October 29, 2026 | By David M. Wagner
Several years ago, I entered a contract to buy a century-old, craftsman-style home.
One of the recent owners was a real estate agent. They had clearly seen the potential value in the home, and flipped it – updating the interior to be more functional and better match the style at the time.
What that previous owner hadn’t done was make sufficient investments in fixing the foundation of the home.
The foundation hadn’t been updated in the 100 years since the home was built. The resulting issues were invisible at first glance. But a little inspecting made the consequences clear: moisture issues, uneven floors, a sagging roof, an unsafe fireplace.
Your organization can face similar structural risks when you make greater investments in the visible parts of your operations than in shoring up the foundation.
The Risks of Just Painting Walls
A colleague recently shared a concern that their nonprofit was investing more effort in marketing the organization than in meaningful mission impacts.
I think they’re right to worry!
Sadly, I’ve encountered similar situations:
Nonprofits eagerly soliciting corporate sponsorships without first building a compelling value proposition for those partnerships
Fundraising teams charged with building support when the impact of the organization’s work was unclear (or suspect)
Leaders anxious to replace their organization’s brand with a new, more attractive one without first clarifying their underlying identity
Founders more concerned with updating the language on the organization’s website than with building strong programs
It’s clearly helpful if your organization look good on the “outside” – your website, social media, marketing materials, reputable board members, impressive team bios, compelling grant applications…
But if the value and impact of your work doesn’t hold up under closer scrutiny, you risk betraying the trust of those who were attracted by the outwardly visible parts – and losing more support than you gained.
I once tried to order some bed linens from a company that had built a powerful marketing engine to drive sales…only to quickly discover that the company lacked the capacity (interest?) to fulfill my order. They had a beautiful façade – with no underlying support for service delivery.
Their “Your item is not available” message, coupled with the barrage of negative reviews I then found online, led me to cancel my order.
The Dual Benefits of Foundational Investments
Fortunately, you don’t need to choose between doing good work and looking good.
Many of the most successful nonprofits I’ve worked with have focused relatively little on polished marketing, slick websites, and extravagant campaigns. Nonetheless, they’ve drawn supporters to their cause and been able to expand their capacity to serve their mission.
By and large, these organizations:
Focused on running a solid core program with impact that is easy to identify,
Developed reliable systems for onboarding and supporting new clients/patrons, donors, and volunteers, and
Cultivated a strong reputation among people with first-hand experience and through word-of-mouth marketing.
In other words, they built a solid foundation first.
It’s easier to tout successes based on real results, to envision new programs informed by hard-won wisdom about what works in practice, and to attract more supporters using the testimonials (and trust) of the ones you already have.
The result is two-fold: You’ll have a stronger organization that can deliver meaningful mission results and an easier time building an attractive, outwardly visible presence.
By now it should be no shock that I’m not a marketing expert. But I am an expert in helping nonprofits get clear about where their foundations may be weak and how to fortify them. A great way to get started is with a free Strategic Clarity Session to prioritize where to focus your time. Schedule yours today!