The Counterintuitive Niche That Made Me Question What I'm Doing With My Copywriting Career
By Guillermo Rubio

Most of life's biggest truths are counterintuitive.

Meaning, the truth is found in the opposite of what we naturally expect.

For example …

• The more choices you have, the less satisfied you are with any particular one.
• The more you try to impress someone, the less they will like you.
• Change is the only constant.

Life is full of these types of counterintuitive truths.

And when it comes to writing, it's no different.

Here are a few you've probably experienced firsthand:

• Writing short is harder than writing long.
• Rest and relaxation make you more productive.
• Organization boosts creativity.

I'll add one more to the list — and it's one that may surprise you (it definitely surprised me!):

Writing for Nonprofits Could be Far More Profitable Than Writing For Profits

I've thought about writing for nonprofits in the past …

But "common sense" told me it wouldn't be profitable.

Heck, it's in the name — NONprofit!

My thinking on all this started to change after I was on a call with a top writer in the nonprofit space, Lisa Christoffel (who also happens to be the Managing Editor for B2B Writers International).

Some of the things she said on that call were very surprising to me.

So I went and did my own digging online.

My jaw dropped.

Never, in a million years, would I have thought the nonprofit market would be a place where I could make a great living as a writer.

Yet, here's what I found:

In 2022, the fundraising market was pegged at $625 … billion.

Whoa.

To put that into perspective for you …

In that same year, ALL marketing spending by companies in the U.S. totaled $481 billion.

This means the nonprofit market is actually BIGGER than what every company in America spent on marketing last year.

Another way of thinking about it …

Remember all those high six- and even seven-figure earning copywriters you've heard of or read about in niches like health and finance?

Yeah, that $481 billion figure includes all of them.

And it includes every "dream client" in the direct-response marketing space you can think of … every Fortune 500 … every small business … ALL of it!

Yet the nonprofit space sits at $625 billion — a full 30% larger. And you don't have those same high-earning six- and seven-figure copywriters competing against you.

They're busy writing for a slice of that $481 billion.

All while a "quiet few" are making a killing in the much bigger nonprofit space AND are helping great causes.

The wheels started turning in my head … 🧐

So I kept digging …

Turns Out, the $625 Billion Fundraising Market Is Just The "Tip of the Iceberg"

Aside from thinking "no money" when you hear the term nonprofit, it's normal to think of it all as being the large, well-known organizations …

 … like The Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Make-a-Wish Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and others.

Yes, they hire writers. Often.

Because they need help bringing in donors through direct mail, online marketing, and more.

(These are all projects that could pay up to $3,000 or more, by the way).

But there's another BIG source of clients for writers in this space … one that hardly any writers think about when they hear the term nonprofit …

Trade Associations.

There are more than 43,000 trade associations.

And they're in every industry imaginable, including the food industry (there's The Association for Dressings and Sauces), healthcare and business (there's the Autism Business Association) … and everything in between.

Another fun fact:

Trade associations bring in around $36 billion annually …

 … . AND they're sitting on about $57 billion worth of assets (which they can use, and often do, to hire writers like me and you to help them raise more money for the causes they support!).

It's why it wasn't surprising when AWAI's Learning Chief Pam Foster mentioned to me she once got paid $10,000 to write a couple of newsletters for a veterinary association.

Nice.

But this nonprofit-profit train for writers doesn't stop there.

The Faith-Based Market

Once again, I'd never thought about the Christian market or other faith-based markets as "nonprofit".

But it is.

And it's a $150+ billion a year market.

That's from retail sales, which includes book sales and other products (think calendars, board games, clothing, accessories, and more).

So for any writer who is passionate about their faith, this is yet another great opportunity to make great money, while doing good.

At this point, I was in total shock at how big and deep this nonprofit space goes.

But there was one more area that was the cherry on the cake of my day, as I continued to research … it totally blew me away:

More Than $1 Trillion Flows through This Nonprofit "Sub-Niche"

I'm talking about grant writing.

More than $1 trillion is given away every single year.

Organizations that support different causes need some of that money.

But the only way they can be considered for it is through a grant proposal.

One that a writer who knows what they're doing writes, in order to give their client the best shot at being awarded the grant.

And for that?

You can get paid big bucks.

AWAI member Toni Rockis reports making up to $20,000 for having written a single winning proposal.

So yes, turns out that nonprofit writing can be very profitable!

The Best Part?

In addition to being a huge market with tons of prospective clients for any writer smart enough to specialize in this niche …

 … the nonprofit market has another advantage:

Every project you're learning to write or would like to learn how to write — whether it's sales letters, email, newsletters, and even typical B2B projects like white papers and case studies …

 … these skills and projects "transfer" over to the nonprofit world.

So in many ways, you could be way ahead of the game and not even know it.

Especially if you've already spent a lot of time learning one particular skill, like email writing or sales letters, for example.

My (and Hopefully Your) Takeaway …

The long and the short of it is — nonprofit and cause marketing is a huge market.

One rife with opportunity for any writer wanting to do good with their words.

After doing all this digging, I sent my findings to Rebecca, who wrote a full briefing on the nonprofit market and how it can benefit you as a writer, here.

Seriously. There's so much opportunity, it boggles the mind.

I encourage you to do your own research. You'll see what I mean.

Every indication points to this market becoming even bigger.

As for me …

I'm now utterly convinced I need to learn the nuances of how to write for the nonprofit and cause marketing world.

I'm a big animal and nature lover, and a big kid at heart, so I'd love to help causes like the World Wildlife Fund or Make-a-Wish Foundation grow.

So if you've ever thought about writing "for good" like I have … but you were dissuaded due to the belief there's no money in it … it may be time to reassess.

Seriously consider writing for the nonprofit market.

Not just because it's massive — and many corporations are now spending billions combined on "cause marketing", which shares many similarities to writing for nonprofits …

 … but because it's a way you can make a great living, help a cause you believe in, and feel proud and fulfilled about the work you do as a copywriter.