With 30% of annual giving occurring in December, it’s not surprising that the holiday season is also the ultimate nonprofit fundraising season. People feel inclined to give back to their favorite causes during the holidays, and nonprofits should lean into that giving spirit to maximize their fundraising results.
However, there are so many nonprofits for donors to choose from. How do you make yours stand out and capture the attention of potential donors?
When you implement Christmas-specific fundraising ideas, you make holiday giving fun. There’s no better way to entice people to give during the holiday season than to give your fundraising efforts a little Christmas spin. Let’s walk through 20 Christmas fundraising ideas so your nonprofit can engage donors and earn more this holiday season.
1. Christmas eCards
Christmas cards are a classic way to spread holiday cheer with family and friends. What if you could make Christmas cards more convenient and use them to encourage holiday giving?
Enter Christmas eCards. With eCards, people can connect with their loved ones—no matter where they are—with the click of a button. Your nonprofit can use dedicated holiday eCard software to create Christmas eCards and sell them on your website to raise money for your cause. Then, donors can add personalized messages and share their eCards. 
Another way to fundraise with Christmas eCards is to offer them as tribute gifts. Donors can contribute to your nonprofit in honor of a loved one and send them an eCard detailing the donation and your cause. In that case, eCards act as Christmas cards and presents, spreading double the holiday cheer.
If you’re curious about what a Christmas eCard fundraising campaign looks like in action, eCardWidget provides a few examples from organizations like UnitingWorld and Habitat for Humanity South Africa.
2. Christmas Auction
Another Christmas fundraising idea is hosting a Christmas auction. This type of fundraiser is very versatile because you can pair it with other fundraising methods. For example, if you’re hosting a Christmas party or other holiday-themed event, you can include an auction as part of the festivities.
Plus, auctions are a great way to not only earn money for your cause but also offer donors something in return for their contributions. Include an array of holiday-themed items, such as wreaths, ornaments, sweaters, gift baskets, gift cards, and holiday event tickets.
To offset the costs of procuring items, reach out to local businesses to obtain corporate sponsorships. Then, companies can donate items to be auctioned off to your supporters. In exchange, you can promote these businesses on all marketing materials, including your website, newsletter, and social media pages.
3. Holiday Matching Gift Campaign
What could be better than a fundraising idea that comes at no additional cost to donors but has the potential to double—or even triple—your fundraising revenue? When you promote matching gifts, you make it more likely that donors will submit matching gift requests to their employers in an effort to double the impact of their donations for your cause.
While you may already advertise matching gift opportunities to your donors, doing so during the holiday season when giving is at an all-time high can be an effective way to raise even more. Since the matching gift process almost exclusively occurs online, leverage a digital fundraising campaign to promote matching gifts, using methods such as social media, Google Ads, and email.
To facilitate the matching gift process, consider using matching gift software. Double the Donation’s guide to matching gift software vendors explains that since many donors don’t know if they’re eligible for matching gifts, they don’t fill out matching gift requests, leaving extra money on the table that nonprofits could benefit from.
When you implement matching gift software, donors can check their matching gift eligibility and send matching gift requests right from your donation page, guaranteeing you’ll receive the associated company matches.
4. Christmas Cookie Exchange
Nothing screams Christmas joy like Christmas cookies. Host a Christmas cookie exchange to get your supporters’ creative juices flowing and bring your community together this holiday season.
Charge participants a small fee for entry. Then, all you’ll have to provide is a space for people to exchange cookies! This type of fundraiser is an easy and fun way to engage donors and their families during the holiday season.
You can raise even more with your Christmas cookie exchange by:
- Selling cookie dough. For supporters who want to participate but aren’t the best bakers out there, make it easy by selling pre-portioned packages or tubs of cookie dough. That way, you can earn even more for your cause and increase engagement rates.
- Turning it into a cookie-a-thon. If you want to bring out your supporters’ competitive sides, transform your Christmas cookie exchange into a cookie-a-thon. During a cookie-a-thon, participants can obtain pledges for the number of cookies they bake during the event. Then, those funds will go back to your organization. After the cookie-a-thon, participants can opt-in to share their cookies during your Christmas cookie exchange.
- Hosting a cookie-eating contest. Don’t know what to do with all those cookies after your Christmas cookie exchange? Host a cookie-eating contest! You can charge participants a small fee to enter and provide a prize to whoever can eat a certain amount of cookies the fastest.
No matter whether you host a traditional Christmas cookie exchange or combine it with other Christmas fundraising ideas, you’re sure to entice your supporters with the prospect of enjoying a treat and contributing to your cause at the same time.
5. Tree Decorating Contest
When you think of Christmas, the traditional Christmas tree likely comes to mind. There are so many different ways you can incorporate a tree decorating contest into your holiday season fundraising strategy.
One option is to have supporters team up to decorate and pay an entry fee to participate. If your nonprofit has the means, you can provide each team with a tree or work with a local Christmas tree farm to offer trees to your supporters.
If you want to host your tree decorating contest virtually, you can have supporters pay a small fee and submit pictures of their decorated trees from home. This way, you can reach a wider audience and encourage anyone who’s confident in their home’s tree decorations to join in on the fun.
In order to judge the entries, have members of your staff evaluate trees based on their creativity, festivity, and overall quality. To earn even more from this fundraiser, you can have supporters pay a small fee to vote on their favorite entry and determine the winner that way.
6. Holiday 5K
Get your supporters active this holiday season with a festive 5K. Have runners pay an entry fee so you can raise money for your cause.
It’s easy to host a 5K—all you have to do is secure space for the course. Then, you can focus on making the run fun and filled with holiday cheer!
For example, you can encourage participants to dress up in holiday attire. From Santa suits to ugly sweaters, there are a variety of ways participants can dress according to the theme.
As a final touch, sell Christmas-themed branded merchandise. Consider offering t-shirts to commemorate the event and other smaller items such as mugs and stickers. That way, you can raise even more for your cause.
7. Online Shopping Fundraiser
What’s better than a fundraiser that doesn’t require supporters to contribute any additional money to your nonprofit? Online shopping fundraisers allow your supporters to give back to your cause while they purchase holiday gifts for their loved ones.
Check out how an online shopping fundraiser works:
- Supporters download an online shopping fundraiser app or browser extension.
- Then, supporters shop online using the app or browser extension.
- Supporters choose their nonprofit of choice, and a percentage of their purchases goes toward a worthy cause!
To facilitate this fundraiser, your nonprofit can partner with a provider like ShopRaise so your organization can be included in online shopping fundraiser apps. As a result, you’ll also have access to metrics about which supporters have used the app and how much they’ve contributed through their holiday shopping.
8. Polar Plunge
Challenge your supporters to a frigid polar plunge! For this fundraiser, supporters jump into a cold body of water to raise money for your nonprofit. They collect pledges from family and friends ahead of time, encouraging them to brave the cold for your cause.
When it comes to a polar plunge, safety is key. Here are some steps you can take to ensure all participants stay safe at your event:
- Have participants sign waivers when registering for the event.
- Hire EMTs and lifeguards to attend the event in case of emergency.
- Provide towels and blankets for participants after they take the plunge.
With safety precautions in place, you’re equipped to host a polar plunge event that brings out the daredevil in your participants and raises funds for your nonprofit.
9. Gingerbread House Contest
Inspire a little healthy competition among your supporters with a gingerbread house contest. Participants can pay a small fee for entry. Then, it’s time to get creative!
Work with a local bakery to provide participants with gingerbread and a variety of decorating supplies. Supporters of all ages can create their ideal gingerbread house and enter it into the running.
Then, have your staff and supporters vote on their gingerbread house of choice. You can even open up the contest to your social media followers to include a wider audience.
10. Breakfast with Santa
Family holiday fun awaits with a breakfast with Santa event. Invite your supporters to a festive holiday breakfast featuring special guest, Santa. Charge supporters an entry fee to attend.
Make the breakfast element easy by offering pancakes and waffles. That way, all you’ll have to do is buy pancake mix and ask your supporters to lend their griddles of waffle makers. If you want to provide a wider variety of food options, consider partnering with a local restaurant or catering company.
Don’t forget about the guest of honor! Have a member of your staff dress up as Santa and engage with families at the event. Then, you can feature pictures of Santa and your supporters on your social media to ring in the holiday season.
11. Christmas Text-to-Give
Take advantage of the giving season with a text-to-give campaign. You can make it easy for people to lend their support by offering the option to contribute right from their phones.
Choose a holiday-related keyword for supporters to text to a designated number. Then, they’ll be directed to your donation page where they can make a contribution.
For optimal success, make sure your donation page is mobile-friendly. Adjusting text size and image formatting can make your page more accessible, allowing more people to lend their support.
12. Holiday Gala
A holiday gala is a great way to gather your community together during the holiday season. Sell tickets for the event on your website and entice people to attend by offering sneak peeks on your social media.
Reach out to restaurants and catering companies to see if they’d be willing to cater the event. That way, you can provide a delicious dinner to your supporters at little to no cost to your organization.
Holiday galas also present an opportunity to look back at your successes from the past year. Create a slideshow that highlights your accomplishments and thanks attendees for their continued support.
13. In-Kind Donation Drive
Chances are that your beneficiaries could benefit from certain items in addition to typical donations. Encourage your donors to show their support in a different way with an in-kind donation drive.
Make a list of items your supporters can contribute. For example, an animal shelter may accept pet food, leashes, and bowls whereas a homeless shelter may look for holiday gifts, personal care items, and clothing for their residents.
Ensure it’s clear where supporters can drop off their contributions. You may create a festive donation box with wrapping paper and put it in a visible location outside your organization’s headquarters or in the building.
14. Holiday Movie Night
One of the easiest ways to fundraise during the holiday season is with a movie night. All your organization has to do is sell tickets and provide a space to show the movie!
To engage your supporters, have them vote on which holiday movie they’d like to see. You can even turn the event into a holiday movie marathon by showing multiple festive movies back to back.
Earn even more from your holiday movie night by selling snacks and drinks to enjoy. Ask your supporters if any of them have a popcorn machine they’d be willing to lend for the event. Then, you’ll really create an authentic movie theater atmosphere!
15. Ice Skating Event
Skate the night away at an ice skating fundraiser! Get in touch with your local ice rink to see if they’re willing to host a proceeds night. That way, a percentage of your supporters’ ice skating entry fees can go toward your cause.
To give this wintry event a holiday touch, consider selling hot chocolate or Christmas cookies for skaters to enjoy when they get off the rink. Just make sure to check that the rink allows outside organizations to sell items at their venue.
16. Christmas Bingo
Add a Christmas spin to the classic bingo fundraiser. Make this family-friendly activity suitable for the holidays by using Christmas-themed bingo boards, playing Christmas music, and giving away Christmas-themed prizes to the winners.
To make the event profitable, sell tickets for entry or depending on how many rounds people play. You can raise additional funds by adding a raffle or silent auction to your event.
17. Holiday Candy Grams
Allow your supporters to sweeten up their loved ones’ holiday seasons by selling holiday candy grams. Provide candy and paper for personalized notes, and you’re good to go!
From candy canes to peppermint bark, there is a variety of fun holiday-themed candy you can use for your candy gram fundraiser. Spread awareness of the event by promoting it on social media and allowing non-local supporters to purchase candy grams on your website. You can even have people send their candy grams with a festive eCard in lieu of a physical note.
18. Holiday Lights Festival
Want to provide a magical experience for your supporters? Transform your nonprofit’s facility into a winter wonderland! Depending on the size and nature of your building, you can create an indoor or drive-by lights display that gets your supporters into the holiday spirit.
Collect donations before supporters view the display. You can earn more from the event by selling holiday treats, such as hot chocolate and candy canes, for people to enjoy as they experience the display.
19. Christmas Scavenger Hunt
A Christmas scavenger hunt can get supporters of all ages excited about the holiday season. Hide Christmas-related items around your facility. Charge participants for entry, and whoever finds all the items first wins a prize!
You can also open up the scavenger hunt to people outside of your local area. Create an online version of the scavenger hunt by allowing supporters to send in pictures of the items on your list. Then, you can post the winning entry on social media.
20. Gratefulness Challenge
The true essence of the holiday season is being grateful for everything you have. Inspire supporters to share what they’re grateful for with a social media challenge. In December, you can encourage supporters to post a photo of something they’re grateful for, such as loved ones or pets.
Raise funds with a gratefulness challenge by having participants share a link to your donation page. They can contextualize their post for supporters by explaining the challenge in the caption and how their support can help your nonprofit propel its mission forward.
Your supporters can amplify their impact by tagging friends and family members and encouraging them to participate in the challenge as well.
Wrapping Up & Additional Resources
The holiday season is all about three things: friends, family, and fun. Let your Christmas fundraising campaign reflect what this time of year truly stands for.
Provide opportunities for donors to participate in fundraising with their loved ones and support your organization in a way that also gets them excited about the holiday season. That way, everyone can enjoy the fundraising process and ultimately help your organization meet its year-end fundraising goals.
Looking for more fundraising resources? Check out these articles:
Why and How to Work with a Nonprofit Marketing Agency
/in Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingFrom raising funds and spreading awareness to informing beneficiaries about your services, marketing is essential to helping your nonprofit fulfill its mission. However, knowing how to market your cause, what platforms to use, and if your marketing strategy is effective requires expertise your nonprofit’s team might not have.
Fortunately, nonprofit marketing agencies are in large supply. These professionals bring their years of expertise working with nonprofits to supercharge their clients’ current marketing efforts, brainstorm new strategies, and provide long-term support.
To help your nonprofit understand if now is the right time to partner with a nonprofit marketing agency, this guide will answer basic questions about these professionals and review core types of marketing agencies.
What is a nonprofit marketing agency?
A nonprofit marketing agency is a publicity and fundraising consulting firm that works with charitable organizations. These organizations work specifically with nonprofits and provide a variety of services, such as:
Essentially, if you need help reaching out to your donors, a marketing consultant can likely help. Keep in mind that some nonprofit marketing agencies are full-service agencies whereas others specialize in a few specific areas.
Whether your organization should partner with a full-service or specific nonprofit marketing firm depends on both your immediate and long-term needs. For example, many full-service agencies intend to be long-term partners that continually provide your nonprofit with general marketing assistance for years.
However, full-service agencies often lack specialized expertise, such as knowledge of how to run an effective Google Ad Grants account. As such, if your nonprofit needs help writing ads or getting your Ad Grants account reactivated, you’re better off working with a specialized nonprofit marketing agency.
Should my nonprofit work with a marketing agency?
Nonprofit budgets are often tight, especially when it comes to non-mission-related expenses like marketing. While nonprofit marketing agencies offer prices that accommodate charitable organizations, they are still an expense you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons of paying.
For some nonprofits, the results of working with a marketing agency will more than pay for itself while others may be better holding off for now. A few situations where you can benefit from a marketing agency include when your nonprofit:
Additionally, before approaching a marketing agency for nonprofits, you should have an idea about what kind of support you’re looking for. Do you need a short-term partner for a specific fundraiser or are you looking for third-party services that will act as a permanent extension of your team?
The answer to this question will depend on several factors, such as the type of agency you need.
Types of Nonprofit Marketing Agencies
Nonprofit marketing is a complex, multi-faceted topic, and there are agencies that specialize in different fields, strategies, and nonprofit types. To provide a general overview of nonprofit agencies, we’ll explore five core kinds of agencies and provide our top recommendation for each one.
Google Ad Grant
The Google Ad Grant is a corporate social responsibility program run by Google that allows nonprofits to buy ad space on Google search results pages for free. With this resource, nonprofits can expand their reach without needing to dip into funds allocated for other projects.
Google Ad Grant agencies help nonprofits manage every aspect of this unique marketing opportunity, including:
Consultants bring specialized expertise related to keyword research, search engine optimization, and Google policies. As Google Ad Grant management and Google Ads are fairly unique even compared to other digital marketing channels, nonprofits that need assistance should seek out consultants that are specifically Google Ad Grant agencies.
Our Favorite Google Ad Grant Agency: Getting Attention
We, of course, have to recommend our own nonprofit marketing firm: Getting Attention.
As a Google-certified partner, our team has extensive knowledge of the Google Ad Grant regulations and stays up to date on the latest developments from Google’s team. This means our experts can make sure your account is always in line with the latest trends, compliant with Google policies, and set to make the most of your allotted monthly funds.
When it comes to marketing, our services include:
Interested in Getting Attention is the right nonprofit marketing agency for you? Request a free consultation with our team!
Branding
Your nonprofit’s brand is essentially how your organization communicates with your audience. A strong brand identity will make supporters see your nonprofit as a coherent, professional, and trustworthy organization worth supporting.
Branding consists of multiple elements nonprofits may need a consultant’s help with, including:
If your nonprofit already has a brand identity, a consultant can help refine your approach and create new assets to expand and solidify your brand. These nonprofits should primarily look at agencies that focus on graphic design and website development.
Nonprofits that lack a clear brand or are looking to rebrand can partner with marketing agencies that will help brainstorm and build a new brand identity from the ground up. These agencies are also graphic designers but provide additional services related to strategic marketing planning, focus group testing, and brand rollout.
Our Favorite Branding Agency: Loop
No matter where your nonprofit currently stands with its brand identity, Loop is our go-to recommendation. Loop aims to provide its clients with strategic guidance for every part of their brand identity.
When working with Loop, nonprofits will have a nonprofit marketing agency that’s ready to walk them through a four-step process for creating and rolling out a successful brand identity:
Loop is ready to be a long-term partner for its nonprofit clients. Their general timeline for brand-related partnerships consists of a three-month period for initial brand activities, followed by ongoing support for brand rollout which can last as long as the nonprofit needs.
Digital Fundraising
Modern nonprofit marketing strategies focus heavily on digital fundraising. As a result, digital marketing varies widely and consists of a number of services an agency might offer, such as:
Most nonprofit marketing agencies have at least some focus on digital marketing channels as a result. However, some agencies have more expertise and specialty services than others. When assessing digital fundraising consultants, explore their portfolios and case studies of past clients to see what kinds of work and projects they specialize in.
Our Favorite Digital Fundraising Agency: Fifty & Fifty
Fifty & Fifty is a full-service digital marketing agency for nonprofits that can help your team with nearly any component of digital fundraising, making it our top pick.
When it comes to marketing, Fifty & Fifty helps nonprofits with the following:
But Fifty & Fifty’s services don’t end there. For more advanced digital fundraising campaigns, Fifty & Fifty offers:
With this wide range of options, Fifty & Fifty is ideal for nonprofits interested in working with an agency for almost any aspect of digital fundraising.
Technology
Technology is a core part of many nonprofit’s marketing efforts. After all, basic nonprofit marketing tools like your CRM and email platform are complex software platforms that need to be cleaned, optimized, and updated to maximize their functionality.
Some marketing strategies also revolve around technical solutions. For example, nonprofits interested in running complex virtual events, creating interactive websites, or collecting granular donor data can all benefit from working with a nonprofit technology consultant.
Our Favorite Technology Agency: DNL OmniMedia
For nonprofits that use CRMs and other tools created by top vendors Blackbaud and Salesforce, we have to recommend DNL OmniMedia as our number one nonprofit technology agency.
DNL OmniMedia not only advises nonprofits on technology-driven marketing strategies but can implement software solutions. Their services include:
DNL OmniMedia is ready to be a long-term partner to its clients. Along with offering ongoing maintenance and support, Team DNL can host multiple training sessions for nonprofits each year to get new team members up to speed with your technology.
Capital Campaigns
Capital campaigns are unique fundraising campaigns that require specialized marketing and consulting services. These campaigns are meant to accumulate a large amount of capital for a major project, such as constructing a new building or launching a brand new initiative.
While a regular fundraising campaign falling short of its goal is disappointing, a failed capital campaign can be a serious blow to your nonprofit’s reputation and ability to run future fundraisers. As such, seeking third-party assistance from professional agencies is a standard part of running a capital campaign.
Our Favorite Captial Campaigns Agency: Donorly
Donorly is the go-to agency for nonprofits running their first capital campaign. If your nonprofit’s team lacks experience with capital campaigns, Donorly is here to guide you every step of the way with the following services:
Additionally, if your nonprofit lacks the resources to run your capital campaign, Donorly’s team can act as an extension of your team. Think of the Donorly team as temporary members of your staff rather than an external service!
How to Hire a Nonprofit Marketing Agency: 5 Steps
With knowledge of what types of agencies are out there, your nonprofit is ready to assess whether you should partner with a marketing agency and how to go about starting that partnership.
In most cases, this a simple five-step process:
1. Understand your needs.
Before beginning the hiring process, determine whether your nonprofit needs to partner with a marketing agency at this moment and how that agency would help you. Even if you are fairly certain working with an external nonprofit marketing firm is the right move, this process will still provide useful direction for when you do hire a consultant.
To assess your nonprofit’s marketing needs, follow these steps:
Along with helping to decide whether you need to work with an agency and what kind, this step also involves compiling information about your nonprofit an agency will likely need. By having information about your current strategies, technology, and marketing concerns ready, you can save your consultant the time they would have otherwise needed to spend collecting it.
2. Research agencies.
Once you know what services you need in a marketing agency for nonprofits, you can begin researching consulting firms. Basic Google searches should bring up recommended provider pages and reviews, but a few research sources we recommend include the following:
During this process, assemble a list of potential agencies to reach out. Research reviews and past projects to narrow down this list to a handful that you are serious about potentially working with.
3. Introduce your nonprofit.
Hiring an agency is not like making a simple purchase, and your nonprofit should never jump straight to making a hiring decision before reaching out to and speaking with an agency’s team.
To introduce your nonprofit and get acquainted with your top potential marketing agencies, fill out their contact form, send them an email, or give them a call based on what communication channels they have available for new and potential clients.
Your introduction should explain your nonprofit’s mission, share why you are looking for a marketing agency, and invite the agency to tell you more about its services. This is also an opportunity to further your research. Ask agencies about:
You may also start to establish a rapport with agencies during this step, which will help you assess if they are a good fit for your nonprofit’s work culture and style.
4. Submit a request for proposal.
Once you have a shortlist of agencies you’re interested in working with, you can send out your requests for proposals (RFP). This document outlines your nonprofit’s current problems and goals and invites agencies to respond with a proposed solution that they would implement if you hire them.
Some consultants may have specific RFP forms for you to fill out, but for others, you will need to write your RFP from scratch. The general outline of an RFP involves these five elements:
For reference, submitting an RFP is standard procedure for hiring most types of nonprofit consultants outside of just marketing. For example, if you need to hire an HR and compensation consultant, you would also write and submit an RFP.
5. Review responses.
Assemble a team to review agencies’ responses after your submission deadline. This team should consist of leadership members, the head of your marketing team, and any other stakeholders who need to sign off on a hiring decision.
Assess the responses to your RFP according to your stated criteria. Additionally, consider whether each nonprofit marketing firm’s work model would mesh well with your team and lead to a successful long-term partnership.
Rank the responses, and contact the top agency to officially hire them for your project. To ensure agencies aren’t left wondering about your decision, add a note in your RFP about when your team expects to contact the winning consultant.
Nonprofit Marketing Agencies: More Resources
Consultants come in all shapes and sizes, and nonprofit marketing agencies play the vital role of helping nonprofits boost awareness, increase outreach, and experiment with new strategies. To find the agencies that work best for you, assess your marketing needs and how a consultant can help you achieve them.
Marketing is a broad and complex topic. To improve your understanding before working with an agency, explore these resources:
Consistency and Impact: Creating a Nonprofit Style Guide
/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingPicture this: You see an ad on social media for a nonprofit. You click on it, but the website has a different logo. For most of us, this would seem suspicious, and the donor journey would stop there, even if the organization was completely legitimate.
When it comes to marketing your nonprofit, consistent branding is essential. Most nonprofits are aware of this, and as such, many have style guides. But what is a style guide and how can your nonprofit put one together?
To answer these questions, this guide will explore:
These actionable strategies will transform your nonprofit’s marketing strategy into a professional, cohesive, and consistent plan. By doing so, you can better connect with donors, sponsors, volunteers, customers, beneficiaries, and other important stakeholders.
What is a nonprofit style guide?
A style guide is a document that explains how individuals creating content for your nonprofit should present your organization. Nonprofit style guides vary in complexity and level of detail. In particular, there are three main types of style guides to consider creating:
When putting together your first style guide, take the middle-of-the-road option. While you should aim to create a brand book if you have a firmly established brand identity, putting this document together is not practical if you lack any form of style guide and need to create one fast.
Why does my organization need a nonprofit style guide?
When your nonprofit is just getting started or if you haven’t solidified your brand identity yet, creating a style guide might not be your priority. However, this is a core document for your marketing team, and creating one helps your nonprofit’s communication strategy by providing:
Completing a style guide is your nonprofit’s first step to establishing and standardizing your brand. By building up brand recognition, you can increase both supporter acquisition and retention. New supporters will recognize your nonprofit’s ads each time they see one, increasing the chance they’ll decide to make a conversion.
Elements of a Nonprofit Style Guide
To help your nonprofit understand what goes into a style guide and the level of detail needed for each section, this guide will take a look at the core elements of a nonprofit brand book. We hope you like birds because we’ll be taking a deep dive into The National Audubon’s brand book for examples.
Brand Overview
Most style guides and almost all brand books begin with a brief introduction that explains the guide’s purpose and how it should be used. This might include a description of the nonprofit, its values, and its overall brand identity. Or, it may simply state why the nonprofit feels having a consistent brand design is important.
Let’s take a look at Audubon’s introduction:
This overview provides examples of situations where supporters may interact with Audubon’s brand identity and emphasizes that because Audubon is a nonprofit with chapters across the country, maintaining consistency is especially important for building brand recognition.
Logo
The logo section of a nonprofit style guide usually goes over three main topics:
Depending on the size of your nonprofit, you may need additional logo guidelines. For example, if you have multiple regional offices, it may be necessary to explain how these groups can add their chapter name or location to the logo.
Colors
Name each brand color, provide a swatch example, and share its hex code and CMY and RBG values. This is especially important since colors appear differently on different monitors and in print format.
It can be helpful to add examples of what various brand elements look like in practice, and this is especially true for color. After all, you may have several brand colors that your graphic design team can use but likely shouldn’t use in certain combinations.
It can also be useful to explain your design philosophy when discussing color. For example, Audubon discusses that their approach is to pair one bright color with muted and neutral tones. This context guides graphic designers to ensure they apply colors in ways that make sense for your brand.
Typography
What fonts and typefaces does your nonprofit use? Share the name of the fonts you use and type out the alphabet in capital and lowercase letters, numbers 0-9, and common punctuation marks in that font.
Some fonts have multiple font weights, and nonprofits might use these for various situations. For instance, you might show what the font looks like in light, medium, and bold for comparison so your marketing team can choose which version will look best for the materials they’re creating.
Additionally, if you use different fonts for different contexts, explain that as well. For example, you might have a font that is used for digital communication and a separate one for print.
Photography
There are four things you should include in your style guide’s photography section:
Graphic Design
Many nonprofit style guides lack a dedicated graphic design section and instead rely on their colors and photography sections to guide illustrators. However, if your nonprofit has specific icons or graphic design elements you regularly use, a section detailing how to access and incorporate them can be helpful.
For example, Audubon’s brand book has a section on the various icons the organization regularly uses:
Mission
Your nonprofit’s full mission statement may be several sentences explaining what your organization does, the impact your services have, and why your organization is uniquely suited to tackle these challenges.
However, for marketing purposes, it’s often useful to have a shortened version of your mission that can be easily used whenever you need to explain what your nonprofit is and make your cause for support quickly.
For example, Audubon’s short mission statement is: “The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow.” This is short, punchy, and can be added to marketing materials without taking up too much space.
Tone and Style
For the editorial section of your nonprofit style guide, your goal is to explain your nonprofit’s writing voice in a way that allows multiple writers to replicate it. This guide can be extensive and usually includes:
Your nonprofit’s editorial style guide does not need to be as intensive as those of Audubon or U.S. Figure Skating, but use these examples for the types of writing concepts and scenarios you should consider.
Terminology
The terminology sections of nonprofit style guides often look like annodated glossaries. These sections list various words and phrases likely to come up in writing and provide direction for how they should be used. These sections discuss:
Extensive writing guidelines might seem like overkill, but remember that writing is a part of almost all of your nonprofit’s external communication. As such, maintaining consistency in writing tone and style is essential for building a cohesive brand identity.
If your nonprofit intends to work with external marketing agencies, such as an SEO marketing firm, the more detailed the editorial sections of your style guide are, the better. This will help these agencies properly showcase your nonprofit’s expertise, mission, and products and services.
Social Media
Social media has its own stipulations to ensure your brand comes off well on a variety of platforms. Most organizations advise marketing teams to follow their normal tone, style, and terminology rules when posting on social media.
Nonprofits with multiple regional offices, like Audubon, might encourage specific branches to get creative and find their own voices, whether that means one group posts research reports and another exotic bird photos. However, they do have a few stipulations for social media marketing, such as not posting fundraising appeals for other organizations or making political statements.
If your nonprofit has just one organization under its banner, your digital communications should remain consistent across all platforms, including social media, search engine ads, and email communications.
Print Materials
How should your branding translate to physical documents? Consider what print materials your nonprofit regularly produces and provide exact measurements and formatting directions for them. For example, a few common types of print materials include:
This is a section that needs lots of templates. Visual references can help marketers ensure they’re inputting the right measurements, decreasing the need for reprints.
Video
Video is a newer medium than illustrations and text, but it’s still one you should consider, especially as video marketing continues to soar in popularity. For video, provide branding details about:
Just like you would share your style guide with graphic designers and writers, this section should be shared with your video production team. You may even consider creating a video-specific cheat sheet rather than sharing your entire style guide.
Nonprofit Style Guide Best Practices
Knowing the core elements of a nonprofit style guide is a strong first step in creating one. However, some style guides are more helpful than others. To ensure your nonprofit makes use of yours, follow these best practices:
Remember, you can edit your style guide after creating it, and many nonprofits regularly refresh their brand books to reflect any changes. If you plan to rebrand, it may be necessary to start from scratch, but in most cases, if you realize there’s something you forgot or want to change, you can update your style guide without issue.
More Marketing Resources
Your nonprofit’s style guide is an essential document that allows your team to keep your brand consistent and expand your marketing efforts. Continue to follow and update your guide as your brand changes alongside your nonprofit.
With your brand resources ready to go, nonprofits can then launch their marketing campaigns. To get more marketing help, try these resources:
9 Worthwhile Marketing Grants for Nonprofits & How to Apply
/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising /by Jessica KingAn effective marketing strategy is paramount for accomplishing your nonprofit’s mission and making a genuine impact. Securing funds to power your nonprofit marketing plan isn’t always easy, though.
Marketing efforts should account for 5-15% of your operating budget. Sometimes, that’s still not enough to effectively spread the word. If your budget is tight or you simply want to expand your outreach efforts, consider exploring marketing grants for nonprofits.
There are several nonprofit marketing grants available. While some are specific to a certain cause or sector, others are geared toward only smaller or larger organizations. If you’re curious about which grant you should apply for, this guide will explore the following:
Nonprofit marketing grants can help your organization build a solid outreach strategy. But this can only be done after finding the right grant for your needs and following the necessary steps to apply. Let’s dive into the basics!
What are marketing grants for nonprofits?
A nonprofit grant is a fund awarded to an eligible organization that does not need to be repaid. Marketing grants are often rewarded based on nonprofit values or industry criteria. These grants come from various sources:
Nonprofit grants can be further divided by their funding project, such as:
Nonprofit marketing grants can assist with carrying out charitable initiatives, supporting donor outreach, and spreading awareness.
Any marketing or promotion you do for your online giving page, exciting fundraising events, and other initiatives can be taken to the next level with the right marketing grant. Plus, all donor communication and retention efforts can be elevated with enhanced marketing communications. For example, you can use a grant to send out targeted email newsletters to new members.
The value of grants to nonprofits is immeasurable, especially once you consider the impact that your organization can have on your mission if your marketing plan and fundraising efforts exceed goals.
Where to find marketing grants for nonprofits
The process for finding and applying for marketing grants will differ depending on your mission, your funding project, and the grant you choose. That’s why before you start your search for the best marketing grant for your nonprofit, make sure you define your mission and conduct the necessary research.
You already know what your mission is, but it’s important that you’re able to effectively communicate it to anyone, especially if you’re trying to get a grant from them. They need to resonate with your mission as much as you do, as well as entirely understand what your goals are and how a grant will help you reach them.
Next, we recommend you start off the search process with grant databases. There is a wide array of grant research resources that you could check, but we recommend these:
Along with dedicated grant databases, you can also conduct a simple online search. To narrow down results and find relevant grants, research popular keywords related to your mission.
For example, let’s say you run a nonprofit organization that provides clean water. If you search keywords like “sustainability” or “environment,” you might find grants like Georgia Power’s Waters for Georgia Grant that align with your eligibility.
How to apply for nonprofit marketing grants
As previously mentioned, each grant application process will differ according to the grant. To give you a general overview of the application process, most grants require you to perform these steps:
Keep in mind that some grants, including the Google Ad Grant, require you to optimize your existing website for the best marketing results. That might mean you need to scope additional time to audit your materials and make improvements based on grant requirements.
9 top nonprofit marketing grants
There are many grants to explore, so sifting through databases might seem daunting. Refer to this list of nonprofit marketing grants to start your search.
Google Ad Grants
With the Google Ad Grant program for nonprofits, organizations can:
The Google Grant isn’t your traditional nonprofit marketing grant where the funding organization has only a limited amount of money to allocate. Any nonprofit that meets Google’s eligibility requirements and complies with the ongoing guidelines can apply for this grant! Check out this video for eligibility tips:
These activities all fall under the umbrella of Google Ad Grant management. Many nonprofits outsource their grant management to a dedicated Google Ad Grant agency. Depending on your budget and goals, your organization can choose to manage grants in-house or partner with an expert agency.
The Carnegie Corporation
The Carnegie Corporation usually contacts the organizations it awards grants to. However, their Grant Inquiries page states that you’re welcome to contact their team or explore their other potential funding sources. To read about past grantees, explore The Carnegie Corporation’s grant database.
The Coca-Cola Foundation
The company supports over 350 separate programs and projects related to safe water access, economic empowerment, climate resilience, disaster preparedness and response, and more. Note that they don’t accept unsolicited proposals for grants out of respect for all stakeholders’ time.
Walmart Foundation
Over the past decade, Walmart has financially supported FoodCorps, a nonprofit that provides food and food education to American elementary schoolers. In the past four years, Walmart has awarded FoodCorps over $4 million in grants.
Ford Foundation
To see their past grants, explore their database of over 8,000 grantees. They support all sorts of organizations, like Columbia University, Carnegie Hall, and Borealis Philanthropy which addresses racial inequity in journalism.
Amazon Web Services
Award packages can range from $20,000 in AWS Promotional Credit to $200,000 in unrestricted financial support. Recent grantees include Charity Navigator, Bat Conservation Trust, and One Simple Wish.
Bank of America
They have strong nonprofit alliances, including sponsorships and grants to local organizations that help improve financial lives. They even involve employees in the action through workplace giving. For instance, Bank of America proudly offers volunteer grants and matching gifts through its foundation. These funds are awarded to nonprofits where employees volunteer or donate.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
While the foundation focuses on global health, education, and poverty alleviation, it also recognizes that effective outreach is fundamental for driving impact, making this a powerful nonprofit marketing grant opportunity.
Note that the foundation primarily directly invites proposals but occasionally awards grants through published RFPs. You can explore the grantmaking process and available opportunities on its website.
NBCUniversal Local Impact Grants
To be eligible, organizations must work in at least one of three specific areas:
If your nonprofit engages in one of these areas, this may be the nonprofit marketing grant for you. The grants are general operating grants and will be awarded between $100,000 and $1 million.
PayPal
With it, they inspire philanthropy from individual consumers who use the PayPal platform. This drives more people to use their services and increases charitable giving.
Here’s how the PayPal Giving Fund works:
As one of our favorite CSR examples, PayPal repurposes its technology to help nonprofits. It also makes charitable giving a part of donors’ everyday lives.
Additional Resources
Marketing grants for nonprofits are invaluable resources that can catapult your mission and fundraising efforts farther than you’ve ever thought possible. This journey can all start by finding the right grant for your nonprofit needs. Hopefully, you found some viable options in the list above or through the grant databases that we recommended.
If you want to continue your research on the best nonprofit grant and how you can expand your marketing potential, explore the following resources:
How to Use Matching Gift Forms 101: A Nonprofit Guide
/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising, Nonprofit Tools /by Jessica KingMost nonprofits are familiar with matching gifts. But how many organizations actually pursue them with a dedicated strategy? According to Double the Donation, $4-$7 billion in corporate matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year. When 78% of donors have no idea if their employer matches gifts, the group is not completing the matching gift forms their companies require to secure corporate revenue.
In order to bridge the gap, nonprofits are taking increasingly proactive approaches to educate donors and provide them with the matching gift forms they need. We’re here to show you how to do just that. Supply donors with the right forms, streamline the request process, and drive more matches to completion.
In this guide, we’ll cover all the essentials of matching gift forms, including:
In the end, you’ll know how to raise more revenue for your nonprofit by strategically promoting matching gifts. Let’s get started!
What Are Matching Gifts?
Matching gifts are a unique and impact-driven fundraising initiative in which one donation is matched by another, ultimately producing double the value. These contributions take place when a company or other entity agrees to match individual donations—either to a specific organization (such as with a one-off matching gift program) or a range of charitable missions.
While various types of programs include personal matching gifts (e.g., a generous supporter matches donations up to a certain amount for an organization during a campaign) and larger matching gift campaigns (e.g., a business, foundation, group of supporters, or another benefactor matches gifts up to a certain amount), the most common by far is corporate matching gifts. In these programs, employers match the donations their employees make to eligible nonprofits, thereby incentivizing philanthropy among their staffs.
Most companies have a set match ratio (usually 1:1, though it can be higher or lower), but lots of employees don’t know their companies even offer these programs. That’s why it’s important to promote matching gifts in your marketing strategy. Many supporters won’t know to check with their employers until you suggest it!
Generally, the corporate matching gift process looks like this:
But as you get into the nitty-gritty details of matching gift policies, there are a few other things you need to keep in mind.
Eligibility
Both your donors and your organization have to be eligible for a matching gift. First, donors should confirm that their employment status (full-time, part-time, or retired) allows them to submit a match request. From there, you’ll want to verify that your organization falls into one of the specific nonprofit categories the company donates to. (Hint: most registered 501(c)(3) organizations will qualify!)
Minimum and maximum gift amounts
Most matching gift companies establish a limit on the amount of money they’ll match, typically stating the maximum each employee can request each year. Businesses also determine a minimum amount, though this is generally set at around $25 or less.
For an employee’s matching gift request to be approved, their recent gift should fall within the threshold their company has defined.
Match ratios
Though it ranges from one company to the next, most employers offer a dollar-for-dollar (or 1:1) match, with most ratios ranging from .5:1 to 4:1.
Before a donation can be matched, all of those considerations must be addressed. That’s where matching gift forms come into play!
What Are Matching Gift Forms?
Matching gift forms are a specific type of document completed by an individual donor and used by a matching gift company to review the individual’s eligibility. This form generally captures specific information regarding the donor, their recent gift, and the recipient organization to ensure the requested match adheres to the company’s program guidelines.
As donors initiate their requests, there are a few kinds types of matching gift forms they might expect to use: paper, electronic, and automated. Let’s take a look at each format below.
Paper Matching Gift Forms
While paper matching gift forms aren’t very common these days, it’s still important to offer access to a paper version if it’s available. This is especially crucial for older supporters who prefer paper materials or for certain (though few) companies that require them.
Regardless, the paper form includes the following key components:
Here’s how it works: The donor will typically need to provide official documentation of their gift (such as a donation receipt, which your nonprofit will need to create), as well as information about the type of organization (cultural, educational, etc.) and the donation date.
Once the paper form has been filled out, the donor can submit it via the employer’s preferred method (mail, fax, etc.), and the company will review the request.
Electronic Matching Gift Forms
Electronic matching gift forms make it easier for employees to submit their matching gift requests, which is great for your organization! The entire process is more streamlined, which results in more donors filling them out.
Plus, electronic forms can be used in conjunction with matching gift software (more on that below), which nonprofits use to encourage matching gift request submissions and automate the entire process.
Here are the key components of electronic matching gift forms:
Once the electronic form has been submitted, the employer reviews it and determines whether the donation is eligible for a match. Then, your organization will need to verify the donation for the matching gift company by confirming receipt of the original gift and verifying your 501(c)(3) status.
Automated Matching Gift Forms (From Double the Donation)
The final category of matching gift forms are those exclusive to Double the Donation, the industry’s leading provider of matching gift software. They’ve recently rolled out a few new types of matching gift forms that can make a significant difference in overall program participation rates.
These include Double the Donation’s standard matching gift form (for one-off matching gift programs*) and complete auto-submission functionality (for companies using CSR platforms that integrate with 360MatchPro).
From a donor’s perspective, the key difference between this type of automated submission is that the request process takes place entirely behind the scenes. In fact, the donor is not required to provide additional information about their donation to complete their match submission. Instead, Double the Donation leverages data from the transaction record itself, along with details provided directly by nonprofit organizations, to complete the form behind the scenes.
All the donor typically needs to do is enter their corporate email address to verify their identity and authorize Double the Donation to submit a match request on their behalf. From there, the standard match form is automatically completed and emailed to the donor’s employing company to review, approve, and disperse funding as usual.
*One-off matching gift programs are a unique form of corporate matching gifts in which a company partners with a single organization to encourage employee giving to the cause. It’s a great way to engage companies that don’t currently offer standard matching gift programs but are interested in growing their philanthropy. Check out Double the Donation’s complete guide on the topic here!
How Can Matching Gift Software Help?
You might have heard the term matching gift software floating around in the fundraising landscape. But has your team ever invested in or really considered these options?
Most leading matching gift software solutions (including our top recommendation, Double the Donation) encompass a few key components.
Donation page widget or search tool
A matching gift database houses information on thousands of companies that offer matching gift programs. This means the database includes details about the company, their match ratio, minimum and maximum amounts, and, most importantly, a link to their matching gift form.
Through an embeddable search tool that can go anywhere on your website, donors type in the name of their employer. The tool then pulls up all of the info they need about submitting a match request.
Automated email follow-ups
Some matching gift software automates the entire process. When a donor makes a gift to your organization using a form equipped with this type of tool, the platform automatically scans the information they provide to determine if they qualify for a match.
Then, depending on their eligibility, the platform triggers outreach outlining the next steps the donor should take. For match-eligible individuals, emails generally contain the recipient’s company-specific program guidelines, links to the appropriate matching gift forms, and encouragement to complete the process.
When choosing matching gift software, you’ll want to look at a few different factors:
Once you’ve settled on a solution, you’re ready to get started!
If you need a little extra advice, our suggestion is Double the Donation’s complete automation system, 360MatchPro. (Take our word for it! Get a demo of Double the Donation here.)
Double the Donation is the leading provider of matching gift solutions. Its matching gift database has collected data on more than 24,000 companies and subsidiaries, along with each one’s matching gift program information. These businesses employ nearly over 26 million individuals, who make up an estimated 99.68% of all match-eligible donors.
How to Incorporate Matching Gifts into Your Donation Form
When people come to your donation page, they’re seriously considering donating to your organization They’re engaged with your mission and therefore receptive at this time to learning about matching gift opportunities.
Take the following scenario to help this point:
This is one of several ways you can incorporate matching gifts into your donation process. Alternatively, you can embed your matching gift search tool into your…
From there, an automation platform will automatically follow up with match-eligible donors and encourage them to submit a matching gift request. Using tools like these, such as Double the Donation’s 360MatchPro, you can:
Incorporating matching gifts into your donation form and giving process will raise even more awareness around matching gifts. And that’s exactly what needs to happen if you want donors to submit their match requests!
How to Market Matching Gifts Effectively
So you’ve invested in matching gift software and paved the way to start accepting matched gifts. But, besides promotional tactics on your donation page, how do your donors know to get on board?
Like any other opportunity to give, your nonprofit must do its part to inform supporters and request their donations by spreading the word about your fundraising efforts. The good news is that the message about matching gifts can be incorporated into all of your classic marketing channels. Here’s how!
Social media:
Especially since matching gift forms and the right software make the process so easy, a quick explainer post about matching gifts on your social media channels can encourage followers to check their eligibility and submit a request!
Email marketing:
Whether you’re sending a post-donation acknowledgment or scheduling a mass digital newsletter, your organization’s email communications provide an excellent opportunity to promote matching gifts to your audience. It’s impactful, cost-effective, and can be automated with your matching gift platform.
Your website:
Create a page dedicated solely to matching gifts. Include everything your site visitors need to know, like a definition of matching gifts, the most frequently asked questions, your organization’s contact information and tax identification number, and your embedded matching gift database.
The Google Ad Grant:
If you’re already leveraging Google’s Ad Grant program for nonprofits to draw more traffic to your website, it’s a great place to increase visibility and awareness of matching gifts. If you haven’t already taken steps to secure $10,000 worth of free advertising space for your organization, now’s a good time to look into it. Then, use your credits to promote your matching gifts page or donation form!
Flyers and promotional materials:
Pique supporters’ interest by adding a small section or reminder about matching gifts in any of your promotional materials. Include a link on your fundraising flyers or promotional posters to more information about matching gifts so supporters are reminded to check into it.
Inspiring Matching Gift Form Examples
Interested in exploring the process donors will take to request matching gifts on your organization’s behalf? We’ve pulled a sample entry for you.
From there, your nonprofit will be on its way to securing more matching gift revenue!
Final Thoughts & Additional Resources
Understanding how to use matching gift forms is essential for your nonprofit. For the best results, your team should be able to guide donors to their correct forms, provide additional support when requested, and raise more revenue for your cause as a result.
When you use matching gift software to streamline this entire process, you’ll make it easier on donors and yourself.
To learn more about matching gifts, top companies that offer the programs, or corporate giving in general, check out the resources below!
A Great Google Grant Agency in 2024: 10 Best Partners
/in Google Ad Grants, Nonprofit Communications /by Jessica KingGoogle is the world’s most popular search engine, fielding at least 8.5 billion searches per day. That’s 8.5 billion reasons nonprofits should take advantage of the Google Ad Grant program, which gives $10,000 worth of ad credits to eligible organizations every month to create ads on Google.
Ad campaigns require consistent upkeep, performance tracking, and compliance with Google’s official account requirements. That’s why we recommend working with a certified Google Grant agency.
Professional Google Ad Grant agencies devote their time to researching the program’s compliance requirements, mastering the application process, proactively researching the best keywords, and making the most of each nonprofit’s grant money. Plus, agencies that are Google Partners have a seal of approval you know you can trust.
To ensure you partner with the right agency, this guide will walk through:
Here at Getting Attention, we work alongside nonprofits to get their accounts approved and maximize their campaigns’ performance. As a Google Grant agency, we believe in the power that effective Google Grant management holds for nonprofits. Let’s get started so you can partner with the right Google Ad Grant manager.
What Is A Google Grant Agency?
A Google Grant agency is a business composed of experts that help nonprofits manage their Google Ads accounts. A professional agency will handle many aspects of Google Grant management, including:
Overall, the professional’s goal is to help each nonprofit build awareness for its cause and create high-converting campaigns that are meaningful to the organization’s work.
Some Google Ad Grant agencies are officially recognized by Google and have earned the title of Google Partner. While some start-up agencies that have yet to earn this designation may be worth exploring, Google-certified organizations have already proven their ability to maintain high-quality ad campaigns. When considering agencies, check to see if they’re a Google Partner.
What is Google Grant Management?
Before speaking with or even researching specific agencies, you must understand the actual services that Google Grant management entails. That way, you can determine the areas in which you need help and confidently enter your conversations with agencies.
Google Grant Application
If you don’t already have your account set up, a Google Grant agency can help you get started by checking your eligibility and guiding you through the application process. These are the application requirements they can help with:
If your nonprofit organization holds valid charity status and your website is well-developed, then you’ll most likely get the Google Grant. Work with a Google Grant agency to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and that the application process goes smoothly.
Google Grant Account Management
Compared to other marketing channels, search ads have the highest return on investment (ROI) for nonprofits using paid advertising, meaning the impact of the Google Ad Grant goes far beyond simply being approved for the program. To help you make the most of your allotted $10,000 each month and strengthen your marketing, a Google Grant agency will offer the following account management services:
Managing your campaigns can be difficult, especially when you have other projects to juggle and events to plan for your organization. Your Google Ad Grant manager knows how to use it to drive conversions and see measurable results for your organization.
Google Grant Compliance
One of the most important roles of a Google Grant agency is to keep nonprofits’ accounts in compliance with the program’s guidelines. Google revisits and updates its policies from time to time, so the official compliance page will be your best bet if you want to check up on the rules.
Here are some of the most important requirements that a Google Ad Grant manager will handle for you:
Bottom line: A Google Grant agency will keep your Ad Grant account in check and fully compliant, even as Google updates its rules. Make sure the Google Ad Grant manager you partner with is able to support your needs as your account grows and evolves.
What is a Google Partner?
Any marketing agency can offer Google Ad Grant assistance. However, while there are some promising startup organizations that can provide high-quality service, nonprofits can ensure their Ad Grant account is in good hands by working with a certified Google Partner.
Google Partners are agencies that manage Google Ad Grants that Google has recognized as producing legitimate, quality work. These organizations are not run by Google, but the program does provide them with additional support to ensure their clients continue receiving unparalleled service.
Most Google Ad agencies will make it clear on their website that they are a Google Partner. However, if you want to only look at Google Partners, explore Google’s Partner Directory. Apply filters to find agencies that are near you and have the right level of certification, or enter the name of an organization you’re already considering to check if they’re a partner.
On our list of recommended Google Grant agencies, we have a mix of certified partners, like our own organization Getting Attention, as well as consultants that provide worthwhile services but have yet to enter the partner program.
The Benefits of Hiring a Professional for Google Grant Management
Partnering with a professional will drastically enhance your Google Ad capabilities. Especially when you hire an agency that’s Google-certified, you can rely on them to pick the best keywords for your cause and generate high-converting ads. Ultimately, they’ll empower you to make the most of your grant money and put your ads in front of likely prospects.
Here are some of the core benefits you should expect:
These professionals have in-depth knowledge of the program’s requirements, features, and tools, so you can spend your time focusing on other areas of your nonprofit. All in all, partnering with a Google Ad Grant agency can be incredibly beneficial, as long as you spend time choosing the right one for your team!
How to Hire a Google Ad Grant Agency
To unlock the benefits of a grant manager, hiring a knowledgeable Google Grant agency is essential. Start your search by following the three stages of the hiring process:
Above all else, prioritize a Google Grant agency’s Ad Grant program knowledge, services, and professionalism. In turn, you’ll wind up with a professional who acts as an extension of your team.
10+ Best Google Ad Grant Agencies
Whenever you outsource work to an agency, it’s important that you explore your options before signing a contract. That way, you’ll wind up with one that’s the best possible fit for your organization and needs. While you can certainly do the digging on your own, here are 10 Google Grant agencies that we’d recommend to kickstart your search.
1. Getting Attention | Best All-Around Google Grants Agency
Here at Getting Attention, we specialize in Google Ad Grants and are a proud Google Partner. Our team is made up of professionals who know what it takes to develop campaigns that drive real results for your cause, no matter if you’re just getting started or already have active campaigns.
We don’t just quickly review your account and offer some tips. Our team partners closely with yours to fully understand your mission, who your nonprofit serves, and how you can drive meaningful conversions.
Here’s how we can help you make the most of your grant money:
Getting Started with Getting Attention
Our experts are fully committed to helping you develop inspiring ad campaigns. Plus, we aim to be fully transparent in our pricing, which is why we don’t charge any upfront fees and will help you manage your Google Ad Grants account for only $600 per month.
Get a free consultation, so we can chat about how we can help your nonprofit grow through powerful Google Ad Grant management. Don’t see a Google Grants service on our website that you need? We’re open to chatting about our experience in other areas to help you make the most of your campaigns!
2. Nonprofit Source | Best Google Grants Agency for Information
When it comes to the Google Ad Grant, if you’re starting at square one, the most important thing you need is information. Nonprofits Source provides marketing assistance to charitable organizations looking to grow their online impact, but where it really shines is its host of free educational information.
While they offer general digital marketing services and don’t manage Ad Grant accounts, you can learn a lot about the Ad Grant program from them. Scroll through the Nonprofits Source blog to find detailed information about nearly every aspect of the Google Ad Grant, including:
Check out Nonprofits Source’s blog to learn more about the Google Ad Grant and partner with them to expand your online presence.
3. DNL OmniMedia | Best Google Grants Agency for Nonprofit Technology
DNL OmniMedia is a well-known nonprofit technology consultant. While it’s not their sole purpose, their offerings also include Google Grant services. They’ll help you with the following:
Start by researching DNL OmniMedia’s other offerings to see how they can optimize other areas of your nonprofit’s technology strategy!
4. RKD Digital | Best Google Ad Grant Agency for Digital Marketing
As the first full-service direct-response company to be added to the Google Grant Certified Professional Community, RKD Digital works with nonprofits to produce effective marketing strategies. They’ll help you reimagine what marketing looks like with Google Grants services, such as:
If this agency sounds like a good fit, check out their website to learn more about their approach to Google Ad Grant management. You can also dive into some of their other digital marketing services before contacting their team!
5. Allegiance Group | Best Google Grants Agency for Fundraising
Allegiance Group is a full-service firm that combines fundraising, marketing, and technology, so their nonprofit clients can inspire action and make an impact. They’ll help you harness the power of the Google Ad Grant with the following services:
Explore Allegiance Group’s website to learn more about how they’ll enable you to intertwine your digital fundraising and marketing efforts through the Google Ad Grant.
6. WebFX | Best Google Grants Agency for NGOs
While their primary focus is on businesses, WebFX empowers NGOs to take advantage of Google Ad Grants and is even part of the Certified Partner Directory. As a leader in SEO, PPC, social, and web design services, they provide offerings like:
WebFX is backed by a team of experts to help you make the most of your SEO strategy. Take a look at their website to learn more about their digital marketing services to make sure they align with your nonprofit’s needs.
7. Digital Ninjas | Best Google Grants Agency for Advocacy Organizations
Digital Ninjas is a professional consulting firm that helps nonprofits drive greater fundraising and advocacy results through digital campaigns. Their services dedicated to Google Ad Grant management and organic search include:
Check out their website to learn how Digital Ninjas can make your search engine marketing (SEM) endeavors a breeze.
8. Uprise Up | Best Google Grants Agencies for UK-Based Organizations
Located in the United Kingdom, Uprise Up is a data-driven digital media agency. As part of their relentless endeavor to further social good, they offer Google Ad Grant management services to nonprofits, including:
As one of the few UK-based Google Grant agencies, Uprise Up is a great choice for UK organizations. Before reaching out, take a look at their website to learn more about their work.
9. Koios | Best Google Grants Agency for Libraries
With a sole focus on libraries, Koios empowers its clients to make their library’s resources more discoverable online. The agency helps libraries take advantage of the Google Ad Grant program through management services like:
Koios offers a 60-day free trial, so you can see what it’s like working with their experts. Before reaching out, explore their website to learn more about what they can do for you.
10. INTK | Best Google Grants Agency for Cultural Organizations
INTK works exclusively with cultural organizations, such as museums and performing arts centers, to generate awareness through targeted ads on relevant search results pages. Here are some of the core services they offer:
INTK is certified by Google and has direct access to the Google Ad Grants team, which means they’re in the loop with the latest changes in the program’s compliance requirements. Take a look at their website to learn more about their approach.
11. Platypus Digital | Best Google Grants Agency for Multichannel Strategies
Platypus Digital is a leading digital marketing agency for charities. With expert Google Ad Grant management, they’ll help you increase brand awareness and connect with motivated supporters through services like:
If you think Platypus Digital would be a good fit for your organization, explore their website to learn more about their Google Grant services.
Next Steps for Your Google Grant Strategy
When it comes to starting your nonprofit’s online marketing on the right foot, the Google Ad Grant is your answer. However, applying for and maintaining your account is no walk in the park. Turning to a professional Google Grant agency, like Getting Attention, is your best bet.
While we shared several recommendations, Getting Attention is the only Google-certified full-service agency that focuses solely on Google Ad Grants. We’ll handle every aspect of your account, starting with eligibility confirmation through ongoing maintenance. In no time, you’ll start driving more conversions, connecting with more prospects, and generating great results for your cause!
Are you interested in learning more about Google Ad Grants or marketing your mission effectively? Explore these great additional resources:
The Fundamentals of Fundraising Campaign Planning: A Guide
/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising, Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingPicture this: your nonprofit is getting ready for the end-of-year giving season. To capitalize on your donors’ charitable spirits, you’ve optimized your donation page, gotten your social media in tip-top shape, but something is still missing. You quickly realize that you need to design an engaging year-end fundraising campaign that draws donors into your mission, but you’re not quite sure how.
Brainstorming and planning a compelling fundraising campaign at any time of the year can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re working with a limited budget and small team. However, with the right strategies and tech stack, your nonprofit can pull off a donor-centric campaign that will meet (and even exceed!) your fundraising goals.
Follow these expert steps to put together a winning fundraising campaign:
A successful fundraising campaign can help your nonprofit establish a reliable donation pipeline, reach new audiences, and foster stronger relationships with donors. Before you can tap into these key benefits, you’ll need to develop a comprehensive fundraising plan. Let’s begin.
1. Set clear goals
To give your nonprofit direction as you plan your fundraising campaign and foster accountability across your team, you need to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals. Using this goal setting framework will help you create a clear picture of what you want to achieve from your fundraiser and how you will achieve it.
For example, let’s say one of your nonprofit’s primary goals is to expand your reach and attract new donors. Here’s what this goal could look like as a SMART goal:
Make sure to lay out the timeline for your campaign and identify the point-people who will be in charge of leading your different projects—from generating your marketing materials to executing your donor recognition strategy. This will help to rally your team around your goals and ensure everyone has a clear understanding of their roles.
Your goals will also help you pinpoint the right type of fundraising campaign for your nonprofit. For example, if your goal is to expand your network of donors, a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign can be the perfect way to attract new supporters and strengthen relationships with existing ones.
Or, maybe your nonprofit is looking for a way to increase visibility around the problem you’re tackling, making an awareness campaign a great option. Aligning your goals with the right type of fundraising campaign will make it more likely that you’ll see them through.
2. Craft your messaging
Once you’ve mapped out what kind of fundraising campaign you’ll host and you’ve determined your SMART goals, it’s time to craft your campaign messaging. Your marketing and communication strategy will play a huge role in the success of your fundraising campaign, so it’s critical that you develop compelling messaging that will inspire supporters to give.
Use these tips to create the right messaging for your campaign:
As you craft your messaging, remember to consider your target audience’s interests and values so you can frame your communications to them. This way, your calls to action will be more likely to resonate with donors and prompt giving.
3. Invest in the right software
Rather than haphazardly piecemealing multiple fundraising tools together, work with an all-in-one fundraising solution to manage your campaign. A comprehensive fundraising platform will provide your nonprofit with everything it needs to plan and execute fundraisers of all types and formats.
Invest in a platform with the following key features:
Investing in a sound fundraising platform might sound costly, but the right solution will provide value to your organization year over year, earning you a high ROI. Do your research to find a comprehensive platform suited to your nonprofit’s needs.
Running a well-designed fundraising campaign doesn’t have to be difficult. These tips will provide your organization with the necessary foundation to bring your campaign to life, but make sure to regularly assess your fundraising progress and make changes to your strategy as needed to maximize your funding. Once your campaign concludes, remember to thank your donors so you can retain their support for your next fundraiser.
How to Win With Matching Gifts And Higher Education: A Guide
/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising /by Jessica KingIf you work for a higher education institution, you know that marketing your mission is essential to bring in generous donations that fund your school. But did you know you could maximize existing donations through corporate matching gifts?
To pair matching gifts and higher education, you need an actionable plan. That’s where this guide comes in. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Double (and even triple!) your donors’ generous contributions to maximize funding for your institution. Let’s dive in to learn how!
How to Get Started With Matching Gifts for Higher Education
When it comes to minimum or maximum gift amounts, gift ratios, and all other matching gift logistics, you might think everything is determined by the donor and their employer. Think again! Your school can pave the way to accepting matching gifts by following these five steps:
1. Get your team on board with matching gifts.
Before you can effectively promote matching gifts to your institution’s donors, it’s important to build a solid internal foundation, starting with your fundraising and development team members! Prepare your team for matching gifts by:
When you set apart time for team-wide training on matching gifts, you’ll help everyone see the enormous potential of the initiative.
2. Set Your Goals
HubSpot’s goal-setting guide highlights a study that shows that 76% of people who write down their goals and make a list of goal-driven actions achieve what they set out to do. Craft a plan that details your matching gift revenue goals for the year, how you’re going to meet those goals and stay on track, and any deadlines you’ll want to meet in the process.
Consider the SMART goal framework to craft well-thought-out and detailed objectives to follow:
For example, “Our matching gifts goal is to collect $10,000 in completed company matches by the end of 2022.” With tangible objectives in place, your team is in a better position to actively work toward those goals.
3. Collect Donor Information
When it comes to matching gifts for higher education and otherwise, donor information is critical. Let’s say you’re performing prospect research to find major donors for your university. As you do this research, include a matching gift specification to target alumni working for companies with matching gift programs. You might look for:
Thorough donor research enables your team to locate high-value matching gift opportunities and leverage an informed perspective of your donor’s capacity to give.
To take your donor research to the next level, request employer appends. For higher ed universities especially, employer appends can be helpful to determine graduation year, email address, or any other missing data that would inform you of your donor’s matching gift eligibility and donation history.
4. Promote the Opportunity
Next, tell people about the opportunity to give! After collecting information about your donors, use a donor database to track all the details you’ve collected. Then, you can segment your communications to ensure different groups of people receive relevant communications.
Whether you’re reaching out to new alumni, older alumni, small- or large-dollar amount donors, or donors who work for top matching gift companies, every message should be different. Consider incorporating the following details into your communications to make personalize your messaging:
Sending your donors highly personalized outreach is an effective way to encourage them to participate in their employer’s matching gift program. After all, when you customize your communications to individual donors and create targeted campaigns, you’re more likely to find higher engagement and response rates from your donor pool.
5. Follow Up
After promoting your matching gift initiative, donations should start rolling in. Following up with donors is important for supporter engagement and capturing as many donations as possible, so you should consider it another step in the matching gift process!
Your donors want to know your institution appreciates their gift and that you value them as a supporter, alumni, or whatever their relationship may be. Here are a few keys ways you can do this:
On the other hand, some people will look into matching gifts and fail to follow through with a donation. Your school can seamlessly reach out to these potential donors and follow up through a matching gifts automation platform.
360MatchPro by Double the Donation’s automated platform tracks matching gift submissions from start to finish. When donors give a gift on your donation form, the platform determines their eligibility for a matching gift using the information they provided. If it finds a link between a donor and a matching gift program, it will trigger a follow-up email to the donor explaining how they can submit a match request.
You’ll be able to choose how often follow-up emails go out and easily track any incomplete matches. That way, your team will be able to spend more time on high-value matching gift opportunities and see more requests through to completion.
How to Promote Matching Gifts and Higher Education
According to Double the Donation’s matching gift statistics, 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered—but 78% of donors don’t know if their company offers a matching gift program! That’s why promoting matching gifts and program basics is extremely important.
Your key audience: alumni donors. If you’re keeping tabs on the employment statuses of your students after graduation, you already have a robust database of potential donors. Plus, those with a connection to your school and its mission will be more motivated to give.
How can you promote matching gifts to alumni donors? Here are a few ideas:
As an added bonus, you can use other marketing techniques to promote information about your matching gift initiative. For example, promote your landing page on Google to help alumni stumble upon it, even if they’re searching for something else! If search engine marketing (SEM) is the route you want to go, check out Google’s grant program for educational institutions.
Be sure to demonstrate the impact donations and matching gifts will have on your school. This means specifically noting what certain dollar amounts will go toward.
For example, will $200 go toward new books for the school library? Will $500 go toward establishing a new student scholarship fund? Associating dollar amounts with a tangible item will encourage more donations, which could then be amplified by a company match!
Matching Gift Tools For Your School
Setting goals, promoting matching gifts, and every other step of starting a matching gift initiative can actually become easier if you invest in matching gift software for your school. The right tools will streamline the entire matching gift process from start to finish.
How? Matching gift software gives you direct access to a matching gift database, which offers information on thousands of companies with matching gift programs. Here’s how it works:
The software’s company name search tool can be embedded anywhere on your website. It allows donors to quickly look up their company’s matching gift program without needing to ask their HR departments or look it up on their own (or even more importantly, without leaving your website).
After making their search, the tool will immediately populate with essential info about the company’s program, such as:
It will also typically include a link to the company’s matching gift forms so your donors can fill out the match request right then and there. Immediacy is important—donors are most engaged with your school as they’re donating, so offering them a direct link to the necessary forms at that moment will result in more completed match requests.
5 Higher Education Institutions That Mastered Matching Gift Initiatives
Everyone prefers different learning styles, from auditory resources to hands-on learning experiences. If you’re a visual learner, we’ve compiled a list of matching gift initiative examples—that way, you can look at universities that did it well and understand how they succeeded!
These five universities exemplify effective fundraising through matching gifts by utilizing:
These five institutions mastered their website’s matching gifts pages and even leveraged other digital marketing channels to draw attention to their matching gift initiatives. Let’s take a look at each one in closer detail!
1. University of Georgia
The University of Georgia made our list because its dedicated matching gifts page offers both educational and actionable information to encourage donors to submit a match request. Here are the top things to note about their page:
However, UGA’s matching gift efforts aren’t just limited to this page. They’ve also embedded the same matching gift search tool into their donation form, and the tool is branded to match the rest of their page.
UGA sends out automated emails once a match-eligible donor has submitted their donation. This email identifies the donor’s employer and offers direct links to start the matching gift submission process and indicate their status. Additional information about their employer’s matching gift program is listed in the email, as well.
2. Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon offers actionable verbiage and options to encourage donors to match their gifts through their employers. Their matching gifts page is easily accessible from their “Give” page (Ways to Make Your Gift → Matching Gifts). It offers:
But again, the matching gift information isn’t limited to this page. On CMU’s donation form, there’s a checkbox where donors can indicate “My company will match my gift.” If selected, an option to search for the donor’s employer pops up along with the company name search tool.
Carnegie Mellon does an exemplary job of educating their donors and web visitors about matching gifts and guiding them through the process.
3. Utah Valley University
Another great example of a higher ed institution that puts matching gifts front and center during their cultivation and donation process is Utah Valley University. Here’s what their matching gifts page does well:
For supporters who are ready to make a donation, UVU offers the same search tool on their donation page. The tool matches the rest of the form and helps donors find their company guidelines on a subsequent page:
UVU also sends out automated emails to donors who have been identified as match eligible. This email identifies:
UVU offers numerous ways for donors to learn about matching gifts through multiple channels, as well as provides actionable tools donors can use to submit their match requests.
4. Syracuse University
As soon as donors land on Syracuse University’s matching gifts page, they’re greeted with helpful information about corporate matching gifts and a company name search tool. The page’s top benefits include:
Syracuse also sends out automated emails to match-eligible individuals who have completed a donation. The emails include specific information about the employer’s matching gift guidelines, including their:
Syracuse does an excellent job maintaining a consistent brand, communicating with donors, and guiding them through the matching gift process.
5. University of Michigan
The University of Michigan’s matching gift page can be accessed from the navigation bar of the university’s philanthropy website (Giving → Make an Impact → Matching Gifts). From there, the page offers information about different ways to submit a matching gift request:
The University of Michigan offers substantial information to its supporters to ensure they understand what matching gifts are, how to determine their eligibility, and what steps they can take to submit a match request.
Additional Matching Gifts and Higher Education Resources
The learning process is never over! If you’re part of a higher education institution and you’re looking for ways to boost your fundraising efforts (with matching gifts or other strategies), check out the following resources:
20 Christmas Fundraising Ideas to Ring in the Holiday Season
/in Nonprofit Fundraising /by Jessica KingWith 30% of annual giving occurring in December, it’s not surprising that the holiday season is also the ultimate nonprofit fundraising season. People feel inclined to give back to their favorite causes during the holidays, and nonprofits should lean into that giving spirit to maximize their fundraising results.
However, there are so many nonprofits for donors to choose from. How do you make yours stand out and capture the attention of potential donors?
When you implement Christmas-specific fundraising ideas, you make holiday giving fun. There’s no better way to entice people to give during the holiday season than to give your fundraising efforts a little Christmas spin. Let’s walk through 20 Christmas fundraising ideas so your nonprofit can engage donors and earn more this holiday season.
1. Christmas eCards
Christmas cards are a classic way to spread holiday cheer with family and friends. What if you could make Christmas cards more convenient and use them to encourage holiday giving?
Enter Christmas eCards. With eCards, people can connect with their loved ones—no matter where they are—with the click of a button. Your nonprofit can use dedicated holiday eCard software to create Christmas eCards and sell them on your website to raise money for your cause. Then, donors can add personalized messages and share their eCards.
Another way to fundraise with Christmas eCards is to offer them as tribute gifts. Donors can contribute to your nonprofit in honor of a loved one and send them an eCard detailing the donation and your cause. In that case, eCards act as Christmas cards and presents, spreading double the holiday cheer.
If you’re curious about what a Christmas eCard fundraising campaign looks like in action, eCardWidget provides a few examples from organizations like UnitingWorld and Habitat for Humanity South Africa.
2. Christmas Auction
Another Christmas fundraising idea is hosting a Christmas auction. This type of fundraiser is very versatile because you can pair it with other fundraising methods. For example, if you’re hosting a Christmas party or other holiday-themed event, you can include an auction as part of the festivities.
Plus, auctions are a great way to not only earn money for your cause but also offer donors something in return for their contributions. Include an array of holiday-themed items, such as wreaths, ornaments, sweaters, gift baskets, gift cards, and holiday event tickets.
To offset the costs of procuring items, reach out to local businesses to obtain corporate sponsorships. Then, companies can donate items to be auctioned off to your supporters. In exchange, you can promote these businesses on all marketing materials, including your website, newsletter, and social media pages.
3. Holiday Matching Gift Campaign
What could be better than a fundraising idea that comes at no additional cost to donors but has the potential to double—or even triple—your fundraising revenue? When you promote matching gifts, you make it more likely that donors will submit matching gift requests to their employers in an effort to double the impact of their donations for your cause.
While you may already advertise matching gift opportunities to your donors, doing so during the holiday season when giving is at an all-time high can be an effective way to raise even more. Since the matching gift process almost exclusively occurs online, leverage a digital fundraising campaign to promote matching gifts, using methods such as social media, Google Ads, and email.
To facilitate the matching gift process, consider using matching gift software. Double the Donation’s guide to matching gift software vendors explains that since many donors don’t know if they’re eligible for matching gifts, they don’t fill out matching gift requests, leaving extra money on the table that nonprofits could benefit from.
When you implement matching gift software, donors can check their matching gift eligibility and send matching gift requests right from your donation page, guaranteeing you’ll receive the associated company matches.
4. Christmas Cookie Exchange
Nothing screams Christmas joy like Christmas cookies. Host a Christmas cookie exchange to get your supporters’ creative juices flowing and bring your community together this holiday season.
Charge participants a small fee for entry. Then, all you’ll have to provide is a space for people to exchange cookies! This type of fundraiser is an easy and fun way to engage donors and their families during the holiday season.
You can raise even more with your Christmas cookie exchange by:
No matter whether you host a traditional Christmas cookie exchange or combine it with other Christmas fundraising ideas, you’re sure to entice your supporters with the prospect of enjoying a treat and contributing to your cause at the same time.
5. Tree Decorating Contest
When you think of Christmas, the traditional Christmas tree likely comes to mind. There are so many different ways you can incorporate a tree decorating contest into your holiday season fundraising strategy.
One option is to have supporters team up to decorate and pay an entry fee to participate. If your nonprofit has the means, you can provide each team with a tree or work with a local Christmas tree farm to offer trees to your supporters.
If you want to host your tree decorating contest virtually, you can have supporters pay a small fee and submit pictures of their decorated trees from home. This way, you can reach a wider audience and encourage anyone who’s confident in their home’s tree decorations to join in on the fun.
In order to judge the entries, have members of your staff evaluate trees based on their creativity, festivity, and overall quality. To earn even more from this fundraiser, you can have supporters pay a small fee to vote on their favorite entry and determine the winner that way.
6. Holiday 5K
Get your supporters active this holiday season with a festive 5K. Have runners pay an entry fee so you can raise money for your cause.
It’s easy to host a 5K—all you have to do is secure space for the course. Then, you can focus on making the run fun and filled with holiday cheer!
For example, you can encourage participants to dress up in holiday attire. From Santa suits to ugly sweaters, there are a variety of ways participants can dress according to the theme.
As a final touch, sell Christmas-themed branded merchandise. Consider offering t-shirts to commemorate the event and other smaller items such as mugs and stickers. That way, you can raise even more for your cause.
7. Online Shopping Fundraiser
What’s better than a fundraiser that doesn’t require supporters to contribute any additional money to your nonprofit? Online shopping fundraisers allow your supporters to give back to your cause while they purchase holiday gifts for their loved ones.
Check out how an online shopping fundraiser works:
To facilitate this fundraiser, your nonprofit can partner with a provider like ShopRaise so your organization can be included in online shopping fundraiser apps. As a result, you’ll also have access to metrics about which supporters have used the app and how much they’ve contributed through their holiday shopping.
8. Polar Plunge
Challenge your supporters to a frigid polar plunge! For this fundraiser, supporters jump into a cold body of water to raise money for your nonprofit. They collect pledges from family and friends ahead of time, encouraging them to brave the cold for your cause.
When it comes to a polar plunge, safety is key. Here are some steps you can take to ensure all participants stay safe at your event:
With safety precautions in place, you’re equipped to host a polar plunge event that brings out the daredevil in your participants and raises funds for your nonprofit.
9. Gingerbread House Contest
Inspire a little healthy competition among your supporters with a gingerbread house contest. Participants can pay a small fee for entry. Then, it’s time to get creative!
Work with a local bakery to provide participants with gingerbread and a variety of decorating supplies. Supporters of all ages can create their ideal gingerbread house and enter it into the running.
Then, have your staff and supporters vote on their gingerbread house of choice. You can even open up the contest to your social media followers to include a wider audience.
10. Breakfast with Santa
Family holiday fun awaits with a breakfast with Santa event. Invite your supporters to a festive holiday breakfast featuring special guest, Santa. Charge supporters an entry fee to attend.
Make the breakfast element easy by offering pancakes and waffles. That way, all you’ll have to do is buy pancake mix and ask your supporters to lend their griddles of waffle makers. If you want to provide a wider variety of food options, consider partnering with a local restaurant or catering company.
Don’t forget about the guest of honor! Have a member of your staff dress up as Santa and engage with families at the event. Then, you can feature pictures of Santa and your supporters on your social media to ring in the holiday season.
11. Christmas Text-to-Give
Take advantage of the giving season with a text-to-give campaign. You can make it easy for people to lend their support by offering the option to contribute right from their phones.
Choose a holiday-related keyword for supporters to text to a designated number. Then, they’ll be directed to your donation page where they can make a contribution.
For optimal success, make sure your donation page is mobile-friendly. Adjusting text size and image formatting can make your page more accessible, allowing more people to lend their support.
12. Holiday Gala
A holiday gala is a great way to gather your community together during the holiday season. Sell tickets for the event on your website and entice people to attend by offering sneak peeks on your social media.
Reach out to restaurants and catering companies to see if they’d be willing to cater the event. That way, you can provide a delicious dinner to your supporters at little to no cost to your organization.
Holiday galas also present an opportunity to look back at your successes from the past year. Create a slideshow that highlights your accomplishments and thanks attendees for their continued support.
13. In-Kind Donation Drive
Chances are that your beneficiaries could benefit from certain items in addition to typical donations. Encourage your donors to show their support in a different way with an in-kind donation drive.
Make a list of items your supporters can contribute. For example, an animal shelter may accept pet food, leashes, and bowls whereas a homeless shelter may look for holiday gifts, personal care items, and clothing for their residents.
Ensure it’s clear where supporters can drop off their contributions. You may create a festive donation box with wrapping paper and put it in a visible location outside your organization’s headquarters or in the building.
14. Holiday Movie Night
One of the easiest ways to fundraise during the holiday season is with a movie night. All your organization has to do is sell tickets and provide a space to show the movie!
To engage your supporters, have them vote on which holiday movie they’d like to see. You can even turn the event into a holiday movie marathon by showing multiple festive movies back to back.
Earn even more from your holiday movie night by selling snacks and drinks to enjoy. Ask your supporters if any of them have a popcorn machine they’d be willing to lend for the event. Then, you’ll really create an authentic movie theater atmosphere!
15. Ice Skating Event
Skate the night away at an ice skating fundraiser! Get in touch with your local ice rink to see if they’re willing to host a proceeds night. That way, a percentage of your supporters’ ice skating entry fees can go toward your cause.
To give this wintry event a holiday touch, consider selling hot chocolate or Christmas cookies for skaters to enjoy when they get off the rink. Just make sure to check that the rink allows outside organizations to sell items at their venue.
16. Christmas Bingo
Add a Christmas spin to the classic bingo fundraiser. Make this family-friendly activity suitable for the holidays by using Christmas-themed bingo boards, playing Christmas music, and giving away Christmas-themed prizes to the winners.
To make the event profitable, sell tickets for entry or depending on how many rounds people play. You can raise additional funds by adding a raffle or silent auction to your event.
17. Holiday Candy Grams
Allow your supporters to sweeten up their loved ones’ holiday seasons by selling holiday candy grams. Provide candy and paper for personalized notes, and you’re good to go!
From candy canes to peppermint bark, there is a variety of fun holiday-themed candy you can use for your candy gram fundraiser. Spread awareness of the event by promoting it on social media and allowing non-local supporters to purchase candy grams on your website. You can even have people send their candy grams with a festive eCard in lieu of a physical note.
18. Holiday Lights Festival
Want to provide a magical experience for your supporters? Transform your nonprofit’s facility into a winter wonderland! Depending on the size and nature of your building, you can create an indoor or drive-by lights display that gets your supporters into the holiday spirit.
Collect donations before supporters view the display. You can earn more from the event by selling holiday treats, such as hot chocolate and candy canes, for people to enjoy as they experience the display.
19. Christmas Scavenger Hunt
A Christmas scavenger hunt can get supporters of all ages excited about the holiday season. Hide Christmas-related items around your facility. Charge participants for entry, and whoever finds all the items first wins a prize!
You can also open up the scavenger hunt to people outside of your local area. Create an online version of the scavenger hunt by allowing supporters to send in pictures of the items on your list. Then, you can post the winning entry on social media.
20. Gratefulness Challenge
The true essence of the holiday season is being grateful for everything you have. Inspire supporters to share what they’re grateful for with a social media challenge. In December, you can encourage supporters to post a photo of something they’re grateful for, such as loved ones or pets.
Raise funds with a gratefulness challenge by having participants share a link to your donation page. They can contextualize their post for supporters by explaining the challenge in the caption and how their support can help your nonprofit propel its mission forward.
Your supporters can amplify their impact by tagging friends and family members and encouraging them to participate in the challenge as well.
Wrapping Up & Additional Resources
The holiday season is all about three things: friends, family, and fun. Let your Christmas fundraising campaign reflect what this time of year truly stands for.
Provide opportunities for donors to participate in fundraising with their loved ones and support your organization in a way that also gets them excited about the holiday season. That way, everyone can enjoy the fundraising process and ultimately help your organization meet its year-end fundraising goals.
Looking for more fundraising resources? Check out these articles:
5 Strategies for Achieving Year-End Fundraising Success
/in Nonprofit Communications /by Jessica KingNavigating the complexities of year-end fundraising can be a daunting task. With approximately a quarter of your revenue for the entire year at stake, it’s crucial to have a well-defined plan in place to maximize your organization’s fundraising potential.
In this guide, we’ll explore five best practices for achieving year-end fundraising success. Whether you’re looking to establish new fundraising strategies or revamp your existing ones, these insights will help you secure the funding you need to further your mission.
1. Analyze your data from last year.
Analyze past fundraising data stored in your organization’s database. Use this information to determine what your organization does well and where you have opportunities for improvement.
For example, if a significant portion of your supporters RSVP’d for your virtual event and gave a donation on top of their registration fee, you should continue this activity as part of your year-end campaign. However, you may also find that your nonprofit’s email open rate is lower than expected, meaning there’s an opportunity to optimize your email marketing strategies.
Keep these discoveries in mind as you construct your year-end plan.
2. Make a plan to start early.
Year-end fundraising isn’t just about November and December. In fact, many nonprofits start their planning in late summer, as this allows them to prepare far in advance of the busiest months of the year.
As approaches, create a plan that accounts for:
If your nonprofit finds itself starting the planning process later than ideal, immediately prioritize key tasks to maximize its success. Firstly, it should conduct a thorough assessment of its current resources, including staff, volunteers, and existing donor relationships. This will help identify any gaps that need to be filled and provide a clear understanding of the organization’s strengths and limitations
3. Prepare your communications.
Effective communication is key to engaging donors and inspiring them to support your cause. To prepare your communications for a successful year-end fundraising season, you should:
In the months ahead of the year-end season, consider revamping your brand guidelines to differentiate yourself from other organizations and highlight your unique value proposition. Gather feedback from donors, staff, and other stakeholders to gain insights into how the brand is perceived and what changes may be necessary, such as refining your messaging or updating certain graphic design elements.
4. Look for new revenue sources.
For the new year, consider diversifying your revenue sources to increase your nonprofit’s sustainability. For instance, in addition to your current year-end fundraising plans, you might try:
Expanding your funding sources can help you discover areas of untapped fundraising potential. Additionally, if one fundraising source ever falls short, you have multiple other revenue streams that can pick up the slack.
5. Prepare your technology stack.
A well-prepared technology stack can significantly streamline and improve your fundraising efforts. With the right tools, you can send personalized messages, track engagement, and leverage automation to nurture donor relationships, helping you raise more funds.
Depending on your goals, you can benefit from investing in new technology or upgrading your existing tools ahead of the year-end season. These new platforms may include:
If you need assistance throughout this process, consider working with a nonprofit technology consultant. An expert can decide whether or not you need an entirely new system or an upgrade and provide guidance on how to leverage your technology to meet your goals.
By following these recommendations, you can get a jump start on your year-end fundraising plans. Although the end of the year might seem far off, it’s never too early to create a game plan for your year-end strategy and make sure you’re maximizing the fundraising opportunities available to you.
5 Tips to Improve Internal Communication At Your Nonprofit
/in Nonprofit Communications /by Jessica KingIn any kind of workplace, how you communicate internally affects your outputs. This is true whether you’re an advertising agency preparing a pitch for a prospective client, a restaurant getting ready for dinner service, or even a rock band rehearsing for a concert.
The same principle applies to nonprofits. To succeed in serving your community, your team members must know how to effectively communicate with one another. Effective communication has a trickle-down effect, enhancing how you fundraise, run your programming, and make progress on large-scale projects. It’s also critical for running a workplace where people enjoy their jobs and want to stay for the long term.
To help you improve internal communication at your nonprofit, we’ve put together this quick guide consisting of five practical tips. If you’re ready to level up how your team works together, this post is for you! Let’s get started.
1. Equip your employees with the right communication tools.
Great communication starts with the right tools, especially in an age of flexible work arrangements, where some employees may be working from an office and others may work from home.
To connect all the dots and keep information flowing through your organization, consider using these tools:
As with email, any tool you decide to use for internal communications should be introduced along with guidelines for its appropriate use. This will help ensure your tools help rather than hinder internal communication and encourage a healthy workflow at your organization.
2. Be transparent about compensation.
Let’s now get into how to communicate about a big topic that is intimidating for many employers: compensation. Compensation, how your organization pays and rewards employees for their work, plays a major role in determining the overall tone of your internal culture. However, this doesn’t simply mean employees are only happier and more engaged when they’re paid higher salaries.
As you’re well aware, the topic of nonprofit salaries is particularly complex and sometimes controversial. Generally speaking, nonprofits experience much tighter or more inflexible budgets than for-profit businesses of similar sizes, which is why Astron Solutions recommends you take a total rewards approach to compensation. This means taking into account both direct and indirect forms of compensation.
Direct Compensation
Organizations of all types tend to avoid talking very openly about direct compensation. Employees are rarely aware of exactly why they or their coworkers are paid what they’re paid. This can lead to a lot of easily avoidable confusion, secrecy, and feelings of dissatisfaction.
However, new pay transparency laws are becoming more ubiquitous throughout the U.S., requiring employers to be more forthright with their employees and job candidates about compensation.
Whether or not your state or local government has yet to pass a pay transparency law, it’s a general best practice to take an open approach to communicating about compensation with your employees. On a one-on-one basis, each employee should clearly understand why they’re paid their particular salary.
Especially for nonprofits that can’t afford to offer extremely competitive salaries for all staff members, you can foster a more engaged, satisfying work culture by taking an open, realistic approach to direct compensation and paying close attention to the quality of your indirect compensation.
Indirect Compensation
While direct compensation refers to salaries, indirect compensation includes elements like:
By including culture (which is greatly determined by an organization’s approach to internal communication) as an element of indirect compensation, nonprofits can more accurately examine their compensation strategies and then take a more flexible approach to adjust them.
This is particularly important when you consider that it’s elements of indirect compensation that tend to be the most important factors in your employee retention rate. Indirect compensation is an integral part of why employees stay engaged with their work. Understanding that will help you better develop strategies for improving it (like streamlining internal communication) and help you recognize when you’re falling short.
3. Prioritize transparency and engagement in general.
Most managers of teams understand the value of transparency, but it can be easy to let this priority fall by the wayside under the stresses of day-to-day operations.
Just as you develop stewardship plans to grow your donors’ investment in your cause, you can easily take steps to do the same for your employees. More transparent communication and big-picture views of your operations are great ways to start.
As a nonprofit grows and new processes and policies are built out, not every member of your team will have as much insight into their coworker’s tasks or the priorities of other departments as they once did. In your internal communications and announcements, think carefully about whether you have a good reason not to share particular updates or information.
Many managers worry that sharing too much information about ongoing activities across the organization will be distracting for team members and derail focus. However, increasing transparency around new strategies and updates can significantly increase employee engagement.
This is because team members will be more understanding of changes and feel more invested in new developments when they can contextualize why your organization is making certain decisions or prioritizing certain projects.
Another strategy you might consider is expanding your training or onboarding process to include overview presentations or shadowing in different departments. Siloing staff members into very specific roles without giving them the chance to see how their work contributes to the bigger picture can contribute to burnout or low engagement.
4. Share internal knowledge and documentation freely.
Organizational history and process documentation can be invaluable resources for your staff as they make day-to-day decisions and contribute to your nonprofit’s growth.
However, internal knowledge and documentation might be intentionally kept secret. This is typically more common in for-profit businesses than in nonprofits, but you should still avoid this practice in general. (Of course, legal and privacy concerns should always be taken into account.)
If you have no pressing reason to limit the visibility of certain information or documents, though, you should make sure employees can easily access and benefit from resources like:
Remember, as mentioned above, an intranet or internal website can be an excellent place to store these resources securely.
Opening up your store of internal knowledge for employees whenever possible is a best practice for any organization. Not only does it communicate trust, but it also increases employee engagement by letting your team know that they’re a valuable part of your organization’s ongoing story.
5. Connect internal goals to your mission and communicate them.
As a nonprofit, you have the benefit of being fully guided by your mission, not necessarily by market forces or competing organizations. Chances are your team members have all pursued work in the nonprofit space because they feel personally compelled to contribute to the social good. They’ve all been drawn to your mission in one way or another.
Fostering that sense of mission buy-in is critical for your organization.
Your internal communication style can support mission buy-in by simply being more direct. Whenever you’re sharing updates about a new goal or development, think about how it ties into your mission, and then explain how they’re related. When fully tied into your driving mission, even unexciting internal projects become more engaging for your employees.
This practice is especially important for high-stakes or critical projects, as mission buy-in will likely be a major factor that pushes your team over the finish line.
When it comes to setting internal goals and building structures to motivate your team, working with a nonprofit HR expert early on in the development of your organization can have positive, long-lasting impacts. Growth can cause teams to lose focus, and developing a concrete roadmap around your central mission is a smart safeguard.
An organization’s approach to internal communication plays a major role in determining the quality of its workplace and its ability to connect with beneficiaries and supporters.
By implementing one or more of these tips into how you handle your internal communication, you can encourage healthy shifts and growth in your organization’s culture. Take a flexible approach, and find what works for your unique mission and team. You can do it!
Author: Jennifer C. Loftus, MBA, SPHR, PHRca, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, CCP, CBP, GRP
Jennifer C. Loftus is a Founding Partner of and National Director for Astron Solutions, a compensation consulting firm. Jennifer has 23 years of experience garnered at organizations including the Hay Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company, and Harcourt General.
Jennifer has held volunteer leadership roles with SHRM, New York City SHRM, and WorldatWork. She serves as a subject matter expert to the SHRM Learning System and as a SHRM instructor. Jennifer is a sought-after speaker for local & national conferences and media outlets.
Jennifer has an MBA in Human Resource Management with highest honors from Pace University and a BS in Accounting summa cum laude from Rutgers University.
Jennifer holds Adjunct Professor roles with Pace University, Long Island University, and LIM College.
Jennifer received the 2014 Gotham Comedy Foundation’s Lifetime Ambassador of Laughter Award.