Mission
To empower nonprofit organizations to use values-aligned marketing to access resources, build community, and carry out their missions.
What is values-aligned marketing?
With marketing (and fundraising), nonprofits often take best practices at face value without evaluating alignment with their mission and values. An example is positioning the donors as "heroes" and taking them on a "hero's journey." Is this a marketing best practice? Absolutely. Does it reinforce a dangerous savior complex in our donors? Definitely.
At Catharsis, I believe we can use best practices and stay true to our values. Values-aligned marketing is using your nonprofit's core beliefs to guide marketing strategy development—using your values as a compass when making marketing decisions. If this resonates with you, let's chat.
Values
Catharsis has its own guiding values, which I take very seriously. They guide my decision-making. My clients share these values.
Bold, blatant honesty
This is the kind of honesty that hangs in the air once it’s been stated. Get ready for some honest conversations about marketing at your nonprofit—challenges, assets, frustrations, hopes, and dreams.
Empathetic Kindness
Empathy is a skill that I practice in my work every day. I will listen to you, feel with you, and understand the whole picture of what is going on. I believe that the only way to engage in nonprofit work is with kindness.
Workable Solutions
Not every marketing strategy will work for your nonprofit. There will be limitations like time, personnel, and financial resources. Catharsis helps you identify how marketing will help you reach your strategic goals so you can prioritize the most important projects.
Transparency
We’re going to run into things that are hard to talk about. Pricing. Contract terms. Timelines that need to be extended. Solutions we’re hopeful about that won’t show results right away. Working with Catharsis, you’ll get transparency on these, and I hope for the same transparency from you.
Abundance
In the nonprofit sector, we tend to live in a place of scarcity. There is never enough funding, time, or people power. This mindset drives anxiety in the workplace and fear-based decision-making. Catharsis embraces abundance as a guiding value, trusting there will be more time and resources.
Anti-Racism
Catharsis is committed to ongoing learning and finding ways to live its value of anti-racism. This goes beyond diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is about acknowledging the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism, slavery, and racism in the US and actively working toward healing through justice with concrete plans and policies. One small way Catharsis lives this commitment is by offering lower prices to BIPOC-led organizations. Read about all of Catharsis' anti-racism commitments.
Balance
We can’t do this work if we’re not caring for ourselves, first. You need a break sometimes. I need a break sometimes. Non-urgent emails don’t need immediate responses. Our mental health always comes first.
