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.

Click here to sign up for Getting Attention's newsletter.

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 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, create compelling ads, and comply with the program’s rules. 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.

Skip the hard work and let our team manage your Google Ad Grant for you. Get a free 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

TechSoup provides technology products, services, and resources at discounted rates to approved organizations. At one point, they were Google for Nonprofits’ preferred nonprofit verification partner, so they’re highly familiar with Google Ad Grant training. On their website, you can find 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 assets.
  • 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.

Host impactful Google Ad Grants campaigns with the right training

The Google Ad Grant is an effective marketing platform 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!

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

Did you know 92% of nonprofit marketers use some form of content marketing? That’s because it works! Blogging is an easy, effective way to boost your online presence. Nonprofit blogs use a mix of storytelling techniques to attract donors, increase audience 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 and make blogging a valuable part of your marketing plan. 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. Channels like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, 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.

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 marketing 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.

Read this to learn how to advertise your upcoming fundraising 5K in three easy steps.

3 Easy Steps to Effectively Advertise Your Fundraising 5K

Picture this: you’re rallying your coworkers, friends, and family to join your local business’ fundraising 5K to raise money for a cause near your heart. Whether protecting animal rights or conserving the land where you grew up, you want to involve as many people as possible.

However, it might feel overwhelming if you’re new to promoting social good causes. You might ask questions like, “How do I leverage my existing connections?” and “How can I reach more people faster?” To help you get started, we’ve drafted three easy steps to advertise your fundraising 5K:

  1. Build a Dedicated Event Website
  2. Leverage Social Media
  3. Connect with Your Local Community

By following these steps, you can build a reliable community of supporters that you can continue to grow even after your race ends. Let’s dive in!

1. Build a dedicated event website

Your event website acts as your “home base” for all things related to your fundraising 5K. It should be the first place supporters can count on to find the most up-to-date information about your upcoming event. An effective website will include elements such as:

  • An event overview: Dedicate a section to explain why you are hosting your 5K event so participants can feel united under your cause. For instance, Bringing Happiness’ 5K announcement reflects its mission to provide sports and activities to vulnerable children: “Not only is this event a chance to get outside and exercise, but it’s also an opportunity to bring our community together and spread happiness and positivity through healthy activities. We truly believe in the power of movement and its impact on our mental and physical well-being.”
  • An event itinerary: Break down your itinerary for race day, including location, start time, and any reward ceremonies or community activities following the race.
  • Registration links: Post the links to register for your event in a visible spot so visitors can easily sign up. Test these links ahead of time to ensure visitors can access them.
  • Fundraising information: Provide guidelines on how participants can create their fundraising pages, set goals, and collect donations. For instance, you might include instructions on how to sell branded 5K t-shirts to raise funds leading up to the event.
  • Social media links: Inspire site visitors to connect with you online with links to your Facebook page or Instagram profiles. You can use upbeat phrases like “join our running journey” or “get to know our team” to facilitate increased online community connections.

To bring your website to the next level, you might consider posting relevant blog posts to convince your visitors to stick around. You can cover topics like The 5 Best Pre-Run Meals or How and Why You Should Recycle Old Running Shoes. You can link to these topics on social media and invite guest contributors to share their thoughts.

2. Leverage social media

Did you know that almost 60% of Gen Z are inspired to donate by a message or image they saw on social media? That means that social media should be essential to your overall marketing plan. The main channels to consider include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, and it can help your fundraising with dedicated event page features, page creation capabilities, and sharing features. It’s also a great platform to share your fundraising results following your 5K. Twitter makes real-time reactions and updates easy with short messaging and retweetability.

In many ways, Instagram is an ideal platform to make your pre-event journey come to life because of its visual storytelling capabilities. To make full use of this channel, consider posting engaging content like:

  • Livestreams: Host Q&A sessions to highlight your cause, or post training insights to engage your audience and maximize your viewers. Livestreams give followers a chance to get to know you in an unfiltered way, reminding them you’re all a part of the same running community.
  • Influencer collaborations: You can use Instagram to reach out to fitness enthusiasts interested in highlighting your 5K. Invite them to join live streams, share their tips, or even become ambassadors for your cause. Their involvement can lend credibility to your cause and increase your reach.
  • Giveaways: Announce giveaways or contests related to your upcoming 5K to attract new followers and engage current ones. Consider offering free registrations, branded apparel, or gift cards to get more people excited about supporting your 5K.

For the best social media marketing results, begin posting regularly at least a month or two in advance and maintain a consistent schedule. When you come closer to your event, post more frequent countdowns, relevant updates, and any final instructions. Engage with comments and direct participants to your website for any updates that need to be fleshed out in more detail.

3. Connect with Your Local Community

Aside from leveraging digital channels, you can advertise for your cause by connecting with your local community. Most likely, at least a few organizations would be interested in participating in or sponsoring your 5K.

Sneakers4Good suggests reaching out to the following groups to spread the word and expand your existing running community:

  • Running stores: These retailers offer practical ways to generate funds for your 5K. You can broach the idea of gaining their sponsorship by highlighting the benefits it would bring to their store (e.g., an increased customer base). Or, suggest a percentage night where the store donates a percentage of one day’s profits to your cause.
  • Gyms: Gym members already share your passion for fitness. Reach out to local gyms to recruit more participants, collaborate with instructors for 5K-specific training sessions, or engage in cross-promotional opportunities to increase gym membership.
  • Door-to-door campaigning: To launch this type of campaign, you can separate your existing 5K community into groups and assign each group with the responsibility of knocking on doors to invite neighbors to donate or sign up for the race.

To increase community awareness, your team could also post flyers in local parks, gyms, and other fitness centers. Kwala’s guide to fundraising flyers offers plenty of design inspiration. Just be sure to include your event details, social media links, and website information for interested members to get involved.


Using a combination of digital and community outreach, you can effectively promote your fundraising 5K. Whenever possible, look for ways to combine your digital and in-person worlds to create a more integrated marketing strategy.

For example, you can include QR codes on printed flyers that link to your registration page. Or, you could invite your online followers to join an in-person training session to prepare for the race. These strategies will let participants get to know one another and help you reach more people faster. You’ve got this!

In this guide, we’ll explore the top 10 online donation tools that help nonprofits raise more for their missions.

Top 10 Online Donation Tools That Help Nonprofits Raise More

Online donations are a growing source of revenue for nonprofits, with 63% of donors saying they prefer to give online. From small grassroots organizations to large international charities, nonprofits are turning to online donation tools to make it easier for donors to give and to help raise more funds for their causes.

However, with so many donation tools available, each with its own unique features, pricing, and benefits, it can be difficult to decide which ones to invest in.

In this guide, we’ll highlight the top 10 online donation tools that help nonprofits streamline their donation process and raise more: Read more

Learn more about how to manage your nonprofit's financial records when fundraising digitally.

Managing Financial Records for Digital Fundraising: 4 Tips

In today’s online-focused world, digital fundraising is essential for nonprofits to thrive. Research shows that revenue from online donations increased by 10% from 2021 to 2022, and that number is only projected to grow as more supporters take advantage of the convenience and versatility that digital fundraising provides.

When your organization is incorporating new methods of online fundraising such as crowdfunding or investing for your nonprofit, financial management can become complicated. This is especially true when making sure that all of your donations are recorded properly, which is key to ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements for fundraising.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the following four tips for effectively managing your nonprofit’s financial records when doing digital fundraising:

  1. Understand the Different Types of Online Donations
  2. Consider the Implications for Your Budget
  3. Compile and Analyze Financial Statements
  4. Focus on Financial Data Security

As you adapt these tips to meet your nonprofit’s needs, keep in mind that your fundraising and financial management strategies should work together. To further your organization’s mission, you not only need to maximize the amount of revenue you bring in, but also handle that revenue appropriately. Let’s get started!

1. Understand the Different Types of Online Donations

While the donation page on your organization’s website likely comes to mind when you think of the term “digital fundraising,” not all of your online contributions come in through that page. There are many types of digital donations, each of which needs to be recorded slightly differently in your nonprofit accounting system.

Some of the most common forms of online fundraising revenue include:

  • One-time donations. These contributions are the most straightforward to track. Each donation amount is simply recorded as revenue with a few additional details such as the date the gift was received, the donor’s name, and their payment method.
  • Recurring gifts. If a supporter sets up an automatic monthly, quarterly, or annual contribution through your online donation page, the gift amount is recorded each time it’s received with a note that it’s from a recurring donor.
  • Crowdfunding campaign donations. Because crowdfunding contributions usually come in via a third-party site rather than through your organization’s regular donation page, it’s best to record them separately and organize them by campaign.
  • Peer-to-peer contributions. Similarly to crowdfunding, record contributions that come in through a peer-to-peer platform separately from the ones made through your nonprofit’s website. Additionally, the donations should be recorded under the name of the person who made the gift, not the person whose name is on the fundraising page.
  • Virtual event revenue. Virtual events often provide multiple opportunities for supporters to donate. For instance, at an online silent auction, one participant may pay for an event ticket, buy auction items, and make an additional gift. Each of those contributions should be categorized by type in your accounting system and marked with the donor’s name.
  • Matching gifts. When a supporter who works for a company with a matching gift program donates online and submits a match request, you’ll need to record two separate contributions. The original gift should be attributed to the supporter with a note that their employer matched it, and the matching gift should be attributed to the employer and categorized with corporate giving revenue.

With all of these revenue sources, it’s important to reconcile your donation records on a regular basis—at least once per quarter, if not once per month. Working with a nonprofit accountant can help with this process. They have the expertise to ensure all of the information in your accounting system matches the data from the various online fundraising platforms you use and resolve any potential discrepancies.

2. Consider the Implications for Your Budget

If you’ve ever created a nonprofit operating budget, you know that this document is used to predict your organization’s revenue and expenses for a given fiscal year. Of course, digital fundraising provides revenue to include in your projections, but you should keep in mind that it also affects your expenses.

Most nonprofits divide their predicted expenses into program costs, which are incurred while doing activities that directly relate to your mission, and overhead costs. Overhead costs include not only administrative expenses like rent and staff salaries, but also the expenses required to fundraise. In the digital space, this may include:

  • Payments for fundraising software like virtual event platforms, payment processors, and matching gift databases.
  • Marketing costs, such as paid social media ads or website hosting platform subscriptions.
  • Fees paid to consultants, graphic designers, or other third-party professionals who help with your digital fundraising efforts.

As you develop your budget, make sure to figure in all of these costs. Additionally, remember that both the revenue and the expenses you record in your budget are just estimates. If possible, try to budget for a revenue surplus so that you can still cover all of the costs of digital fundraising if you bring in less funding than expected.

3. Compile and Analyze Financial Statements

In addition to your budget, your organization’s financial statements are some of the most important documents for sound management. They summarize and contextualize data from digital fundraising and other financial activities so you can accurately assess your nonprofit’s financial health.

Jitasa’s guide to nonprofit financial management recommends compiling and analyzing the following statements:

  • Statement of activities. This document is the nonprofit parallel to the for-profit income statement. It allows your organization to review your revenue and expenses over time, which can help you make more accurate projections for future digital fundraising efforts.
  • Statement of financial position. Also known as a balance sheet, this statement categorizes your nonprofit’s assets and liabilities, some of which are likely connected to digital fundraising. For instance, the revenue you generate from online activities falls under your organization’s assets, while any related debts or expenses payable count as liabilities.
  • Statement of cash flows. This document shows how cash moves in and out of your organization—digitally and otherwise—to provide insight into your nonprofit’s spending and fundraising habits.

Some organizations also compile a statement of functional expenses, which breaks down your costs based on programming, fundraising, and administrative activities. Although this statement is optional, it organizes your digital fundraising data in the same format as the IRS Form 990, so it makes filling out your nonprofit’s annual tax return easier.

4. Focus on Financial Data Security

Data security measures are an important part of your nonprofit risk management strategy, especially when it comes to financial information. Keeping your digital fundraising data safe is important not only to protect against theft and fraud, but also to build trust with supporters by protecting their contact and payment information.

Some strategies to increase financial data security at your nonprofit include:

  • Requiring two-factor authentication for account logins.
  • Granting user permissions only to those who require access to financial data for their job responsibilities.
  • Investing in a PCI-compliant or PCI-certified payment processor for your online donation page.
  • Training staff members in data security best practices.

Additionally, be cautious about the types of online payments you accept. According to NXUnite, data security is especially important when it comes to donations made through mobile payment services since they typically ask for bank account information from both your organization and the donor. Stick to trusted providers and research their internal security measures before accepting contributions made through those services.


As your nonprofit expands its digital fundraising efforts, you’ll also need to be more mindful of how you manage and record the funds you bring in through online channels. A robust accounting system, a well-organized budget and financial statements, and strong data security measures are essential for your organization to not only comply with regulations but also make the most of digital fundraising.