The Organization for Bat Conservation is a non-profit that derives 40% of its revenue from the web.
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The Organization for Bat Conservation incorporated as a non-profit in 1997. Its mission is to educate people about the benefits of bats and to help preserve them. From the start, Rob Mies, the OBC's executive director, realized it would be hard to solicit contributions for bat preservation. People are afraid of bats or have other negative feelings about them.
So, Rob began to think of the OBC as a business. What could the organization offer that people would be willing to pay for? He came up with three broad areas:
- Educational programs. Schools are willing to pay to have the OBC come and put on programs, and groups are willing to pay an entry fee to visit the OBC's traveling museum exhibit.
- Grants. Some organizations are willing to fund bat conservation even though it remains a small percentage.
- Ecommerce. Rob realized that, while the market for his services in any one state might be small, the web would allow him to address a national audience. He initially developed a bat house product to be sold over the web, and then branched out into other bat related products.
In future episodes, we'll discus how the OBC used Google AdWords to reinforce its online marketing efforts.