Your Non-Profit Has Two Customers. Are You Building a Product for Both?

I. Your Non-Profit Is a Product Company

In the article Beyond the Core Solution, I define a product not as a simple good or service, but as the total experience a customer has with an organization. A winning product, whether for-profit or not, must satisfy a core set of criteria.

A winning product:

• Yields a net positive benefit to a customer.
• Is discoverable by the right customer.
• Ensures the customer understands the product is for them.
• Communicates its benefit clearly and effectively.
• Can be acquired smoothly and easily.
• Delights the customer throughout the entire experience of acquiring and using it.

Your non-profit is not exempt from this way of thinking. Your programs, your services, your entire mission—these are your products. And to succeed, you must design and deliver them with the same rigor as any successful business. However, you face a unique and complex challenge.

II. The Defining Challenge: The Split Customer Model

Here is the critical difference: in most businesses, the person who uses the product is the same person who pays for it. In a non-profit, the party that pays (the Funder) is often not the party that receives the direct benefit (the Beneficiary).

That persona is split. This means you are running a two-sided market, and you have to architect a complete product experience for both sides. Let's call the source of funding the Economic Customer and the recipient of the service the End-User.

Those who benefit from the product (End-Users) will often readily accept it, due to the low or no-cost nature of their experience. But your Economic Customers—the donors, foundations, and grant-providers—need to be won over with a product designed specifically for them.

III. Architecting Two Products in One: A Case Study

Let's imagine a non-profit that runs a coding bootcamp for underserved youth. First, let's consider their state before they adopted a product mindset. Their fundraising consisted of generic year-end appeals. Their annual report was a dense PDF listing expenses, not impact. They were great at running the bootcamp, but they were constantly struggling to explain why it mattered to potential donors, leaving them stuck in a cycle of grant-chasing and financial uncertainty.

By adopting a two-product model, they can design for both audiences intentionally.

Product #1: The Program for the Beneficiary (The End-User)

This is the product most non-profits focus on. Applying our six criteria:

• Benefit: Provides life-changing technical skills and a path to a high-paying career.
• Discoverable: Through partnerships with schools and community centers.
• For Them: The messaging is welcoming, accessible, and speaks to their aspirations.
• Communicates Value: "Learn to code for free, change your future."
• Acquirable: The application process is simple, mobile-friendly, and removes barriers.
• Delights: The instruction is excellent, the support is robust, and the job placement assistance is real and effective.

Product #2: The Impact Offering for the Funder (The Economic Customer)

This is the product that ensures survival and growth. The "good or service" you provide to a donor isn't the bootcamp itself; it's the measurable impact that their funding creates.

• Benefit: Fulfills the funder's philanthropic goals, generates positive PR, and builds a diverse talent pipeline for their industry.
• Discoverable: Through professional grant proposals, impact reports, and networking at charity events.
• For Them: The non-profit's mission directly aligns with the funder's stated goals (e.g., "advancing STEM education").
• Communicates Value: This doesn't just mean a number in a report. It means a Quarterly Impact Email sent to all major donors, featuring one key metric and one powerful student story with a high-quality photo.
• Acquirable: The donation process is seamless, transparent, and professional.
• Delights: This could mean a personalized thank-you video from a recent graduate sent to anyone who gives over a certain amount. These aren't just thank-yous; they are products designed to ensure funder retention.

IV. Three Common Pitfalls When Serving Two Customers

Adopting this model is powerful, but it comes with challenges. Be mindful of these common traps:

• The One-Size-Fits-All Message: Using the same marketing brochure or website copy for both beneficiaries and funders. The language that inspires a student is not the language that convinces a foundation's board.
• Measuring Activity, Not Impact: Reporting to funders on "number of students served" (an activity) instead of "percentage of graduates employed after six months" (an impact). Funders invest in outcomes.
• Starving the "Second Product": Underfunding the very things that create a great funder experience—like professional photography, data analysis, or a modern donation platform—because they're seen as "overhead" instead of essential product development. Don't be afraid to make equal technology and process investment on the Funder side; this is the source of resources that drive the whole mission.

V. The For-Profit Parallel: Complex Enterprise Sales

This split-customer model isn't unique to non-profits. It's a daily reality in the world of complex enterprise sales.

When selling into a large company, the team that will actually use the software (the End-User) is rarely the one with the budget. The decision to buy is made by a finance department or executive (the Economic Customer). In this world, you have to build two things at once: a powerful business case for the buyer, and a delightful, effective product for the user. The key to success is demonstrating how the user's delight translates into a tangible benefit. For example, the software company Slack couldn't just sell 'a fun chat tool' to a CIO. They had to prove that the delightful user experience led to a measurable reduction in internal emails and faster project completion times—metrics that matter to the budget holder.

VI. Conclusion: Your First Step

To thrive, a non-profit must stop thinking of itself as having a single mission and start thinking of itself as having two interconnected products. You must satisfy two distinct missions: delivering life-changing value to your beneficiaries, and delivering measurable impact to your funders.

This week, take one of your key programs and map out the total product experience twice: once through the eyes of a beneficiary, and once through the eyes of your most important funder. Where are the gaps? Where can you add more delight?

That is where your most important work begins.