Non-Profits War with Advertising

Let's face it. Advertising is expensive. In 2008, the average for a 30 second national commercial costed $342,000. That's pretty intense. That might not be too bad for a multi-million or billion dollar corporation to pay for a commercial. Now think about being a non-profit organization. Personally I work for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I'm an intern with them until I graduate, in which I will then turn into a full time, salaried employee. $342,000 is about a third of what the Western PA & West Virginia Chapter accrues in a fiscal year. To spend that much on a commercial would be ridiculous. Many non-profits refuse to pay for any advertising because A) how expensive it is and B) their profits need to go towards their efforts, whether it be curing cancer, social issues or other worldly problems. For example, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society donates 95% of their donations and earnings towards funding blood cancer research. The other 5% goes towards office supplies and mailings as well as expenses towards holding events to fundraise. LLS would not dream of spending a third of their yearly donations towards making one thirty second commercial. Not only would it cut a large dent into their yearly funds, but it would also be terrible PR because people would not see the need to spend that much on an advertisement. The cons outweigh the pros in that situation. Non-profits should stick to free advertising. Word of mouth has and can work wonders, but social media is certainly the best way for non-profits to advertise. Not only does it offer them a way to advertise their causes and efforts and events for free, but it also gives them a chance to directly and intimately interact with their target market and those that may have questions or concerns. What do you think? Should non-profits consider spending more on advertising or should they keep utilizing all sorts of free methods to spread the word? Below is one of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's videos that has been shared on different social media platforms hundreds of thousands of times within the last 4 years.