When it comes to marketing your nonprofit, chances are that you’ll be doing a lot of writing. From fundraising appeal emails and thank-you letters to social media announcements and website content, almost all of your nonprofit’s external communications involve text.

As such, this means that every nonprofit, whether they have a dedicated copywriter or not, does copywriting! However, just because every nonprofit is doing it doesn’t necessarily mean every nonprofit has a dedicated strategy.

To improve the quality of your nonprofit’s copywriting, we’ll explore these topics:

• Why Do Nonprofits Need Copywriting?
• Types of Copywriting for Nonprofits
• 9 Copywriting Strategies for Nonprofits

The strength of your copywriting impacts nearly every aspect of how donors interact with your nonprofit. It influences everything from whether they see your organization as professional and reliable to whether they understand your donation page or click on your search ads.

To set your text advertising strategy off on the right foot, let’s first explore a brief overview of copywriting for nonprofits.

Why Do Nonprofits Need Copywriting?

Copywriting is the practice of creating written content for the purpose of persuading an audience to take action. For instance, all of the text that makes up a Google Ad—the headline and description—would be considered copy, and the process of creating that copy is copywriting.

However, copywriting includes more than just advertisements. Again, copywriting consists of all written text created to persuade an audience to take a specific action. This means copywriting for nonprofits includes:

• The text on your donation form
• Donor thank-you messages
• Blog posts
• Social media posts
• Event invitations
• Volunteer recruitment posts

Basically, any time you compose a message meant for an external audience, you are engaging in copywriting.

Types of Copywriting for Nonprofits

While copywriting is a broad category that includes an extensive range of materials, we can still divide nonprofit copywriting into three general categories. These categories are based on the specific types of content you would likely hire a copywriter to produce and encompass most types of nonprofit copy.

Advertising

When it comes to advertising, there are generally two kinds to know: outbound and inbound.

Outbound marketing consists of creating content to be pushed out to a wide audience, regardless of their past interactions, or lack thereof, with your nonprofit. Most types of advertising, such as pay-per-click ads on search engines and social media, are considered outbound marketing. In contrast, inbound marketing usually focuses on content marketing, which we’ll discuss in the next section.

Advertising copy primarily consists of the text on ads. For example, you’ll be conducting advertising copywriting if you create fundraising flyers, run an ad in the newspaper, prepare a script to be read in a radio ad, or use the Google Ad Grant to run search engine ads.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the process of creating content for the purpose of generating audience interest, which can then lead to conversions.

For example, a nonprofit like the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (NLA) sells nonprofit professional development courses, like how to improve fundraising, leadership, and organizational skills. To inspire their audience, the NLA produces blog content that provides advice to nonprofit professionals. Individuals impressed by their expertise will then likely continue exploring their website and potentially sign up for a course.

For other nonprofits, written content marketing might consist of:

• Blog posts
• Research reports
• Videos

While videos and research reports may need more than just writing, copywriting is still a core part of producing these materials. After all, someone needs to write your video’s script, and translating complex topics and research into layman’s terms is an essential copywriting skill.

Grant Writing

Grant writing is a highly specialized type of nonprofit copywriting and requires a unique skill set. While some nonprofit professionals may take on grant writing responsibilities, many organizations opt to work with freelance grant writers or take grant writing courses.

Ultimately, most grant writing skills are good for any writer to have, such as the ability to write persuasively, write to a specific audience, and meet tight deadlines. However, because of the pressure to produce successful grant proposals, it’s often worthwhile to work with a professional grant writer rather than attempt to wing it yourself.

Copywriting Strategies for Nonprofits

Whether you plan to write your own copy, provide tips to your marketing team, or hire a third-party copywriting firm, these strategies can help you create and identify strong nonprofit copy.

1. Have a clear goal.

Everything your nonprofit writes should have a purpose. Before writing templates for your fundraising appeals, thank-you messages, or event invitations, consider what your goal is.

For some types of content, your goal will be more obvious than others. For example, it’s common advice not to ask donors to give again in thank you messages. This is because the goal behind thank-you messages is to thank the donor to build the relationship and push them to restart their donor journey. Theoretically, asking for another donation immediately would cut out the middle steps and be more efficient, but doing so would fail to build a relationship, which is what helps you secure their next gift.

As this example illustrates, most pieces of nonprofit copywriting have short-term goals. Think of each message as a stepping stone in your overall nonprofit marketing plan. For instance, let’s say your nonprofit publishes and sells nonfiction books. To secure sales, you might create advertising emails with the following goals:

• A monthly newsletter that promotes all of your books being released that month to drive initial interest
• A countdown to a new book’s release to increase excitement and urgency
• A link to an interview you conducted with an author of a new book to increase interest and demonstrate authority
• A sales promotion to drive sales during a short period of time

Ultimately, all of these messages have the same goal of driving sales. However, each has a more specific goal, such as provoking a specific emotion, that cumulates in earning sales.

2. Know your audience.

Your nonprofit now has clear goals for its copywriting, but those aren’t the only goals you need to take into account. You know what your nonprofit wants. However, what does your audience want, and how can you factor that into your copy?

For example, consider Google Ads. Google uses keywords to find content relevant to users’ searches. However, it doesn’t just give out the highest rankings to the content that uses the keyword a certain number of times. Instead, it considers user intent and presents visitors with content that likely aligns with their interests.

Let’s explore this example of a Google Ad for the keyword “youth mentoring services.”

Google and the copywriters for this ad are making a few inferences about their audience. These include that the user:

• Is someone who wants to become a youth mentor rather than someone enrolling their child in youth mentoring services.
• Wants to engage with mentoring services in their local community.
• Cares about children and helping them reach their full potential.

These assumptions were not made haphazardly. Rather, both Google and Big Brother Big Sister Atlanta conducted audience research to determine what the average person searching this keyword wants to accomplish.

For your own audience research, analyze your supporter base. Explore donor data to identify trends in giving behavior, demographic information, and engagement rates. If you lack the information you feel you need to make inferences about your audience, consider surveying them directly or purchasing a data append to update and correct your donor data.

3. Prioritize clarity.

Audiences need to understand what you’re trying to say in your copy. While you may want to present a certain tone in your writing or create prose that stands out, do not do so if you are sacrificing clarity.

There are many principles for writing clearly and concisely. While we can’t conduct a course in writing right here, a few key style lessons that anyone can quickly pick up and apply to their writing include:

• Avoid “be” verbs. These include words like be, is, are, am, were, was, etc. Be verbs obscure who is completing a specific action, making your sentences vague or unclear. For example, consider this sentence: “The homeless population was given permanent housing.” This raises the question of who provided the housing when compared to this sentence: “Our nonprofit volunteers worked with the homeless population to provide permanent housing.” This sentence clearly explains who did what, making it easier to read and understand, while also properly attributing credit.

• Limit nominalizations. Nominalization is the practice of turning a verb or adjective into a noun. For example, “management” is the nominalization of “manage.” While some nominalization is normal, too much can make sentences unnecessarily long and complex. For example, compare these sentences: “We conducted a demonstration of why the removal of redwood trees is harmful” and “We demonstrated why removing redwood trees is harmful.”

• Keep your subject and verb close together. Sentences have three components: the subject, the verb, and the object. Not all sentences have an object, such as short sentences like “We donated.” However, all sentences have a subject and a verb, and the closer these two components are to each other, the easier the sentence is to understand. For example, compare “Local cats in the area, of which there are approximately 100 in number and many of which suffer from dehydration, ear and eye infections, and dangers from predators and traffic, can find refuge at our shelter” and “Local cats can find refuge at our shelter.”

Additionally, there’s no shame in needing a basic grammar refresh. Before writing your next fundraising appeal, ensure you know where to place your commas, how to avoid run-on and incomplete sentences, and exactly what a semi-colon is for.

4. Use storytelling strategies.

People tend to remember stories better than lists of facts. While compelling statistics and research certainly can be persuasive, factual evidence is usually most effective at converting those already interested in your cause.

To generate that interest, your copy needs emotional storytelling. Storytelling doesn’t mean writing a novel but rather sharing brief anecdotes and examples that have a beginning, middle, and end. A few key elements of nonprofit storytelling include:

• A single protagonist. Anyone can be the protagonist of your story, but nonprofit stories should follow just one individual. This helps focus your content and gives a specific character for audiences to identify with.
• Select details. Stories use details to paint a picture in readers’ minds. However, too many details can be distracting. When putting your stories together, select a few key details to include that you feel will stick with readers and help increase your stories’ memorability and emotional impact.
• A call to action. Nonprofit storytelling differs from regular stories by ending with some sort of request to the reader. This is called a call to action, and it might be to donate, sign up to volunteer, spread awareness, or just learn more about a specific issue.

When it comes to sourcing stories, you can interview beneficiaries, supporters, volunteers, team members, or anyone else related to your cause you think has a strong story to tell. When translating these interviews into prose, you can do some editing, such as summarizing and cutting tangents, but do not make up new details or remove essential ones. Doing so is unethical and can damage your credibility if discovered.

5. Grab readers’ attention.

Everyone hates clickbait, and your nonprofit should not use it in your copywriting. However, you can use a few lessons from clickbait to create compelling subject lines and post titles that grab interest. For example, try:

• Asking questions. Invite your audience to relate to your content by asking them a question. Avoid yes-or-no questions that readers may answer to themselves and keep scrolling. For example, “Is your home at risk of wildfires?” may be answered with a blunt yes or no. In contrast, “How at risk is your home from wildfires?” may invoke curiosity as users will be compelled to check their exact risk level.

• Selectively withholding information. The goal of a headline is to make readers want to learn more. While you should avoid deceptive headlines, you can selectively withhold details in your headline to generate curiosity, such as “We’ve discovered the key to fighting homelessness,” over “Mental health services and upfront financial support are the keys to fighting homelessness.” The former invites questions and intrigue, whereas the latter may make readers assume they already know the whole story and don’t need to read any further.

• Leading with a statistic. While stories are more memorable than numbers, a particularly bold statistic can draw audiences in. For example, you might publish a research report on your blog and feature one of the key findings right in the title to capture interest, such as “1 in 5 adults living in the U.S. suffers from mental illness.”

Additionally, while this guide is here to talk about copywriting, images and videos can be exceptionally useful for capturing attention. Videos, photos, and graphic design elements break up text, making your pages easier to read and more likely to grab the attention of users scrolling past.

6. Create a brand guide.

If you have several copywriters on your team, intend to hire an external copywriting service, or plan to let volunteers represent your nonprofit, you need a brand guide. Brand guides contain information about your nonprofit’s logo, brand colors, audience, marketing goals, and copywriting practices.

For copywriting, your brand guide should cover:

• Tone. How do you want your nonprofit to come off to readers? This could be professional, playful, casual, heartfelt, passionate, or anything else you feel shows off your brand identity and will get supporters invested in your organization.
• Specific phrases to use or avoid. If your nonprofit has a slogan, fact, or recurring idea you’d like to see expressed in your content, add it to your brand guide. Conversely, if there are terms to avoid, add those as well. For example, an environmental group might include a section in their brand guide that says“Use ‘climate change’ NOT ‘global warming.’”
• Differentiators. What makes your brand unique from other organizations? Your nonprofits selling products, your differentiators might be what makes your product offerings particularly useful, convenient, or high-quality, while nonprofits looking to fundraise should share why they specifically are the group that should tackle their target issue due to experience, a specific approach, or resources.

A brand guide helps every aspect of your marketing strategy, from copywriting to graphic design to presentations. Make your guide easily accessible so you can share it with new team members, volunteers, and third-party services.

7. Have a lot of ideas.

Not every idea you have for new content will be a winner. As part of the writing process, be prepared to come up with lots of ideas, draft several messages, and ultimately scrap most of them to find the best version possible.

As part of the brainstorming process, try:

• Working with many different team members who can bring their unique experiences and perspectives to the table.
• Staying up to date on the news, trends in your field, and updates on the nonprofit sector to learn what your audience is likely interested in.
• Using AI to help suggest blog titles. Not all of them will be useful, and you should use AI sparingly for your actual writing, but generative AI technology can automatically create as many ideas as you ask, meaning a few are bound to be good with a little tweaking.

To ensure the ideas you choose are the right ones, have someone edit all of your writing. Along with helping to catch typos, grammar errors, and stylistic issues that might slip past an automatic spellchecker, editors can fact-check, point out areas that are unclear or unpersuasive, and ultimately share whether they think the piece will succeed with your audience.

8. Issue calls to action.

We’ve already touched on calls to action (CTAs) briefly, but given their importance in nonprofit marketing, let’s dive a bit further into what makes a compelling CTA:

• Create a sense of urgency. How often have you opened an email and intended to respond to it but decided to do it later and never got back around to it? The same exact thing happens to your supporters when they open your messages, and you can combat this by creating a sense of urgency. In your CTAs, explain why it’s vital for donors to give as soon as possible. For example, in a fundraising appeal, you might mention an ongoing matching challenge, how close you are to reaching your fundraising goal, or what your nonprofit will be able to do with the funding.

• Issue only one CTA at a time. In short content like emails, text messages, and letters, issue just one CTA. Multiple CTAs pull supporters in multiple directions, often resulting in them taking no action. Plus, an email asking supporters to donate, volunteer, and sign up for a membership program likely isn’t very focused or easy to read.

• Infuse your brand or cause into your CTAs. As long as it’s clear what supporters will accomplish by clicking on your CTA, you can get creative with the language used. For example, instead of just “Donate,” your CTAs might say, “Donate to save a child.”

Outside of copywriting, for the actual design of your CTAs, use your brand colors strategically to make them stand out. For instance, if your colors are white and red, like the American Heart Association, you might have white text on a red button.

9. Follow SEO best practices.

As part of marketing your content, your copywriters should be aware of SEO best practices. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and as the name implies, it’s the process of optimizing your content to rank highly on search engine results pages. When your website content appears for relevant keywords, your website can attract more supporters, customers, and advocates.

A tricky part of SEO writing is knowing how to use keywords. Optimizing your content for specific keywords increases the chances it will rank for that specific word or phrase. However, overloading your content with these terms can result in keyword stuffing, which creates a negative user experience and can get your website penalized if a search engine picks up on it.

When it comes to keyword optimization, copywriters can generally rely on this advice:

• Title and headings. Your page title should feature your target keyword, and headings should feature the keyword where appropriate and natural. Try adding variations to fit your content. For example, if your keyword is “professional development courses,” you might use the keyword variant “professional development skills” in a heading.

• Body text. Above all, your content should be natural and valuable. If it makes sense to use your keyword in a sentence, go for it. If you have to shoehorn it in, consider a variant or just decide to skip that opportunity. Using keywords too much and inappropriately can result in keyword stuffing.

• Alt text. If possible, try to incorporate your keyword naturally into your images’ alternative text. However, the primary purpose of alt text is to allow visitors using screenreaders and other assistive technology the ability to navigate your page and have a similar experience to other visitors. This means your alt text should, above all else, accurately describe your images first and factor in keywords second.

Additionally, consider each page’s meta description. While meta descriptions are not taken into account for search engine rankings, they can determine whether a user decides to click on your content. Think of SEO as getting your content in front of users and the meta description as determining whether they actually click on it.

Additional Nonprofit Marketing Resources

Copywriting is a core part of all nonprofit marketing, and when done well, it’s one of your most reliable tools for connecting with supporters, no matter where they are in their donor journey. To take your copywriting to the next level and secure more high-value leads, follow the tips in this guide or consider working with a third-party copywriting agency.

To improve your nonprofit marketing strategy even further, check out these resources:

• Top 2023 Nonprofit Marketing Trends to Inform Your Strategy. Staying on top of trends helps your nonprofit stand out. Learn what the future of marketing holds in this guide.
• Digital Marketing for Nonprofits Made Easy: A Helpful Guide. Online marketing has unique limitations and opportunities. Discover how to make all of your messages stand out online.
• A Great Google Grant Agency in 2024: 10 Best Partners. Ready to access a marketing channel with an audience of thousands for free? Take the next step in applying for the Google Ad Grant by working with a Google Grant agency.

Nonprofits operate in a unique intersection of passion and practicality, striving not only to champion their causes but also to engage a community of supporters who are just as dedicated. At the core of this engagement lies an integral yet underappreciated tool: nonprofit content marketing.

While many nonprofits recognize the necessity of marketing for donor acquisition and retention, the content of these materials often gets brushed over. This oversight can mean missed opportunities in an environment where every interaction counts.

To help, we’ll explore everything you need to know about creating a successful nonprofit content marketing strategy that incites passion for your mission, including:

• Content Marketing FAQ
• Types of Content Marketing
• 7 Content Marketing Strategies

Whether your goal is to inspire a first-time visitor to become a lifelong donor or to re-engage lapsed supporters, the right content can make all the difference. Let’s dive in!

Content Marketing FAQ

Before you craft your strategy, let’s explore the fundamentals and importance of this type of marketing.

What Is Nonprofit Content Marketing?

Nonprofit content marketing is a type of marketing that involves creating and distributing written and multimedia collateral that’s valuable and relevant to an organization’s cause. This type of marketing focuses on telling the organization’s story, showcasing impact, and building trust among potential and current donors, volunteers, and advocates.

Content can take many formats, including long and short-form ones. Common types of nonprofit content marketing include blog posts, emails, social media posts, videos, case studies, and eBooks. The best content aims to help the reader and educate them on the cause, rather than pushing them to take action.

What Are The Benefits of A Nonprofit Content Marketing Strategy?

Generally, nonprofit content marketing helps deepen connections by fostering trust and engagement through storytelling and information sharing. By understanding best practices for content creation, your organization can enhance its narrative, connect meaningfully with its audience, and drive its mission forward.

Although most nonprofits engage in some form of content marketing, having a specific strategy can greatly boost its effectiveness. Here are some key benefits of implementing a well-defined nonprofit content marketing strategy:

• Consistent Messaging: A structured content marketing strategy ensures consistent messaging across various channels. This consistency helps build a recognizable brand voice and identity.
• Goal-Focused: A strategy ensures that every piece of content has a purpose aligned with your organization’s broader goals. Whether it’s raising awareness, driving donations, or recruiting volunteers, a strategic approach ensures all marketing efforts contribute to achieving specific objectives.
• Easy Results Tracking: With a clear strategy, it’s easier to set benchmarks and measure the effectiveness of your nonprofit’s content marketing efforts. Marketing data like engagement rates, conversion rates, and overall reach can be invaluable for assessing what works.

Essentially, implementing a dedicated content marketing strategy will allow your nonprofit to maximize its outreach and drive passion for its mission.

What Can Nonprofit Content Marketing Strategy Accomplish?

A well-crafted approach to nonprofit content marketing can achieve several objectives that are vital for the growth and sustainability of your organization, such as:

• Supporter Acquisition: Attract new supporters by creating content that vividly showcases your nonprofit’s mission and its tangible impact through beneficiary stories and impact metrics.
• Supporter Engagement and Retention: Keep current supporters actively informed through regular updates and compelling stories that highlight ongoing efforts and the impact of support.
• Sales Lead Generation: Strengthen revenue streams through content that promotes your nonprofit’s revenue-generating services, programs, or products, reinforcing your financial base.

By strategically employing content marketing, your nonprofit can ensure a broader reach and deeper connections, turning passive observers into active supporters. This approach not only drives your mission forward but also builds a sustainable foundation for future impact.

Types of Nonprofit Content Marketing

There are several types of content your nonprofit can create. While this gives your nonprofit plenty of options, it can be overwhelming trying to find the perfect mix that inspires your audience.

The best combination depends on your nonprofit’s mission, audience, and goals. With that in mind, here are the core types to consider:

Written Content

Written content is a cornerstone of an effective nonprofit content marketing strategy. It offers a variety of formats to engage different segments of your audience. Each type of written content serves a unique purpose and can be tailored to meet specific organizational goals:

• Blog Articles: These provide a platform for deeper storytelling, allowing your nonprofit to elaborate on its mission, tell stories, and discuss relevant issues. When optimized for search engines, blogs can drive traffic to your website and establish your organization as a thought leader in its field.
• Email Marketing: Personalized email campaigns can nurture relationships with supporters by delivering targeted messages directly to their inboxes. Emails are excellent for updates, donor appeals, and sharing the direct impact of contributions.
• Search Engine Ads: Paid search engine ads can boost visibility and direct traffic to key content or your donation page. Since Google owns over 90% of the search engine market, Google Ads are particularly impactful for capturing the attention of potential supporters who are searching for related topics or services. You’ll need to write compelling ads that emphasize your mission, target relevant keywords, and inspire action, like this example from Erika’s Lighthouse:

• Social Media Posts: Quick, engaging posts on social media platforms can increase awareness, encourage shares, and foster community among followers. These posts are ideal for real-time updates, event promotions, and viral fundraising campaigns. Consider which platforms your supporters are active on, whether that’s Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, or X (formerly Twitter).
• Flyers: Traditional but still effective, fundraising flyers can be used to promote events, recruit volunteers, and raise awareness locally. They are especially useful when posted on community bulletin boards and handed out by local businesses.
• eCards: Charity eCards can be sent to thank donors, share success stories, and celebrate special occasions. It’s a fairly cost-effective method, so design birthday or holiday eCards to let supporters know you’re thinking of them or thank-you cards to show appreciation. You can even create cause awareness eCards for supporters to send, like this example from Project Sleep:

Each type of written content offers unique benefits and can be strategically integrated into your overall marketing plan to achieve your nonprofit’s goals. Do you want to enhance donor appreciation? Try thank-you eCards. Do you want to drive traffic to your latest fundraising campaign? Create Google Ads that highlight your campaign’s purpose and feature your fundraising page.

By diversifying your channels and tailoring messages to different audience segments, you can enhance outreach, deepen connections, and drive more meaningful actions.

Video

The rise of video content in digital marketing is undeniable, with marketing research showing that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text. This visual and dynamic medium can significantly enhance engagement and message recall, making it a powerful tool for nonprofits.

Plus, video is only growing more popular. Wistia’s video platform reported a 15% increase in video plays and a 44% jump in watch time in 2023.

To create impactful video content, consider the following strategies:

• Equipment: High-quality video doesn’t always require professional-grade equipment. Today’s smartphones offer excellent video capabilities, and when paired with a good microphone and stabilizer, they can produce surprisingly professional results. However, for certain projects, investing in or renting higher-quality equipment can improve the look and sound of your videos.
• Scriptwriting: A well-crafted script is crucial. It should clearly outline the message, ensure a logical flow of ideas, and include a compelling call to action. The script should resonate with your audience, emphasizing the impact of their support and the real stories behind your cause.
• Editing: Good editing can transform basic footage into a compelling story. It involves not just cutting and arranging clips, but also integrating elements such as music, text overlays, and effects to enhance the emotional and informational value of the video.
• Accessibility: Include closed captions, create transcripts, and ensure that videos are compatible with assistive technologies. This not only broadens your audience but also complies with accessibility standards, enhancing the inclusivity of your content. On TikTok, adding captions boosts viewer affinity by 95%, recall by 58%, likability by 31%, and uniqueness by 25%, according to that same Wistia study cited earlier.

Tap into this form of nonprofit content marketing with YouTube for Nonprofits. This program offers special features like linkable donation buttons directly in videos, the ability to broadcast live events, and access to powerful analytics tools. These features help maximize the reach and impact of your videos, making it easier for your nonprofit to connect with a global audience, spread its message, and drive donations.

Images

Visual storytelling through images can significantly enhance the way your nonprofit communicates its mission. Decorative images not only capture attention but also convey emotions and narratives more effectively than text alone.

Here are a few types of images that can be particularly impactful:

• Photographs: Real, compelling photographs of your nonprofit’s activities and the individuals whose lives you’ve impacted can evoke strong emotional responses. These images can make your mission feel more tangible to your audience.
• Infographics: These combine graphics and data to explain complex information clearly and quickly. Infographics are particularly useful for illustrating your nonprofit’s achievements, explaining processes, or showing how donations are used.
• Illustrations: Sometimes creative or abstract concepts are best conveyed through illustrations. These can be used to visualize stories and ideas that are difficult to capture with photographs, offering a unique and engaging way to communicate your mission.

Using these types of images strategically can enhance your nonprofit’s storytelling and deepen understanding and empathy toward your cause. If you don’t have a graphic designer in-house, consider outsourcing the work. Kwala’s nonprofit graphic design guide suggests choosing a company that offers a wide range of creatives, provides web and print designs, and has mission-driven expertise. That way, you can focus your energy on your work rather than attempting to master different design tools.

Events

Whether virtual or in-person, events serve as dynamic content that engages audiences, provides valuable experiences, and communicates key messages about your nonprofit’s mission. Events offer unique storytelling opportunities that can be captured and leveraged in future marketing efforts to showcase success stories backed by direct quotes and video content.

Here are a few types of events that serve as content marketing opportunities:

• Live Events: These include galas, fundraisers, and, community gatherings that provide direct engagement with attendees. Live events not only raise awareness and funds but they also create vivid content through speeches and participant interactions that can be shared across media platforms.
• Webinars: These virtual events offer educational content that can attract a broader audience. Webinars are excellent for sharing thought leadership, expanding reach, and providing valuable content that can be repurposed in blogs, podcasts, or e-learning materials.
• Appreciation Events: These events are explicitly designed to thank donors, volunteers and community members. Although they don’t directly solicit donations, they play a crucial role in stewardship by deepening loyalty and affinity towards your nonprofit. This indirectly promotes your organization by fostering a strong, supportive community.

Incorporating these nonprofit events into your nonprofit’s content marketing strategy can provide a rich source of content for ongoing outreach efforts.

7 Content Marketing Strategies

With these types of content in mind, you can develop a strategy that promotes your mission and inspires support. Let’s walk through seven easy steps to create your plan.

1. Have Clear Goals.

It’s essential to align the objectives of your nonprofit’s content marketing with your broader strategic goals. This alignment ensures that every piece of content—whether a blog post, video, or social media update—contributes directly to overarching fundraising targets, volunteer recruitment, or awareness campaigns.

Assess your strategic plan to determine how these objectives translate into specific marketing goals. For example, if your goal is to reach a certain fundraising milestone, your nonprofit’s content marketing strategy might focus on:

• Increasing donor value: Create content that educates current donors on the impact of increasing their contributions.
• Acquiring new donors: Develop targeted campaigns that appeal to potential donors by highlighting the uniqueness and urgency of the cause.
• Engaging recurring donors: Produce updates and stories that keep loyal supporters informed and emotionally connected to the organization.

In a broader marketing context, these specific goals can translate into measurable marketing objectives, such as generating sales leads from new donor segments, increasing traffic to your donation page, or boosting social media engagement.

2. Establish Your Target Audience.

Creating content with a specific audience in mind is essential for effective nonprofit content marketing. Here’s how to determine the materials that will appeal to your target audience:

1. Assess your internal marketing data, particularly past engagement metrics, to identify what’s previously resonated with your audience.
2. Analyze marketing trends to understand broader behaviors within the nonprofit sector or your specific cause area.
3. Survey your donor base to gather direct feedback about your audience’s interests, needs, and preferences.

This multi-angle approach ensures your content strategy is data-informed and tailored to your audience’s evolving expectations.

3. Personalize Content.

In direct marketing, personalizing content ensures your material resonates on an individual level. Start by segmenting your audience into groups like donors, volunteers, and customers. Then, refine those segments even further, such as by dividing donors into recurring, lapsed, and prospective major donors.

To enhance your segments, consider using data appends, which improve your existing databases with additional details like preferences and behaviors, allowing for even more precise and impactful content customization.

Beyond only considering common characteristics, you’ll want to tailor the messaging to address the specific interests and needs of each segment. This is known as personalization, and it’s a powerful way to produce content that resonates with your audience. For instance, someone who would potentially purchase your nonprofit’s professional development courses might need to read testimonials and impact metrics to understand the value of investing in your product.

4. Use Storytelling Strategies.

Emotions can influence supporters’ behaviors. One donor behavior study found that positive emotions tend to elicit higher total donation amounts, while negative emotions can lead to higher individual donation amounts.

Here’s how to effectively use storytelling to tap into these emotional drivers:

• Focus on an individual protagonist. Center your story around a single character to create a more relatable and emotionally engaging narrative.
• Add specific details. Incorporate vivid details to paint a clear picture without overwhelming or distracting the audience.
• End with a call to action. Conclude your story with a compelling call to action. This tells your audience how they can help, whether that’s by donating, volunteering, signing a petition, or taking another action.
• Adhere to storytelling ethics. Always obtain permission from individuals whose stories you share and commit to truthfulness in your narratives.

These storytelling tactics will enhance emotional connections and align with the observed impacts of different emotional appeals on donation behaviors.

5. Demonstrate Your Thought Leadership.

The best content is original and insightful. When posted on your nonprofit’s website, this not only appeals to search engines but it also builds trust with supporters.

Here’s how to accomplish just that:

• Share internal research. Whenever possible, share studies or data your team has compiled, ensuring privacy and confidentiality are not compromised.
• Link to trusted research. Enhance credibility by linking to reputable sources.
• Use original photos. Incorporate unique photos taken by your team to add authenticity to your content.

Once you produce valuable content, drive immediate visibility to those key pages by promoting it with Google Ads. If eligible for the Google Ad Grant, your nonprofit can promote these pages for free. You’ll receive up to $10,000 each month to promote valuable pages that advance your mission.

6. Follow SEO Best Practices.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is vital for increasing the visibility of your nonprofit’s website content. A comprehensive SEO strategy is particularly useful for nonprofits that sell programs, products, and services, because people searching for terms related to your nonprofit already know exactly what they’re looking for. SEO puts your nonprofit front and center.

When someone searches for a word, phrase, or question on Google, they’re directed to a search engine results page (SERP) that’s comprised of relevant ads and organic results. If your website’s content is optimized for SEO, it’ll ideally appear under the Google Ads on the SERP.

A strong SEO strategy consists of several elements, including:

• Keyword Research: Identify and naturally use keywords throughout your content, so potential supporters can find services like yours.
• Original Content: Create unique, high-quality content that addresses your audience’s needs and interests related to your cause.
• Backlinks From Reputable Sources: Boost your site’s authority by securing backlinks from reputable sites within your industry, such as by guest blogging.
• Technical Best Practices: Optimize your website for speed, mobile usage, and accessibility to enhance the user experience and ensure search engines can crawl your content.

SEO is a long-term strategy, meaning it will take time to see results compared to paid ads. Google constantly recrawls content, so you have endless opportunities to study results and improve your approach.

Getting Started With SEO

To elevate your SEO strategy, we recommend partnering with Nexus Marketing. Their team of skilled SEO experts and content creators has over a decade of experience in the mission-driven sector.

Not to mention, Nexus boasts an incredible network of 500+ partners in the mission-driven space, meaning they can scale your authority-building strategy rapidly through valuable backlink and guest posting opportunities.

In fact, they helped the Christian publishers at David C Cook rank for 187 of their most important keywords on page one of Google, compared to just five at the start of the partnership. And those numbers account for only the keywords they’re tracking! Now, the organization can rely on its SEO strategy to drive sales for its curriculum.

Please note that Nexus is best suited for nonprofits selling products, programming, or services. While they excel at increasing online engagement, they’re not well-suited for local SEO or exclusively attracting donors.

7. Work With A Marketing Consultant.

Creating professional content and managing a comprehensive content marketing strategy can be a full-time endeavor. Hiring a marketing consultant or agency can offer several advantages:

• Expertise and Efficiency: External experts can provide specialized knowledge, helping to maximize the impact of your marketing. For example, our Google Ad Grant experts can help you acquire the Grant, create compelling ads, target the right keywords, and drive qualified traffic to your website.
• Professional Content Creation: A consultant can handle the intricacies of creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience and adheres to the latest trends and best practices in nonprofit marketing.

Leveraging professional assistance ensures that your nonprofit’s marketing efforts are both strategic and effective, allowing you to focus more on your mission and less on the complexities of content marketing.

Additional Marketing Resources

Nonprofit content marketing is an essential tool for engaging supporters and expanding your reach. From creating powerful Google Ads to developing SEO blog content, your opportunities are endless!

Continue your journey in mastering nonprofit content marketing with these resources:

• Powerful Nonprofit Advertising Examples To Inspire Your Ads: Looking for inspiration for your advertisements? Explore these examples from real nonprofits.
• 40+ Marketing Ideas for Nonprofits to Spread Your Mission: Discover incredible ways to promote your mission and drive support for your work.
• Consistency and Impact: Creating a Nonprofit Style Guide: Follow the advice in this guide to create a style guide that ensures your content is consistent.