Four ideas for customer development with charities

A couple of weeks ago I gave this presentation to charities at a Forward Foundation event.  The not-for-profit sector can be just as guilty as corporates for failed IT projects. Several years ago I worked with a high profile campaigning organisation to build a social network for activists. It was useful and usable, but ultimately withered and died. They didn’t do customer development to validate the proposition. This time two years ago I was involved in a pitch to another large charity who again wanted a revamped digital presence.  We lost the bid – it was won by a flagship creative agency.  Again, two years later nothing has been delivered. The website looks the same. It needn’t be this way. The not for profit sector should look to the lean startup community rather than the corporate sector for inspiration in developing digital strategies and building the right stuff for the right people.

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