Marketing is fast-paced and changes daily. At corporations there may be a whole department dedicated to one aspect of marketing, but at nonprofits it all may fall on you or your small team. That means you need to be a pro in a crazy range of skills including graphic design, copywriting and video editing not to mention have the ability to plan and manage it all. We call you Slash/Marketers because chances are these duties are only part of your overall responsibilities.
But even if you are doing marketing for the first time or stretching into a new area, you should feel like you can do it like a pro. Nonprofit Toolkit classes are perfect for people who need to learn how to make solid marketing decisions and deliver great results – especially if you have limited time, budget and tools.
Our programs are fast paced, interactive and packed with information. We focus as much on why to use a tactic as how – so you can make good decisions for your organization rather than just jumping on every trend.
Every session includes examples of the concept in action as well as how you can do it yourself – with or without a budget. Most Classes include suggestions for tools or resources you can use which are provided in a Resource Guide after class.
Nonprofit Toolkit training is a service of Iris Creative Group, Inc. Since 1996 we’ve been working with nonprofits solving branding, design, marketing and fundraising challenges. This isn’t theory to us. What we learn from doing this work daily, we put it into timely training for you.
Longer Classes. That may not sound like a benefit, but it is. We know that time is your most precious commodity. Tighter even than budget. But a short class that only grazes the surface is worthless. We typically run a full 90-minutes to be sure we have time to cover our content and answer questions along the way. And we keep our shorter lessons tightly focused on a narrow topic to be sure we can deliver real value.
Realistic solutions. We know where you get stuck because we do this work, just like you. You can apply the concepts we teach using any software and on any budget.
Nonprofit-specific. You will not see a case study from Apple or an example from Walmart. Nonprofits have donors, volunteers and members not customers and shareholders. We focus on the marketing attracts and engages a community of support.
Paid classess = no sales pitch. There is absolutely a place for free content. But you may have noticed that a lot of it is shallow or a sales pitch in disguise. Paid programs allow for quality content to be developed. And since everyone paid to come, people show up and contribute, making it a better experience for everyone.
I’m a Slash/Marketer just like many of you. I was planning on becoming a children’s book illustator when I got my BFA from Pratt Institute in Brookyln, NY.
But back in the 80s banks didn’t give mortgages to freelancers, so I ended up working at a nonprofit medical publisher. During my eight years there I moved into graphic design and then art direction before launching Iris Creative in 1996.
Over the last 25 years we’ve helped organizations focus their brands and deliver audience-centered communications. In 2017 we realized that many other nonprofit marketers were Slash/Marketers too, trying to learn all the things and often without the budget to bring in outside help. We launched Nonprofit Toolkit to help you build the design and marketing skills you need to grow your organization and your career.
I began working with Iris Creative and Nonprofit Toolkit as an intern. Working closely with Beth and the whole team throughout my senior year of college, I began as a full-time employee in 2016 after graduating from Tyler School of Art at Temple University with a BFA in Graphic and Interactive Design and a Minor in Business.
While I am the lead designer here at Iris Creative, I’m most definitely a Slash/Marketer myself, working in all things design and marketing each day. In addition to sharing my knowledge of design and marketing in our Master Classes, I previously taught hundreds of amateur artists to paint as a teacher for the Uncorked Artist. I frequently return to my alma mater to teach graphic design demos and give students an inside look at what it’s like to work in the design world.
Along the way, members of our team from Iris Creative as well as clients and colleagues may join us to contribute their expertise to classes and courses.
