The business model for non-profits almost always involves asking for donations. Two friends, Adam and Josh had a different idea that shifts the business model and has become their path to create their ticket to success.
High school mates Adam McCurdie and Josh Ross founded Humanitix after making a pact to escape the corporate world and do something different and meaningful with their careers. Like many social entrepreneurs, they began by looking for industries with inefficiencies that could be ripe for reinvention. Then they found it: tickets.
Event ticketing has constantly been frustrating for hosts and guests alike, and everyone hates booking fees. In 2016 Humanitix ambitiously set out to disrupt ticketing—for good!
It was clear from the start that their crazy idea wasn’t so crazy. They stayed laser-focused on developing a great product with fantastic customer support, and hosts continued to switch to Humanitix for the superior customer experience and “no-brainer” social benefits of the 100% for-purpose model. Soon the organization was funded by the Atlassian Foundation and the NSW Government.
Then in 2018, Humanitix won the Google Impact Challenge and has since doubled in size every six months, becoming the fastest-growing ticketing platform in Australia and New Zealand.
Before Humanitix
Before their journey with Humanitix, Adam was an engineer who’d seen the power of education to transform communities in Tanzania. Josh was a hedge fund analyst who’d been moved by his experiences traveling through Vietnam.
On a hiking trip together through Sri Lanka just nine months after that country’s civil war, they came upon an abandoned house that had been completely blown out. The cups and saucers still neatly stacked on the kitchen shelves struck them as a powerful reminder of how volatile and unfair life can be—and how lucky they were to have been born into such safety and comfort in Australia.
That night, camping under the stars, they decided to dedicate their careers to making a difference in the lives of children who weren’t so lucky. They sealed their pact with a wild dance around the campfire, howling on into the night.
The first event
The first Humanitix events included a Disney Trivia night, a Variety Fundraiser, a Social Impact Film Night, and a Halloween Hoedown. The first ticket sold for ten dollars, plus a booking fee of 50 cents.
Where is Humanitix now?
Fast forward to today, and Humanitix has transformed over $1M from those annoying booking fees into helping disadvantaged kids around the world.
Humanitix is doubling in size every six months as more and more event hosts choose to give their event impact.
Marketing Lessons for Non-Profits
How can you change the business model so that instead of asking for money, a non-profit can act like a for-profit business – but give away those funds? What’s a fresh way to solve a challenge by finding a different way.
This Ted Talk, viewed by over five million people, might help inspire your thought process. Pallotta calls for a radical shift in how we think about non-profit activity.
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta call out the double standard that drives our broken relationship with charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend — not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses).
In this bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Screenshots courtesy of Humanitx and Ted Talk
