When looking for inspiration to help grow your business, it’s natural to turn to top performers in your own industry. However, when it comes to building a brand, growing trust and spending smartly, there’s plenty to learn from the not-for-profit sector too, writes Tamara Oppen, Managing Director at GoDaddy Australia.

NRL premiership winning player and coach, Ricky Stuart, started the Ricky Stuart Foundation in 2011 to raise awareness for autism after his daughter, Emma, was diagnosed with the developmental condition. It’s since raised almost $10 million, delivered two state-of-the-art respite centres and secured a $4 million NSW Government grant to build an independent living home for young people with autism.

The Foundation has just launched a new website as part of its strategy to further boost its brand.

So, what can small businesses like yours learn from its success? Here are three insights:

1. You need passion and drive

If you’ve seen Stuart in the coach’s box at a Canberra Raiders game, then you’ve seen passion. It’s this same passion that’s driven him to make a difference for families living with autism. “I think energy and passion are so important in sport and so important in life,’’ Stuart says.

There are also plenty of studies showing passion is important when starting a business too. According to GoDaddy’s Project Resolution research, the average Aussie would willingly forgo one-third of their salary to pursue a career they’re passionate about.

The NRL Hall of Fame inductee says elite sport has taught him that you need to work hard if you want to convert that passion into success, whether in sport or in business.

“You’ve got to work hard to get results and that’s why we call it elite sport … because it’s a bloody hard job to get a result. You’ve got to have energy and you’ve got to have passion and drive,” says Stuart.

For small business owners, passion is what’s required to move forward, even when times are challenging.

2. You need to be trusted

Just as having a strong reputation is crucial for not-for-profits, it’s also rated highly for business, particularly as commerce increasingly moves online. Nearly three quarters of Australians say knowing or trusting a not-for-profit is the top motivator for digital engagement.

Ricky Stuart Foundation CEO, Miranda Garnett, says a key part of its brand strategy was the development of a new website.

“When people looked at our old website, it was outdated, it didn’t tell our story, it wasn’t professional,’’ she says. “It didn’t capture who we were and why you should invest with us. It didn’t provide them the assurance that we were a quality brand.’’

The organisation is now working to build a stronger profile using its digital assets to tell the Foundation’s story and cement its mission. “If we wanted to do more, we needed to tell the story of who we are, where we are going and what we want to achieve,” Garnett says.

In just the same way, trust is essential for any small business eager to stand out from their competition and appeal to existing and prospective customers who love supporting local Aussie businesses.

3. Make your investments work smarter

As with many small businesses, not-for-profits also experience tension between keeping costs low and investing to deliver growth. For Garnett, the answer to navigating that tension is to keep a sharp eye on the return on investment and make sure the ‘back end’ is efficient and effective.

With a new website, this meant choosing products she could quickly and easily maintain that wouldn’t distract from running the Foundation. “[It’s] how do we maximise the technology and systems available and minimise overheads, and be able to deliver the majority of the money frontline into our services,’’ she says.

Passion, trust and efficiency are a successful blueprint for a not-for-profit, but there are also plenty of inspired synergies for entrepreneurs building their business.

Sometimes running a small business requires you to think outside the box, and not-for-profits like the Ricky Stuart Foundation can be a smart study for small businesses looking to take the next step to build their brand.

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