going to change your life.
(12:08):
Join my other successful clients who are just like you full of passion and determination, but they had no idea all that it takes to run and fund a successful nonprofit. Now they're winning grants and drawing a salary, and they know what it is that they're supposed to be doing to run a successful nonprofit. They're no longer making it up as they go. They have the roadmap and they're clear about next steps. And I want that for you too. So what do you get in this course? You'll walk away with knowledge, products, processes, and systems, not just a bunch of promises, but exactly what you need to turn your organization into a profitable nonprofit. I promise you don't need grants. What you need is a solid infrastructure, and this course is going to give you all of that and more. And what's more it comes with the money back guarantee.
(13:01):
So go ahead, click the link below to register for this course. Welcome back. You're on air with Amber Wynn, and today's topic is Who is your Competition? Now it's time in the episode for me to ask the questions that are important to you. It's called Ask Amber, and this question is from Winston. Winston is from Florida, and Winston, hit me up on ig. Hi Amber, this is Winston from Florida. We've been asked to speak at a funder's gala as a recent grantee. I'm not sure what we should say. First of all, congratulations. That's a great honor and it's a great honor because it puts you not only in front of other potential funders, which is the most important part, but it allows you to tell your story. So the first thing I'm going to advise you to do is to ask the funder if there's anything they want you to focus on and be sure to ask them for how much time you've been allocated to speak. Having done this multiple times, when we ask our potential grantees to speak, we typically want them to focus on certain things. So ask them first. If they're like, oh, whatever, just talk about your experience. If they're very broad, then I'm going to encourage you to make the funder look good.
(14:30):
You want to demonstrate how their investment in your organization paid off, and you want to do it by telling a good story. What was your situation before this grant? What happened as a result? And give a tangible example, a personal story of a client, or if it was capacity building, show how that investment helped your organization to grow. And it could be something like they donated to us 200,000, and as a result, we were able to generate 400,000 because we invested in this, and it turned out to this, which then allowed us to serve more people. So show how their investment helped your organization to grow. What is the long-term impact? Yes, they gave you money right now, but let's just say they gave you money to purchase a donor database. How is that going to help you in the long run? You can say something like, as a result, people don't understand that it's not always about programs.
(15:37):
As nonprofits, we need to build out our infrastructure. We need to build out our systems. As a result of being able to purchase this donor tracking, we can see trends. We can see data and analytics that has allowed us to triple our revenue because it's in this format. We've been able to increase our outreach and then increase our revenue. So help them to understand what the long-term impact and then be sure to let the people in the audience know what would've happened without the support. If it's capacity building, if it's program, say, without this, this is what will have happened. We wouldn't have been able to serve these youth. And the likelihood is that these kids then would've then gone to live a life of delinquency. Or if we didn't have this, we would continue to struggle. So be sure to help them see that gap that's being filled.
(16:36):
And always, always, always express your deep gratitude. A funder always wants to hear, thank you. We are so grateful because of your contribution. We've been able to do this and we've been able to do that. People want to hear that. So express your deep gratitude and then leave the door open for more impact by hinting at how you could do more with more. Remember, there are potential funders out there, there they're potential supporters. So you don't want it to be like, oh, we got this money and now all of our problems have been solved. No, no, no. You want to say this contribution has helped our organization to grow. We have a very lofty mission, and it's to do X, Y, and Z. And because this contribution, we've been able to move closer towards accomplishing our mission. If we have more money, then we'd be able to meet the needs of more people.
(17:31):
And so we're just grateful for what we've gotten. So don't make it seem like this one contribution solved all of your issues tactfully, respectfully and clearly show how if you had more money, you could make more of an impact. I hope that you, Winston, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on any of my social media platforms. You can email me at amber@amberwynn.net, and I'll be happy to get your question on air because I don't know, I don't think I would've ever thought of that as a question, but that's what I'm here for. I'm here to be a valuable resource for you. And so let me know how I can support. One of the ways that I support my nonprofits is by shining the light on the work that they do. We are on the last episode of our four-part conversation with Jaden Fields of Mirror Memoirs. My goal is to shine the light on the people who are doing the work so that they can get exposure and visibility and access to potentially new funders, new supporters, new board of directors. That's why I put the light on my nonprofits, and I had an amazing conversation with Jaden. So let's check out the last episode of Nonprofit Spotlight with Mirror Memoirs.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
A big thing that we've actually been doing, I've been doing a lot of it, particularly in my role, is around educating philanthropy about the work, because there isn't quite the understanding of how do we address this particular wound, these particular kind of survivors, without focusing on statute of limitations, restrictions or increasing rape kit processing, which there is a role in the space for that. But our focus is really on a sort of healing justice focus and really focusing on supporting community responses and intervention to this kind of violence, not just in the personal level, but intergenerationally supporting folks who are becoming parents and intervening and the different behaviors around rape culture and that there's not clear funding for that. So a lot of what we do is helping educate people on connecting these issues, not just to the community interpersonal problems that come up, but also connecting it to the larger systemic issues. Helping people, funders and our partners understand actually this is a racial justice issue. This is a health access issue, health equity issue. This is a harm reduction issue. This is a criminal justice legal system issue. And so a lot of what we do is educate partners and funders around how we approach the work and how this is actually an innovative approach by focusing on the community and what the community needs to sustain itself and to heal and to respond to violence and harm when it happens.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And we're back. And that was the last episode, you guys of my conversation with Jaden Fields. If you didn't have an opportunity to see the first three episodes, go check them out. The whole conversation can be found on my YouTube channel. There's four part series because I want to get all of the information out there. It's a little bit of time. So we chop it up. And if you're interested in being featured on my nonprofit spotlight, either because you are a nonprofit organization or if you serve nonprofits, be sure to connect with me. I'd love to tell your story and let the rest of the world see the amazing work that you're doing. That's it for today's episode. Who is your competition? Be sure that when you answer that question, you answer from a place of knowing. Go do the work. Go research and see who your competition is in the community because you don't ever want to answer that question. I don't have any competition. It's not true. Alright, so if you found value in today's episode, be sure to like, subscribe and share it with someone in your community who could use this information. It's free because I'm here to serve the most amazing people on the planet. That would be you. And as I sign out, I'm going to encourage you to take care of yourself the way that you take care of your community, and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.
(22:40):
If you
Speaker 1 (22:40):
enjoyed this episode, subscribe and a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.next/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.