This article provides 13 top fundraising crms to consider.

13 Top Fundraising CRMs for Nonprofit Organizations (Updated for 2023)

 

Fundraising CRMs, or constituent relationship management systems for nonprofits, are vital for effective revenue generation and donor management efforts⁠. This is especially true as organizations continue to grow.

If your nonprofit is seeking a CRM solution (whether for the first time or to upgrade an existing system), you’ve come to the right place! This list of top nonprofit CRMs has been crafted with organizations like yours in mind, and we’ll highlight key features, benefits, and more for each provider.

At Getting Attention, our favorite fundraising CRMs (in alphabetical order) are:

  1. CharityEngine
  2. Classy
  3. Click & Pledge
  4. DonorPerfect
  5. Engaging Networks
  6. GiveSmart
  7. Kindful
  8. Neon CRM
  9. NonProfitEasy
  10. Raiser’s Edge NXT
  11. Salesforce
  12. SalsaLabs
  13. Virtuous CRM

One key function to consider as you browse this list of suggested fundraising CRMs is matching gift abilities. Research shows that between $4 and $7 billion in available matching gift funding is left on the table each year⁠—largely because nonprofits lack the tools to secure those corporate dollars effectively.

Luckily, more and more nonprofit CRMs are beginning to incorporate matching gift functionality into their toolkit through seamless integrations with matching gift software (the most common by far being 360MatchPro by Double the Donation).

Ready to dive in and discover the perfect donor management system for your organization? Let’s get started.

Click here to learn more about 360MatchPro

CharityEngine is one of our favorite nonprofit fundraising CRMs.

1. CharityEngine

CharityEngine offers a number of fundraising solutions, including an online donation platform and fundraising CRM. Their CRM system enables teams to quickly and easily automate fundraising, marketing, and data collection to provide nonprofits with more time to spend on mission-related projects.

Top CharityEngine features:

  • Built-out donor profiles
  • Donation pages
  • Payment processing
  • Reporting and analytics
  • Automated workflows.

Not to mention, CharityEngine donation forms drive matching gift revenue by simplifying the matching process for both donors (through personalized reminders and company-specific instructions) and nonprofits (by automating communications, collecting data, and tracking revenue growth). Since the #1 hindrance for matching gifts is a lack of awareness among supporters, CharityEngine leverage matching git software from Double the Donation to ensure each donor is exposed to matching gift information at multiple touchpoints.

Why We Love This CRM

CharityEngine’s major gifts and planned giving software capabilities allow organizations to maximize their impact and streamline their management. As major gifts make up to 80% of an organization’s total revenue, this feature offers a huge advantage.

With CharityEngine, your organization can track applications and opportunities and manage projects with just a few clicks. Its robust analytics features also provide telling insights to measure your major gift progress.

Classy is one of our favorite fundraising CRMs for nonprofits.

2. Classy

Classy is an all-in-one fundraising platform with solutions for donor management, online donations, and peer-to-peer campaigns. This fundraising CRM is designed to provide users with a central hub for campaign and supporter management called Classy Manager. With these tools, nonprofit fundraisers are able to launch and manage campaigns, track performance and donor interactions, and gain a better understanding of their fundraising overall.

Top Classy features:

  • Online donation processing
  • Event management
  • Robust reporting and analytics

And Classy doesn’t want you to forget about matching gift opportunities, either! This platform integrates with Double the Donation’s comprehensive matching gift tool to enable a searchable matching gift database, automated donor follow-ups and match reminders, and more. They even offer a two-way data sync that allows matching gift information collected in 360MatchPro to flow into Classy’s platform! When donors are encouraged to participate in their employers’ matching gift programs on multiple occasions, they’ll be more likely to request a match and secure more dollars for your cause.

Why We Love This CRM

Classy provides a 360-degree supporter interaction view, so you can observe and manage your donor interactions from every angle. You can look into individual donor histories to enhance your engagement efforts. This is especially helpful to re-engage donors and increase your donor retention rate.

For reference, the average donor retention rate across nonprofits is between 40 and 45% which can feel like you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle. However, donor management tools like the 360 supporter interaction view can help your nonprofit make every interaction count.

Explore Click and Pledge's fundraising CRM.

3. Click & Pledge

Click & Pledge offers powerful donor management tools built on the Salesforce platform. This innovative fundraising CRM can even help users sort and rank donors based on an algorithm that considers personal donations, amounts fundraised, and gifts within an individual’s network in order to identify their highest-value supporters.

Top Click & Pledge features:

  • Automated communications
  • Data analytics
  • Manual donation processing
  • Seamless Salesforce integration

Plus, Click & Pledge integrates with the top matching gift solution, 360MatchPro, to promote matching gift opportunities to supporters, drive more company match requests with automated communications, and boost fundraising revenue overall.

Why We Love This CRM

Click & Pledge offers effective video fundraising options to capture your donor’s hearts. You can simply embed donation forms directly into your videos for viewers to donate without having to exit the video experience.

This solution doesn’t allow viewers to get distracted, so they can give to your cause at the best time—right after viewing your mission. And, recent studies have shown that 57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation. With Click & Pledge, you can make this process as easy as possible.

DonorPerfect is a favorite nonprofit fundraising CRM.

4. DonorPerfect

DonorPerfect is a comprehensive fundraising solution that specializes in strategic donor management through targeted communications, multichannel outreach, easy donation processing, and customizable reports. Plus, it can save fundraisers tons of time and resources when they employ DonorPerfect’s extensive automated workflows!

Top DonorPerfect features:

  • Payment processing
  • Fundraising event management
  • Online donation forms
  • Insightful data analytics

This platform also incorporates matching gift tools and strategies with a Double the Donation integration. This way, organizations can easily communicate the importance of matching gifts to donors and provide targeted next steps depending on the individual’s employer. The easier it is for donors to participate in matching gift programs, the more likely they are to follow through with their request, and the more dollars that go toward your mission!

Why We Love This CRM

DonorPerfect has a wide variety of integrations, enabling your team to choose the ones that will best complement your goals. From volunteer management to website and event management, DonorPerfect will have your team covered.

Engaging Networks is a favorite fundraising CRM.

5. Engaging Networks

Engaging Networks is a multi-faceted fundraising platform with tools for online donations, nonprofit marketing, peer-to-peer campaigns, donor and data management, and more. This eCRM is dedicated to providing users with cutting-edge technology with constantly developing upgrades, newly released features, and a web of seamless integrations.

Top Engaging Networks features:

  • Advanced visual reporting
  • Target audience query builders
  • Fundraising performance analysis
  • Donor profiling and geotargeting

One of their most impactful integrations is with Double the Donation’s matching gift software, 360MatchPro. Thanks to the Engaging Networks and Double the Donation integration, organizations can quickly boost matching gift revenue by promoting these program opportunities at multiple donor touchpoints. This includes, but is not limited to, during the donation process itself and within a number of automated and customizable email follow-ups.

Why We Love This CRM

Engaging Networks is currently the only platform that offers artificial intelligence fundraising capabilities. This future-forward option leverages machine learning to help organizations reach fundraising goals and transform one-time donors into recurring supporters. As your data changes, artificial intelligence fundraising can continue to predict patterns and give an in-depth glimpse into supporter behavior. 

GiveSmart is a top fundraising CRM to consider for your nonprofit management.

6. GiveSmart

Formerly SimplyFundraisingCRM, GiveSmart is a fantastic solution that equips nonprofits with innovative donor management tools. The top benefits of GiveSmart include saving time through strategic automation, raising more with effective fundraising solutions, and receiving guided assistance from a panel of expert fundraising advisors.

Top GiveSmart features:

  • Automated donor acknowledgments
  • One-click donor reports
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Data analysis

Not to mention, the platform integrates with Double the Donation’s most comprehensive matching gift solution to help drive additional revenue from company matches! Through donor screening practices and automated communications, organizations can easily promote matching gifts and encourage supporters to participate.

Why We Love This CRM

GiveSmart’s ticketing and guest management features work great for any type of event—in-person, online, or hybrid that can keep up with changing preferences. In addition, GiveSmart has scheduled text messaging that engages supporters at the most opportune time.

Kindful is one of our favorite nonprofit fundraising CRMs.

7. Kindful

Kindful CRM is a product of Bloomerang that is designed to build seamless connections between various nonprofit processes to streamline backend efforts and provide improved donor experiences. This platform emphasizes the power of technical integrations with a number of other fundraising platforms to provide an interconnected network of fundraising software that drives success.

Top Kindful features:

  • Tracking and reporting
  • Donor lifecycle dashboards
  • Detailed donor and contact records
  • Donation tracking
  • Wealth insights

And for many Kindful clients, this network incorporates matching gift software and practices as well. Their matching gift integration with Double the Donation’s comprehensive automation tool allows organizations to promote company matches through personalized outreach and match reminders. Plus, users can configure automated follow-ups to include matching gift instructions, next steps, and guidelines for each individual’s employer, which ultimately results in increased matches and revenue.

Why We Love This CRM

Kindful’s library of integration features is vast, but there is one specifically worth highlighting—Kindful’s email capabilities. Kindful enables your organization to send timely, personalized donation receipts and campaign emails to establish a personalized cadence with donors. According to TruConversion Reports, an email marketing campaign can deliver a return of $40 for every $1 spent. This places email in the highest marketing ROI category.

Neon CRM is a fantastic fundraising CRM for nonprofits.

8. Neon CRM

Neon CRM is a donor management solution created by the fundraising platform Neon One and designed to scale up alongside organizations of any size. This versatile solution is able to help manage nonprofit fundraising, memberships, events, websites, and more.

Top Neon CRM features:

  • Online web forms
  • Grant management
  • Constituent login portals
  • Automated receipting
  • Accounts and relationship tracking
  • Donation processing

Plus, their matching gift integration with 360MatchPro by Double the Donation enables organizations to significantly increase matching gift awareness through strategic follow-ups and personalized guidelines⁠—and boost matching gift revenue as a result.

Why We Love This CRM

Neon One includes website design solutions that can help you build and manage web pages with confidence. With its web design tools, you can generate responsive, SEO-optimized web pages with no coding needed. This way, you can promote your mission through an engaging online presence.

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NonProfitEasy is a great choice of nonprofit CRM for fundraising and donor management.

9. NonProfitEasy

NonProfitEasy is a product of the Lumaverse technology company that was built to provide organizations with simple, scalable solutions. Previously known as Fundly CRM, NonProfitEasy makes its goal to “turn one-time donors into lifetime supporters.”

Top NonProfitEasy features:

  •  Donor communication
  • Event management
  • Pledge and grant tracking
  • Customizable and predefined data reports
  • Membership management

And with a seamless integration with the industry-leading matching gift tool, 360MatchPro, NonProfitEasy users are able to double supporter donations while saving time and effort through automation. This includes donor information screening to identify match-eligible transactions, customized outreach triggered to remind eligible individuals of matching gifts, and powerful tracking and reporting capabilities with forecasting tools.

Why We Love This CRM

TheNonprofitEasy includes enhanced member engagement features, so you can create member levels and pricing that reflect your nonprofit’s needs. Additionally, its embeddable member forms make it easy for you to create compelling member marketing campaigns. Member-specific email blasts also let you personalize your communications.

Raiser's Edge NXT is one of our favorite nonprofit CRMs for fundraising.

10. Raiser’s Edge NXT

Raiser’s Edge NXT is a nonprofit fundraising CRM built by Blackbaud that provides organizations of all sizes with donor management tools. The Raiser’s Edge NXT is their newest version of the product, which is a cloud-based software that aims to provide the social good community with an easy and effective fundraising solution.

Top Raiser’s Edge NXT features:

  • Growth opportunity identification
  • Dynamic email campaigns
  • Integrated multichannel techniques
  • Automated workflows
  • Accessibility from any device
  • Donor data analytics

To incorporate matching gift fundraising efforts as well, Raiser’s Edge NXT integrates seamlessly with Double the Donation’s matching gift software. This enables nonprofits to leverage the most effective matching gift strategies with little to no time and effort required of their fundraising teams. With automated donor follow-ups and match reminders, organizations see significant increases in match revenue!

Why We Love This CRM

Raiser’s Edge NXT has extensive donor data tools that offer automated checkups to ensure your data is up to date. With clean and correct data, you’ll be able to foster more meaningful interactions and track your entire constituent community.

Salesforce is a fantastic fundraising CRM for nonprofit organizations.

11. Salesforce

Salesforce is a popular CRM solution for businesses and nonprofits alike⁠. Salesforce.com caters to the for-profit side of the sector, while Salesforce.org targets nonprofits, schools, and other mission-driven organizations.

Top Salesforce features:

  • Donor-centric relationship-planning
  • Digital-first fundraising experiences
  • Program management, reporting, and grantmaking

This comprehensive platform also allows Salesforce clients to extend their CRM functionality through a number of technical integrations with partners listed in the Salesforce AppExchange⁠ marketplace—one of which is Double the Donation. When users leverage Double the Donation’s matching gift automation tools, nonprofits can collect two gifts for every one donation solicited by driving matching gift participation.

Why We Love This CRM

Salesforce’s digital marketing tools can help you make the initial ask and retain them long-term. With Salesforce, you can launch a series of emails or a full-blown, multi-channel campaign. The best part? Salesforce’s personalizing email features let you catch each individual supporter’s attention.

Take a look at SalsaLabs for a great fundraising CRM.

12. SalsaLabs

SalsaCRM from SalsaLabs is a powerful and effective donor management system. This software works well alongside Salsa’s other fundraising products in addition to a range of other top fundraising solutions⁠—including Double the Donation’s matching gift tools!

Top Salsa features:

  • Rich donor profiles
  • Extensive relationship-tracking
  • Automated suggested gift calculations
  • Unified online and offline gift management

The Double the Donation integration allows Salsa clients to utilize Double the Donation’s matching gift software, 360MatchPro, alongside their fundraising CRMs and donation forms to automate matching gift communications with donors. This boosts awareness of these programs and their availability while encouraging eligible donors to request matching donations from their employers. Ultimately, these tools result in increased corporate donations and better donor relations.

Why We Love This CRM

SalsaLab’s donor profiles are overflowing with usable information for you to access unlimited custom fields and activity timelines. The platform’s automated “next suggested gift” calculations determine the optimal amounts for you to ask each donor. This way, you’ll engage with donors on a personal level and make an ask that aligns with their donation history.

Virtuous is a favorite nonprofit CRM for fundraising.

13. Virtuous CRM

Virtuous offers a nonprofit CRM that is designed to help fundraisers streamline donor management efforts, improve supporter relationships, and leverage data-rich insights for improved practices.

Top Virtuous features:

  • Omnichannel marketing strategies
  • Donor analysis with highlighted opportunities
  • Personalized cultivation and retention plans
  • Reporting dashboards

With Virtuous, nonprofit clients can configure their fundraising CRMs to incorporate Double the Donation’s matching gift functionality. This integration allows organizations to increase matching gifts and improve their strategies through automated email follow-ups that contain employer-specific program information and instructions. When more donors request company matches from their employers, the nonprofit receives additional gifts for free!

Why We Love This CRM

Virtuous CRM’s social insights can give your organization the opportunity to make informed donor decisions. Using these insights, you can track givers based on their interests, persona, affiliations, and social media profiles. From there, you can suggest a relevant next action based on individual donor preferences and passions.

Tips for Selecting a Fundraising CRM

There are several CRMs out there and it can be easy to get overwhelmed with so many options. To assess your CRM needs, ask these questions:

  • What are my organization’s goals? Refer to your mission statement and accompanying objectives to decipher your goals based on your organization’s purpose and size.
  • How big is my organization? Take a look at your contact list, how many emails you send, and your revenue baseline metrics. Then, consider your revenue goals for the coming years to get an idea of how much growth you’re likely to achieve.
  • How much data needs to be migrated? Migration determines CRM cost. If you have to collect data from multiple disparate sources, you will have a higher end cost.

Asking these questions ahead of time can help you narrow your search and decide on a scalable solution that best suits your specific needs. You might also decide to request a demo for multiple platforms to compare their capabilities.


Did any of these fundraising CRMs catch your eye? The providers listed above are some of our favorite solutions for nonprofit data management, donor relationships, automated communications, and more.

The more efficient your software, the more efficient your organization’s practices will be and the more you can do for your mission as a result. Good luck!

Check out these other educational resources to learn more about effective nonprofit fundraising and engagement strategies:

Click here to see how 360matchpro can help you reach your matching gift goals.

This guide walks through the basics of technology grants for nonprofits and suggests 12 top options to consider.

Technology Grants for Nonprofits Guide + 12 Options for 2023

Just as doctors need their surgical instruments and mechanics need their tools, your nonprofit organization needs to be equipped with the right technology to continue fulfilling its mission.

According to Nonprofit Tech for Good, many nonprofits are leveraging technology to enhance their processes—79% use automation technology in online fundraising, and 15% even have artificial intelligence software in place to predict donor behavior. Not every organization, however, has the funds to stay at the cutting edge of technology.

That’s where nonprofit technology grants come in. These grants supply the necessary funds for forward-thinking nonprofits to gain access to software solutions and resources that will magnify their impact. In this guide, we’ll cover:

In order to achieve bigger and better results, nonprofits must continually adopt and adapt to advances in technology that streamline essential processes such as fundraising, marketing, and donor engagement. By doing so, your organization can free up more capacity for what matters most—bettering the lives of those you serve.Click through to discover how Getting Attention can help you make the most of grant opportunities beyond nonprofit technology grants.

What is a technology grant for nonprofits?

Nonprofit technology grants assist organizations with acquiring or implementing tools and software that will further their impact. Like most grants, technology grants for nonprofits come from three primary sources:

Government agencies, foundations, and corporations all offer nonprofit technology grants.

Whether you’re an environmental nonprofit or a nonprofit hospital, gaining expanded access to the latest technology ensures that you can serve your beneficiaries with greater efficiency and results.

How can technology grants support nonprofits?

Depending on your specific goals, a technology grant can empower your nonprofit to:

Nonprofit technology grants can provide support in many ways, including the five ways detailed below.

  • Boost cybersecurity. NTEN’s State of Nonprofit Cybersecurity Report reveals that only around 20% of surveyed nonprofits indicated that they had documented policies and procedures in place should a cyberattack occur. A technology grant can provide your organization with the resources for cybersecurity training and the right tools to keep your information secure.
  • Leverage automation. With a technology grant, your organization can reduce the time and resources it expends on its daily operations by embracing automation technology.
  • Streamline fundraising. A technology grant can enable your organization to adopt top-of-the-line CRM software that makes it easy to manage supporter relationships and reach out to them for gifts.
  • Improve data management. Your organization’s data is not only key to personalizing your communications and engaging donors, but it also serves as a rich well of insights for improving your strategies over time. With a technology grant, you can make data management a top focus among staff and volunteers.
  • Develop a high-quality website. A nonprofit technology grant can supply you with the necessary funds to elevate your website or create an entirely new one that inspires more support.

Once you’ve pinpointed your organization’s specific needs for technology funding, it’s time to find a funder that best aligns with your mission and values. The more well-matched you are to the grantmaking organization, the more likely you’ll succeed in winning the grant.

How do I find the right technology grant for my nonprofit?

With the right approach, you’ll be well on your way to securing grant funding for your upcoming technology project.

1. Refer to your goals and mission.

Before you begin your search for grant opportunities, it’s important to root yourself in your organization’s goals and mission. This ensures that you only identify and apply for technology grants that are most suited to your nonprofit.

Remember that each grantmaking organization has its own mission and interests. As a result, they’ll be much more prone to funding nonprofits that align with their own priorities and generate the kind of impact that they’re looking to see.

2. Conduct research.

Among possible technology grant sources in the United States, there are around 127,595 foundations alone. Because of this, it’s necessary to be strategic with your research to narrow down the right options. Follow these best practices to get started:

When researching technology grants, keep the following best practices in mind to maximize your results.

  • Study similar nonprofits and locate grantmakers who’ve funded them in the past.
  • Identify existing connections that your board or staff members may have with funders.
  • Look through grant directories and databases, such as Grants.gov and Foundation Directory.

Review each nonprofit technology grant’s application criteria to ensure that you’re eligible to apply. For instance, some grantmakers may require your organization to be located in a specific region or area.

3. Prepare your technology grant application.

Once you’ve found a nonprofit technology grant that you’re interested in applying for, be sure to personalize your application according to the research you’ve conducted on the funder. An effective grant application clearly defines your nonprofit’s needs, leverages storytelling to convey your impact, and specifies realistic goals for the funding you’re requesting.

4. Consider seeking expert help.

If your nonprofit is looking for some additional guidance to make your technology grant applications stand out, consider partnering with a nonprofit grant consultant. Top nonprofit grant consultants, such as Getting Attention, will devote themselves single-mindedly to ensuring that your organization’s grant efforts succeed.

When you work with a technology grant consultant, you should expect them to:

  1. Learn the ins and outs of your nonprofit, such as your mission, your impact, and your donor base.
  2. Develop a dedicated strategy and conduct research to identify grant opportunities that align with all that they’ve learned about your organization.
  3. Handle your nonprofit grant applications to maximize your chances of winning the grant.
  4. Assist your organization with building relationships with funders to secure more support down the line.

A nonprofit grant consultant can be instrumental in helping your organization secure nonprofit technology grant funding, especially if you have limited time and resources to carry out the entire process effectively.

Click through to discover how Getting Attention can help you make the most of grant opportunities beyond nonprofit technology grants.

12 Top Technology Grants for Nonprofits

Use these nonprofit technology grants as a jumping-off point to your pursuit of technology funding:

The Google Ad Grants program is one of the most popular technology grants for nonprofits.

1. Google Ad Grants

Since its creation, the Google Ad Grants program has provided over $10 billion in free advertising to nonprofits. All eligible organizations can receive $10,000 monthly to bid on keywords for ads that will appear on Google’s search results pages. With these ads, you can promote key pages on your nonprofit’s website, such as your donation page or event registration page, to generate more support for your cause.

By leveraging nonprofit technology grants like the Google Ad Grant, you can create an ad similar to the ASPCA’s ad in search results.

To meet the program’s eligibility criteria, your organization must:

  • Be a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Not be a government, healthcare, or educational institution.
  • Have a high-quality website.
  • Register with TechSoup.
  • Create a Google for Nonprofits account.

Ready to start leveraging $10,000 a month for free advertising? Sign up for our Google Ad Grants newsletter to learn insider tips and maximize your results.

This nonprofit technology grant can equip your organization with a powerful tool for spreading the word about your mission and attracting more supporters to your cause. To ensure that you secure your grant and make the most of it, consider turning to a Google Ad Grants agency like Getting Attention that can take care of the entire process for you.

Salesforce’s Power of Us Program is a promising nonprofit technology grant opportunity for many organizations.

2. Salesforce’s Power of Us Program

The Power of Us Program has provided discounted CRM technology access to over 56,000 nonprofits and educational institutions. To join these ranks, your organization must:

Additionally, Salesforce Foundation provides grants to organizations focusing on education, workforce development, and climate change through invitation only.

Twilio’s Impact Fund is a technology grant for nonprofits to upgrade their technology and enhance their operations.

3. Twilio

Through their Impact Fund, Twilio has awarded over $35 million in grants and investments to provide nonprofits with the technology they need to heighten their impact. Organizations that are eligible for this nonprofit technology grant funding must:

  • Be a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Not be a government entity or political organization.

To receive an invitation to apply for the Impact Fund, nonprofits should sign up for the Impact Access Program, which offers additional benefits such as discounts on Twilio products.

Okta for Good focuses on providing nonprofit technology grant funding to improve areas such as cybersecurity for organizations.

4. Okta for Good

Okta for Good’s Nonprofit Technology Initiative aims to meet the technology needs of nonprofits by supplying $10 million in philanthropic funding. To be selected for these technology funds, nonprofits must:

  • Be a recognized nonprofit organization in their country of operation.
  • Have strong leadership teams and mission alignment with Okta.

Whether your nonprofit is seeking to improve its data security or move to the cloud, Okta’s focus on digital transformation is worth looking into for all organizations interested in technology improvements.

Box Impact Fund is a nonprofit technology grant opportunity for organizations focused on child welfare, crisis response, or the environment.

5. Box Impact Fund

Box Impact Fund supports nonprofits with aligned missions on their path to adopting technology that will enhance their daily operations and work. To meet Box Impact Fund’s eligibility requirements, organizations must:

  • Be a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Focus on child welfare, crisis response, or the environment.
  • Propose a digital transformation project.

Box lists four specific criteria for evaluating grant applications: alignment, impact, inclusion, and scale. Ensure that your organization matches this funder’s priorities to set your application up for success.

The Cisco Product Grant Program is another technology grant for nonprofits to receive the necessary technology they need to further their mission.

6. Cisco Product Grant Program

The Cisco Product Grant Program supplies networking and communications technology to nonprofits focused on crisis response, education, economic empowerment, and climate change. To be eligible for the program, organizations must:

  • Be recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Have more than one year of successful operations.
  • Not be a school, hospital, library, or food bank.
  • Not exceed an overhead of 25%.

Cisco accepts grant proposals year-round and reviews them quarterly. To ensure your nonprofit meets all the criteria to apply, you can take this eligibility quiz that Cisco provides on its website.

When evaluating nonprofit technology grants, a popular resource to consider is Microsoft Tech for Social Impact and its nonprofit programs.

7. Microsoft Tech for Social Impact

Microsoft launched Microsoft Tech for Social Impact to provide discounted and donated Microsoft tools to nonprofits. To be eligible for Microsoft’s nonprofit programs, your organization must:

  • Be a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public library, or public museum.
  • Comply with Microsoft’s anti-discrimination policy.
  • Only assign licenses to eligible staff members.

On its website, Microsoft provides a step-by-step registration process that you, another staff member, or a volunteer can complete to start accessing the technology tools this company has to offer.

Tech Forward provides technology grants for nonprofits through its Technology Innovation Awards.

8.  Technology Innovation Awards

Tech Forward will provide $10,000 through its Technology Innovation Awards to support nonprofits seeking funding for a technology-related project. To be eligible for this grant, your organization must:

  • Be a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) charitable organization.
  • Not be a church, private educational institution, nonprofit hospital, or governmental unit.
  • Have an annual operating budget of at least $500,000.

As part of the nonprofit technology grant application, you’ll need to present information such as your mission, services, and key constituents, along with a full description of your proposed technology project.

TechBridge offers technology grants for nonprofits that focus on hunger relief, homeless support, social justice, or workforce development.

9. TechBridge

TechBridge’s Dream Big Grants provide an opportunity for nonprofits to acquire technology solutions that will enhance their operations and boost their impact. To be eligible for one of these grants, your organization must:

  • Be a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Focus on one of its four pillars: hunger relief, homeless support, social justice, or workforce development.
  • Have annual operating expenses over $2,000,000.
  • Have at least five full-time paid employees who are paid minimum wage or more.

The application process for one of these technology grants for nonprofits includes an eligibility check, an application essay, and a video submission.

Take a look at Verizon’s funding opportunities when evaluating nonprofit technology grants for your organization.

10. Verizon Foundation

Verizon offers invitation-only grants to support nonprofits in three main areas: digital inclusion, climate protection, and human prosperity. Nonprofits must contact their local community relations manager about receiving an invitation. If you’re approved to apply, you’ll still have to meet these eligibility requirements:

  • Be a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit or not-for-profit school.
  • Observe the highest standards of conduct in relationships with the public.
  • Not duplicate or significantly overlap the work of public agencies.

Furthermore, if you’re requesting funds for IT infrastructure improvements that total more than 20% of the grant’s total direct costs, you must provide specific details on how your organization is planning to use those IT assets in your grant application.

HP Technology for Community provides another nonprofit technology grant opportunity to consider.

11. HP Technology for Community

HP is a technology company that’s driven to supply funds to nonprofits so that they can purchase technology to better serve their purposes. To be eligible for HP Technology for Community, organizations must:

  • Be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Not be a member agency or a school.
  • Not be located outside of the United States.

While qualified nonprofits can apply from across the country, HP will give preference to those operating in or near the site communities listed in its requirements.

The Change Happens Foundation offers several grants, including nonprofit technology grants, to nonprofits.

12. The Change Happens Foundation

The Change Happens Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation dedicated to supporting nonprofits focused on creating social change around science, the environment, and education. The foundation offers several grants—to be eligible, organizations must:

  • Be a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
  • Not be faith-based or located outside of the United States.
  • Have a three-year history of 990 forms.

Once you’ve determined your nonprofit’s eligibility, you must submit a Letter of Inquiry as a first-time applicant to determine if the foundation’s interests align with your request. Organizations accepted for further consideration can then submit their grant proposals.

Wrapping Up

New technologies are constantly emerging, and along with them come better ways for nonprofits to serve their communities and make a lasting difference. Figuring out how to incorporate these tools into your fundraising, marketing, and communications strategies is essential to setting your organization up for success in the future.

Government agencies, foundations, and corporations recognize this priority as well. Because of this, there are numerous technology grants for nonprofits available to fund your initiatives—you just need to know where to look and how to pinpoint the right opportunities to pursue.

For more information on grants and how to deepen your nonprofit’s impact, consider these resources:

Click through to learn how to maximize your efforts in securing nonprofit technology grants with Getting Attention’s expertise.

 

 

This article discusses the ins and outs of Google Ad Grant remarketing.

Google Ad Grant Remarketing: Your Questions Answered

As a nonprofit professional, you likely already know the importance of tailoring your communications to your audience. After all, your organization is connected to many unique individuals—donors, volunteers, new supporters, nonprofit staff, and beneficiaries—you wouldn’t communicate with them all the same way.

The same principle applies to digital marketing. Your online presence should cater to specific audiences. But how do you make sure the right audiences see the right ads? By remarketing with the Google Ad Grant!

 

In this article, we’ll answer your most pressing remarketing questions and explore how it can transform your digital strategy. Read more

Google Ad Grants Training: Top Resources and Courses

Google Ad Grants Training: Top Resources and Courses

Through the Google Ad Grant, Google provides nonprofits with thousands of dollars in grant money to spend on marketing. However, from ensuring they’re eligible and applying for a grant to actually running an ad campaign, nonprofits need to do their research before they can get started with a Google Ad Grant.

Fortunately, resources dedicated to Google Ad Grant training are plentiful. Informational blog posts, webinars, and training courses are all available to help nonprofits maximize their ad grants’ potential.

Whether you need marketing advice or are looking for tips on how to apply for the grant, these four resources can help with all of your nonprofit’s Google Ad Grant training needs.

Getting Attention's free blog is one of the top Google Ad Grant training resources.

Getting Attention

Getting Attention is a Google Ad Grants agency that helps nonprofits apply for the Google Ad Grant, run their ad campaigns, and maintain grant compliance. Along with these paid services, Getting Attention also hosts a regularly updated blog with free educational content that nonprofits can access at any time.


The content hosted on Getting Attention is sourced from a variety of experts in the nonprofit field, ensuring the tips and best practices shared reflect the views of a number of professionals. Content also varies widely in length, from quick tips to some of the most comprehensive deep dives on nonprofit best practices around.

Explore how Getting Attention can help with your Google Ad Grant training.

What you can learn

Getting Attention’s blog covers a variety of topics, including:

  • Google Ad Grant basics. Getting Attention’s guides on the Google Ad Grant cover everything from eligibility requirements and how to apply to choosing your campaign’s target keywords and creating the most effective ad possible.
  • Nonprofit marketing strategies. Learn how to develop Google ad campaigns that will result in more clicks with articles. Along with advice for running an ad campaign, Getting Attention also provides resources on social media marketing, developing a brand identity, and how to optimize your overall nonprofit communication strategy.
  • Agency and consulting assistance. Nonprofits interested in working with a Google Ad Grant agency or a nonprofit marketing consulting firm can find advice on how to research consultants, assess them, submit requests for proposals, and form long-lasting partnerships.
  • Awareness and advocacy campaign tips. Wondering how you can use the Google Ad Grant to promote an advocacy campaign? Getting Attention’s blog features articles on planning an advocacy campaign, keeping supporters engaged, and marketing a campaign online.
  • And much more. Nonprofits looking for advice on managing volunteers, accepting stock donations, hosting hybrid events, creating an effective donation page, and a variety of other nonprofit-centric topics can likely find a helpful article on Getting Attention’s blog.

Cost

All blog content on Getting Attention’s website is free.

If you’re interested in Getting Attention’s Google Ad Grants services, get in touch to schedule a free consultation.

Discover how Getting Attention can get your team up to speed with Google Ad Grants. Get a consultation!

Look for Google Ad Grant training resources straight from Google with Google for Education.

Google for Education

Google for Education is a collection of video courses created by Google for a variety of audiences, including teachers, librarians, students, parents, job seekers, and business owners. Of these courses, nonprofits can learn from the program’s free lesson on the Google Ad Grant. These short training videos are a strong introduction for nonprofits that want to hear about Google Ad Grants directly from Google.

Explore Google for Education's free ad grant training resources.

What you can learn

Google for Education’s Google Ad Grants training course teaches nonprofits the following:

  • Marketing campaign planning. Learn how to develop a marketing campaign that will actively be helped by the Google Ad Grant. Google for Education explores how nonprofits can use their mission statement to derive marketing goals that are relevant to Google Ads.
  • Conversion tracking. Figure out what metrics to track and how to track them, such as adding HTML tags or linking your Smart Campaign to Google Analytics. The course walks through how to add Google Analytics to your campaign for less tech-savvy nonprofits.
  • Quality scores. Learn how to use Google’s quality score metric to better understand your campaigns’ overall value and relevance to your audience.

Cost

Google for Education’s resources are free. Just sign up with a Google account to access all of their content and track your progress through each course.

TechSoup Courses offers Google Ad Grant training materials.

TechSoup Courses

One of the first steps to applying for the Google Ad Grant involves registering your nonprofit with TechSoup, a technical support organization focused on helping nonprofits. Given their role in the Google Ad Grant application process, the TechSoup team is highly familiar with Google Ad Grant training and offers a variety of courses, including one dedicated to the Google Ad Grant.

TechSoup provides a wide variety of courses for purchase.

What you can learn

Nonprofits interested in using TechSoup as a training resource can discover:

  • How to apply for the Google Ad Grant. Get an in-depth view of what the Google Ad Grant is and how the application process works, including an overview of current policies for the grant.
  • Google Analytics best practices. Learn to set up and view data from Google Analytics to create a dashboard that’s effective for your nonprofit. With Google Analytics, you can more accurately understand your website’s traffic, providing data that can help you improve your Google Ad Grant campaigns.
  • A variety of other subjects. TechSoup provides courses on many nonprofit-specific topics, including how to apply for grants, use Adobe tools, host virtual events, analyze data, and more. Plus, TechSoup also offers seminars in Spanish and French for learners who primarily speak those languages.

Cost

Each of TechSoup’s courses has its own pricing, and their recorded seminar series on the Google Ad Grant costs $75 to access.

Udemy provides a variety of courses, including one for Google Ad Grant training.

Udemy

Udemy hosts courses on a wide range of subjects, including how nonprofits can use the Google Ad Grant. These courses are usually multi-part video series and often include extra materials, such as knowledge quizzes, educational articles, and downloadable resources. Their course on the Google Ad Grant also comes with a certificate of completion after finishing the 1.5-hour video series.

Explore Udemy's course offerings.

What you can learn

Udemy’s Google Ad Grants training course provides information on:

  • Campaign best practices. Learn how to write strong copy for your ads that will lead to clicks, as well as how to expand the space your Google ads take up with Sitelink Extensions.
  • Keyword research. Get advice on how to conduct keyword research, strategically add keywords to your copy, create Adword groups around keyword themes, and leverage negative keywords.
  • Campaign maintenance. Download a checklist of tasks to perform every two or three weeks to ensure your Google Ad campaigns maintain compliance and how to fix campaigns that are not meeting expectations.

Cost

Udemy’s prices vary from course to course. Additionally, Udemy regularly offers discounts and promotions. For example, while the Google Ad Grant training course is normally $109.99, it has been on sale for as low as $30.00. Plus, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee if the course does not meet your nonprofit’s needs.

Use these training resources to improve your Google Ad Grant campaigns.

Host impactful Google Ad Grants campaigns with the right training

The Google Ad Grant is an effective marketing tool that can get your nonprofit’s name in front of a large audience of potential supporters. To make the most of the opportunity the grant presents, ensure your team has the training they need to choose effective keywords, create outstanding ad copy, and ensure your ad campaigns are directed to the content you most want to promote.

If you’re looking for more training resources, start your search with these standout articles from Getting Attention’s free blog:

Teach your team to make the most of your Google Ad Grant. Work with our professional consultants to broaden your team's understanding of Google Ad Grant campaigns. Get a consultation!

Follow along as we answer 14 common questions about matching gifts.

14 Important Matching Gifts Questions You Need to Ask

When you hear matching gifts, what do you think of?

Maybe it’s a major donor who matches contributions made during a big campaign. As a nonprofit professional, you might’ve even participated in one of those. But have corporate matching gifts ever occurred to you?

Many donors, including those who give to your organization, are eligible for matching gifts through their employers. However, nonprofits often underutilize this fundraising strategy.

As a Google Ad Grants agency, we understand the power of harnessing every tool at your disposal that can help your nonprofit fulfill its mission. That’s why we’ve answered some important questions about matching gifts so you can leverage this major fundraising power. Let’s jump right in!Request a demo of 360MatchPro to simplify the matching gift process for your organization.


1. What are corporate matching gifts?

Corporate matching gifts are a form of corporate philanthropy in which companies match donations their employees make to nonprofits.

That’s the simple version.Check out how matching gifts can multiply donors' impact.

Matching gifts are essentially free money. They let donors maximize the impact of their gifts without reaching back into their own pockets. As a result, nonprofits can double or even triple their donation revenue.


2. How do matching gifts work?

Matching gift programs vary by company, but here is the process in a nutshell:

Check out the steps involved in the matching gifts process.
  1. An individual donates to a nonprofit.
  2. The individual checks to see if their employer will match their donation.
  3. The individual submits a request for a match through their employer.
  4. The employer verifies the donation with the nonprofit.
  5. The employer matches the individual’s donation.

Many companies also have a policy around match ratios, minimum and maximum amounts, and employee/nonprofit eligibility. Let’s dive deeper into each of those categories.

Match Ratios

Most companies match at a 1:1 ratio, which means a dollar-for-a-dollar match. However, match ratios can span anywhere from 0.5:1 to 4:1. For example, a 1:1 match on a $50 donation means $100 total, while a 2:1 match on the same $50 gets you $150 total.

Minimum and Maximum Amounts

Companies also have minimum and maximum donation amounts that they’ll match. The most common minimum amount is $25, but these amounts range from $1 to $100. The maximum amounts have an even wider range. These amounts are often between $1,000 and $15,000, though amounts will still vary below and above that range.

Eligibility

Many companies have restrictions on the types of nonprofits and employees that are eligible to receive or request a matched donation.

For nonprofits, most 501(c)(3) organizations are eligible for matching gift programs, including educational institutions, arts and cultural organizations, environmental organizations, health and human services, and more. The most common restriction is usually religious organizations, but it’s still up to the company.

For employees, their eligibility also depends on the company’s guidelines. This can include full-time, part-time, and retired employees.

Request a demo of 360MatchPro to stay updated on employee matching gift guidelines.


3. Is there a deadline to submit my matching gift request?

The deadline to submit a matching gift request will vary based on your donor’s employer, but here are three main types of deadlines:

  • Within a set number of months. A company will match a gift up to a certain number of months after the donation is made. As an example, this could be three months after the date of the donation.
  • By the end of the calendar year. A company will match a gift within the calendar year of when the donation is made.
  • By the end of the calendar year, plus a grace period. A company will match donations made through the end of the calendar year, and then add on additional months for employees to submit a request. These grace periods usually go through the end of January, February, or March.

The more time that passes after a supporter makes a donation, the less likely they will be to submit a match request. That’s why you have to promote matching gift opportunities to them as soon as possible.


4. Why aren’t more nonprofits using matching gifts?

It turns out, much of the time, both nonprofits and donors don’t know about matching gifts.

For nonprofits, reasons include a lack of staff, resources, and time needed to zero in on matching gift revenue. Many times, organizations don’t know who a donor’s employer is or what their matching gift policy is.

For donors, most don’t even know that their company offers a matching gift program. Additionally, the process of getting their donation matched may seem way too complicated or unclear to get started with.

This means that approximately $4-$7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year. That’s money that could be reinvested into nonprofits to help support their operations and spread their missions.


5. Why are matching gifts important?

Beyond boosting your fundraising revenue, matching gifts can also help improve donor retention and engagement.

Did you know that 1 in 3 donors say they would give a larger gift if a match was applied to their donation?

Just knowing that their donation will go twice as far encourages donors to give a larger gift at the outset. Similarly, 84% of donors say they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered at all. If you have a potential donor who’s on the fence about giving to your organization, promoting corporate matching gifts can give them the extra push they need to make their decision.

Here are some other eye-opening matching gift statistics to help put things in perspective:

Check out these statistics that illustrate the impact of matching gifts.

As you can see, there are plenty of benefits that come with matching gifts. They encourage donors to give to your organization, while also boosting the initial gift amounts.


6. Which companies offer matching gifts?

Good news: There are more companies that match donations than you may think.

Some of the top matching gift companies include Microsoft, Apple, Google, The Home Depot, and Disney. Many of these companies offer high maximum match limits and match donations to most types of nonprofits. For example:

  • Microsoft matches up to $15,000 in donations to most nonprofits at a 1:1 ratio for full- and part-time employees. 
  • Disney matches up to $25,000 in donations to most nonprofits at a 1:1 ratio for full- and part-time employees.
  • Apple matches up to $10,000 in donations to most nonprofits at a 1:1 ratio for full- and part-time employees.

This is only a snapshot of the many matching gift companies out there, and it’s not just large corporations handing out money. These companies range in size and guidelines, which is why it’s essential that you understand where your donors work to get in on this funding source.

Get Double the Donation's 10-Step Matching Gift Checklist

7. How can my organization promote matching gifts?

We’ve made it clear that a lack of awareness is a big issue when it comes to matching gifts. So how can your organization market matching gifts to your donors?

We’ll cover some of the top marketing methods below!Check out the top six ways to promote matching gifts.

Google Ad Grants

Did you know Google offers eligible nonprofits $10,000 in monthly ad credits to promote their websites? The Google Ad Grant is a great marketing tool for promoting matching gifts.

Since the Google Ad Grant program requires you to set up ad campaigns with specific goals, you can create a campaign for promoting matching gifts. Then, you can create ads directing users to your matching gift page to encourage them to participate.

At Getting Attention, we’re committed to helping nonprofits navigate Google Ad Grants, from determining program eligibility to managing ad campaigns. We’d be happy to consult with you to determine how we can best serve your Google Ad Grant needs.

Email Outreach

Email outreach takes a few different forms: confirmation emails, newsletters, thank-you letters, and more. When you send out these types of messages, it’s important to mention matching gifts.

Here’s some text you can include in your thank-you email after a donor has contributed to your cause:

Thank you for supporting our organization! Did you know that many companies match their employees’ donations to our nonprofit? Check your eligibility and access the appropriate forms and instructions to submit a match today!

You can even include a link to learn more about matching gifts within your email. 

Social Media

Social media impacts donors—in fact, 32% of donors who give online say that social media is the channel that most inspires them to give.

Whether you’re using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or other platforms, be sure to include links that direct supporters to the information they’ll need to submit a match request to their employer.

Donation Page

When supporters are already on your donation page, that means they’re serious about donating to your cause. Since donors are most engaged at this step, this is the perfect time to promote matching gifts.

Prompt your donors to figure out their eligibility for a matching donation through their employer. This can be done by including a brief piece of information about matching gifts or even by embedding a matching gift search tool on your form.

At Getting Attention, we’re committed to helping nonprofits navigate the Google Ad Grant program, from determining program eligibility to managing ad campaigns. We’d be happy to consult with you in order to best serve your Google Ad Grant needs.

Dedicated Matching Gift Page

By creating a dedicated matching gift page, you can provide donors with general educational information about matching gifts, as well as company-specific matching gift forms, guidelines, and instructions.

Having a specific page that houses all of the information donors need will make it easier for supporters to submit a match request. You can send donors there through social media posts, emails, and other types of communication.

Matching Gift Search Tool

By investing in matching gift software that offers access to a matching gift database, you’ll hand-deliver donors updated and comprehensive information about their employer’s matching gift guidelines and forms.

This is a matching gift search tool, which allows your donors to search for their company's program.

Interested in learning more about matching gift databases? Jump to that section now!


8. How can I educate my team about matching gifts?

Many nonprofits don’t spend time educating their staff about matching gift programs. This is especially true for organizations that don’t realize the impact matching gifts can have on their revenue.

That’s why we’ve rounded up some effective steps that you can take to get your team up to speed:

  1. Target the right staff members. This includes staff members who are in charge of campaigns and events, finances, and marketing. For example, campaign and event organizers can advertise matching gifts in their communications with attendees while finance staff can track and report on matching gift revenue. Your marketing team can then promote matching gifts across all communications.
  2. Provide educational resources. Offer resources to educate your team about matching gifts so they’re more receptive to the information. This way, they’ll know what there is to know about matching gifts and can answer questions from donors.
  3. Make matching gifts part of onboarding. Train new team members on the matching gift process so they know about them from the outset. You can also give out one-pagers, set up calls or meetings, and attend webinars to help educate all current staff.

Educating your new staff members and giving those refreshers to your entire team will help make matching gifts more effective across your organization. Be sure to offer helpful resources that they can access and provide training so they’re ready to handle anything matching gift-related that comes across their desk. For example, Double the Donation has a case studies resource that you can download below to help educate your team about the power of matching gifts.


9. How do I get leadership support for matching gifts?

In addition to rallying your team around matching gifts, you’ll also need to focus attention on getting leadership support. Without backing from leadership, it may be more challenging to get your staff on board in the first place.

First and foremost, you need to help leadership see the value in matching gifts. This momentum will then trickle down to the rest of your staff. 

Double the Donation outlines effective ways to get your leadership on board with matching gifts:

  • Using internal data. Rather than talking about the value of matching gifts, show the impact they can have on your organization through data. Highlight information about your number of match-eligible donations versus actual submitted matches, total revenue raised from matching gifts, and the number of donors who work for matching gift companies.
  • Spending time developing a strategy. Take a few hours a month to develop your matching gift strategy, and then encourage your leadership to do the same. This way, you’ll make your strategies even more effective.
  • Holding short meetings with leadership. Schedule short, 15-minute meetings that respect your leadership team’s time but that still allow you to demonstrate the value of matching gifts. Explain the basics of matching gifts, their impact, and their benefits. Then, schedule future meetings to report back on your progress and growth.

When your leadership is on board with your matching gift plan, your entire team will be more willing to work toward your matching gift goals. Get them excited about the prospect of a huge donation revenue increase.


10. What is a matching gift database?

Even after you’ve gotten support for matching gifts across your organization, there’s still more that can be done to build up your matching gift revenue. 

Making the investment in matching gift software can provide just the boost you need to drive those match-eligible donations to completion. More specifically, a matching gift database can give you access to information about thousands of company matching gift programs.

How does a matching gift database work?

A matching gift database is easily accessible via a search pool plugin. This plugin can go anywhere on your website, including donation forms and dedicated matching gift pages, and allows donors to search for their eligibility in seconds.

Here’s how it works:

See exactly how a matching gifts database works.

  1. The donor accesses the search tool on your website.
  2. The donor types their employer’s name into the search tool.
  3. The search tool then populates with information about their employer’s matching gift program.

If you’re looking for effective matching gift software, check out Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift tools.

Double the Donation offers a powerful matching gift automation tool called 360MatchPro. Organizations can embed the matching gift search tool anywhere on their website. From there, donors can access Double the Donation’s comprehensive matching gift database, which houses information on more than 20,000 companies and subsidiaries and their matching gift programs.

360MatchPro by Double the Donation also scans information donors provide during the donation process, determines their matching gift eligibility, and triggers automated emails that outline the next steps specific to the donor.

Plus, 360MatchPro integrates with more than 60 of the leading nonprofit CRMs, peer-to-peer fundraising software, and donation software, so it’s an excellent choice if you’re already using one or more of those tools.

360MatchPro by Double the Donation can significantly boost your matching gift revenue.

According to a matching gifts report by Top Nonprofits, only 6.7% of organizations they surveyed got a perfect score on their matching gift scoring criteria.

However, the two organizations out of 30 total that received a perfect score use 360MatchPro to help them identify and follow up on matching gift opportunities. Using this tool from Double the Donation can help you zero in on more match-eligible donations, see those matches through to completion, and boost your overall revenue.


11. What is the donor side of matching gifts like?

As you collect donations from your supporters, their experience throughout the process can determine whether you retain their support. That’s why it’s important to streamline your entire donation process, including your matching gift efforts.

First, you should make sure you understand the matching gift lifecycle:

  1. A donor makes a gift to a nonprofit.
  2. The nonprofit follows up with the donor about matching gifts, and the donor submits a request to their company.
  3. The nonprofit verifies the donation with the matching gift company.
  4. The nonprofit follows up and cultivates a relationship with the donor.

After you’ve successfully identified each stage of the matching gift lifecycle, you can then focus on improving each of these steps to make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible for your donors.

Evaluating Your Current Donation Process

As donors give to your organization, do they see helpful resources about matching gifts? If not, the time of the donation is a prime opportunity to educate them.

This is where that embeddable matching gift search tool comes in handy. Allow donors to use the search tool during the donation stage so they can immediately take action.

Following Up About Matching Gifts

Once donors have submitted their donation, follow up and let them know that their gift can go twice as far! If they haven’t submitted a match request to their employer, now is a perfect time to send a follow-up email to get the ball rolling.

Again, if you choose to use a tool like 360MatchPro by Double the Donation, you can automate this process. This matching gift platform will automatically email donors on your behalf with the information they need to figure out their eligibility.

You can even go beyond email outreach by calling donors. Consider making phone calls to a narrowed-down list of high-value matching gift donors who are more likely to submit a match request. Phone calls take more of your staff’s time, but being selective about who you call can add a meaningful human touch to your matching gift outreach.

Streamlining Your Verification Process

While the verification process might seem straightforward enough, many organizations might run into issues with understanding the process. Verifying the original donation with a matching gift company means familiarizing your team with the corporate giving platforms that companies are using. 

Some of these top corporate giving platforms include Benevity, YourCause, and CyberGrants. Understanding the guidelines for each of these major vendors will help you respond to verification requests quickly and avoid missing out on any matching dollars. Be sure to educate your staff so they understand how the verification process works.

Thanking Your Donors

Thanking your donors should go without saying, but it’s still something we have to emphasize. Use your automation tools to thank your donors not only following their donation but also after you’ve received the match from their employer. This will help you cultivate the relationships you need to continue growing and serving your mission as a nonprofit.

For high-value donors, think about even more personalized approaches to give your thanks. Handwritten letters, eCards, and phone calls from senior leadership staff are just a sampling of the channels you can use.

Reviewing how your nonprofit handles the matching gift lifecycle can help you streamline the matching gift process for donors. Make it as easy as possible for donors to submit their matching gift requests, and then follow up to make sure they understand what the next steps are.


12. My organization has multiple chapters or affiliates. How should I go about the matching gift process?

For many organizations, encouraging matching gifts means keeping track of your donors’ employers and having a set process in place for outreach.

However, larger organizations that have multiple chapters or affiliates may run into issues when setting up their matching gift process.

These types of organizations can consolidate their matching gift process. According to Double the Donation, consolidation means that each chapter or affiliate will follow a central process to secure matching gifts. Here are some top tips on how you can do this:

  • Choose how you’ll consolidate. Whether this is on a national level, a regional level, or independent by chapters, you’ll want to base this decision on how consistent you want your donor experience to be and how you want reporting to take place.
  • Develop an action plan. Your action plan should include understanding your current process, putting together a matching gift team, optimizing the verification process, and determining your revenue goals.
  • Standardize the follow-up process. Set clear guidelines to ensure individual chapters are identifying and following up with match-eligible donors. This way, you can continue the conversation around matching gifts and create a more consistent donor experience.
  • Standardize the overall process. Beyond following up, select someone who can keep your organization on track to help standardize the process across chapters or affiliates. And don’t forget to make it positive! Help each section of your organization see the benefits of consistency.

These strategies can make a huge difference if your organization runs in multiple locations. A consistent process will help your teams avoid missing out on matching gift opportunities and create specific guidelines each unit should follow.


13. Are matching gifts the only type of corporate giving?

In addition to matching gifts, there are many other types of corporate philanthropy. From monetary grants for volunteer hours to programs that take place on the corporate side, here are some of the top corporate giving programs:There are several different types of corporate giving in addition to matching gifts.

Volunteer Grants

Also known as “Dollars for Doers” programs, volunteer grants are a type of corporate philanthropy in which companies provide monetary grants to organizations where their employees regularly volunteer.

Here’s how volunteer grants work:

  1. An individual volunteers with a nonprofit.
  2. The individual tracks their hours and submits a request for a volunteer grant with their company.
  3. The company verifies the hours with the nonprofit.
  4. The company provides a check to the nonprofit.

If you already have a dedicated group of volunteers, encourage them to check their eligibility for a volunteer grant. You might be able to get some extra corporate dollars this way.

Request a demo of 360MatchPro to learn about volunteer grants.

Fundraising Matches

Fundraising matches are similar to matching gifts in that donations are matched by a company.

The difference?

Fundraising matches apply to fundraising events, like walk-a-thons or 5Ks. The event participant’s employer will then match the money the participant raises through sponsorships or other donations.

Automatic Payroll Deductions

One of the simplest forms of corporate giving is automatic payroll deductions. Through this corporate giving program, employees have a portion of their paychecks donated to a nonprofit on a regular basis.

Specific companies may have guidelines on which organizations they’ll donate to. Typically, the organization has to share similar values with the company, like environmental causes or other issues. Once your organization has been approved, this is a great source of recurring donations.

In-Kind Donations

Many companies donate more than just money to nonprofits. Some also provide in-kind donations, which means goods or services. To give you an example, a company might donate computers, consulting services, or even food to organizations.

In-kind donations not only benefit nonprofits, but they also give companies a sense of pride in helping a worthy cause.


14. Where can I learn more about matching gifts?

Now that we’ve answered the most common matching gift questions, you should have a deeper understanding of what matching gifts are. You can now start encouraging matching gifts from your supporters and watch your donation revenue increase exponentially.

If you need some additional information about matching gifts before you get started with them, we’ve compiled some helpful resources below:

Request a demo to learn more about 360MatchPro, the ultimate matching gift software.

Check out these four nonprofit storytelling best practices to win over your donors’ hearts.

4 Ways to Win Donors’ Hearts with Nonprofit Storytelling

When it comes to marketing your nonprofit’s mission and connecting with donors on a deeper level, nothing is better than an engaging story.

Your nonprofit storytelling needs to capture your audience’s attention, clearly explain the problem you’re facing, and empower supporters to be a part of the solution. Ultimately, it should inspire donations and other forms of support. In this guide, we’ll walk through:

Because nonprofit storytelling is a critical component of your overall marketing strategy, it’s essential to hone your skills. Let’s get started!

Click here to learn more about how to get more eyes on your nonprofit storytelling with the Google Ad Grants program.

Why Is Nonprofit Storytelling Important?

It’s hard to forget a good story. While we might not remember the specific facts or details, storytelling is still one of the best ways to connect with other humans and share an experience.

Additionally, studies show that roughly 70% of companies invest in content marketing to convey stories to their audiences. With so many organizations investing in this method, there are clearly real benefits to using storytelling in marketing strategies.

Storytelling Benefits To Your Nonprofit

Here are the top benefits a dedicated nonprofit storytelling strategy can bring you:

  • Increased fundraising revenue. Your nonprofit’s storytelling efforts can be the exact conduit you need to inspire donors to give. The key to motivating them to give is to land your story in front of the right audiences.
  • Improved click-through rate and online conversions. Because stories tend to be more engaging, you’ll likely see an increase in the number of people who click on your website, social media posts, or Google Ads.
  • Larger membership base. Does your nonprofit organization have a membership program dedicated to your most passionate supporters? Nonprofit storytelling is one of the best ways to attract membership candidates who connect deeply to your cause.
  • Better donor appreciation. Donor appreciation is a critical component of building lasting relationships and increasing retention. Instead of just sending a bland thank you email, incorporate storytelling to share a thought-provoking, real story about how their support made a difference.

Another key benefit of nonprofit storytelling is that your supporters will be more informed about your cause and your organization’s needs. Seeing the impact of your work through testimonials from beneficiaries will remind them of the good that their contributions enable.

What Are The Elements Of Nonprofit Storytelling?

Compelling Characters

Every good story needs a hero. For your nonprofit story, you’ll need a compelling character to act as the main lead and inspire support.

This “character” should be a real person who has been impacted by your nonprofit in some way. For example, you might choose to center one of these supporters in your story:

  • dedicated volunteer
  • A long-term, major donor
  • A beneficiary who is willing to share their personal story
  • A staff member

To translate details about these supporters or beneficiaries to your audience, you’ll need to use more traditional storytelling methods. Here are some ways to capture their personalities and emotions on screen or paper:

  • Establish a face and name. Put a face to this individual by attaching a photo and name to the story. This instantly makes the story feel more personal to viewers.
  • Give them a distinct voice. Make your character feel three-dimensional to your audience by highlighting personal details. Show off their unique way of speaking about their experiences or their background that led them to engage with your nonprofit.
  • Show how they were impacted by your organization. The resolution for this story should be shaped by your nonprofit’s involvement in the character’s life. Clearly show how your organization led them to this key moment.

For example, Feeding America includes these stories from Native American women working towards food security on their website. The nonprofit includes their names, a photo of them, and an explanation of how they are supporting the cause:

This example from Feeding America shows how prominent organizations use “characters” in their nonprofit storytelling.

When you involve real people in your stories, remember to consider the ethics of the story you’re telling. As the nonprofit, you are in a position of power—especially if the subject is a beneficiary. Lead with their best interests first, and never indicate that your services are contingent upon their participation in the storytelling campaign. Everything presented in the campaign must be honest and transparent.

Dramatic Arc

The dramatic arc is what hooks your audience, gets them invested in your narrative, and empowers them to play their own role in the story.

Here are the five main elements of a dramatic arc:

This graphic depicts the five main parts of the nonprofit storytelling dramatic arc.

  1. Exposition. Introduce your character and establish goals related to your mission. If your mission is to provide clean water, for example, one of your character’s goals could be ensuring that his family stays healthy after getting sick from dirty water.
  2. Conflict. Here, you’ll present the challenge that your character is facing. The conflict should be related to the problem your nonprofit is trying to solve. In our water example, this could be that the family’s water source was polluted with chemicals. Consider all the obstacles your character might face, like a lack of resources or policy knowledge.
  3. Rising action. Next, lay out the stakes and explain why the problem is a problem. You might also highlight previous attempts to solve the issue. For instance, you might say that the local town has needed clean water for a while, but an increase in spills from nearby factories has made it difficult to keep the infrastructure in place.
  4. Climax. This is where you’ll explain how the problem got fixed and the exact role that your nonprofit plays. What did your nonprofit do? What was the specific action that made the difference? For example, with help from your annual fundraising campaign, your nonprofit was able to build a clean water infrastructure system that is easy to fix and regulated yearly.
  5. Resolution. Show the newly improved life of the character in your story. Urge the audience to play a part by calling them to donate, share a message, or volunteer.

As you’re crafting your story, remember to be as clear as possible about the goals of the character, the challenges they face, and how exactly your nonprofit and audience can help. These are the most important aspects of the story, and they need to shine through for your nonprofit to make an impact.

Solution

The solution to your story provides proof that your organization truly makes a difference. When explaining your solution, you should:

  • Empower the donors to be a part of the story by making the next action they should take clear.
  • Use language that creates a sense of urgency by mentioning a specific deadline and explaining what would happen if your nonprofit is unable to act.
  • Make it convenient for the audience to take action by including a donation button, link to signup forms, or social sharing buttons with your request.

For example, Step Up For Students created a blog post highlighting the story of a scholarship recipient attending Notre Dame who achieved salutatorian status in his class (note the prominent donation button in the sidebar!):

This is a nonprofit storytelling example of an organization demonstrating how they were a solution to a beneficiary’s problem.

4 Best Practices To Take Your Nonprofit’s Storytelling To The Next Level

These four best practices will elevate your nonprofit storytelling to help you achieve ambitious goals.

1. Support a Specific Goal

Make sure you have a specific goal or action at the center of your narrative. The goal you pick will depend on your unique needs and audience, but here are some examples to get the ball rolling:

  • Raise $10,000 in revenue as a direct result of the storytelling campaign.
  • Grow your membership program by 100 members.
  • Send personalized thank-you messages to each donor within one week of their gift.
  • Boost donor engagement on your social media accounts by 25%.

To improve your fundraising strategy beyond this single campaign, look at your database and make note of engagements or key performance indicators (KPIs) that are falling short. Then, craft a story to support that area, and make sure to note it as a priority for future marketing efforts.

 

Want marketing tips and tricks to help you reach your goals? Sign up for our newsletter!

 

2. Activate Supporters’ Empathy

Making supporters feel something is the main conduit to whether or not they will feel passionate about your mission and decide to give.

This example from the ASPCA’s homepage makes an emotional appeal by using images of the animals that they work to aid, asking supporters to help them:

This example from the ASPCA depicts two sad puppies that are looking to the viewer for help.

Before you can activate your own supporters’ empathy, it’s key to understand your audience so you know why donors choose to support your cause. Analyze data about your supporters like their past philanthropic involvement, political contributions, and demographic information to get a feel for their personal values. Then, pinpoint those values in your story.

To make an emotional appeal, make sure to closely follow and highlight your character’s emotions. Aim to center their perspective so your audience feels like they are walking in the supporter or beneficiary’s shoes. To immerse them in the story, remember to describe sensory details like sounds, smells, and feelings.

3. Use Visuals

Visuals help evoke emotion from your audience, leave a lasting impression in your supporters’ minds, and build your organization’s brand.

The best part is that visuals can take so many forms nowadays and can supplement your storytelling in different ways:

  • Photos. Images bring a real face to the story you’re telling, helping supporters understand that their help is impacting real people. At your next fundraising event or volunteer opportunity, make sure to take photos (and get permission to use them).
  • Infographics. These graphics convey a wide breadth of information in an easily digestible format. Ideas include using charts, maps, reports, and other fun graphics to help your audience visualize data and understand your impact.

Look through your own arsenal of marketing materials and determine if any of your visuals are viable for use in your nonprofit story.

4. Leverage Video Content

In a 2023 study, 91% of people surveyed said that they want to see more online videos from organizations—satisfy this demand with your storytelling strategies.

To create an effective video, follow these best practices:

  • Keep on-screen text to a minimum. Narrate the video as much as you can so participants don’t have to read long paragraphs. If you need to use on-screen text, stick to about 60 words per minute of the video and allow for one second of read time for every two to three words.
  • Make the video cohesive. Make sure the music and supporting media (like images or copy) match the overall theme of the story. These added elements can go the extra mile in making your supporters feel a certain way.
  • Consider accessibility. Be sure to add closed captions to the video for any spoken dialogue or other sounds (hint: platforms like YouTube can do this automatically!). Not only does this make the video content accessible to more of your supporters, but people can view the video without audio and still understand your message.

For inspiration, check out this video from the World Wildlife Fund. It shows the importance of each tiny piece of an ecosystem and encourages people to “love it” by supporting WWF (or risk losing it):

Apply for the Google Grant with Getting Attention

Spreading awareness of your nonprofit and reaching new people with your carefully crafted stories will be the final, often most difficult, step in nonprofit storytelling. Traditional marketing channels like television can be costly, and you might feel overwhelmed by the vastness of digital marketing.

To receive professional help and get $10,000 in Google Ads for free, consider working with a Google Ad Grants agency.

If you aren’t familiar, the Google Grant is a program hosted by Google that gives $10,000 in Google Ad credits to nonprofit organizations each month. The purpose of this grant is to help nonprofits promote valuable digital content (like your stories!) to their supporters.

To gain access to the program, your nonprofit will need to apply, maintain compliance, target relevant keywords, and manage multiple ad campaigns. Getting Attention is a Google Ad Grant agency that’s ready to help you apply and manage your Google Ad campaigns.

Additional Resources

People are inspired by, learn from, and remember stories. Your nonprofit already has a compelling story: a built-in goal (mission) and antagonist (issue) to drive the narrative forward and captivate your audience members. Take advantage of this story waiting to be told in your next campaign.

To learn more about how you can level up your nonprofit marketing, explore these additional resources:

Book a consultation with Getting Attention and start dominating Google’s search results page.

Make your cause stand out to donors with the help of the following five tips.

Making Your Case to Donors: Top 5 Tips to Increase Donations

If you’re a nonprofit professional, you know just how important donations are to your organization. You may receive funds in other ways, such as grants or sponsorships, but consistent donations will launch you toward your fundraising goals.

Making your case to donors through presentations and one-on-one meetings is extremely effective because it allows you to start an in-person dialogue with donors and gather audience feedback. While other outreach methods such as emails and phone calls permit you to reach donors where they are, presentations and meetings allow for a more personalized, hands-on approach to increasing donations.

When you’re making your case to donors in a presentation or meeting, you want to make your cause stand out and prove why it’s important for them to contribute. We’ve compiled a list of tips to help encourage donations, including:

  1. Get to know your donors.
  2. Incorporate storytelling.
  3. Create a sense of urgency.
  4. Make it clear where donations are going.
  5. Add credibility to your case.

With these five tips in mind, you can strengthen your relationships with donors and motivate them to give back to your cause.

1. Get to know your donors.

When you understand your donors on a deeper level, you can offer more personalized messages and calls to action. Communicate with donors frequently through a variety of methods to learn more about them and gather feedback. These outreach methods may include email check-ins, annual surveys, phone calls, and social media direct messages.

The more you know about your donors, the better you can reach them. Ask them what interests them most about your nonprofit. Your organization may offer many different services, but matching each donor to the service they’re most passionate about will allow you to personalize your communications when it’s time to ask for donations.

You can store this information along with any other relevant demographic data in a donor data platform. NPOInfo explains that when you store all donor information in one place, it streamlines your communication with donors. You can reference this information to pick up donor communications where they left off and make sure each outreach point builds on previous conversations.

2. Incorporate storytelling.

When you speak to donors, you want to make your message as engaging as possible. That’s where storytelling comes in.

As Be Brilliant explains it, using storytelling in a presentation gives some individuality to your case. For example, you might not be the only animal shelter out there, but what makes yours unique? Perhaps your pet adoption program is so successful because of your organization’s unique pet-matching program that matches people with pets using a personality quiz. You might tell a story about an individual who came in looking for a pet with specific traits and found the perfect new furry family member for their needs.

Instead of drawing on generalities about your organization, use a story to show off exactly what your organization does. Plus, stories are better at eliciting emotions, which can motivate your donors to take action.

3. Create a sense of urgency.

Your supporters may feel connected to your organization, but if they don’t feel inclined to donate immediately, they’ll likely put it off and eventually forget to show their support. The two most popular times to donate tend to be the end of the year giving season and during major crises. However, this tendency can leave your nonprofit feeling strapped for cash in between popular donation times.

To solve this problem, create a sense of urgency surrounding donations. You do important work all year long, and you need regular donations in order to support it. Setting deadlines for donations pushes people to take action quickly.

Another way to create urgency is to connect your case to a relevant campaign or seasonal event. When donors see the larger initiative attached to your request, they may be more inclined to donate. For example, designated giving days like GivingTuesday that have hard deadlines can inspire quick responses.

Lastly, be extremely specific about what action you want your donors to take. When you write a clear and easy call to action, you’re more likely to inspire a quick response. Include all details potential donors will need to contribute to your cause, including a donation link.

4. Make it clear where donations are going.

When people give to an organization, they want to know exactly what their donation is going toward. That way, they can see the impact they’ve made and feel proud of their contribution.

The more specific you can get about the impact someone’s donation will have, the better. For example, instead of stating that donations will help animals in the shelter live a better life, share that the funds raised in the next month will go toward building a new outdoor space where dogs can get a break from the cramped conditions inside.

If you’re planning a live presentation for donors, this should be the bulk of your presentation. Make your current initiatives more tangible for donors with thorough explanations, infographics, pictures, and videos.

5. Add credibility to your case.

One of the biggest challenges of marketing your cause is establishing trustworthiness. It can be difficult for donors to trust an organization they may have never heard of or contributed to before.

However, there are ways to show that your organization is credible. For example, one of the best ways to gain trust when promoting your cause is to display donor testimonials. Ask some of your top supporters to share their experiences with your organization. Adding quotes from real people associated with your nonprofit will help verify your organization’s credibility.

Other strategies to demonstrate credibility include mentioning any seals of approval your organization has received and creating graphics that show exactly where your money comes from and where it goes.


Since nonprofits heavily depend on donations, it’s important to show donors your cause is worthy of their unwavering support. Consider implementing these tips to bolster your case to donors in presentations and meetings and encourage more donations.

In this article, we'll review the top nonprofit blogs and tip for how to get yours up to par.

Top Nonprofit Blogs & Tips: How to Master Content Marketing

Without a strategic marketing plan, it can be difficult to distinguish your nonprofit in the digital space. Blogging is an easy and effective way to boost your online presence. Nonprofit blogs use storytelling techniques to attract donors, increase engagement, and establish authority.

At Getting Attention, we help nonprofits elevate their online marketing efforts through Google Ad Grant optimization. That said, through those efforts, we’ve seen firsthand what can make or break a nonprofit’s blog! In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover the following information, including the importance of nonprofit blogs as well as best practices for curating content:

At the end of the guide, we’ll explore some note-worthy examples of blogs in the nonprofit space to kick off your brainstorming. Let’s get started.
Contact us to learn how you can get $10,000 to market your nonprofit blog.

Overview of Nonprofit Blogs

Nonprofit blogs are dedicated resources hosted on the websites of charitable organizations, fundraising professionals and consultants, and nonprofit software companies. Blogs can range in style and content, from educational guides and industry updates to current events and impact stories. But each nonprofit blog shares a common goal: driving traffic to the organization’s website.

A nonprofit blog acts as a powerful search engine optimization (SEO) tool. While your main website provides the basic information for your mission and goals, your blog should explore topics that potential supporters might search for on Google. When your blog consistently posts valuable content that’s optimized for highly-searched keywords, it will become a go-to resource that ranks highly on search engine result pages and attracts new prospects.

Check out the benefits of nonprofit blogs.

If you find yourself asking, “Does my nonprofit need a blog?” the answer is likely yes! Blogging is an easy, effective way to stand out and engage with your audience. Since charitable organizations rely on raising awareness, blogs can help your organization to:

  • Promote your brand. A nonprofit blog is essentially free advertising. Spread the word about your nonprofit’s impact through engaging content.
  • Provide regular updates to your audience. Blogs allow nonprofits to easily publish content with updates about accomplishments, campaigns, and events.
  • Share your content and mission across platforms. The more content you have on the web, the more likely it is that someone will come across your mission and take action.
  • Establish your authority. Show potential donors that you’re an expert in the field by using your blog to discuss topics related to your mission.

For more information on the benefits of blogging, read our article dedicated to the basics of nonprofit marketing blogs. Then, learn how to write a successful nonprofit blog in the next section.

How to Write a Nonprofit Blog

Now that you’ve decided to start a blog for your nonprofit, you’re left with the task of creating content. You may struggle with narrowing down topics, attracting an audience, and standing out against other nonprofit blogs.

Don’t fret! Nearly 64% of nonprofit content marketers publish blogs regularly, meaning it’s a popular and manageable undertaking. Use this simple step-by-step guide to help your nonprofit write an effective blog.Follow these steps to write a successful nonprofit blog.

Step 1: Consider the goals of your blog.

Before you begin writing content, determine how the blog will tie into your marketing strategy. Host a meeting with your team to consider the short and long-term goals of the blog. The first question you should ask is “What do we hope to achieve through our marketing efforts?”

Create a list of 3-5 priorities for your nonprofit blog. Tactical goals include building brand awareness, attracting volunteers, increasing fundraising, and encouraging email signups, among others. Consider the following examples:

  • If increasing your ranking on search engine result pages is a priority for your nonprofit, you should strive to include targeted keywords in your blogs.
  • If your nonprofit wants to decrease bounce rates, you should focus on displaying a pop-up with downloadable content when a user is about to leave a blog post.
  • If generating donations is of high importance, your blog should explain the need for funding and highlight your impact.

This process will help your team determine its short and long-term goals. After carefully considering your objectives, you’re ready to create a content strategy that will drive your nonprofit’s objectives.

Step 2: Create a content strategy.

A content strategy defines content-related decisions, including which blog posts you’ll write and when. Once you determine your goals, consider how content will fit into your marketing funnel. Which topics should be addressed at the top of the funnel to raise awareness? What subjects need to be covered to facilitate conversions?

Making a content strategy that works for your nonprofit will help you to create consistently strong content. Let’s review the three main elements of a content strategy that are especially important for nonprofit blogs:

  • Audience: Test whether blog posts work with your audience by looking into demographic and behavioral information. Determining the characteristics of your average supporter can help you to better understand the needs of your audience. If your blog resonates with your target audience, you’ll see more shares and higher search rankings.
  • Tone: Consider how you want to convey your nonprofit’s tone in a blog. Tone refers to how your words translate to an audience. Do you want to come across as casual and conversational? We recommend creating a style guide for all staff at your organization to maintain consistency.
  • Production: Consider how content will fit into your marketing funnel. Which topics should be addressed at the top of the funnel to raise awareness? What bottom-of-the-funnel subjects need to be covered to facilitate conversions? Decide which types of content should be produced (i.e. an educational guide with fundraising ideas or a news story relating to your mission). You also need to determine who will write the content and where you will promote it.

Content strategies will be a go-to resource for your team, clarifying how, when, where, and why you will create content. Aligning content plans with your overall goals will improve your organization’s marketing efforts and help you create the most effective content.

Step 3: Create content.

Once you set your goals and establish a clear content strategy, you’re faced with the challenge of content creation. Keep in mind that blog posts of around 2,000 words have the highest SEO and social sharing rates. When creating your own content, keep the following writing tips in mind:

  • Keep paragraphs short. Don’t overwhelm readers with lengthy, dense content. Make information easy to digest by keeping paragraphs to 3-4 sentences.
  • Include calls-to-action. Call-to-action (CTA) buttons prompt readers to show their support and take the initiative to help your mission. Keep phrases short and compelling, as in the following example: “Do you want to help animals in need? Donate now.”
  • Use headers, bullet points, and numbered lists. Strong headlines will capture your audience’s attention and help to break up long sections of text. Bullet points and numbered lists allow readers to quickly scan through your blog post and retain information.
  • Add compelling visuals. Images, graphics, and videos can spark an emotional reaction in readers and help them to understand complex topics. Ensure that visuals are consistently formatted and high quality.
  • Optimize with keywords. SEO keywords increase traffic to your website. Aim to include at least 15 to 30 keywords in each blog post to push readers down the engagement funnel.

If you don’t have enough time to write your own content, you can still update your audience and support your marketing goals through content curation. Content curation is the process of selecting, editing, and publishing content from external sources. Just remember to never reproduce external content without identifying your source and adding your own expertise.

Step 4: Market your blog.

Now it’s time to make your nonprofit blog stand out! From email to social media, there are multiple marketing channels to choose from, and each has its own strengths. Here are the most popular marketing channels:

  • Email is a personal, cost-effective way to reach large numbers of supporters. It’s great for sending invitations, thanking donors, providing general updates, and sharing blog content.
  • Social media is a popular place to boost brand awareness and attract donors. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok provide opportunities for your nonprofit to showcase its personality and engage with supporters. Aim to share each blog post across your nonprofit’s social media feeds.
  • Google Grants are $10,000 grants awarded to eligible charities for creating and hosting ad campaigns on Google. These free ads allow organizations to amplify their presence on search engine results pages (SERPs) and get their website content in front of the right eyes.

If a Google Grant seems like the best fit for your nonprofit blog, consider working with a certified agency like Getting Attention. Getting Attention’s team of experts offers free consultations and resources to help your organization plan a successful campaign strategy. Reach out to our team today to learn more!

 

Nonprofit Blog Best Practices

It’s no secret that building a nonprofit blog takes time and effort. But the payoff—driving interested supporters to your mission—will be worthwhile! Whether launching your first blog or updating existing content, your nonprofit will benefit from these blogging best practices:

Your organization will benefit from these 5 nonprofit blog best practices.

  • Post consistently. Posting regularly increases engagement. We recommend establishing an editorial calendar for your nonprofit blog. This will help your team keep track of blog posts, newsletters, social media posts, and other content deadlines.
  • Write long-form articles. Search engines and supporters tend to prefer pieces that exceed 1,000 words. Longer blog posts allow you to dig into complex subjects, include plenty of visuals, and become an authority in your field.
  • Feature experts. Including insights from other experts in your field adds a human element to your nonprofit and inspires your audience to get involved. You can feature thought leaders through guest posts or interviews.
  • Showcase impact. Make your blog engaging and insightful by showing your organization’s impact. This will keep donors, volunteers, and supporters invested in the mission and encourage them to heed your calls to action.
  • Use a multichannel marketing strategy to spread the word. We suggest taking a multi-channel marketing approach to promote your nonprofit blog. Cover all the bases by combining your email, social media, and SEO efforts.

These best practices will improve your search engine results and increase traffic to your nonprofit’s blog. Now let’s take a look at the nonprofit blogs that have successfully implemented these tips!

Best Nonprofit Blogs to Inspire You

With more than 500 million blogs worldwide, it can be difficult to sort through the seemingly endless sea of information. We’ve compiled a list of the best nonprofit blogs that managed to stand out using marketing strategies. From Getting Attention to Top Nonprofits, these nonprofit blogs are sure to inspire your next post!

Getting Attention

Getting Attention is a nonprofit blog committed to Google Ad Grant management.

Getting Attention is made up of professional fundraising consultants dedicated to Google Ad Grant management. Getting Attention’s nonprofit marketing blog offers articles spanning a variety of essential nonprofit topics, from the basics of Google Grants to guides for planning a comprehensive nonprofit marketing plan.

Double the Donation

Double the Donation is a great example of a successful nonprofit blog.

Double the Donation is an expert in matching gift funds, with the largest and most accurate database of matching gift and volunteer grant information in the nonprofit sector. Double the Donation’s dedicated blogroll consists of industry guides and nonprofit tips including corporate fundraising, general fundraising guides, and top software provider lists.

eCardWidget

eCardWidget provides eCard software that allows nonprofit to thank donors.eCardWidget provides eCard software that nonprofits can use to thank donors and spread awareness for their causes. The eCardWidget blog features key tips for supporter appreciation, fundraising ideas, and nonprofit software solutions.

 

re:Charity

re:Charity is a nonprofit blog dedicated to hosting fundraising.

re:Charity is a nonprofit blog dedicated to hosting fundraising resources, tips, best practices, industry guides, and software lists. There is a wide range of information on re:Charity, with specific blog categories dedicated to fundraising, marketing, technology, and nonprofit strategies.

Fundraising Letters

The Fundraising Letters nonprofit blog allows professionals to peruse educational resources.

Fundraising Letters is a website committed to helping nonprofit leaders craft compelling and engaging communications with supporters. The Fundraising Letters blog allows professionals to peruse educational resources provided by thought leaders throughout the nonprofit industry.

Crowd101

Crowd101 is a nonprofit blog and an excellent resource for crowdfunding.

Crowd101 hosts a wide variety of resources and blog posts to help fundraisers begin a crowdfunding event, market it effectively, and explore other fundraising tips. Their blog is a great resource with clearly defined sections like getting started with crowdfunding, crowdfunding examples, fundraising ideas, real estate crowdfunding information, and more!

NonprofitPRO

NonprofitPRO is a go-to nonprofit blog for nonprofit management.

NonprofitPRO is a go-to source for nonprofit management and strategy which serves fresh, hard-hitting content. They cover a range of topics, including human resources, board and volunteer management, legal matters, news, and raising funds. NonprofitPRO’s blog effectively brings together thought leaders in the nonprofit industry, offering a wide range of tools and strategy guides to modern nonprofit professionals.

Get Fully Funded

Get Fully Funded is a nonprofit blog that teaches how to build a loyal donor base.

Get Fully Funded is a step-by-step system for fundraising that teaches how to build a loyal donor base, inspire donors to give, and build relationships that keep them giving. Their dedicated team of professionals offers coaching, training, and support to fully fund your nonprofit. Get Fully Funded has an extensive blog site with weekly tips and tools to help you raise the money you need to grow your nonprofit.

Candid

Candid's nonprofit blog serves as a database for other nonprofits.

Candid connects people who want to make a difference with the resources they need to do it. GuideStar, a data collection company, and Foundation Center joined forces to create Candid, a comprehensive database for nonprofits. Follow their blog for regularly updated information on how philanthropy responds to advancing racial equity and safeguarding democracy.

Nonprofit Hub

Nonprofit Hub's nonprofit blog helps nonprofits grow their missions.

Nonprofit Hub is a national educational publication helping nonprofits grow their missions and better their organizations. It’s a great resource for thought leadership and resources on marketing, fundraising, and more! Each week, Nonprofit Hub publishes new blog content ranging from nonprofit branding to nonprofit web design.

Nonprofit Tech for Good

Nonprofit Tech for Good's nonprofit blog offers news and resources related to digital marketing and fundraising.

Nonprofit Tech for Good focuses on providing useful, easy-to-understand news and resources related to digital marketing and fundraising. 101 Best Practices is their blog and webinar series on website design, email marketing, online fundraising, and social media best practices for nonprofits, NGOs, and charities worldwide.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's nonprofit blog explores what works and what doesn't in the nonprofit sector.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy explores the nonprofit world of philanthropy. Based in Washington, DC, their print and online content targets charity leaders, foundation executives, fundraising professionals, and ordinary people involved in philanthropy. The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s blog is dedicated to honest conversations about what works and what doesn’t in the nonprofit sector.

Top Nonprofits

Top Nonprofits' blog was founded to help charitable missions grow.

Top Nonprofits was founded to help nonprofits accelerate their growth through sharing information, tools, trends, and best practices. In this blog, you’ll learn about new frontiers in fundraising, best storytelling practices, tips for mission statements, and more!

 

Wrapping Up: Our Final Tip for Optimizing Your Nonprofit’s Marketing

The bottom line: running a nonprofit blog takes dedication, consistent writing, and a strong marketing strategy. If you follow best practices, your nonprofit will reap benefits like connecting to donors and increasing brand awareness.

Once you’re ready to promote your nonprofit blog, consider working with a trusted expert like Getting Attention. We’ll help you bring new supporters to your website through Google Ad Grant management and make the most of your Google Ad Grant.

Want to continue your research on nonprofit blogs? Explore these additional resources:

Contact us to learn more about how you can incorporate the Google Ad Grant into your nonprofit marketing strategy.

Getting Started with YouTube for Nonprofits in 3 Steps

Getting Started with YouTube for Nonprofits in 3 Steps

As of 2023, a record 91% of businesses use video as one of their marketing tools. Of the marketing professionals who don’t use video as part of their strategy, 18% shared that they weren’t sure how to get started. If your nonprofit is part of that 18%, then a good place to start is gaining a better understanding of the most ubiquitous video hosting platform on the internet: YouTube.

Founded in 2005, YouTube is one of the most visited sites on the internet, second only to Google, YouTube’s parent company. While there are other options for hosting and promoting video, most nonprofits rely on YouTube thanks to its large audience, intuitive interface, and nonprofit-friendly program, YouTube for Nonprofits. 

To get your organization started with YouTube for Nonprofits, this guide will explore the basics of this marketing opportunity and how to make successful videos:

As you learn about YouTube for Nonprofits, talk with your marketing team, especially those who already have experience with video and YouTube. Work with them to brainstorm video ideas and determine what production scale would be possible based on your nonprofit’s resources. Then, when your nonprofit is approved and ready to start posting on YouTube, your marketing team can get straight to work supporting your digital fundraising campaigns with videos

Discover how YouTube for Nonprofits and the Google Ad Grant can boost your online presence. Get a free consultation!

What is YouTube for Nonprofits?

YouTube for Nonprofits is Google’s program for nonprofits looking to fundraise on YouTube. While almost anyone can use YouTube to generate revenue after earning a certain number of subscribers, YouTube for Nonprofits gives 501(c)(3) organizations a headstart with the following features: 

  • Link directly to your site from videos. Use YouTube’s Link Anywhere cards to add a small pop-up at the top of your video that links to any external page, including your nonprofit’s website and donation page. 
  • Optimize your content. YouTube offers nonprofits guidance for how to make videos that will succeed on their platform with their social impact fundamentals, which we will discuss later, and tutorials on the YouTube Creator Academy.
  • Access dedicated technical support. As a YouTube Nonprofit Program partner, you can get faster access to YouTube technical support if you encounter any challenges setting up your channel.

Essentially, YouTube for Nonprofits will allow your organization to more effectively create videos and fundraise through the YouTube platform. But first, your organization must sign up for a Google for Nonprofits account. 

How to Set Up Your YouTube for Nonprofits Account

Joining YouTube for Nonprofits is relatively easy, especially if your nonprofit already has a Google for Nonprofits account and a YouTube channel. If you don’t, just follow these steps:

Sign up for Google for Nonprofits.

Google for Nonprofits is a program that provides eligible charitable organizations with access to premium Google products and services, including Workspace, Ad Grants, and YouTube for Nonprofits.

Here is a complete list of all products and features organizations using Google for Nonprofits can access:

Gain access to these products and the Google Ad Grants application through Google for Nonprofits.

To join Google for Nonprofits, first check if you meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • Be registered as a nonprofit in a country where Google for Nonprofits is available.
  • Agree to Google for Nonprofit’s terms of service.
  • Not be a government organization, hospital or healthcare organization, or school or educational institution 

From there, request a Google for Nonprofits account. Just click “Get started,” and the system will walk you through the necessary steps. After that, their validation partners, TechSoup and Percent, may reach out to you if they have any questions or need additional documentation. Then, in 2-14 business days, you should receive verification.

Google Ad Grants

In addition to YouTube for Nonprofits, signing up for Google for Nonprofits is the first step toward applying for the Google Ad Grant. Google Ad Grants are monthly allocations of $10,000 that Google gives to nonprofits to run keyword ad campaigns. 

Google Ads appear at the top of the search results page for related keywords, improving the chances that page visitors will see and click on the link. Nonprofits can use Google Ad Grants to promote almost any marketing campaign they have, including:

  • Attracting donors
  • Recruiting volunteers
  • Advertising services to constituents 
  • Spreading awareness of their cause
  • Promoting an ongoing campaign

Applying for the Google Ad Grant does require an additional step of ensuring that your website is considered high-quality and ready for promotion. Ensure your website is optimized by implementing security measures, creating a user-friendly experience, and populating your site with valuable content.

Create a YouTube channel.

To activate your account, you’ll need your YouTube channel ID. Here’s how to find your channel ID or create a channel for your nonprofit if it doesn’t already have one:

  • To find your channel ID, sign into your nonprofit’s YouTube account, and click on your profile picture. Select “settings,” then “advanced settings.” Your channel ID will be displayed there. 
  • To create a channel, log in to your nonprofit’s Google Account, and determine if your nonprofit uses a personal or Brand Account. If you are using a personal channel, you can simply sign in to YouTube, click your profile picture, and choose to create a channel. For a Brand Account, go to your account settings and select the Brand Account from the list. Fill out the necessary details, and click “Create.”

If you ever need to change the YouTube channel associated with YouTube for Nonprofits, log into Google for Nonprofits, navigate to YouTube for Nonprofits, and select “Change channel ID.”

Sign in to Google for Nonprofits and click “Get Started.”

The last step is to sign into Google for Nonprofits. Under “YouTube for Nonprofits,” will be a “Get Started” button you can click to activate your account. You will need to complete a few steps, such as providing your YouTube channel ID.

From there, Google will review your application in approximately three business days before sending an email confirming your account has been activated. You can then start using all of YouTube for Nonprofit’s features. 

YouTube for Nonprofit’s Social Impact Fundamentals 

YouTube shares the following philosophy toward social impact on their site: 

From the beginning, we’ve always believed in the power of video storytelling to make a difference. It helps us feel deeply connected to a cause and empowered with the knowledge to take action on issues we care about. YouTube is the place you can find an audience, join a community, and create impact, both online and off. People and organizations who are committed to driving positive social change belong here.

As part of this philosophy, YouTube promotes five fundamentals they believe nonprofits can achieve and leverage to make a social impact:

YouTube for Nonprofits has five principles for social impact organizations: shareability, discoverability, consistency, community, and sustainability.

  • Shareability. Create videos that your supporters will want to pass along to a friend or family member after watching. This can be accomplished through creating video content that’s relatable, relevant to ongoing trending topics, or prompts engagement by asking compelling questions. 
  • Discoverability. There are many tips about creating content that plays to YouTube’s algorithm but the most reliable strategy for getting discovered is making high-quality content that is relevant to your audience’s interests. Use an attractive thumbnail and an attention-grabbing title as well as relevant tags to increase your chances of being discovered through manual searches. 
  • Consistency. One of YouTube’s biggest strengths is its ability to help video creators build sustainable communities. To cultivate a support base, establish a consistent posting schedule, and ensure your videos always have a cohesive brand identity and cover topics your supporters are interested in. How often you post is up to you, but aim for at least once a week when getting started. 
  • Community. Encourage your current supporters to check out your YouTube channel to start building a new community. As new supporters find your content, respond to their comments, engage them with polls using the community tab feature, and like positive and thoughtful comments to encourage engagement.
  • Sustainability. Consistently creating video content can lead to burnout. Ensure you set a sustainable pace for your team and help them come up with new ideas to make sure you always have fresh content. 

Your YouTube channel doesn’t need to become a viral sensation for it to help your cause. Whether you aim to cultivate a new base of support on YouTube or are just interested in using the platform to host a few professional videos, these fundamentals can help you cultivate a positive experience that can translate into donations for your cause. 

Video Creation Tips

Nonprofits interested in video content have two options: create videos internally or hire an external video production company. Some video production companies have specific services for nonprofits that may be more moderately priced. However, video production is still expensive, and many nonprofits may prefer to at least make shorter and less formal videos internally. 

Whether you decide to have your team make videos or want to be informed about the video creation process when working with a production company, here are a few tips about developing nonprofit videos:

Must-Have Equipment 

Like any type of digital marketing content, videos need the right software and equipment to develop. Professional video production companies will likely use tools that are far more advanced than the average nonprofit’s needs. If you only wish to make casual YouTube Shorts style content, a basic camera and free editing software may even satisfy your needs. 

However, if you want to create slightly more complex videos, you’ll need to research video production equipment and weigh the costs against your marketing budget. At the very least, you’ll need:

To create successful videos as part of your YouTube for Nonprofits engagement, you'll need the following equipment listed below.

  • Camera
  • Tripod
  • Audio equipment
  • Lighting equipment 
  • Editing software

For more specific information about different types of cameras, microphones, and other equipment, YouTube itself is full of videos that offer tutorials on everything from how to set up your lighting to the effect different types of camera lenses will have on your videos.

Emotional Impact

With its ability to showcase sounds and visuals together, video is an especially effective medium for conveying emotion. For example, nonprofit video production company Tectonic Video created this emotional video for Mutual Rescue, a nonprofit dedicated to helping animals find their forever homes:

 

This video uses a combination of interviews, home movies, animated footage, and carefully framed close-ups to help viewers connect with their cause. The music also transitions from upbeat to create a positive atmosphere as viewers get to know the family before switching to a more melancholy track to reinforce the more challenging emotions they experienced.

Videos that get viewers to empathize with their cause are more likely to be shared and earn support. In your own videos, consider how you can tell stories that encourage your audience to root for those who have a connection with your cause. Then, use music cues and footage to evoke emotions that will make supporters want to take action.

Visual Identity 

Building a following on YouTube requires building a brand. Do you want viewers to think of your organization as inspirational? Relatable and familiar? Cutting-edge and professional? Think about your current brand identity and how you can translate it to video.

For example, one nonprofit might make an effort to only feature footage of their beneficiaries rather than their staff and volunteers to emphasize their commitment to elevating and empowering beneficiaries. By contrast, another organization may use an animated style to humanize concepts like water cycles or less-than-cute creatures like insects. 

Additionally, ensure your organization’s name and logo are featured in your video, so if the video gets shared on a different site, supporters can find their way back to your nonprofit.

Call-to-Action

After watching your video, what action do you want your supporters to take? On YouTube, it’s become a cliche for videos to begin by asking viewers to “Like, comment, and subscribe,” and nonprofits have even more actions they might request for supporters, such as sharing, donating, or volunteering. 

However, asking viewers to take multiple actions, especially if they’re listed quickly in a row, can easily become white noise. For viewers who watch a lot of online content, ignoring multiple calls to action can become a habit. 

Ensure your calls to action stand out by asking supporters to take just one specific action in your videos.

Use YouTube for Nonprofit's Link Anywhere cards to improve your calls to action.

When creating your videos, consider how they fit into your overall marketing strategy. For example, for a video that tells an emotional story, you might ask supporters to donate. Or, you might create educational videos for an awareness campaign and ask viewers to “like” them, which boosts engagement and increases the likelihood that they will be recommended to others. 

Launch Your YouTube Channel

Whether you just need a platform to host video content or are looking to build an entirely new following, YouTube is the channel for sharing inspiring content and connecting with supporters through video.

Of course, video is just one part of your marketing campaign, and the rest of your advertising strategy is instrumental in helping your videos find their audience. Learn more about nonprofit marketing and promote your videos with these resources:

Boost traffic to your videos with Google Ad Grants. Nonprofits eligible for YouTube for Nonprofits can also be eligible for the Google Ad Grant. Get in touch with our consultants to learn more. Get a consultation!

This guide will go over how to promote your mission with 13 free nonprofit marketing tools.

Promoting Your Mission: 13 Free Nonprofit Marketing Tools

To further your nonprofit’s cause, you need all kinds of support, including donations, and support from volunteers and members alike. To get that support, people need to be aware of your organization and its goals. That’s why getting the word out about your mission is one of the most important parts of running a successful nonprofit.

If you’re not convinced that marketing is vital for your nonprofit, consider that one in four donors use their mobile devices to discover nonprofits they were previously unaware of. And in 2021, nonprofit email list sizes grew by 7%. This means that potential supporters are interested in learning about and helping your nonprofit—they just need to find you.

To help you upgrade your marketing efforts, this guide will cover the following topics:

Having access to free marketing tools can take a great burden off of small or new nonprofits that are just getting started and may not have the budget to pay for marketing software solutions. However, to use these tools effectively, you must first understand how advertising can help your nonprofit.

Click through to learn more about other free nonprofit marketing tools and ideas.

What are the Benefits of Nonprofit Marketing?

This image shows some benefits of nonprofit marketing, covered in the text below.

Promoting your nonprofit brings a variety of benefits. It extends your organization’s reach, resulting in:

  • Greater mission awareness. Increasing your marketing presence means that you’ll be informing a greater number of individuals about your nonprofit’s mission, operations, and work. Even if these individuals don’t choose to support your nonprofit, you’ll still be boosting awareness of your cause.
  • Enhanced supporter recruitment. Nonprofit marketing helps enhance supporter recruitment simply by reaching a larger audience. You’ll be able to connect with a larger amount of individuals who genuinely want to help.
  • Increased fundraising. Because a greater number of people are aware of your nonprofit’s mission, your fundraising capacity also increases as these individuals make donations in your support. Just think back to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which went viral and helped the ALS Association increase its annual research funding by 187 percent.
  • Stronger community relationships. Not only does nonprofit marketing result in new supporters, but it can also strengthen relationships with existing supporters. With email newsletters and social media posts, keep your work top of mind and show the tangible impact of your supporters’ help.

To fully leverage the benefits of promoting your nonprofit digitally, you’ll need to put time and effort into creating a thorough marketing strategy. There’s a lot of research and planning involved in a successful marketing campaign, but not to worry—we’ll help you get started with establishing your strategy.

7 Steps for Creating Your Nonprofit Marketing Strategy

This image lists the steps to creating your nonprofit marketing strategy, covered in the text below.

For advice on establishing a comprehensive and thoughtful promotional plan, consider these seven steps to creating a successful marketing strategy:

  1. Establish your goal.Ask yourself, what’s the ultimate goal behind promoting your nonprofit? Depending on what that goal is, you may need to adjust your approach. Common goals include increasing fundraising revenue, recruiting volunteers, and attracting event attendees.
  2. Determine your target audience. Consider the demographics that make up your supporter base. For example, maybe most of your volunteers belong to Gen Z and live locally to your headquarters. Or, maybe the majority of your donors are Millennials that live all across the country.
  3. Decide which marketing channels to use. Once you’ve determined your target audience, assess what types of messages they are most responsive to and what channels they are most active on. Common marketing channels include email, direct mail, and social media.
  4. Design an attractive and consistent brand. Remember that your marketing efforts reflect back on your nonprofit. Having consistent and professional graphics, branding, and content will add to your nonprofit’s credibility.
  5. Create compelling marketing content. Your content should be unique from other nonprofits, shaped by the marketing channels you use, your nonprofit’s voice and culture, and what your supporters and target audience are interested in.
  6. Evaluate your marketing strategy. After you’ve employed your new strategy for a period of time, assess how well it’s performing. Look at relevant data and information and ask yourself: What’s going well? What could be better?
  7. Revise and improve your strategy. Once you’ve honed in on the portions of your nonprofit marketing strategy that could be improved, make adjustments to them so the strategy is tailor-made to fulfill your goal.

Don’t be discouraged if your strategy isn’t as successful as you want it to be on your first try. Building a nonprofit marketing strategy can be difficult, as there are many different aspects to it that you’ll need to consider. It will take trial and error, and it’s normal for your strategy to need revising.

Click through to learn more about other free nonprofit marketing tools and ideas.

13 Free Nonprofit Marketing Tools

To help you execute your marketing strategy, we’ll discuss 13 free nonprofit marketing tools you can use and what you can accomplish with them.

1. Google Trends

With Google Trends, you’ll gain a broad understanding of what people are searching on Google in real time. You can use this information to gauge interest in a particular topic. This could be your nonprofit, your cause, or any current events that relate to either.

You’ll also be able to evaluate engagement with your topic of choice in specific locations over time. This can help you determine how popular the topics surrounding your nonprofit’s mission are and form an understanding of your target audience. You can also leverage long-term trending searches in your marketing strategy to garner more support for and awareness of your nonprofit.

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is helpful for nonprofits during each stage of establishing their marketing strategy. It allows you to understand your website, your visitors, and their behaviors. Some of the insights you gain from Google Analytics include:

  • Who your visitors are. This includes each visitor’s location, age, gender, and interests.
  • How they’re getting to your site. Web browsers commonly find sites through search engines, but they could also click on a direct link from another page or on an ad to get to your web page.
  • What device they’re using. You’ll learn whether your visitors use desktops or mobile devices, the browser they’ve chosen, and even their operating system.
  • How long they’re engaging with your site. Google Analytics tracks session duration rates, meaning the amount of time that a visitor stays on your site. It also tracks bounce rate, which is the percentage of users that leave your site after only viewing one page.

This tool is most helpful for nonprofits who are trying to determine their target audience and decide which digital marketing channels to use. You can also use it to track the success of certain strategies and channels, like Google Ads.

With the insights from Google Analytics, you’ll be able to gain a thorough understanding of your target audience and how they prefer to see communications from your nonprofit. You can also create customized dashboards to keep track of the information you need, which is very helpful for evaluating and tweaking your nonprofit’s marketing strategy.

3. SurveyMonkey

This free nonprofit marketing tool allows you to conveniently create surveys for polling your nonprofit’s audience. Not only can you create surveys to assess attendee satisfaction after events, for example, but you can also leverage this tool to inform your marketing efforts.

With SurveyMonkey, you’ll have access to a library of survey templates that you can build upon and customize to fit your nonprofit’s needs. Make your survey available through web links, email, or embeds on your website. Once you get responses to these surveys, analyze responses with SurveyMonkey’s built-in reports and dashboards.

Like Google Analytics, you can use this free marketing tool to decide on your target audience and which marketing channels to use. However, you can use it to gather more in-depth and detailed information from your nonprofit’s existing supporters to fuel your marketing efforts. For example, use your surveys to ask them about their interests, communication preferences, and what they’d like to see from your organization.

4. Canva

When it comes to developing your nonprofit’s graphics and marketing materials, Canva is the free marketing tool you’ll want to use. To help nonprofits with their advertising efforts, Canva offers free use of its intuitive and convenient premium tools to eligible organizations.

With Canva, you can create a variety of marketing materials to boost mission awareness and recruit support, including:

  • Social media posts
  • Presentations
  • Infographics
  • Reports
  • Posters
  • Flyers

This tool offers over 75 million images and 3.5 million graphical elements to help you design attractive, professional, and consistent marketing materials for your nonprofit. If you’re unsure of how to effectively utilize graphic design principles to create eye-catching promotional content, don’t worry—Canva also offers over 400,000 customizable templates to get you started.

5. Pexels

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a common saying, but it’s based on reality. In fact, articles with images have 650% of the engagement of articles without. If you’re interested in leveraging the power of images to engage your audience, consider using Pexels.

This free nonprofit marketing tool is a database of free stock photos and royalty-free images and videos that you can use at no cost. Pexels also encourages creativity by allowing users to modify the photos and videos on their site.

For nonprofits without photographers and videographers, Pexels is a great alternative. While you don’t have sufficient photos and videos of your own, use this tool to liven up your promotional content and make it more visually appealing and engaging.

6. Grammarly

While visuals are important for your nonprofit’s marketing content, your written content is also crucial to creating a compelling message that helps garner more funds and followers. Grammarly is a free nonprofit marketing tool that can help you do that.

Although Grammarly can’t write your content for you, it can act as a proofreader. To ensure your nonprofit presents a professional image to potential supporters, it will review spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity errors in your text and suggest fixes. By downloading the Grammarly app and extension, you can write mistake-free in any app you use, including Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, and more.

If you’re looking for even more in-depth insight into improving your writing, Grammarly’s paid premium service will give you targeted suggestions for clarity, vocabulary, and tone.

7. Typito

Nonprofit video content is a type of marketing material that, when strategically created, can create a great impact on your organization. A recent study found that as many as 91% of consumers want to see more online video content from brands, and another study found that video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year and achieve a 54% increase in brand awareness.

Typito is a free nonprofit marketing tool you can use to create stunning and professional text videos. It has an easy drag-and-drop interface to make the editing process more convenient, so you can have your promotional videos ready to go in no time. Typito also offers the following features:

  • Brand Kit. With this feature, you can choose colors, fonts, and styles to create a consistent brand for your nonprofit.
  • Instant Captions. Automatically create closed captions that are synced perfectly with the audio of your video.
  • Video Formats. Typito allows you to choose from over 20 different video formats and aspect ratios for full control over your video.
  • Free Templates. Inexperienced video creators will appreciate the free text animations that can help you spice up your video without editing expertise.
  • Live Video Preview. You’ll know how your finished video will look at every step of the editing process with the real-time video preview feature, without needing to export.

And, if you ever need any help with your creations, Typito’s support team is ready to help. For nonprofits that are looking to create compelling video content, such as for a social media platform like Youtube or TikTok, this free marketing tool is a stellar choice.

8. Google Ad Grants


When it comes to reaching a wider audience, Google Search Ads is a top tool for organizations of all types. The Google Ad Grant gives eligible nonprofits access to these ads for free by giving them $10,000 of credits to spend on Google Ads. This free funding can make a huge difference for small nonprofits seeking to create a greater impact.

To be a part of the Google Ad Grant program, your nonprofit must be eligible and go through the application process. After you’ve been approved, you’ll set up ad campaigns that help you work towards your greater marketing goals. Effective Google Ad Grants management allows nonprofits to:

This image lists the benefits of effective Google Ad Grants management, which your nonprofit can utilize as a free nonprofit marketing tool.

  • Improve the visibility of your nonprofit’s work.
  • Generate mission awareness by promoting educational content.
  • Increase the registrations for upcoming events.
  • Share volunteer-related content to boost recruitment.
  • Promote advocacy activities like online petitions.
  • Share donation and sponsorship opportunities to increase funding.

Use Google Ad Grants to create compelling advertisements that your target audience will click on. To do so, you’ll need knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO) and keyword research. However, if you have the budget and lack the required experience, consider partnering with a Google Ad Grants agency. These marketing professionals can lend their experience to help you generate the impact you desire.

Click here to learn more about implementing Google Ad Grants, a free nonprofit marketing tool, in your strategy.

9. Mailchimp

Email marketing is a tried and true channel for nonprofit advertising. Mailchimp makes that easier for you with a solution built for marketing. With this free nonprofit marketing tool, you can set up automated email campaigns to ensure that you send your messages at the right time.  And, it syncs seamlessly with your existing software solutions so you can save time.

Use Mailchimp’s free, pre-built email templates to help you jumpstart your email marketing processes. You’ll have access to tools to help you create content, customize designs, and assess how your content is performing. You can also separate your supporters into different segments, helping you create compelling content that appeals to each unique audience group.

10. Hootsuite

It’s estimated that there are over 4.8 billion social media users worldwide. That alone speaks to social media’s greatest power, which is helping your nonprofit increase its reach and visibility. Hootsuite helps you do that by managing your social media profiles, all in one place.

With Hootsuite, you can:

  • View all your social media content in one calendar.
  • Schedule and publish content to your profiles.
  • Create and organize your posts.
  • Track post engagement in real-time.
  • Monitor relevant trends and topics.
  • Get actionable insights on the best times to post.

This nonprofit marketing tool will level up your social media marketing efforts by helping you create high-quality content that appeals to your target audience. Hootsuite offers a free 30-day trial for organizations interested in their Professional and Team plans, but after that, you’ll have to pay a yearly fee to continue using their services.

11. Bitly

Bitly is a free nonprofit marketing tool for creating short links, QR codes, and Link-in-bio pages. They have over 500 thousand paying customers across the globe and 5.7 million monthly users. Their free features include:

  • Link Management. This includes URL shortening, custom brand links, and URL redirects.
  • QR codes. Fully customizable and dynamic QR codes, different QR code types, and different destination options.
  • Link-in-bio. Customizable social media URLs and landing pages and easy-to-manage links.

You can use Bitly’s features in a variety of ways to aid your marketing efforts. For example, if the URL for your donation page is long and difficult to remember, make it more convenient for potential donors by shortening it. Or, if you’re promoting an event, include a QR code on your posters and flyers so people walking by can easily get more information

Additionally, Bitly also offers advanced analytics and tracking tools to help you easily assess the data from your links and QR codes. You can use these features to evaluate your marketing strategy’s efficacy, helping you identify points that could be improved in the future.

12. WebSite Auditor

This free nonprofit marketing tool does exactly what its name suggests—it audits your website and performs on-page analysis for SEO. Ensuring that your organization’s website is as easy as possible for search engines to crawl through is important to improving your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), as this boosts your mission’s visibility.

WebSite Auditor’s free plan allows you to:

  • Find and analyze the pages of your website
  • Calculate overall website statistics
  • Make Google XML sitemaps for your pages
  • Create and manage robots.txt files
  • Check the number of visitors every page gets
  • Run full health checks for your website
  • Polish your site’s HTML code

Not only that, but it offers easy access to all analytical data for your website and pages within one project. WebSite Auditor gives your nonprofit specific knowledge on how your site can be improved and empowers you to make those changes by giving you actionable insights. It works on any operating system, allowing you to easily evaluate and upgrade your site’s marketing potential.

13. Give Lively

After you’ve put your advertising plan into place and evaluated it, you’ll need to decide which improvements to make. Ask yourself, what changes would help your marketing strategy fulfill its purpose? One of the ways you can improve your strategy is by using a dedicated fundraising platform like Give Lively.

Entirely free for nonprofits, Give Lively offers digital, event, and peer-based fundraising features that will help your organization raise the funds you need. This software solution enhances your marketing strategy with these features:

  • Campaign Pages. Create beautiful, customizable, and responsive donation pages that are easy for donors to use.
  • Text-to-Donate. Encourage supporters to give on the go with custom text codes that never expire, making fundraising easier than ever.
  • Peer-to-Peer Fundraising. Word of mouth is a great way to spread information about your nonprofit and its mission. Take that to the next level with peer-to-peer fundraising, empowering your supporters to appeal for and collect donations on your behalf with personalized campaign pages.

If the goal of your advertising strategy is to increase your fundraising capability, Give Lively is the free marketing tool that will upgrade your marketing efforts. To use this software solution, you need to be a U.S. based 501(c)(3) public charity. You’ll apply to become a member, and Give Lively will accept your membership if you align with their values statement.

Additional Resources

Nonprofit marketing can be just as complex and difficult as marketing for for-profit organizations. Luckily, there are a variety of free marketing tools available that your organization can use to reach your goals.

There are a lot of choices, and you might feel overwhelmed by them. Just remember that the first step is to establish your marketing plan—after that, do thorough research and select the tools that will help you achieve your goals.

If you’re interested in learning more about nonprofit marketing, take a look at the following resources:

Click here to speak to a professional about how the Google Ad Grants program fits into your nonprofit marketing strategy.