Heroic Gardens: How A Nonprofit Focused on Veterans Can Grow A Sustainable Funding Strategy

In early May 2022, Collie Turner, founder of award-winning non-profit organization Heroic Gardens, was looking to obtain additional revenue streams in order to expand the organization’s programming. The mission of Heroic Gardens was clear: help veterans experience the healing power of nature. The pivot to a new campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic was successful, and the number of organizations and veterans reaching out for services was increasing.<br><br>Heroic Gardens was looking for funding and new ways to scale in order to grow its programs and hire employees to support that growth. As Turner was preparing for a financial and program review with her board—and knowing that the organization was 99 per cent volunteer run—the challenge was understanding and finding a way to increase funding in order to support Heroic Gardens and the veterans it serves.

This case is suitable for non-profit management courses and digital marketing courses that focus on non-profit organizations or organizations with limited resources. It introduces students to the complexities of operating a non-profit organization in an industry that requires participants to navigate commitments to their social missions while maintaining financial feasibility and pursuing disruptive and systemic social change. If positioned in a course in which students are still learning about non-profit versus for-profit organizations, the instructor should complete the pre-work (i.e., the stakeholder management analysis) with students prior to undertaking the case analysis. The case works best at the undergraduate level, though it can be adapted to graduate-level courses. After working through the case and answering the assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<ul><li>Identify the challenges facing non-profit organizations in the current environment.</li><li>Apply digital-marketing-strategy concepts to improve non-profit sustainability and social impact.</li><li>Evaluate and apply digital marketing tools to address resource disadvantages, transform a go-to-market strategy, and enhance community engagement.</li><li>Understand the value of a differentiation strategy to a non-profit.</li></ul>

• nonprofit
• Veterans
• fundraising
• social impact
• digital marketing