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The nonprofit world is caught in a perfect storm, and many organizations are fundamentally misreading the moment. For decades, nonprofits ran on a static and reliable playbook: Chase government grants, court institutional donors, send the obligatory newsletter, and host the annual gala with open bars and cover bands. It was a comfortable model that did not require active audience engagement. Organizations could simply rely on the steady flow of federal funding and foundation checks. Then lightning struck. Twice. The Trump administration’s DOGE team landed like a wrecking ball on the nonprofit sector, freezing grants and ultimately turning the once-reliable federal funding spigot into a game of Russian roulette. This policy had near instantaneous effects: At least 14,000 nonprofit jobs were lost two months after inauguration day. Yet the DOGE disruption only amplified a shift that was already underway. As nonprofits were suddenly losing institutional funding, audience behavior underwent its own revolution: People started donating through their phones at unprecedented rates, began engaging with video content at increasing rates, and developed expectations for digital engagement that most nonprofits weren’t remotely prepared to meet. Combined, these rapid transitions pose an extinction-level event for nonprofits clinging to outdated models. But there’s a counterintuitive opportunity buried in this crisis: The same forces threatening nonprofit existence might actually be liberating them from decades of institutional dependency. The key is knowing how to pivot. Here are three core strategies. Lean into digital experiences The 205% surge in mobile donations is a critical signal that audiences want to engage differently. When 51% of your supporters are visiting your website through their phones and your digital presence feels like it was designed for a desktop in 2010, you’re actively driving away support. It is important to note that the byproduct of this strategy is not simply a mobile-optimized website that delivers static information. Wildlife Insights from WWF demonstrates this strategy well. This platform allows anyone to upload wildlife photos directly from mobile devices, then uses AI to automatically identify species and aggregate data from around the world. By making conservation accessible through smartphones, they’ve created a community where citizen scientists can contribute meaningful data from anywhere, transforming how wildlife monitoring happens at scale. In other words, much more than a brochure. Use data to drive engagement The most forward-thinking nonprofits are converting audience insights into growth drivers for online engagement. It is no longer good enough to get traffic to a site. A modern, successful organization follows a different strategy that converts attention into behavior. This process is unleashing a new wave of innovative feature development that is changing the perception of what nonprofits do with and for their audience. Digital innovation does not require next-generation technology, just an intelligent distribution plan. The Marshall Project Inside delivers criminal justice news to over 223,000 incarcerated individuals through a video series specifically designed for the 60% of prisoners with low literacy levels. By using audience data to shape content format, they became the only major news outlet making this level of investment to reach this underserved community. Create subscription revenue streams The final conversion in this process transforms audience engagement into monthly subscription revenue. This matters in the new era when government funding can evaporate with the stroke of a pen. Organizations building these structures are creating immunity against political whiplash. The pioneer of this strategy is Charity: Water, which launched The Spring, an online community of recurring donors, radical transparency, and undeniable impact. This strategy alone has raised over $320 million. This transformation isn’t just about survival, it’s about discovering what nonprofits become when they’re built on audience relationships instead of institutional approval. The organizations making this pivot now won’t just outlast the current political chaos; they’ll emerge stronger, more sustainable, and more connected to their missions than ever before.
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E-Commerce
The look of the NBA Finals basketball court is being reconsidered, and we could have the fans to thank. At Game 2 last Friday, the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder played on the Thunder’s home court. The Thunder Blue court shows the team logo at half court and also features logos for Paycom Center, the arena. What it didn’t have was any indication this was a championship game. No NBA Finals logo, no Larry O’Brien Trophy. Unlike the in-season NBA Cup, which got 30 all-new, fully painted courts designed by artist Victor Solomon last fall, the Pacers and Thunder are playing the NBA Finals on their regular courts. It’s a matter of logistics and the quick turnaround of the games, but fans say it robs the games of a special design detail. Friday’s game was broadcast with virtual Finals logos shown on the court for fans watching at home, but viewers complained about technical glitches and compared the look of the virtual trophy decal to an emoji. One social media user likened the busy floor design packed with virtual decals for corporate sponsorships to a NASCAR hood. Mid-game, the broadcast swapped out the emoji-like virtual trophy logo for a script “Finals” logo. The poorly received court had fans wishing for an elevated design for the Finals. Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers attempts a shot against Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter in Game One of the 2025 NBA Finals at Paycom Center on June 05, 2025 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. [Photo: Kyle Terada/Getty Images] One reason the NBA Finals doesn’t have any physical on-court branding for the series is because the NBA doesn’t use decals on its courts to maintain the integrity of the playing surface. That’s not just in the Finals, but all season long, and it’s been that way since 2014. Instead, team logos and other elements like sponsor logos are painted on, or virtual logos can be added. One of the reasons we moved away from the logos on the courts iswhether it was perception or realitythere was a sense that maybe the logos added some slipperiness to the court, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said before Game 2. Digital Larry OBrien Trophies have been placed on the court to appease people (like me) who complained about no Finals logos or signage on the court during Game 1 of the NBA Finals. You can see them magically appear just before tip-off. pic.twitter.com/Jp6Oc5mU99— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) June 9, 2025 But painting takes time. Making a custom court involves building, sanding, painting, and drying, which would take too long for the NBA’s quick-turn Finals schedule. There was less than a week between this year’s semifinals and Game 1. Since 2021, the NBA has added virtual Finals logos on the court for viewers at home as a workaround, and it’s found other ways to bring in NBA Finals branding into the game, including logos on uniform jerseys, warmups, basket stanchions, courtside signage, and game balls. Still, Silver said he understood the fans’ disappointment. I think for a media-driven culture, whether its people watching live or seeing those images on social media, its nice when youre looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that trophy logo or some other indication that its a special event, he said recently at an event. So, well look at it. The time commitment involved in making basketball courts presents a challenge, but Silver suggested there still might be a solution. Maybe theres a way around it, he said.
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E-Commerce
In 2020, Lainy Hedaya Hoffstein was assembling an Ikea table in her driveway when it dawned on her: tools in her hands didnt reflect her identity as a designer. I felt like the tools I was using from these very big brands were very clunky, she recalls, likening them to old machismo tools that belong in a workshop. Five years later, the designer-turned-entrepreneur has transformed that eureka moment into a new tool brand called Tinkr. Launching today, online and in Target nationwide, Tinkr bills itself as a brand for the average DIY-er. There’s a hanging kit, a wall patch kit, and a painting kit, all priced around the $20 mark. But the real star is a stylish $80 toolbox that comes in navy and the now-obligatory sage, and wouldn’t look out of place in your living spacenext to your sexy dumbbells and your sexy broom. [Photo: Tinkr] Inside, Hoffstein has outfitted every tool with the kind of soft-grip thermoplastic rubber (TPR) you would find on a smart phone case, and tweaked some tools so they fit more comfortably in smaller hands. The hammer, for example, has a divet to guide the placement of your thumb, while the shaft grows thicker towards the end of the handle for better control. There’s even a rest for your phone or tablet inside the box, because lets be honest, most people follow DIY tutorials on a screen these days, says Hoffstein. Skeptics might write off Tinkr as aesthetics posturingthe level comes with a blue mineral spirit instead of a yellow one because it didn’t really vibe. But for Hoffstein, the design upgrades were necessary to make DIY projects seem more approachable. Her message: If you can cook, you can DIY. [Photo: Tinkr] A booming market with a gap The DIY movement has come a long way over the past decade. Fueled by the global pandemic and lockdowns that kept us stuck at home, staring at the imperfections on our walls, the global market for DIY home improvement today is worth about $861 billion. The trend is expected to keep growing, with the market reaching $1.2 trillion by 2031. Hoffstein declined to share projected revenue, but she has done market research and surveyed enough DIY influencers to know there is a gaping hole waiting to be filled. The problem, it seems, is rooted in both design and marketing mistakes. She says the tools that populate home improvement stores today are overly engineered, aggressively masculine, and uncomfortably bulky in ways that can drive people away from DIY projects. Historically, these tools have been geared towards contractors and professionals, alienating the home DIY persona that was born during the pandemic. [Photo: Tinkr] She might be onto something. According to a survey by AtomRadar for Fast Company, 35% of the 500-plus people surveyed said they have felt uncomfortable, intimidated, or excluded while shopping for DIY tools. Men were as likely to feel intimidated as women. Overall, a lack of approachable information was the biggest contributor to feelings of exclusion or discomfort, with 54% of people identifying this as a factor. But 30% of participants said that product design specifically contributed to a feeling of exclusion, while while 29% chalked it up to marketing or branding. (Tinkr is launching with a library of how-to videos on its socials, as well as on Target’s website. All you have to do is scan the QR code that comes on the paper sleeve the toolbox comes in.) [Photo: Tinkr] Of course, the team runs the risk that a new DIYer, who has no idea where to start, would look to established brands that have already built trust with consumers. Some, like Dremel, recently began catering to the home DIYer, too. But Hoffstein believes that people would choose Tinkr instead becauseestablished or notthese brands are still making tools that look inaccessible. “[DYI] is a lot easier than people think and because of the way the tool industry has presented itself, it makes everything look intimidating,” says Hoffstein. “I want to break that.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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