Did you know it takes 18-20 points of contact to reach a new donor for the first time? For nonprofits, developing an effective multichannel marketing plan helps spread awareness, engage new prospects, and deepen donor relationships. However, a lot goes into crafting the perfect strategy for your organization, from setting goals to reviewing your marketing data.

In this comprehensive nonprofit marketing guide, we’ll walk through everything you need to know to strengthen your outreach. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What is Nonprofit Marketing?
• How Much Do Nonprofits Spend on Marketing?
• 5 Steps to Create a Nonprofit Marketing Strategy
• Types of Nonprofit Marketing Channels
• Nonprofit Marketing Best Practices to Follow

No matter your organization’s size or resources, optimizing your current nonprofit marketing strategy can significantly boost support for your mission.

What is Nonprofit Marketing?

Nonprofit marketing encompasses the diverse strategies and channels that nonprofits use to promote their causes, secure donations, attract new supporters, and retain existing ones. Effective nonprofit marketing amplifies the organization’s mission and fosters meaningful audience engagement, so people will donate, volunteer, and attend events.

Organizations often create nonprofit marketing plans to allocate their budgets, time, and efforts efficiently. This plan typically outlines the core mission, tone, target audience, preferred marketing channels, and branding elements, ensuring a cohesive approach to reaching supporters.

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

There are two main approaches to nonprofit marketing:

• Inbound marketing refers to methods of attracting prospective supporters’ attention through unpaid promotion or content production. Commonly, this includes search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, and organic social media posts. SEO, in particular, helps your content rank highly on search engine results pages, making it easier for potential supporters to find your nonprofit online. It’s especially useful for organizations that sell programming or services.
• Outbound marketing, often referred to as “advertising,” relies on paid media to reach potential supporters. You might use Google Ads, social media ads, radio ads, or other paid outlets to promote your mission.

While inbound marketing attracts potential supporters whose interests align with your mission, outbound marketing can extend your nonprofit’s reach to people who might not otherwise encounter your cause. A balance between inbound and outbound channels casts a wider net for reaching more prospects.

Benefits of Nonprofit Marketing

A thoughtful and comprehensive nonprofit marketing plan allows your nonprofit to:

• Boost awareness. Effective nonprofit marketing increases mission awareness, ensuring more people understand your goals, why they matter, and the work you’re doing to achieve them. This heightened visibility can attract new supporters.
• Increasing funds. By spreading cause awareness, you’ll naturally receive more donations from people who believe in your mission. Strategic marketing campaigns can highlight specific needs and inspire generosity.
• Cultivate long-term relationships. Successful nonprofit marketing goes beyond one-time outreach—it cultivates lasting donor relationships. These connections often lead to recurring gifts, which generate more revenue over time. According to M+R Benchmarks, the average monthly online donation is $24 (totaling $288 per year), compared to an average one-time gift of $126. Consistent engagement is key to nurturing this kind of loyalty.
• Attract all types of support. In addition to securing more donations, marketing can enhance volunteer recruitment, event participation, membership signups, and other forms of engagement.
• Promote your services to beneficiaries. With a comprehensive nonprofit marketing strategy, you can promote services to beneficiaries. Plus, you’ll help supporters understand your nonprofit’s services, inspiring them to give.
• Sell your services, merchandise, and programs. Many nonprofits and associations also sell services, merchandise, and programming, like professional development certifications and training. Get these opportunities in front of prospective customers to raise more money.

Overall, marketing impacts every area of your organization, making it essential for achieving your mission and inciting meaningful change in your community.

Nonprofit Marketing Challenges

Effective outreach doesn’t come without its challenges. Understanding these common nonprofit marketing obstacles can help you plan strategically and overcome them:

1. Establishing trustworthiness. Donors want to make a difference, and they need to trust your organization to do so. Demonstrating legitimacy, transparency, and impact is essential for earning their support.
2. Communicating your mission. Clearly conveying your mission and values is key to sparking interest. This can be difficult when addressing complex or sensitive social issues that require thoughtful framing.
3. Selling products and services. Whether part of your mission or a fundraising tactic, marketing products and services requires a clear value proposition and strategic promotion to reach your audience effectively.
4. Working on a limited budget. Many nonprofits face tight budgets that restrict paid advertising and other traditional marketing channels. This makes it important to prioritize creative, cost-effective platforms.
5. Appealing to different demographics. Your supporters vary by age, preferences, and interests. For example, older donors might prefer traditional print outreach methods while younger audiences might lean toward text or social media. Tailoring your messages to resonate with diverse audiences is challenging but crucial for broadening your support base.

Fortunately, your organization can overcome all of these challenges by laying a solid foundation with your nonprofit marketing plan and following the best practices we’ll explore later on.

How Much Do Nonprofits Spend on Marketing?

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to how much an organization should allocate for marketing, you can use these methods to create an effective budget:

• The percent method. Allocate 5% to 15% of your total budget to marketing and fundraising communications. Many organizations group these essential activities together as a single line item in their budget. This method makes it easy to scale your nonprofit marketing budget as your organization grows.
• The dollar method. Choose a set dollar amount for marketing, communications, and fundraising based on past expenditures. This method eliminates guesswork and makes spending expectations clear.
• The incremental method. To avoid starting from scratch, take the current period’s budget and revenue into account. Then, adjust each line item by incremental amounts to create your next budget.

Nonprofits may cut marketing when resources are tight, but promoting your mission is essential for staying connected with donors and driving gifts to stay operational. Instead, opt for low-cost communication channels or apply for a grant.

Whether you’re facing budgetary constraints or simply want to reduce costs, applying for Google Ad Grants is a great way to tap into free advertising money.

5 Steps to Create a Nonprofit Marketing Strategy

An organized nonprofit marketing strategy connects you with supporters and beneficiaries. Your plan should outline essential details to meet your audience’s needs and spread awareness.

If you partner with an external agency, they will guide you through these steps. Be sure to choose professionals experienced in your sector who understand your mission. For example, churches should hire agencies that specialize in religious organizations, as they understand the unique challenges and opportunities faith-based groups face. They can tailor messaging and strategies that resonate with the congregation and community, helping to grow the organization’s ministry.

1. Perform a Marketing Audit.

Start by reviewing your current marketing capabilities and available resources to determine the changes you’ll need to make.

Gather past outreach materials and campaign metrics to conduct an audit on your most recent outreach efforts. A nonprofit marketing audit often consists of conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for:

• Strengths. List any areas where your nonprofit excels compared to competitors. For example, you may have unique services, strong brand awareness, or an incredibly loyal supporter base.
• Weaknesses. List anything that hinders you from achieving your nonprofit marketing goals, such as a limited budget or a poor digital presence.
• Opportunities. Include any external factors that give you an advantage over competitors. For instance, your mission could be prevalent in the news or you might have a strong pipeline of corporate sponsors.
• Threats. This includes any external factors out of your control that negatively impact your nonprofit. These factors could be anything from unfavorable media coverage to shifting government regulations.

Analyze your results and create a plan for playing to your strengths, overcoming any weaknesses, increasing your opportunities, and mitigating any threats.

2. Define Your Nonprofit Marketing Goals.

Your nonprofit marketing strategy should support your overall goals. Are you trying to raise funds? Encourage volunteering? Garner fundraising event registrations? Every marketing campaign needs a concrete goal and target action to be successful.

When outlining your nonprofit marketing strategy goals, use the SMART method:

• Specific. Define the exact goal your nonprofit is aiming to achieve and identify how achieving it will support your mission.
• Measurable. Your goal should have key performance indicators (KPIs) attached to evaluate progress.
• Attainable. Given your organization’s current standing (e.g., time, money, expertise), choose a goal that you can realistically achieve.
• Relevant. Your chosen goal should contribute to your organization’s overall success. For example, increasing volunteer registrations clearly impacts your organization more than reaching a certain number of likes on an Instagram post.
• Time-based. Provide a realistic deadline for achieving your goal. Then, create milestones along the way.

From here, list your goals by priority. Clear nonprofit marketing goals will power greater outcomes for your cause.

Examples of SMART Goals

The best way to understand the SMART framework is to explore examples:

• Increase curriculum sales by 25% over the next 12 months through targeted marketing, including SEO, social media campaigns, and partnerships with schools and educational groups. Track monthly unit sales to measure progress.
• Boost volunteer sign-ups by 10% by year-end through targeted outreach and improved volunteer management to enhance recruitment and retention.
• Gain 50 new monthly donors within the next quarter by expanding personalized outreach and strengthening existing donor engagement strategies.
• Double the number of participants in our annual fundraising event by leveraging Google Ads, SEO strategies, and community partners to encourage registrations.

These goals start with a core objective and build out the details. From promoting events to selling programming, effective nonprofit marketing can help you increase visibility and drive action. You just need SMART goals and technology to track your progress.

3. Understand Your Audiences.

Focus your nonprofit marketing strategy on who you’re trying to reach. Outline your nonprofit’s current and target audience. For example, if your nonprofit sells religious curricula to churches, your target audience would include church leaders, educators, and parents. Or, let’s say your parks and recreation association wants to sell summer camp registrations. Your audience would primarily be parents and guardians looking for engaging educational summer activities for their children.

Segment your audience members according to characteristics such as:

• Supporter type, including first-time donor, recurring donor, major donor, customer, volunteer, or corporate partner.
• Preferred communication method, like email or direct mail.
• Demographic data, including age group, geographical location, and education level.

When you understand who your supporters are, you’ll ensure content aligns with their needs, preferences, and interests, making them more likely to engage. In fact, segmenting digital campaigns produces up to 760% more revenue!

Remember, the goal of segmentation is to ensure your communications are targeted, so understand each group’s needs to create content catered to them. This might involve planning new events, writing new blog content, or trying new media formats like video.

4. Create and Share A Compelling Message.

There are hundreds of messages online, all competing for your supporters’ attention. To make your messages stand out, use the CRAM rule to bring your powerful marketing ideas to fruition. Your communications should be:

• Connected to a cause. Link your nonprofit’s mission with something your audience cares about.
• Rewarding. Readers should feel fulfilled or inspired reading your message.
• Actionable. Include a clear call to action to outline readers’ next steps, whether that’s donating, volunteering, registering for an event, or something else.
• Memorable. Use storytelling and statistics to leave a lasting impression on your readers.

Plan the tone of your message, specific calls to action, and visual branding elements. Then, choose your nonprofit marketing channels and start sharing your outreach.

5. Track Results and Make Adjustments.

Every nonprofit marketing strategy should include performance tracking to highlight what’s working and where to improve. Here are KPIs you might track across different marketing channels:

• Click-through rate (CTR) and conversions for Google Ads
• Email opens and CTR for email marketing
• Views and likes for videos
• Likes, shares, and comments on social media
• Page views or time on site for your website
• Number of downloads for content marketing

Data is the backbone of your nonprofit marketing efforts. It ensures your campaigns perform well, provides insights for future improvements, and serves as a valuable resource for supporters interested in your impact.

Types of Nonprofit Marketing Channels

Your specific nonprofit marketing channels help reach your donors and new prospects. While you don’t need to leverage every platform, a multichannel marketing approach allows you to connect with as many supporters as possible.

Let’s explore some of the most popular channels for catapulting your nonprofit marketing efforts forward.

Search Ads

Many nonprofits leverage Google Ads, a platform where organizations display advertisements promoting their services, initiatives, and educational content. Google places these ads at the top of search engine result pages to expand each organization’s online presence.

Many nonprofits apply for the Google Ad Grant, a technology grant that provides nonprofits with $10,000 in monthly ad credits. Organizations use these credits to bid on keywords their prospects are searching online and promote their website content.

The best part? Any eligible nonprofit that complies with Google guidelines can leverage this grant. For example, if your church is eligible, you can apply for and receive the Google Ad Grant. It automatically reactivates every month, too. As long as you comply with the program’s rules, you’ll add up to $120,000 to your nonprofit marketing budget each year.

You’ll need to choose the right keywords related to your mission. For example, the Literacy Empowerment Foundation provides books and other educational resources to children, families, and teachers in need. To reach their target audience, our advertising experts created a Google Ad campaign targeting terms like “free books for kids.”

That’s where an expert Google Grants agency can step in to determine your nonprofit’s eligibility, apply, and make the most of the program.

The specialists at Getting Attention will champion your cause at every turn. We’ll learn about your specific nonprofit marketing goals and manage the entire Google Grant process, allowing you to focus on your mission with confidence that your Google Ads are in good hands.

Nonprofit Advertising

While people commonly interchange “advertising” and “marketing,” nonprofit advertising is actually a specific subset of nonprofit marketing that refers to using paid channels to promote your mission. Some of the most common nonprofit advertising channels include:

• Search ads (like Google Ads)
• Radio and TV ads
• Social media ads
• Influencer advertising

Advertising can amplify your content to a broader audience, even those who aren’t actively researching nonprofits. With a strategic approach, outbound marketing is achievable, even on a limited budget!

Similar to Google, there are many other advertising platforms with free or discounted options for nonprofits. Explore our full list of nonprofit advertising examples to get a sense of how similar nonprofits tap into paid ads without spending too much.

Website

Your nonprofit’s website hosts valuable information about your organization and provides engagement opportunities like online giving, volunteerism, and event registration. It’s often the first place prospects go to learn about your mission and where long-term supporters go to show support.

To maximize site traffic, implement SEO strategies. Optimizing your website for search engines helps attract attention to initiatives like your revenue-generating programming. When updating your website, try these SEO practices:

• Keyword Research: With tools like Google Keyword Planner or Semrush, identify relevant keywords your target audience uses when searching for information related to your cause. Use these keywords naturally in your content, headers, and meta descriptions.

• Quality Content: Create high-quality, informative content that addresses your audience’s needs and interests. This can include blog posts, service pages, mission updates, and educational resources.
• Technical Improvements: Ensure your website has an optimal user experience (UX) and can be crawled by search engines. Optimize site speed, use mobile-responsive design, secure your site with HTTPS, and eliminate broken links.
• Backlinks: Encourage reputable websites to link back to your content. Backlinks from trusted sources can boost your site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines.

Sometimes nonprofits create blogs where they post meaningful content about their missions to cultivate a community and become a go-to resource for supporters. Consider blogging about nonprofit industry trends, mission updates, and your nonprofit’s recent events or campaigns.

Amplifying Your Nonprofit Website

To maximize your website’s potential, turn to a dedicated SEO agency that understands organic digital marketing channels. Look for value-add marketing services such as:

• Keyword-optimized content creation to showcase your services, products, and thought leadership
• Technical SEO support to improve aspects of your website like crawlability and mobile-friendliness
• Off-site link-building strategy development to establish your brand’s authority
• Video production services to showcase your revenue-generating services, programs, and products and add valuable multimedia content to your site
• Email marketing campaigns to guide visitors through their journey

Look for those with experience in SEO for mission-driven organizations like Nexus Marketing. They can help you strengthen your website and reach your target audiences through search engines, high-visibility webinars, and promotion through their trusted partners in the industry.

Nonprofit Email Marketing

Email is a reliable channel, allowing nonprofit marketers to connect with everyone from first-time donors to those who have been giving regularly for years. In fact, 33% of donors say that email is the communication method that most inspires them to give, more than any other channel

Some impactful ways to leverage email marketing for nonprofits include:

• Create a regular newsletter. Provide supporters with updates about your organization, the latest industry news, success stories, supporter spotlights, volunteer opportunities, and anything else going on at your nonprofit.
• Send monthly emails about donation needs and opportunities to increase donor value over time. Tailor requests to ask each donor for a reasonable upgrade from their last gift. For example, if a supporter gave $25 last month, request $30 instead of $100. Also, remove recurring donors from your monthly request list since they are already giving regularly.
• Create intriguing subject lines. Tease content inside to give readers a reason to click, and make sure each subject line is the right length. If it’s too long, it’ll get cut off. If it’s too short, you won’t provide enough value. For context, subject lines of 61-70 characters have the highest open rates.
• Follow up with appreciation emails. When a supporter donates, signs up to volunteer, or shows some other form of support,  send out a thank you email. Personalize these emails to address each supporter by name and reference their specific contribution.

Timing means everything. Of the nonprofits that use this nonprofit marketing channel for fundraising, 66% send emails quarterly, 14% every two months, 12% monthly, 4% twice monthly, 3% weekly, and 1% daily. To send at the right frequency, let subscribers choose their preferences.

Word-of-Mouth Nonprofit Marketing

When your volunteers and donors feel strongly about your cause, they’ll share your important work with friends and family members who may be interested in supporting your nonprofit, too!

Peer-to-peer outreach can be incredibly powerful. In fact, 88% of consumers trust recommendations from loved ones over any other type of marketing. Encourage your supporters to reach out to their personal networks, post online about your cause, and share your organization’s social media posts to spread the word.

One powerful way to encourage peer-to-peer referrals is nonprofit eCards. They’re an interactive way to broadcast your mission, activities, and successes.

Create designs for every occasion to encourage referrals year-round. Here are just a few ideas to get started:

• Birthday fundraising eCards that encourage supporters to give in a loved one’s name to wish them a happy birthday.
• Holiday eCards to spread some holiday cheer during special times.
• Thank-you eCards to help supporters express their gratitude.
• Tribute eCards for individuals to give in honor of their loved ones.
• Mission awareness eCards to call attention to your work during a cause awareness campaign.
• Event invitation eCards to help supporters invite their loved ones to one of your nonprofit events.

Once you design your nonprofit eCards, you can offer them for free, sell them for a set price, or give them in exchange for donations. No matter your approach, people will be excited to browse your collection and share a cause they care about.

Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits

By 2027, the global number of social media users is expected to skyrocket to 6 billion. Social media’s rising prevalence makes it one of the most viable channels for marketing your mission.

Not only is social media affordable, but it’s also a natural way to connect with supporters on a deeper level. You can engage with followers, encourage them to comment or repost content, and build a brand personality that they enjoy interacting with.

Here are tips to leverage social media in your nonprofit marketing strategy:

• Share news about your organization and cause.
• Boost brand awareness and recognition.
• Post calls to action for online gifts, event registrations, and volunteer signups.
• Post about your committed donors, employees, and volunteers.
• Create accounts on sites where your supporters are most active, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), or LinkedIn.

Whether you use TikTok for connecting with younger generations or Facebook for its long-form posts and its fundraising features, social media is a channel worth optimizing for your nonprofit marketing.

Direct Mail Marketing

Direct mail is a highly valuable and personalized marketing channel. It’s great for inspiring action. In fact, 84% of consumers converted after receiving direct mail in the last six months.

For nonprofits, direct mail marketing involves writing, printing, and sending out hard copy requests for funds, event invitations, or thank-you letters to your passionate supporters. These letters provide supporters with a tangible connection to your organization.

Use these tips to inspire action with direct mail:

• Lean on storytelling. The most unique aspect of direct mail is its personal touch. This is a key opportunity to connect with donors through storytelling. For example, you could describe the story of a family your nonprofit helped to get readers eager to give. After all, people remember stories 22 times more than facts alone.
• Use compelling visuals. Weave your visual and written elements together to break up blocks of text and support your call to action. This applies to everything from your letters to your fundraising flyers. Whether you use photos of real people or graphics to illustrate your mission, your visuals reinforce your messaging.
• Combine direct mail with your digital marketing efforts. Include easy ways for direct mail readers to connect online by including a QR code to your donation page or adding social media details to encourage engagement on various platforms.

Direct mail can both benefit your nonprofit and show donors that you care. Consider partnering with a direct mail marketing company to facilitate the process of writing and sending your letters.

Nonprofit Video Marketing

From short videos on TikTok to longer content on YouTube, many nonprofits have found success in using this form of media to promote campaigns, events, and their mission in general. In fact, incorporating video can produce up to 114% more funding for your campaigns.

Here are some reasons why video marketing for nonprofits is so valuable:

• Inspirational. Well-edited videos, supplemented with evocative music, do really well when it comes to appealing to viewers’ emotions.
• Shareable. 51% of people are more likely to share videos than any other marketing content, including social media and blog posts.
• Entertaining. According to Teleprompter, watching videos is one of the top online activities among internet users around the world, with 91.8% watching online videos every week.

You can incorporate video marketing across your nonprofit website, in social media posts, and in email content. For instance, you can send an event invitation with a video teaser or record a video featuring someone your nonprofit has helped to show donors how much their donations make an impact.

Bonus Tip: Because of their file format, videos can potentially slow down a website. When publishing videos to your website, turn off auto-play to minimize any slowdowns!

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

Content marketing is all about creating valuable content to build your nonprofit’s reputation. While this content will likely live on your website, you can also create specific content for emails or host a downloadable gated resource.

Common types of content you might create include:

• Educational content about your mission, cause, and industry trends.
• SEO blog content to get your online content ranking higher in search engines.
• Shareable content that encourages your audience to send it along to their friends.
• Content that is easily reusable, like attaching a downloadable resource to an email message.

Plus, your content marketing materials can be used for other nonprofit marketing efforts. You might promote your content via email, Google Ads, or social media.

Text Message Marketing

With a 99% open rate and 90% read rate within just three minutes of sending, text message marketing is one of the best ways to promote a campaign and reach your audience where they already are.

To use text marketing, consider investing in a comprehensive text-to-give tool. Tatango’s nonprofit text messaging guide recommends looking for a text messaging provider with the following features:

• A2P (Application to Person) messaging. This feature allows you to send a single message to hundreds or thousands of supporters at once, saving your nonprofit time.
• Ability to handle fast messaging speeds. A provider with a high message-per-second rate will ensure that your campaign reminders reach supporters moments after you send them.
• Security for your campaigns. Your text messaging provider should offer security measures like two-factor authentication, secure sending, and automated logout to protect sensitive data.
• Subscriber segmentation. Divide your contact list into subgroups based on characteristics such as recency of opting into your text messaging campaign, donation frequency, and average giving amount.

With a secure and user-friendly text messaging platform, your nonprofit can keep supporters in the loop and leverage contextual giving.

Contextual giving occurs when a donor gives the moment they’re inspired. For example, someone at a fundraising event might see a text-to-give number on signage and decide to give immediately. Without this option, they might delay until home, reducing the likelihood of completing the donation.

Nonprofit Marketing Best Practices to Follow

Your nonprofit marketing strategy should cover everything from crafting your messaging to picking the channels you use. Let’s explore best practices for honing your marketing efforts:

Optimize Your Website for Search

Your nonprofit’s website is the hub of its digital marketing efforts. Optimize it for search engines to ensure potential supporters and beneficiaries can find it.

While your content is incredibly important, technical SEO lays the foundation for how search engines crawl, index, and rank your site. Make these technical improvements to ensure your website can be found and indexed:

• Remove broken links. Broken links are hyperlinks that lead to non-existent web pages, typically due to them being removed from the site. Regularly audit your website and fix broken links to ensure seamless navigation and make it easy for search engines to crawl your content.
• Avoid redirect chains. Redirect chains occur when a URL redirects users to another URL which then redirects to yet another URL. This creates a sequence that can slow down your site and confuse search engines. Ensure that each URL points directly to its final destination without unnecessary intermediate redirects.
• Improve site speed. A fast-loading website provides a better user experience, so search engines use speed as a ranking factor. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify issues slowing down your site. To shorten loading times, compress and properly size images, enable browser caching, and minimize CSS.
• Secure your website. Obtain SSL certification to secure data exchanged between your website and visitors. Search engines prioritize secure websites, and users are more likely to trust and engage with a secure site.

To find issues on your website, use a website crawler tool like Screaming Frog. Just know that fixing some of these issues can be challenging if you don’t have an in-house web developer or external agency to locate, prioritize, and fix pressing issues that are harming your nonprofit’s website.

Elevate Your Graphic Design

Regardless of whether someone’s scrolling through their social media feed or passing by a bulletin board with your fundraising flyer pinned to it, they’re more likely to notice marketing collateral that features eye-catching graphics and vibrant colors.

Considering that people retain 55% more information when paired with an image, effective visuals make your content more memorable to prospects, too. Here are a few crucial areas where graphic design comes into play:

• Your logo. Your nonprofit’s logo appears on everything from your fundraising letters to your business cards. Prospects immediately associate it with your organization.
• Website design. The graphics on your website are just as important as the layout. They guide attention and support your messages. Use compelling images of beneficiaries, volunteers, and mission-driven moments, along with design elements that highlight key content on each page.
• Merchandise. If you sell t-shirts, mugs, or other fundraising products, use visually appealing, mission-aligned designs. Great design not only boosts sales—it strengthens your brand and makes supporters proud to show it off.
• Printed materials. Whether it’s fundraising letters, flyers, or service brochures, compelling graphic design helps your message stand out, improves readability, and reinforces your brand. Use consistent colors, typography, and imagery to create a polished, professional impression.

If you have limited graphic design expertise, reach out to an experienced graphic designer. Those with experience in the mission-driven space, such as Kwala, understand what it takes to make charitable causes stand out. Their team will work with yours to create anything you request, including flyers, logos, stickers, and even fundraising product designs.

Take a look at this postcard that they designed for a hypothetical organization called the Wildlife Rescue Group:

Well-designed nonprofit marketing materials like this will reel supporters in and drive action, whether you want people to donate, volunteer, or get involved in some other way.

Use Current Events

Boost your nonprofit’s marketing efforts by leveraging what is currently going on in the world to create urgency. Is there a story related to your cause in the news? For instance, if your organization is contributing to relief efforts in the wake of a natural disaster, connect your mission to this broader issue and boost public awareness around your work.

Highlight all the work your organization aims to achieve so that potential donors feel inspired to contribute toward your impact.

Follow Up With Supporters

Successful marketing requires more than one-way communication. Cultivate relationships with your donors and volunteers by starting ongoing conversations. This doesn’t mean you need to exchange text messages with each supporter to keep them engaged. Rather, your nonprofit just needs to respond to the actions supporters take to show that you see and value their contributions.

Some basic occasions for reaching out to a supporter include:

• After they’ve made a gift
• After they’ve attended an event
• On their birthday
• On their anniversary with your nonprofit
• On a holiday or at year-end
• Asking for their feedback in a survey

Your follow-up process can also benefit from a multi-channel approach. For example, personalized donor thank-you emails make it possible to show your appreciation quickly. Then, you can send a card or call donors a few days later when your marketing team sets aside time for donor outreach.

By reaching out often, you’ll be able to retain donors and convince lapsed donors to get involved again.

Work With Other Groups

Expand your nonprofit’s reach by tapping into other organizations’ audiences. Well-known groups and individuals can introduce your nonprofit to new supporters. If they agree to a marketing partnership, they can handle part of the marketing efforts on your behalf.

A few third parties to consider include:

• Influencers. Influencer marketing is on the rise. The majority of these influencers have smaller (between 10,000 and 100,000 followers and some with even less than 10,000) but highly specific audiences with interests related to the nonprofits they support. For example, an animal rights group might partner with a beauty influencer to discuss the importance of buying cruelty-free products.
• Businesses. Corporate philanthropy comes in many forms, including marketing support. Ask businesses to sponsor specific events or campaigns by promoting your nonprofit to their audience. In exchange, you’ll promote the businesses’ products and services to your audience. Like with influencers, look for businesses with audiences likely to be interested in your nonprofit’s cause, such as an animal shelter partnering with local dog groomers.
• Other nonprofits. Nonprofits can work together to connect their audiences with one another. Partner with local nonprofits in your area to host joint events and campaigns. In exchange for them promoting your cause, you can raise awareness for theirs in return.

Before partnering with a third party, thoroughly vet them. After all, your partnership will serve as a reflection of your nonprofit, so be sure they are reputable, trustworthy, and likely to present your nonprofit in the best light.

Wrapping Up: Launch Your Nonprofit Marketing Strategy

Marketing your mission is key to your organization’s ongoing success. From choosing the right channels to keeping up with the latest trends, crafting a strong nonprofit marketing strategy takes plenty of forethought.

From choosing paid outlets like search ads to organic outlets like email, you have plenty of opportunities to stand out. As you craft your strategies, check out these resources to keep learning:

• Google Grants Eligibility: Will Your Nonprofit Be Approved? Google Ads can be a powerful addition to your nonprofit marketing strategy. Find out if you’re eligible for the Google Grants program with this guide.
• Hiring A Google Grant Agency: Tips and 10+ Best Partners. Learn how experts at a Google Grant agency can support your marketing efforts in this guide.
• Charity eCards: How to Create Cards That Make A Difference. Your nonprofit can share digital cards to promote your mission and connect with new audiences. Learn the fundamentals of this creative nonprofit marketing tactic.

You’ve worked hard to build an organization that fulfills its mission and makes a difference for the community you serve. However, your work can’t reach its full potential without a strategic nonprofit marketing plan. Outlining a plan is critical for meeting your audience’s needs and driving meaningful conversions.

Whether you’ve never created a dedicated plan before or you want a refresher, we created this guide to walk through the following topics:

• What Is a Nonprofit Marketing Plan?
• Why Is a Strong Nonprofit Marketing Plan Important?
• What Are The Essential Components of a Nonprofit Marketing Plan?
• 8 Steps to Create a Nonprofit Marketing Plan
• Channels to Include in Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan
• Free Nonprofit Marketing Plan Templates to Download

When it comes to representing your mission, reaching your goals, and driving conversions, your team needs a definitive nonprofit marketing guide. Let’s dive into an overview of nonprofit marketing plans.

What Is a Nonprofit Marketing Plan?

A nonprofit marketing plan is a dedicated document that helps marketing teams create promotional materials, stay consistent with branding and goals, and reach target audiences effectively. 

This document should be available to everyone in your organization so that no matter the campaign or event you are promoting, your messaging and tactics support your core mission. By maintaining consistency and having a strategic plan you can better communicate with current supporters, acquire new ones, generate sales, and keep all team members on track to reach your goals.

Why Is a Strong Nonprofit Marketing Plan Important?

A strong nonprofit marketing plan should consist of much more than just guidelines for picking the right outreach channels. A well-crafted plan helps nonprofits focus their efforts, allocate resources, and measure results. It’s also essential to document objectives, strategies, and tactics to guide your marketing team and ensure that they’re staying on track.

When you take a comprehensive approach, your nonprofit marketing plan can:

• Provide clarity to your team. No matter what, your team should never lose track of its mission and goals. Your nonprofit marketing plan should outline this information so that your team can communicate it to stakeholders.
• Keep tasks and team members organized. Whether you’re sending out email blasts, creating flyers, launching an SEO strategy, or engaging with donors on social media, marketing campaigns can be overwhelming. A concrete plan eases that stress with guidance on when and how to complete each needed step.
• Focus on reaching your audience. The goals of various marketing campaigns can vary but often include building relationships with your audience, bringing awareness to your mission, increasing sales, and inspiring action from supporters. Your nonprofit marketing plan will walk through your target audience’s motivations as well as the most valuable channels for contacting them.

You won’t be able to accomplish all of this without a well-crafted and developed nonprofit marketing plan. The plan will outline the exact tasks that need to be done, the steps each will take, and when they should be completed.

What Are The Essential Components of a Nonprofit Marketing Plan?

When it comes to your nonprofit marketing plan, be as thorough as possible. Don’t leave any stone unturned to ensure clarity for team members and fill in any gaps in outreach methods.

While your specific marketing plan will be unique to your mission and campaign, several core components will still need to be included.

Overview of The Organization

When crafting your plan, start with the basics of your organization. Think about the foundation on which your organization is built. Then, define elements, such as your:

• Mission statement — Your mission statement should summarize why your organization exists, the audience you serve, and how you serve them. Mission statements provide direction for your team members and remind supporters of your nonprofit’s purpose. For example, the ASPCA’s mission statement is “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.”
• Key stakeholders and nonprofit staff structure — Define both internal and external stakeholders, including board members, paid staff, program directors, volunteers, donors, customers, and members. This helps you define your audience, assign responsibilities, and reach out to third parties who may need to be consulted.
• Goals — What exactly is your organization hoping to accomplish? Outlining both long-term and short-term goals can be helpful for your nonprofit marketing plan. This ensures that immediate objectives help support your overarching annual plan.
• Priorities — As you outline your goals, rank them in terms of priority. For instance, if your nonprofit sells products or services, you may need to decide which of your offerings to focus on promoting. You might heavily market new product offerings to bring in new customers or focus on your staples to grow and retain your core base.

Communicating the basics of your organization will give everyone a solid understanding of your mission and what your marketing campaign hopes to accomplish. In turn, your messaging can communicate those aspects accurately.

Audience Overview

Your goal should be to motivate your audience to take action, and that starts with knowing who you want your marketing to reach. As you fill out this section of your nonprofit marketing plan, define the following elements:

• Current audience — What types of people currently support your organization? Look at your nonprofit’s database and determine if there are any commonalities. List out the types of people and entities that consistently donate, buy from, and support your organization.
• Target audience — Who are the people you are trying to reach? For each marketing push, you should have a specific audience in mind. For example, a nonprofit selling professional development courses might serve both individuals and organizations and would need to determine how to market to each group separately.

You create personas for prospective customers using data about your current customers, like their ages, traits, employers, preferred communication methods, and giving preferences. Knowing who currently supports your work and who else you’d like to reach will enable you to connect with the widest audience possible. Even if you already have a strong base of support, you likely want to grow your organization, which is where defining your target audience comes in handy.

Messaging and Communication

Think critically about how you want to present your nonprofit in its messaging. This will set the tone with your audience and establish your brand image. Some key communication elements you’ll want to define in your nonprofit marketing plan include:

• Language and tone — Make sure your language and tone match your mission and audience. For instance, if your organization is focused on education and helping children, you might take on a more friendly and casual tone. Consider including some examples of phrasing or word choices in your plan to make it even easier for your marketing team.
• Calls to action — With your nonprofit’s goals in mind, what are the types of actions you want your target audience to complete? This can range from giving a gift, buying your products and services, signing up for newsletters, or taking another action to show support.
• Branding, color, logo, font — While the aesthetics of your marketing materials might not seem as important as your messaging, it’s crucial that your branding and other design factors are consistent. This ensures that audience members can recognize your organization as soon as they see your marketing content.
• Tactics and marketing channels — How are you going to use your audience and messaging to promote your mission? Your nonprofit marketing plan should outline specific tactics (like donor-segmented email lists) as well as the channels you’ll use.
• Marketing calendar — You’ll likely release content and launch campaigns throughout the year, so it makes sense to include a marketing calendar within your dedicated plan. Schedule email blasts, social media posts, blog publications, and any other marketing materials that will be released.
• Reporting and analytics method — No marketing plan is complete without a valid way to track performance. Make sure you have reporting and analytics set up so that you can follow a campaign’s success and learn about the tactics that made it thrive and the factors that can be improved.

It’s easy to look at these components and think you can fill them out at once. However, it actually takes careful planning and data analysis to accurately determine factors like the most valuable goals to target and which marketing channels to use.

8 Steps to Create a Nonprofit Marketing Plan

With the basic elements of a solid plan in mind, you can move forward with drafting your plan. We’ll break it down into eight easy steps, ensuring you include all of the essentials.

1. Review Past Performance.

Before you really get into the nitty-gritty of your nonprofit marketing plan, take a moment to reflect on your current standing and past performance. To ensure your marketing plan is as valuable as possible, determining what has and hasn’t worked in the past is your best bet.

Review your previous marketing efforts and ask yourself the following:

• Did you achieve your desired goals and objectives?
• What was the most successful part of this strategy or campaign?
• What KPIs did we track? Did they accurately represent the campaign’s success?
• What didn’t go as expected with the campaign?
• What could we do differently in the future, or what strategies should we test to improve performance next time?
• What strategies and outlets should we use again in future campaigns?
• Can any marketing materials (such as photographs, videos, or written content) be repurposed for future campaigns?

Analyzing data, having a sense of your past efforts, and determining the gaps in your strategies will help determine how you can improve your next campaign. If you’re not sure where to start, consider working with a nonprofit marketing consultant.

How to Conduct A Nonprofit Marketing Audit

Along with reviewing past performance, you can even conduct a more in-depth marketing audit. Start by collecting various marketing assets and resources. That way, you’ll have all the information in one place and will be better able to consider your options.

From here, we recommend conducting a SWOT analysis. This method is a strategic planning technique used to help a person or organization identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to competition or project planning.

Here’s a breakdown of this approach:

• Strengths: List anything your nonprofit excels at and separates it from other similar organizations. These might include an exceptionally loyal base of donors, a skilled staff, or unique services.
• Weaknesses: This refers to the internal characteristics of the organization that put it at a disadvantage compared to its competitors. This category could include things such as vacant staff positions, a lack of name recognition, or limited resources.
• Opportunities: This refers to external factors that could be beneficial to the organization. These could include things such as grants received, a growing market, or new technology.
• Threats: Name any external factors that could negatively impact your work. For example, these could include a reduction in government funding, an increase in competition, or economic turbulence.

Knowing what’s actively working to help you and what’s working against you will help you craft a holistic nonprofit marketing plan. After completing your analysis, create an action plan based on what you discovered in your audit. What’s working? What could be improved? Where are the gaps? What’s your unique value proposition that other organizations can’t bring to the table?

In many cases, your internal marketing team can successfully conduct a marketing audit. If this is your first time or you don’t have an established team yet, consider working with a professional marketing consultant.

2. Establish SMART Goals for Your Nonprofit Marketing.

Once you have an idea of your past marketing performance, your current resources, and relevant data trends, you can move forward with setting actionable goals.

Your goals should be carefully chosen and aimed to drive meaningful conversions that support your overall mission. That’s why we recommend using the SMART goal-setting method:

• Specific: Your goal should be as specific as possible — focus on one thing rather than trying to accomplish multiple things at once. If it’s a fundraising goal, set a monetary amount; if it’s a conversion goal, determine the rate at which you want to increase actions.
• Measurable: Goals are only useful when you can measure their success and progress. Make sure your goal has metrics attached that allow you to assess your progress toward your goal. This way, if you notice rates dropping, you can adjust your strategies.
• Attainable: To push your team while ensuring you can achieve your goals, look at your past results, and aim for a slightly higher objective. If your goals are so high they seem impossible to reach, they can be demotivating. For example, if you currently only have 10,000 Instagram followers, it’s much more attainable to set a goal of increasing that number to 20,000 than 1 million followers.
• Relevant: Your goals should be stepping stones to fulfilling your organization’s mission. Make sure that every goal you set is helping you get where you want to go.
• Time-based: Making sure you have a deadline for when you’d like to meet your goal further motivates you to achieve it. Even if you don’t accomplish your goal by the deadline, this information can help you plan future campaigns and strategies.

Following this framework will allow you to set clear objectives that drive action. Otherwise, you may end up with overly generic goals like “raise more donations” or “get more social media followers.”

Examples of SMART Marketing Goals

If you need help brainstorming potential primary goals, here are some core ideas to kickstart your creativity:

• Acquire new donors, volunteers, or members
• Sell your products, programs, or services
• Attract new corporate sponsors and strengthen existing partnerships
• Become a thought leader in your area of expertise
• Raise awareness for your mission

Note that you’ll need to take these primary goals and get more specific to give your team concrete numbers to work toward.

Let’s look at a more specific example. Here’s an example of a SMART goal you might set for your nonprofit to increase awareness of animal welfare:

“By the end of this year, we’ll aim to increase email list sign-ups from 1,000 to 1,300 subscribers. In turn, we’ll raise awareness of shelter overcrowding and animal homelessness. To track our progress, we will record sign-ups and create reports biweekly.”

Or, for a nonprofit looking to earn new customers, a goal might be:

“This year, our organization will expand sales lead from search engine traffic by 20% through a dedicated SEO strategy. Our primary metric will be conversions, but we will also track overall traffic and keyword rankings.”

These goals are time-based, have specific and attainable targets, are relevant to the organization’s missions, and include how their success will be measured.

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