Photo by Tim Arterbury on Unsplash
The Levels of Why “Iceberg” Approach
Nonprofit organizations have always had a leg up on businesses in terms of what they provide, namely in the way it is usually presented with a people-first approach. Many nonprofits are founded by and for people who have a lot to give for good causes and are willing to put forth quite a bit of effort for making these dreams behind such causes into reality. But with the blood, sweat, and tears poured into working the gears behind a complex system of support, many nonprofits completely neglect other aspects of their brand, in many cases having a less-developed website or social media presence.
One organization that can be looked at in terms of this is the nonprofit organization ChopArt, a noble cause dedicated to providing support and aid to some of the homeless youth living within Atlanta, a largely under-represented percentage of the populace of homeless in the area. Founded in 2010 as an outside service provider, ChopArt has since helped many more in areas around the world before launching its Atlanta program in 2012. It focuses on community service to local teenagers and children who may be facing homelessness by offering them a way to express themselves through art, as well as providing counseling and general support services. Their vision and goal certainly deserve to reach far more people, and there are certainly a multitude of ways in which they could do that through a few changes or adjustments to the methods in which they promote their organization.
Meghan Casey outlines a model that would be especially useful in such cases in her book The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right, 2nd Edition, specifically describing a model structured like an iceberg, with each new step down of the iceberg being another level of depth to consider in a review or analysis of an organization to determine ways to better help them achieve their goals. The four-pronged system involving critical analysis at the Event level, Pattern level, Structure level, and Mental Model level should certainly be useful in looking at the Nonprofit organization ChopArt and determining ways in which they could better reach their audience to accomplish their goal.
Event Level
Analysis at the Event level starts with observing the basic happenings at any project or event. This can be applied both broadly to the NP under research, or even the general process of researching these NPs in groups. To start with the NP itself, or ChopArt in particular, the website as a whole can be looked at from a surface-level perspective. First off, it was stated to be created by Weebly, which, while being a good initial starting point for beginners, does lend itself to decreased flexibility and lack of domain ownership, which a more sophisticated program such as WordPress possesses. This is most certainly not a primary concern of such a nonprofit organization that has its hands tied in other aspects, but it would make it more accessible and presentable to a wider range of people if it was more polished.
Though regardless of its relevance or placement on the list of order of importance to the nonprofit, it still is something that stands out upon first glance, which is important at this stage of auditing since it is “what we are typically reacting to when we start a content project” (Casey). Everything regarding presentation is undoubtedly important, and as such everything about the framing and structure of the website, from the font of the text used to the placement and ease of access of important links are important. For example, the purpose of the nonprofit, while something that is stated and clear to find, could be narrowed down and more comprehensive so that any visitors to the site will have an easier time finding the information they need. Furthermore, the video embedded is far too long and not concise enough for any volunteers interested to get a good gist of the organization. The Event level can also be applied to managing a project, as was its initial purpose.
Pattern Level
The next level of analysis is the Pattern level, which involves drawing connections between the case presented with ChopArt in particular and nonprofits in general at large. Looking at this in comparison, it is clear that a lot of social media leverage is undervalued and underutilized. This tendency of nonprofits to undermine their social media influence is something that can undoubtedly directly contribute to the amount of reception their activities get. According to the article “Nonprofits, Social Media and Mission”, social media’s constant evolution ensures that “learning how to harness the unique characteristics of microvlogging platforms will best be observed through the platform’s early adopters” (Morgan et. al). This follows the simple principle that the ones to first adopt such a platform will be the ones that will pioneer the utilization of social media to its fullest potential, and as such it is crucial that certain NPs take the initiative to take this step. ChopArt would certainly benefit from this, as a lot of their collaborative art-creating events would do great as short-form social media posts.
Structure and Mental Model Levels
The final two levels of analysis are the Structure level and the Mental Model level. While the Structure level is largely based upon actual implementation of the similarities observed within the Pattern level analysis, the Mental Model level goes deeper into analysis on a personal level. These analyses often consist of multiple intersecting facets, especially since the type of leadership very much influences these. For one, the values of the organization or nonprofit (in this case ChopArt) very much reflect upon the kind of leader that heads it. For instance, “social power motives represent individuals’ need for social influence”, according to the article “Power motives, personality correlates, and leadership outcomes: A person- centered approach”, which directly correlates to the ways in which nonprofits express their goals and motivations. A NP with a higher degree of reach and one garnering more attention is also likely led by someone who deeply values the nonprofit’s cause. In such cases, it is also likely that the leader may overlook other aspects of the nonprofit’s presentation that might not directly pertain to the main goal at hand, such as social media promotion or digital outreach.
