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Blog Top 50 challenges faced by charities, not-for-profits, and social enterprises

Top 50 challenges faced by charities, not-for-profits, and social enterprises

Based on my experience, here are the top 50 challenges faced by charities, not-for-profits, and social enterprises:

  1. Lacks opportunities
  2. Lacks funding
  3. Struggles to engage their board or trustees with new ideas
  4. Attends too many networking meetings
  5. Feels unheard
  6. Struggles to inspire the team
  7. Feels burnout
  8. Lacks confidence in themselves
  9. Feels isolated
  10.  Isn’t officially registered as a charity, not-for-profit, or social enterprise
  11.  Struggles to recruit volunteers
  12.  Overwhelmed by tight deadlines
  13.  Has a ‘profit last’, rather than a ‘profit first’ mentality
  14.  Wants to help more people than they currently do
  15.  Doesn’t talk to their audience about their challenges
  16.  Struggles to measure social impact
  17.  Struggles to evidence the importance of their organisation
  18.  Doesn’t publish a publicly-available annual report
  19.  Unclear on their short- and long-term goals
  20.  Unclear on their daily actions to achieve their goals
  21.  Hasn’t built a community of advocates around them
  22.  Feels uncomfortable asking for money
  23.  Takes a funding application rejection personally
  24.  Doesn’t ask for feedback after submitting funding applications
  25.  Doesn’t follow up on opportunities
  26.  Struggles to create official partnerships
  27.  Doesn’t want to hear the word ‘no’
  28.  Doesn’t ask for testimonials
  29.  Is afraid to try new things
  30.  Changes their organisation’s main focus every three month
  31.  Unclear on their main marketing messages
  32.  Overwhelmed by marketing tasks
  33.  Produces print materials in Canva
  34. Has no brand guidelines
  35.  Has inconsistent branding
  36.  Can’t convert conceptual ideas into striking visuals
  37.  Only has their logo and brand files as JPG and Photoshop files
  38.  Can’t articulate their brand’s tone of voice
  39.  Unclear on their value proposition
  40.  Doesn’t have a pitch presentation
  41.  Struggles with storytelling
  42.  Lacks the motivation to create social media content
  43.  Hates being on camera
  44.  Creates social media videos but is too worried about posting them
  45.  Uses Google Translate on their website
  46.  Doesn’t understand their website’s content management system
  47.  Doesn’t understand the basics of SEO
  48.  Can’t see the value in hiring a marketing person
  49.  Does everything themselves
  50.  Would struggle to write a list of 50 challenges faced by their audience
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