As an IT specialist, you can go after non-profits.  But you have to realize they are not in your sweet spot.  Be prepared to learn an entirely new bidding process and expect not to experience great financial rewards.

IT Specialists:  The Positive Side of Working with Non-Profits

1.    You can reach non-profits because they are part of trade groups.  You will find non-profits in directories available to the public.

2.    Non-profits can provide IT specialists with emotional satisfaction and rewards that you can’t get anywhere else but through working with a cause that means something to you. 

IT Specialists:  The Negative Aspects of Working with Non-Profits

1.    Non-profits provide poor profit margins.

2.    Approaching non-profits can involve you in bidding wars.

Bidding wars reduce your firm to a product rather than a service.  Also, when you bid against someone else’s prices, your competitors could be working to get you to lower your bid price to a point where you forget to offer the most realistic and best solution.

When you’re involved in a bidding war, you don’t have credibility, trust and personality on your side.  The bottom line is whether you can offer the lowest price in the right amount of time and generally follow the rules.  Bidding wars create a great deal of non-billable work up-front as well for which you would normally charge in the private sector.     

IT Specialists:  Non-Profits and Government Bids

Selling to private sector small businesses is easier than selling to non-profits and government organizations for most IT specialists.  Many times non-profits and government agencies have to take quoted prices for legal reasons, which can cause you problems when trying to lay out benefits for both you and the non-profit.

Bid Smart as an IT Specialist

Don’t risk your whole company just to make a competitive bid to non-profits.  Make sure you spend no more than 20% of your business development on bid chasing if your company is not purely dedicated to non-profits and government agencies.

A government organization looking to outsource support services that has a very good request for proposal is a much better bet for you than a prospect without a clear plan or one that is just looking for a one-shot deal.

Non-profit and government agencies are better options for providing niche services as an IT specialist than retail services.  However, non-profit and government sectors are still not as favorable as the sweet spot of small business computer consulting. 

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit