Rebranding Your Nonprofit: 4 Frequently Asked Questions

Rebranding Your Nonprofit: 4 Frequently Asked Questions

Your nonprofit’s brand should be a visual and verbal representation of your mission, values, and personality. And when you first developed it, it likely fulfilled that purpose. But what happens when your organizational identity no longer aligns with your brand identity?

If your nonprofit finds itself in this situation, it may be time for a rebrand! A successful rebranding effort starts with taking a step back to examine who you are as an organization and how your brand strategy can better reflect that. After this initial brainstorming, it’s time to creatively re-envision your messaging and visuals, which you’ll eventually roll out in your nonprofit’s communications.

The rebranding process takes time and effort, and it can quickly become complicated. To help clear up confusion and get your nonprofit on the way to a successful rebrand, we’ll answer the following four frequently asked questions:

  1. When should our nonprofit consider rebranding?
  2. What elements of our brand should we update?
  3. Who should we involve in the rebranding process?
  4. How should we roll out our new brand?

If you launch into your organization’s rebrand and find that you need help, consider reaching out to a creative design agency. These professionals can answer any additional questions you may have and work with you to take your branding strategy to the next level. But before you ask for help, the answers and tips in this guide will help you get the rebranding process started.

1. When should our nonprofit consider rebranding?

Generally speaking, your organization might choose to rebrand when internal and external factors suggest the change could be beneficial. For example, you might consider rebranding when:

  • You’re trying to boost supporter engagement. If you want to attract a new supporter segment or notice that your current brand doesn’t resonate as strongly with your current donor base as it used to, a fresh image can catch supporters’ attention.
  • You want to keep up with current design trends. Maybe your marketing content appears outdated because graphic design practices have moved forward in noticeable ways while your branding has remained the same.
  • Your nonprofit’s values and personality have shifted. For instance, your old pastel color scheme and decorative typography may have represented your organization’s past desire to come across as friendly and inviting. But now, you may want to convey your trustworthiness and professionalism with more streamlined fonts and bolder colors.
  • Your organization has gone through a period of internal transition. Sometimes when a nonprofit’s leadership changes, the new team chooses to rebrand to reflect the new era the organization is entering.

While any of these situations could make you consider rebranding your nonprofit, avoid changing your brand too often. The main purpose of branding is to make your organization recognizable and memorable for your audience, and making significant updates more often than every five or ten years can create confusion. Additionally, before embarking on a rebrand, ensure you have the time and resources available for brainstorming, commissioning, and implementing new brand elements.

2. What elements of our brand should we update?

Even if you wait several years between rebranding efforts, keep in mind that the scope of your updates will likely differ every time. Some rebrands require a full overhaul, while in other cases, you might just need to make a few small changes.

No matter the scope of your rebrand, you’ll likely consider updating one or more of the following elements:

  • Color palette. Colors are naturally associated with specific feelings and ideas, so make sure the brand colors you choose align with your organization’s values. For example, having yellow as a primary brand color shows that your nonprofit emphasizes optimism. However, if you’d prefer to convey passion and strength with your brand, you might start using red as your main color instead.
  • Typography. Make sure your fonts are easy to read and show your nonprofit’s personality. To add visual variety to your content, use two brand typefaces that complement each other. But avoid using more than three fonts to prevent your content from appearing cluttered.
  • Logo. In addition to updating your logo to reflect your new color and font choices, consider whether it would be beneficial to update the style or imagery to reflect your organization’s identity.
  • Messaging. The way you write content is just as important to your brand as the visuals you choose. Review your guidelines for tone, word choice, and style so that your written materials accurately communicate your organization’s values.

Loop’s guide to nonprofit branding recommends compiling all of these elements into a single document so that anyone who works on your organization’s communications has a reference for your brand, helping you develop more consistent content. As you rebrand, make sure to update this document with your new brand elements.

3. Who should we involve in the rebranding process?

Because your brand is a representation of your nonprofit’s identity, it’s important to take multiple perspectives into account as you rebrand. Consider consulting the following stakeholders during the rebranding process:

  • Board members. As your organization’s main representatives in the community, your board can provide both an internal and external perspective on your nonprofit’s mission and values. Plus, they’ll often need to sign off on the rebrand before you roll it out.
  • Staff members. Depending on the nonprofit jobs they hold, each staff member will experience your organization’s day-to-day work differently and therefore will have unique ideas to contribute to the rebrand.
  • Supporters. According to NXUnite, asking for supporter feedback is one of the most effective community outreach strategies. And, because supporters’ recognizing your brand is essential for its success, it’s helpful to get their input on what visuals and messaging would make your organization stand out and stick in their minds.

Getting these stakeholders involved early in your rebranding process not only provides new insights into what will make your rebrand succeed, but it also makes everyone aware that you’re rebranding so they aren’t blindsided when you roll out your updates.

4. How should we roll out our new brand?

There are two main things to keep in mind when you’re ready for your rebranding rollout. First, awareness is essential to ensure your brand remains recognizable. Set a date for your big reveal, and communicate regularly with all stakeholders in the weeks leading up to that day.

Second, make sure your rebrand is rolled out consistently across every marketing channel your nonprofit uses. This includes print communications such as fundraising flyers and direct mail, as well as digital channels like email, social media, and your nonprofit’s website. The more your supporters are exposed to your updated brand, the faster they’ll remember it.


The rebranding process will look slightly different for every organization depending on your goals and current brand. However, you should always go in with a clear strategy for why and how you want your rebrand to take place. Use the tips above to get started, and don’t hesitate to reach out to experts with any additional questions.

Reach exponentially more potential supporters by promoting your nonprofit videos with the Google Ad Grant.

Using Google Ad Grants to Drive Traffic to Nonprofit Videos

One of the most valuable marketing tools out there for nonprofits is video. Videos display your nonprofit’s mission in a visual, easily digestible way. However, if you don’t effectively promote your videos, they won’t reach potential supporters.

That’s where the Google Ad Grant program comes in. An equally impactful nonprofit marketing tool, the Google Ad Grant is a free and easy way to promote your video content.

In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of the program, explain how it will benefit your video marketing strategy, and provide best practices for leveraging the grant funding. Whether you’re looking for a new way to promote your nonprofit videos, or you’re a Google Ad Grant participant looking to take your marketing strategy to the next level, read on to learn how you can use both the Google Ad Grant and nonprofit videos to your advantage.

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This guide will cover the top peer-to-peer fundraising software solutions for nonprofit organizations.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software: 11 Top Solutions

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a powerful form of nonprofit fundraising in which organizations empower their supporters to raise money on their behalf. This fundraising strategy, also referred to as social fundraising or P2P giving, enables nonprofits to reach larger audiences, engage new donors, and raise a ton of funding for their causes.

For this fundraising method to be effective, your dedicated supporters require the right tools⁠—or peer-to-peer platforms⁠—to manage their fundraising from start to finish. And there are a lot of software choices to explore. That’s why we’ve crafted this guide to help you decide on the provider that’s best for you.

In this article, we’ll cover the following:

By the end of this guide, you’ll be comfortable with the types of features and functionalities peer-to-peer fundraising software can offer, and you’ll walk away with a few great options to consider. Set your team up for success by carefully deciding which solution will work best for you!

Click to discover insights about peer-to-peer fundraising software in our newsletter.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software: The Basics

This image outlines some basic features of peer-to-peer fundraising software. Read more about them in the text below.

Keeping your peer-to-peer fundraising process organized can be difficult. Your team may have suddenly become a lot bigger with the inclusion of your peer fundraisers, and you have to manage both them and your staff members for your campaign to succeed. Plus, you have to track the funds everyone has raised and keep morale and excitement high.

Peer-to-peer fundraising software can help you keep your processes organized and streamlined. Such a solution comes with the following functionalities:

  • Communication tools. To have a successful campaign, you need to communicate effectively with staff members and volunteers. Peer-to-peer fundraising software enables you to message all involved individuals and even create communication templates to help your volunteers reach out to their networks.
  • Individual fundraising pages. With the right software solution, your volunteers will be able to create, customize, and personalize individual fundraising pages. They can use these pages to help you acquire donations and share their story, goals, and progress. Since they’ll be tapping into their network for fundraising, this personalization will help create an emotional connection for potential donors.
  • Donation processing. Allow donors to make gifts through individual fundraising pages. That way, they won’t have to navigate to your nonprofit’s website to make a gift, making the process more convenient. Peer-to-peer fundraising software will give you secure and easy-to-use donation processing forms to ensure a smooth giving experience.
  • Mobile optimization. As 57% of nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices, ensure that your peer-to-peer fundraising software can create fundraising pages that are optimized for mobile usage.
  • Social sharing integrations. Since your volunteers will be promoting their fundraising page to their network, social sharing integrations are crucial to success. With these integrations, they’ll be able to easily share their pages through social media, email, and text messaging, maximizing their advertising opportunities and ability to reach their network.
  • Gamification elements. Friendly competition motivates your peer fundraisers to increase their efforts in helping your nonprofit. Peer-to-peer fundraising software allows you to create a competitive spirit by incorporating gamification elements, such as leaderboards and milestone rewards.
  • Data and analytics. Keep track of your volunteers’ fundraising in real-time and get insight into the overall amount of revenue generated. Then, use this information to make informed adjustments to the strategy for your peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. You can also evaluate the data to help improve future campaigns.

Peer-to-peer fundraising software is specifically designed to help your nonprofit’s peer-to-peer campaign shine. Harness these functionalities to provide support for your volunteers and ensure your next campaign is a success.

Click to learn how to use peer-to-peer fundraising software to increase the visibility of your campaign.

11 Top Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software Solutions

This image shows the logos of the peer-to-peer fundraising software solutions that will be covered by this guide.

When choosing a peer-to-peer fundraising software solution to invest in, take a look at their case studies and testimonials. In particular, assess how the provider has helped organizations similar to yours in size and type, as that will give you insight into how the solution will work for you. Also, don’t be afraid to look at third-party reviews!

Keep these considerations in mind as you read through the following list of top peer-to-peer fundraising software solutions. If you see a solution you’re interested in, assess whether it will meet your needs, align with your budget, and be easy to use.

 

This image shows the logo of CharityEngine, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

1. CharityEngine

CharityEngine is an all-in-one nonprofit donor management and fundraising platform designed to aid nonprofits of all sizes in a wide range of fundraising efforts. In addition to their greater constituent relationship management (CRM) solution, they offer peer-to-peer fundraising software that provides groups and individual fundraisers with the capabilities they need to succeed.

Some of CharityEngine’s peer-to-peer features include:

  • Personalized campaign microsites
  • Customizable team and personal fundraising pages
  • Strategic fundraising goal-tracking tools

Plus, CharityEngine’s peer-to-peer fundraising software integrates seamlessly with donor management solutions, event management tools, and other fundraising software. That way, you can smoothly transition from your existing software to this CRM solution.

 

This image shows the logo of Classy, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

2. Classy

Classy is a comprehensive online fundraising solution complete with peer-to-peer functionality and a mission to empower nonprofit organizations to unlock the generosity of their supporters. Since its foundation, Classy has helped thousands of nonprofits advance their missions, raising more than $5 billion in donation revenue.

This peer-to-peer fundraising software’s features include:

  • Campaign templates
  • Embedded videos and livestreams
  • Built-in progress thermometer
  • Mobile-optimized pages and donation forms
  • Flexible payment processing
  • Employer donation match options

With Classy, you’ll be able to mobilize your supporters with easy-to-use tools so they feel empowered to advocate for your cause. Plus, you’ll have built-in tips and expert fundraising guidance, including automated email workflows to coach, motivate, and thank volunteer fundraisers.

 

This image shows the logo of Click & Pledge, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

3. Click & Pledge

A powerful online fundraising platform, Click & Pledge is dedicated to helping nonprofits and their supporters set up and manage effective fundraising campaigns. They’ve handled more than $1 billion in charitable contributions for more than 20,000 causes. Their platform is built for a variety of organizations, including nonprofits, associations, educational institutions, faith-based groups, and more.

They offer a variety of solutions that can support your peer-to-peer needs, including:

  • Donation Forms
  • Text-to-Give
  • Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Sites
  • Video Fundraising
  • Donor Outreach
  • In-Person Fundraising
  • Account Management

Click & Pledge’s peer-to-peer fundraising software solution provides added customizability by offering over 20 unique widgets for volunteers to add to their pages. It also makes tracking and managing your volunteers easier through a team portal, where you can evaluate success at-a-glance and conveniently message team members.

 

This image shows the logo of Donately, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

4. Donately

Donately is an online solution dedicated to creating innovative and effective online donation forms and fundraising pages. Working with all sorts of nonprofits, churches, businesses, and agencies, this peer-to-peer fundraising software aims to simplify the donation process on both the donors’ end and the organization’s.

A unique feature that Donately offers is its top-of-the-line peer-to-peer fundraising pages. These pages are customized to fit your organization’s branding, but still allow your volunteers to personalize them with their own stories. The result is a cohesive and harmonious page that drives more donations.

Plus, you’ll get access to fundraiser progress tracking bars and social sharing tools to further spread the word about your campaign. With this peer-to-peer fundraising software, you’ll be able to effortlessly expand your donor network.

 

This image shows the logo of DonorDrive, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

5. DonorDrive

This peer-to-peer fundraising software solution works with nonprofits, healthcare organizations, and higher education institutions to simplify online giving and assist in raising more for their causes. DonorDrive amplifies the voices of your biggest advocates, who can share their personal stories to expand your donor base and connections.

With a mobile fundraising app, virtual campaign functionality, online donation campaigns, peer-to-peer giving, and more, DonorDrive users have the tools they need to power their missions effectively.

Peer-to-peer donors have access to simplified donation processes to make giving more convenient. They can make recurring gifts and see if their employers will match their gifts, resulting in more donations for your nonprofit. Plus, DonorDrive offers other unique features such as personalized coaching, social media integrations, flexible event configuration, automated communication, and real-time data insights.

 

This image shows the logo of Getting Attention, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

6. Getting Attention

Promoting your peer-to-peer fundraising efforts is key to your campaign’s success. By adequately marketing your campaign, you’ll be able to maximize the number of individuals you reach out to and form connections with. Digital marketing will help you enhance the visibility of your campaign, increasing the number of donations you receive.

Getting Attention is a peer-to-peer fundraising solution focused on bringing more attention to your campaign. It does so by helping your nonprofit gain access to and optimize your usage of the Google Ad Grant. Essentially, this program gives your nonprofit $10,000 of free credit to spend on Google Ads, greatly increasing your outreach.

This image lists some of the ways you can use the Google Ad Grants to augment your peer-to-peer fundraising efforts.

You can use the Google Ad Grant to:

  • Spread awareness of your mission
  • Attract new supporters
  • Recruit dedicated volunteers
  • Promote ongoing campaigns and events—including peer-to-peer fundraisers!

However, using the Google Ad Grants program can be difficult for nonprofits without experience in the realm of search engine optimization. That’s where Google Ad Grant agencies like Getting Attention come into play.

Professionals from these agencies bring their experience and expertise to help you generate the impact you want. They offer a variety of services related to Google Ad Grants, including:

By working with a Google Ad Grants professional, you’ll be able to perform targeted outreach that increases awareness and participation in your peer-to-peer campaign. This results in enhanced site engagement and increased recognition, making it an extremely effective peer-to-peer fundraising software for marketing.

Click to elevate your campaigns with the Google Ad Grant, a unique peer-to-peer fundraising solution.

 

This image shows the logo of GiveWP, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

7. GiveWP

For nonprofits with blogs run through WordPress, GiveWP is the peer-to-peer fundraising software for you. This solution is a WordPress donation plugin option, making donating more convenient for website visitors. It’s an open-source suite of tools that makes fundraising quick and easy.

GiveWP offers a peer-to-peer add-on that allows volunteers to leverage its features to encourage their networks to make gifts to your nonprofits. A unique offering of theirs is the ability to give donors choices through:

  • Choosing where their contributions go through the Funds and Designations feature
  • Using tribute eCards to make gifts in memory of a loved one
  • Allowing them to opt-in to peer-to-peer marketing newsletters

Other top features of GiveWP’s peer-to-peer platform include fundraising goal progress bars for individuals and teams, social sharing abilities with built-in calls-to-action, and integrated sponsorship information.

 

This image shows the logo of iDonate, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

8. iDonate

iDonate is a modern digital giving solution designed for today’s nonprofits and other charitable organizations to grow their online giving and better reach dedicated supporters. This powerful suite of fundraising software encompasses peer-to-peer fundraising, web and mobile giving, and event management tools to drive results.

This software solution has a focus on optimizing your organization’s growth through the following features:

  • A/B Split Testing
  • Recurring Gift Prompt
  • Personalization
  • Goal Meters

Their peer-to-peer fundraising platform incorporates top features such as a comprehensive command center and anchor page, campaign management with real-time data metrics, and easy campaign building and editing tools for individual fundraisers.

 

This image shows the logo of OneCause, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

9. OneCause

OneCause is an online fundraising and event solution that has grown from a mobile bidding tool to a comprehensive giving platform with capabilities for online donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, auction and event management, and more. Since its launch, OneCause has raised more than $5 billion in charitable donations from 2.5 million supporters and over 40,000 fundraisers.

This software maximizes peer-to-peer fundraising by making it more social, mobile, and fun. It allows you to design your campaign materials based on the type of peer-to-peer campaign you’re hosting, whether that’s a walk-a-thon, memorial, or virtual campaign.

The OneCause peer-to-peer fundraising platform offers key features such as social media integration, motivation and rewards, flexible branding, and accessible technology to help your nonprofit reach its goals.

 

This image shows the logo of Neon Fundraise, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

10. Neon Fundraise

Neon Fundraise is a product of Neon One, a nonprofit software company with innovative solutions for donor management, online fundraising, program management, events, web development, and more. With this peer-to-peer fundraising software, it’s easy to take your mission to new heights by creating winning experiences for donors, fundraisers, and staff.

Some of the top features this software solution offers include:

  • One-click donations
  • Badges and achievements
  • Donor accounts
  • Multi-language and multi-currency capabilities
  • Compliant receipting

These features all work together to create a smooth donation experience for your volunteers’ friends and family, helping to create a more successful peer-to-peer campaign for your organization. Not only that, but it will also help automate your workflow, making issuing receipts and collecting registrations more efficient.

This image shows the logo of Qgiv, a top peer-to-peer fundraising software solution.

11. Qgiv

Qgiv is a powerful fundraising platform designed to assist nonprofit organizations with the tools they need to collect charitable donations online, in person, and over text. The peer-to-peer side of their software includes features such as:

  • Event management for pledge-based experiences
  • Intuitive online stores for sponsorships and merchandise
  • Email and social media marketing tools

This software solution also allows you to build customizable and virtual events to fit the needs of your peer-to-peer campaign. It also offers branded team and individual fundraising pages, flexible registrations, and progress thermometers to ensure that event attendees and volunteers are engaged and have a great experience fundraising for your community.

 

Additional Fundraising Resources

Peer-to-peer fundraising can take your nonprofit strategy to the next level. Not only does it allow you to acquire more donations, but it allows you to form connections with a greater number of potential supporters. To ensure your efforts are successful, equip your volunteers with the most effective and intuitive peer-to-peer fundraising software solutions. That way, you’ll maximize the impact of your campaign.

If you’d like to learn more about nonprofit marketing and fundraising, check out these resources:

Click to book a consultation with Getting Attention about how to use peer-to-peer fundraising software more effectively.

With tips and examples, this article will discuss ways you can improve your nonprofit branding strategy.

Your Nonprofit Branding Strategy Can Probably Be Better

A well-defined and recognizable brand can do wonders for any organization or business.  Recent studies have shown that 26% of nonprofits have rebranded in the past two years — and of these, around half (47%) have already seen an increase in revenue. This means that if you think your branding could be improved, you’re probably right. 

Click here to see how the Google Ad Grant can get more people to see your nonprofit branding strategy.

To help you learn how to take your nonprofit branding strategy to the next level this guide will cover:

At Getting Attention, nonprofit marketing is our specialty. By harnessing the power of the Google Ad Grant, we connect nonprofits with the right audiences to drive impact and build support.

Why Does Nonprofit Branding Matter?

It takes anywhere from 17 to 50 milliseconds for people to form a first impression about your brand. Use a bulletproof nonprofit branding strategy to make the most of these precious few seconds.

Effective branding makes your nonprofit more easily recognized. This directly affects whether people see your messaging and feel compelled to take action. 

This is why it’s so important to create branded content and messaging. With the right strategy, supporters can build a relationship with your brand and instantly recognize and trust it. Think about the American Red Cross—as soon as you see it, you know exactly who this organization is and what they do. To summarize, nonprofit branding is important because it:

This image explains the four reasons why nonprofit branding is important.

  • Differentiates your organization: Your nonprofit should be recognized for your own incredible work, which means it’s important to stand out from other similar organizations. Therefore, your brand will need to be representative of your organization’s unique values and mission.
  • Cultivates trust: Effective and consistent branding ensures individuals that your organization is legitimate and well-known. The more they see your logo or hear your name, the better.
  • Increases social awareness: The more people see your branding, the more people will know about your mission and need.
  • Builds a solid reputation: When your nonprofit brand touches your entire community, supporters will much more easily regard you as trustworthy and highly reputable.

Thoughtful branding execution is an ongoing process. Your nonprofit branding strategy is made of several moving parts that must be managed to create a memorable These moving parts are consolidated into your nonprofit brand guide.

Essential Nonprofit Brand Guide Components to Improve

Who is your organization? A descriptive answer to this question should be captured in your nonprofit brand guide.

This document contains your brand “rules” and ensures that your marketing team is on the same page concerning all components. Without these rules, your branding will be inconsistent and unrepresentative. Your brand guide should be detailed and include use cases for both digital marketing and print materials.

Here is what to include for both messaging and visual elements:

This image shows what components to include in your nonprofit branding strategy within your brand guide.

Your Name

It’s common to have different names depending on which region your headquarters occupy. Additionally, some organizations decide to go by acronyms. Take  M.A.D.D. or Mothers Against Drunk Driving for example. In this case, the acronym carries an emotional meaning that underlies the group’s cause. Most likely, you’ve already landed on your nonprofit name. To test its effectiveness, ask these questions:

This image includes questions that address the effectiveness of your nonprofit branding strategy.

Hopefully, you have answered “yes” to the above questions. If not, it’s time to re-evaluate your nonprofit name to be sure it accurately reflects your organization’s values.

Mission statement

Your mission statement is the core purpose of your nonprofit organization. When crafting your own nonprofit mission statement, make sure to include WHY your nonprofit exists, WHO your nonprofit is helping, and HOW your nonprofit serves them. Your WHY of your mission statement explains your vision, or how your organization would like positive change the world.

For example, The Nature Conservancy captures its mission and vision statement in a memorable and concrete way:

Mission: “To conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.”

Vision: “A world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives.”

The above points answer WHAT the organization is helping (lands and waters) and WHY (to increase the diversity of life). The Nature Conservancy’s “See Our Priorities” link captures the HOW of their nonprofit mission and breaks it down into goals to meet by 2030.

Tone

Your tone describes how you communicate as an organization. Are you urgent or excited? Welcoming or focused? Your chosen tone is an aspect of your overall nonprofit personality and should be representative of how you approach your cause.

A practical application of tone is your tagline. It should be short, catchy, and representative of your mission. For instance, the Montana Historical Society uses the tagline “Big sky, Big land. Big history” to encompass its promise to uphold Montana tradition.

Color

The colors you choose for your nonprofit branding can greatly influence how your audience feels when they see your organization out and about online or in person. When determining the best colors to represent your brand, try to think of the emotions that colors evoke.

For instance, green is often associated with nature while red is associated with passion or urgency. To get a full view of brand color associations, refer to this guide:

This image pictures color associations you can refer to when finalizing your nonprofit branding strategy.

  • Red: Represents energy, urgency, and passion. Many health-related organizations use this color.
  • Purple: Evokes royalty and creativity. It can also evoke stability as many religious organizations use this color.
  • Blue: Exhibits trustworthiness, openness, and faith. Human rights organizations use blue to back their missions of providing humanitarian aid.
  • Gray: Indicates simplicity and neutrality. Organizations that use this color offer a calmer aesthetic.
  • Green: Pictures growth and stability. Many conservation-based or environmental organizations tie in their values with green.
  • Yellow: Elicits a playful or urgent emotional response. Yellow is also used to demand attention and spread awareness.
  • Orange: Encompasses a friendly and warm tone. Wildlife rescue groups commonly use this color.
  • Pink: Represents creativity and innovation. Many movements in the 2SLGBTQ+ utilize this color.
  • Black: Indicates boldness and seriousness. Several justice groups use this color to mobilize their mission.

As you finalize your color palette, be mindful of existing color associations. For example, pink is also tied to the breast cancer awareness movement. Other considerations include political party and international color meanings.

It’s best to choose one primary color and 2-3 secondary colors to complement it. This way, your branding will remain simple and impactful.

Logo

Your logo is the center of your brand. It’s the image that people remember most and will recognize the easiest. Using your logo consistently helps create an association to your brand and builds the relationship supporters have with your nonprofit’s content. There are three types of logos to consider:

  1. Wordmark logos include your nonprofit name and can be more useful if your organization is not well-known
  2. Symbol logos include only the symbol of a nonprofit such as the YMCA’s “Y” symbol.
  3. Combination marks capture your mission by showing your name and a symbol. These are the most common logo type.

Whichever you choose, ensure your logo evokes the right emotion and is communicative of your mission.

Typography

Your font choices should align with your colors and logo. Sans serif fonts are a popular choice due to their readability and straightforwardness.

Consider selecting two fonts from the same family with different weights to add hierarchy to your visual brand. Use the heavier font weight for headlines and the lighter font for descriptions.

5 Nonprofit Branding Strategy Best Practices

Now that you’ve nailed your nonprofit brand guide, it’s time to explore how to use it to turn more heads and inspire greater support. Consider these best practices to catapult your nonprofit branding forward, connect with your audience, and deliver your messaging in ways that inspire support:

  1. Make your branding stand out: There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations registered in the U.S. alone. Find ways to make your nonprofit stand out from the crowd to garner the necessary support. This is especially important for nonprofits with similar missions.
  2. Craft a compelling story: As you now know, nonprofit branding is more than just what your website and social media posts look like. It involves how you connect and communicate your stories. To take your branding to the next level, consider employing nonprofit storytelling methods. This is one of the most powerful ways to build your brand, cultivate trust with your audience, and promote your mission.
  3. Use branding on multiple channels: Branding should represent your organization consistently regardless of its platform. The marketing channels you use are incredibly important especially if you want to build relationships with donors and reach new prospects. Make your branding consistent on every channel so that supporters can recognize you immediately and continue their relationship with your brand.
  4. Update branding as needed: As with any marketing effort, it’s important to collect data and track its success to learn if there’s anything that needs to be improved or optimized. To ensure your branding stays on track and helps you meet goals, we recommend compiling regular reports and following metrics like social media interactions and email open rates.
  5. Apply for the Google Grant — One of the best ways to build your branding strategy and connect with supporters is to apply for the Google Ad Grant! With this grant, nonprofit organizations receive $10,000 in Google ad credits each month. Plus, all eligible nonprofits who apply can receive this grant, not just a select few like with most other grants. Use your Google ads to build your brand and reach more people, faster.

Work with our team to learn how Google Ad Grants fit into your nonprofit marketing plan.

Your nonprofit branding strategy impacts many aspects of your marketing efforts and donor relationships. Leverage these best practices to ensure that your branding not only represents your organization and mission effectively but that you’re able to incorporate it into key messaging and connect with supporters in valuable ways.

5 Smart Nonprofit Branding Examples

Sometimes the best way to visualize your nonprofit brand is by being inspired by other successful brands in your space. Analyzing what makes their branding so memorable and effective will help you learn the ropes or enhance your existing branding.

To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of the top five nonprofit brands to watch. We’ve included a snapshot of each’s colors, logos, and messaging, so you can see how each organization weaves its messaging into its brand.

Nonprofit Branding Example 1: Oxfam

Oxfam is a humanitarian organization dedicated to ending inequality. They call on supporters to fight injustice and poverty as one united community. Here’s what their branding looks like:

This image captures Oxfam’s visual identity as expressed through its nonprofit branding strategy.

  • Mission statement: “Equal treatment free from discrimination. Equal rights under the law. Equal opportunities to build a life and thrive. For everyone.”
  • Colors: Warm green and white
  • Logo: Green simplistic ox
  • Tagline: “The future is equal”

Oxfam’s branding reflects its values. The warm green exudes a friendly and welcoming personality that invites everyone to join in their movement. The soft logo does not include divisions or harsh lines as a reminder that everyone deserves a chance to thrive, not just survive. Additionally, Oxfam focuses on the word “equal” in its messaging to echo its mission statement.

Nonprofit Branding Example 2: Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger relief organization in the United States and represents a nationwide network of food banks and pantries. Their vision is to create a hunger-free nation. Here’s a glimpse of their branding:

This image picture Feeding America’s use brand guidelines to propels its nonprofit branding strategy.

  • Mission statement: Our mission is to advance change in America by ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for all in partnership with food banks, policymakers, supporters, and the communities we serve.
  • Logo: Wordmark with wheat symbol
  • Tagline: “Our vision is an America where no one is hungry”
  • Colors: Orange, dark green

Feeding America’s mission statement is perfectly captured in its branding materials. Its inclusion of wheat and use of warm, inviting colors signal its promise to end hunger. The use of orange is also commonly used in relation to commercial food logos, mimicking Feeding America’s vision to provide meals for those in need.

Nonprofit Branding Example 3: charity: water

Charity: water is an organization dedicated to increasing clean drinking water access. Founded in 2006, it has been working to help end the water crisis through local partners and supporters. Here is how they use their story to capture their branding:

This image describes Charity: Water’s nonprofit branding strategy as seen in their guidelines.

  • Mission statement: “To bring clean and safe drinking water to every person on the planet”
  • Logo: Jerry can
  • Tagline: “Together, we end the water crisis”
  • Colors: Yellow and black

Charity: water’s jerry can has become famous in the nonprofit logo world because it represents the work this nonprofit does in a succinct and memorable way. Millions of developing communities rely on jerry cans for clean drinking water transport. Therefore, the inclusion of this symbol speaks to charity: water’s promise to bring safe drinking water to its beneficiaries.

Nonprofit Branding Example 4: The Backpack Project

The Backpack Project (TBP) is a student-run organization dedicated to easing the burden of homelessness by delivering backpacks containing food, toiletries, and other necessities to those experiencing homelessness. Here’s how their brand echoes this sentiment:

This image shows how The BackPack Project’s nonprofit branding strategy relates to the organization’s overall mission.

  • Mission statement: “to contribute to the collective effort that characterizes homelessness “rare and brief.
  • Logo: Backpack zipper
  • Tagline: Easing the Burden of Homelessness
  • Colors: Light green and gray

TBP’s branding’s star feature is its simplicity. Rather than featuring a stuffed bag to visualize the nonprofit’s mission, TBP features only a zipper to get its message across. The zipper is a nod to the backpack, but also a hope that more people experiencing homelessness will be able to “unzip” a better future where they can characterize their experience as “rare and brief.”

Nonprofit Branding Example 5: Pencils of Promise

Pencils of Promise is committed to providing quality education to children in need. They provide teacher support, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) programs, and quality infrastructure to enhance learning environments. Here is how their brand captures their values:

This image pictures Pencils of Promise’s nonprofit branding strategy.

  • Mission statement: “Every child should have access to quality education. We create schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all.”
  • Logo: Yellow pencil combination mark
  • Tagline: “We are the Impossible Ones”
  • Colors: black and yellow

Pencils of Promise’s simple logo goes for the obvious without becoming intrusive. The pencil shape tells people immediately that this organization is education-centered. Pencils of Promise’s language is also bold and hopeful as reflected in its choice of bright yellow and stark black (which are also the colors of a classic No. 2 pencil!).

Additional Resources

There’s a common misconception that nonprofit branding only refers to your organization’s aesthetics. However, it extends beyond color palettes and fonts, as your brand messaging can directly impact your nonprofit’s marketing and fundraising success. If you want to reach your supporters where they are and spread awareness of your mission, having an effective branding strategy is essential.

To continue your research in learning how to push your nonprofit forward, we encourage you to explore our additional resources for nonprofit branding and marketing:

Click here to get a free consultation with getting attention

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

Technology Grants for Nonprofits Guide + 12 Options for 2023

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

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

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

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

What is a technology grant for nonprofits?

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

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

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

How can technology grants support nonprofits?

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Refer to your goals and mission.

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

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

2. Conduct research.

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

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

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

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

3. Prepare your technology grant application.

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

4. Consider seeking expert help.

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

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

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

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

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

12 Top Technology Grants for Nonprofits

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

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

1. Google Ad Grants

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Salesforce’s Power of Us Program

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

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

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

3. Twilio

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

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

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

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

4. Okta for Good

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

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

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

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

5. Box Impact Fund

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

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

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

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

6. Cisco Product Grant Program

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

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

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

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

7. Microsoft Tech for Social Impact

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

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

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

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

8.  Technology Innovation Awards

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

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

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

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

9. TechBridge

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

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

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

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

10. Verizon Foundation

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

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

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

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

11. HP Technology for Community

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

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

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

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

12. The Change Happens Foundation

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

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

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

Wrapping Up

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

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

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

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

 

 

Getting Started with YouTube for Nonprofits in 3 Steps

Getting Started with YouTube for Nonprofits in 3 Steps

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

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

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

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

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

What is YouTube for Nonprofits?

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

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

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

How to Set Up Your YouTube for Nonprofits Account

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

Sign up for Google for Nonprofits.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google Ad Grants

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

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

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

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

Create a YouTube channel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube for Nonprofit’s Social Impact Fundamentals 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Video Creation Tips

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

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

Must-Have Equipment 

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

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

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

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

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

Emotional Impact

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

 

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

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

Visual Identity 

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

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

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

Call-to-Action

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

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

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

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

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

Launch Your YouTube Channel

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

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

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

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

Promoting Your Mission: 13 Free Nonprofit Marketing Tools

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

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

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

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

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

What are the Benefits of Nonprofit Marketing?

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

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

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

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

7 Steps for Creating Your Nonprofit Marketing Strategy

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

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

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

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

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

13 Free Nonprofit Marketing Tools

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

1. Google Trends

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

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

2. Google Analytics

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

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

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

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

3. SurveyMonkey

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

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

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

4. Canva

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

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

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

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

5. Pexels

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

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

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

6. Grammarly

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

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

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

7. Typito

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

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

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

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

8. Google Ad Grants


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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Mailchimp

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

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

10. Hootsuite

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

With Hootsuite, you can:

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

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

11. Bitly

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

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

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

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

12. WebSite Auditor

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

WebSite Auditor’s free plan allows you to:

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

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

13. Give Lively

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

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

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

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

Additional Resources

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

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

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

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

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!

Explore this nonprofit marketing guide to learn how to expand your audience and reach more supporters.

Nonprofit Marketing: A Behind-the-Scenes Guide for Success

 

For nonprofits, developing an effective marketing plan is key to spreading awareness, engaging new prospects, and deepening relationships with donors. However, there’s a lot that goes into crafting the perfect strategy for your organization, from setting goals to analyzing your marketing data.

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

At Getting Attention, we empower nonprofits to expand their nonprofit marketing capabilities with the Google Ad Grant. While we’ll explore that channel a bit more later, know that it’s a powerful addition to any nonprofit’s toolkit. Plus, it’s completely free!

Regardless of your nonprofit’s size, budget, or staff resources, taking the time to optimize your current marketing strategy can go a long way toward securing more support for your mission.Reach out to Getting Attention to learn how you can start leveraging the Google Ad Grant to enhance your nonprofit marketing results.

What is Nonprofit Marketing?

Nonprofit marketing refers to the various marketing strategies and channels that a nonprofit uses to amplify its cause, solicit donations, attract new supporters, and retain existing ones.

Organizations often create nonprofit marketing plans to allocate their budgets, time, and efforts effectively. This plan typically includes essential details such as your core mission, tone, target audience, preferred marketing channels, and branding.

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing

There are two main approaches to nonprofit marketing:

  • Inbound marketing refers to methods of catching prospective supporters’ attention through unpaid promotion or content production. Commonly, this includes search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, and organic social media posts.
  • Outbound marketing, often referred to as “advertising,” relies on paid media to get in front of potential supporters. You might use Google Ads, social media advertising, radio ads, or any other paid outlet to promote your mission.

While inbound marketing attracts potential supporters in a natural way, outbound marketing can help your nonprofit extend its reach to people who might not otherwise come across your cause. Finding the perfect balance between inbound and outbound channels enables you to cast a wider net and reach more prospects.

Benefits of Nonprofit Marketing

Preparing a thoughtful and comprehensive nonprofit marketing plan allows your nonprofit to:

There are many advantages to creating a comprehensive nonprofit marketing plan, including the five benefits detailed below.

  • Boost awareness. With effective nonprofit marketing, your organization can increase awareness around your mission, ensuring that more people know about your nonprofit’s goals and the work you’re doing to achieve them.
  • Increasing funds. By spreading more awareness about your cause, you’ll naturally receive more donations from people who resonate with your mission and want to get involved.
  • Cultivate long-term relationships. Successful marketing can build lasting relationships with donors, leading to more recurring donations and generating more revenue. Nonprofits Source estimates that, among online gifts, the average monthly donation is $52 (a total of $624 per year), compared to the average one-time gift of $128 per year.
  • Attract all types of support. In addition to securing more gifts for your nonprofit, marketing can help with increasing volunteer recruitment, event participation, membership signups, and other types of engagement with your organization.
  • Promote your services. The services that your nonprofit provides to those you serve are an integral part of your fundraising efforts and inspire your supporters to give. With a comprehensive nonprofit marketing strategy, you can more effectively promote these services to supporters and beneficiaries.

In other words, marketing impacts every area of your organization, making it essential to achieving your mission and inciting real change in your community.

Nonprofit Marketing Challenges

Effective outreach, however, does not come without its challenges. By understanding the common marketing obstacles that nonprofits face, you can plan ahead and minimize potential difficulties further down the road.

Four common marketing challenges to keep in mind include:

  • Establishing trustworthiness. Many people contribute to nonprofits because they’re driven to make a difference in the world. To convince potential donors to give, you’ll need to assure them that your organization is legitimate and worthy of their financial support.
  • Selling your mission. Unlike for-profit companies, nonprofits must sell their ideas and values to prospects rather than a product.
  • Working on a limited budget. Even with a well-defined mission and a compelling story, budget constraints may hinder your marketing efforts. This can limit your advertising options through paid outlets.
  • Appealing to different demographics. Many of your potential supporters will have varying preferences and interests. For example, older donors might prefer traditional, print outreach methods while younger audiences might lean toward text or social media outreach.

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

How Much Do Nonprofits Spend on Marketing?

While there’s no single answer to how much an organization should spend on marketing, there are a few methods you can use to calculate a smart budget:

  • The percent method. Allocate 5% to 15% of your total budget to marketing, communications, and fundraising. Many organizations group these three essential activities together as a single line item in their budget. This method makes it easy to scale your nonprofit marketing budget as your organization grows.
  • The dollar method. Apportion a set dollar amount to marketing, communications, and fundraising based on past expenditures. This method eliminates guesswork and makes spending expectations clear.
  • The incremental method. Take the current period’s budget and revenue into account. Then, use that to adjust each line item by incremental amounts to create your next budget. This makes it easy to allocate money strategically without starting from scratch.

While nonprofits often consider cutting marketing from the budget when resources get tight, this is worth reconsidering. Promoting your mission is key to staying top of mind with donors and driving more gifts to keep your doors open. Instead, opt for low-cost communication channels or apply for a grant.

Whether you’re facing budgetary constraints or simply want to reduce costs, explore our guide to applying for Google Ad Grants to tap into more marketing potential.

5 Steps to Create a Nonprofit Marketing Strategy

Crafting an organized nonprofit marketing strategy is crucial to connecting with your supporters and beneficiaries. Your strategy should outline all the information you need to meet your audience’s needs and spread your mission.

1. Perform a Marketing Audit.

Start out by getting a sense of your current marketing capabilities and available resources. That way, you can start thinking about the changes and tweaks you’ll need to make.

Gather past outreach materials and campaign metrics to conduct an audit on your most recent outreach efforts.

A nonprofit marketing audit often consists of conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for:

This image illustrates how you can use a SWOT analysis to conduct an audit and learn from your past nonprofit marketing efforts.

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

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

2. Define Your Marketing Goals.

Your nonprofit marketing strategy should aim to support your overall goals. Are you trying to raise funds? Encourage volunteering? Garner fundraising event registrations? Every marketing campaign needs a concrete goal and target action to be successful. When outlining your nonprofit marketing strategy goals, use the SMART method:

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

From here, list your goals by priority. This allows you to have clear nonprofit marketing goals in place to power greater outcomes for your cause.

3. Understand Your Audiences.

It’s essential to focus your nonprofit marketing strategy on who you’re trying to reach. Outline both your current audience and your target audience. Then, segment your audience members according to characteristics such as:

Take note of these key characteristics as you segment your audience for more effective nonprofit marketing messages.

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

Every nonprofit marketing campaign should have a target audience in mind to ensure that you send the right messages that resonate with the right people.

4. Create and Share A Compelling Message.

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

Follow the CRAM rule to take your nonprofit’s communications to the next level.

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

Plan out the language and tone of your message, the specific calls to action you’ll use, and any visual branding elements. Then, choose your nonprofit marketing channels and start sharing your outreach.

5. Track Results and Make Adjustments.

Every nonprofit marketing strategy needs a dedicated way to measure performance, so you’ll be able to identify your areas of strength and areas for improvement moving forward. Here are some examples of KPIs for different channels you might track:

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

Data is the backbone of your nonprofit marketing efforts, ensuring that your campaign is performing well, allowing you to glean insights for improving future campaigns, and acting as a resource for supporters wanting to learn more about your impact.

Types of Nonprofit Marketing Channels

The specific nonprofit marketing channels you use are critical to reaching your donors and meeting new prospects. While you don’t need to leverage every platform, a multichannel marketing approach allows you to connect with as many supporters as possible.

Let’s walk through some of the most popular channels that can catapult your nonprofit marketing efforts forward!

Explore these nonprofit marketing channels to discover how to make the most of your efforts on each channel.

Search Ads

To enhance their marketing results, many nonprofits leverage Google Ads, a platform where organizations display advertisements, service offerings, products, and other marketing content. Google places these ads strategically at the top of search engine result pages to expand each organization’s online presence.

Many nonprofits apply for the Google Ad Grant to take advantage of this platform. This technology grant offers nonprofit organizations $10,000 in ad credits to spend each month, which they can use to bid on valuable keywords that their prospects are searching online and promote their website content with Google Ads.

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

It’s up to you to choose the right keywords related to your mission. For example, Science Moms created a Google Ad campaign to target terms related to “fight climate change.”

Science Moms’s campaign demonstrates how you can use the Google Ad Grant in your nonprofit marketing strategy.

However, a lot goes into determining your nonprofit’s eligibility, applying, and making the most of the program. That’s where an expert Google Grants agency can step in.

The specialists at Getting Attention will champion your cause at every turn. We’ll learn all about your specific nonprofit marketing goals and handle the entire Google Grant management process. That way, you can focus on other areas of your mission and relax knowing your Google ads are in good hands.

Reach out to Getting Attention to learn how you can start leveraging the Google Ad Grant to enhance your nonprofit marketing results.

Nonprofit Advertising

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

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

Advertising can expand your audience and amplify your content to people who aren’t actively researching nonprofits. Even if you’re working on a limited budget, outbound marketing isn’t entirely out of reach! Similar to Google, there are many other advertising platforms with free or discounted options for nonprofits.

Sign up for Getting Attention’s free email newsletter to access tips and best practices that will take your nonprofit’s advertising to the next level.

Nonprofit Email Marketing

Email is a reliable and effective channel for nonprofit marketers, allowing them to connect with all types of supporters, from first-time donors to those who have been giving regularly for years. 

Some impactful ways to leverage email marketing for nonprofits include:

  • Creating a regular newsletter. Provide supporters with updates about your organization, the latest industry news, success stories from your ongoing programs, supporter spotlights, volunteer opportunities, and anything else going on at your nonprofit that they might be interested in.
  • Sending monthly emails about donation needs and opportunities. To increase your donors’ value over time, send out regular donation requests. Fine-tune these requests to ask each donor for a reasonable upgrade from their last gift. For example, if a supporter gave $25 last month, you might make a request of $30, which they are more likely to respond to than a jump to $100. Additionally, make sure to take recurring donors off of your monthly donation request list since they are already giving regularly.
  • Segmenting your email audience. Target your messages to specific donor groups by dividing them based on relevant characteristics. 78% of marketers agree that subscriber segmentation is the most effective strategy for email campaigns. When you segment donors, you ensure you’re sending them content that aligns with their interests, making them more likely to open your emails and engage with them. 
  • Following up with appreciation emails. As soon as a supporter donates, signs up to volunteer, or shows some other form of support, you should automatically send out a thank you email. Personalize these emails to address each supporter by name and reference their specific contribution. 

On average, email generates $36 for every $1 spent. This high ROI makes it clear that this nonprofit marketing channel is worth investing in.

Word-of-Mouth Nonprofit Marketing

When your volunteers and donors feel strongly about your cause, they’ll naturally want to share your important work with like-minded friends and family members who are likely to be interested in supporting your nonprofit.

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

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

eCards, like this Project Sleep World Narcolepsy Day eCard, can be a stellar way to market your nonprofit.

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

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

Once you design your nonprofit eCards, you can offer them for free, sell them for a set price, or give them in exchange for donations. No matter what, people will be excited to browse your collection and share a cause that’s close to their hearts.

Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits

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

Not only is social media affordable, but it’s also a key way to connect with supporters on a deeper level. You can engage with followers, encourage them to comment or repost content, and build a brand personality that they enjoy interacting with. Here are some general ways you can leverage this social media in your nonprofit marketing strategy:

  • Share news about your organization and cause.
  • Boost brand awareness and recognition.
  • Post calls to action for online gifts, event registrations, volunteer signups, and more.
  • Recruit volunteers and employees.
  • Recognize your committed donors, employees, and volunteers.

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

Direct Mail Marketing

While email marketing response rates are typically 1%, direct mail response rates hover around 9%, making it a highly valuable and personalized marketing channel.

For nonprofits, direct mail marketing and fundraising involve writing, printing, and sending out hard copy requests for funds, event invitations, or thank-you letters to your passionate supporters. These letters arrive in your supporters’ mailboxes and provide a tangible connection to your organization—especially when compared to opening up an email.

Use these tips to inspire action with your direct mail content:

  • Lean on storytelling. Perhaps the most unique aspect of direct mail is its personal touch. This is a key opportunity to connect with donors through storytelling. For example, you could describe the story of a family that your nonprofit has helped to get readers invested in your cause and eager to give.
  • Use compelling visuals. Weave your visual and written elements together to break up blocks of text and support your call to action. This applies to everything from your letters to your fundraising flyers. Whether you use photos of real people or graphics to illustrate different points, the visuals you choose should be strategic and reinforce your messaging.
  • Combine direct mail with digital marketing. Enhance your direct mail marketing by conducting it alongside your digital marketing efforts. Be sure to include easy ways for direct mail readers to connect online by including a QR code to your donation page or adding social media details to encourage engagement on various platforms.

As long as it aligns with your recipients’ communication preferences, direct mail can both benefit your nonprofit and show donors that you really care. Consider partnering with a direct mail marketing company to facilitate the process of writing and sending your letters.

Nonprofit Video Marketing

From short videos on TikTok to longer content on YouTube, many nonprofits have found success in using this form of media to promote campaigns, events, and their mission in general.

Why is this? Well, here are some reasons why video marketing for nonprofits is so valuable:

  • Inspire action. Well-edited videos, supplemented with evocative music, do really well when it comes to appealing to viewers’ emotions.
  • Shareable. Who hasn’t gotten a cute video of a pet sent from a friend? In fact, 51% of people are more likely to share videos than any other marketing content, including social media and blog posts.
  • Entertaining. According to DataReportal, watching videos is considered one of the top online activities among working-age internet users around the world, with 92.8% watching online videos every week.

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

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

SEO Marketing for Nonprofits

Your nonprofit’s website is a huge resource when it comes to marketing your mission. It’s where prospects go to learn about your mission and where long-term supporters go to give support. Because of this, 68% of nonprofits have redesigned their websites within the last three years to incorporate SEO best practices and boost their organic rankings. When optimizing your organization’s website, keep these tips in mind:

  • Center each page around a core topic related to your cause and pick relevant keywords for each page.
  • Ensure full and regulatory accessibility compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
  • Use call-to-action buttons and links to direct users to your popular landing pages.
  • Prioritize user experience when it comes to ease of use and navigating your website.
  • Make sure all tools and content management systems are updated and functioning properly.
  • Feature consistent branding throughout the site.

Not all of these tips are directly related to SEO, but they all contribute to your site’s performance in some way. Plus, improving your website will set you up for success with multichannel outreach, like when you’re promoting it via social media or search ads.

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

Content marketing is all about creating valuable and promotable nonprofit content that can build your nonprofit brand and reputation in the sector. While this content will likely live on your website, you can also create specific content for emails or host a downloadable gated resource.

Common types of content you might create include:

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

Plus, your content marketing materials can be used for other nonprofit marketing efforts, whether you promote it via email, Google Ads, or social media. Consider creating a dedicated team focused on content copywriting.

Text Message Marketing

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

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

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

With a secure and user-friendly text messaging platform, your nonprofit can confidently deliver a high ROI, engage supporters year-round, and leverage contextual giving.

Contextual giving is a donation given at the moment when the donor first feels inspired to give. For instance, let’s say a prospect attends an in-person fundraising event and feels inspired by the turnout and the mission. They see the text-to-give number plastered on event signage and decide to give a gift. If you didn’t offer text giving, they might have decided to wait until they got home to give, which decreases their chances of completing the giving process.

Nonprofit Marketing Best Practices to Follow

There are a lot of moving components in your nonprofit marketing strategy that you have to keep in mind, from crafting your messaging to picking the channels you use. To keep your team organized, let’s explore some general best practices that can help you hone your marketing efforts:

Follow these nonprofit marketing best practices, detailed below, to maximize your results.

Elevate Your Graphic Design

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

Considering that people retain 55% more information when paired with an image, effective visuals make your content more memorable to prospects, too.

Here are a few crucial areas where graphic design comes into play:

  • Your logo. Your nonprofit’s logo appears on everything from your fundraising letters to your business cards. Prospects should see it and immediately associate it with your organization.
  • Website design. The graphics you include on your website are just as important as your site’s layout. You’ll want to include everything from images of your beneficiaries and volunteers to artistic elements that emphasize the most important aspects of each page.
  • Merchandise. If you sell t-shirts, mugs, or any other fundraising products, make sure you feature effective designs on them. Visually-appealing graphics will make the buying experience much easier for prospects who come across your ads for them.
  • Printed materials. Effective graphic design is just as important for your printed collateral, such as your fundraising letters, flyers, and service brochures.

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

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

Create engaging nonprofit marketing postcards like Wildlife Rescue Group’s World Wildlife Day postcard with help from professional designers.

Well-designed materials like this will reel supporters in and drive more action, whether you want people to donate, volunteer, or get involved in some other way. Turning to a professional graphic designer allows you to focus on furthering your mission and trust that your marketing materials are resonating with supporters.

Segment Your Audience

People respond best to communications that are targeted to their needs, goals, and preferences. To effectively tailor your messaging to appeal to each supporter, ensure that you have accurate and updated contact information for all your supporters. People constantly change their phone numbers, get new email addresses, or move. In other words, their contact information can become quickly out of date.

Consider using appending services to fill in missing out outdated information. That way, you’ll never have to risk losing contact with your donors and volunteers.

Use Current Events

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

Remember to highlight all the work your organization aims to achieve so that potential donors feel inspired to get involved and contribute toward your impact.

Follow Up With Supporters

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

Some basic occasions for reaching out to a supporter include:

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

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

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

Wrapping Up

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

Whether you choose paid outlets like search ads or organic outlets like email, there’s a lot you can do to stand out. As you start crafting your strategies, check out these resources to keep learning:

Click through to learn how Getting Attention can amplify your nonprofit marketing results with the Google Ad Grant.

This article will cover membership marketing basics and provide tips for organizations to acquire and retain members.

10 Solid Nonprofit Membership Marketing Ideas to Drive Impact

In the fast-paced world of nonprofit membership programs, you need to create and sustain long-lasting relationships. You also need to maintain a positive brand reputation as an industry leader. That’s why membership marketing is essential—it paves the way to a thriving, sustainable membership base.

In this guide, we’ll explore the purpose of membership marketing, then provide the tools and tips you need to acquire, retain, and re-engage your members. Here’s what we’ll cover:

At Getting Attention, we specialize in helping organizations reach their marketing potential with the Google Ad Grant Program (which we’ll cover in more detail later). With our professional guidance, you can amplify your message and connect with more prospects in no time.

Click here to learn how Getting Attention can help you maximize your membership marketing efforts with the Google Ad Grant.

Why Membership Marketing Matters

Membership marketing describes the strategic marketing efforts that focus on acquiring, engaging, and retaining members within a nonprofit organization. Effective membership marketing can help your organization make these benefits a reality: 

This image explains the importance of membership marketing.

  • Stable revenue: Leads from membership marketing can help you build a solid financial foundation through recurring membership fees or subscriptions.
  • Increased engagement: Marketing communications boost your members’ engagement and can facilitate community-driven experiences like event participation.
  • Long-term support: Consistent marketing efforts can translate into meaningful retention rates that decrease membership turnover.
  • Collaboration: Marketing platforms allow productive networking, knowledge sharing, and collaboration that can strengthen member connections.
  • Advocacy and ambassadorship: Successful member marketing can transform members into advocates and ambassadors for your cause, expanding your reach and amplifying your impact.


A long-term member marketing strategy can help your organization tap into these advantages and many more. However, to achieve these benefits, you’ll need to create a plan that caters to your individual members’ needs. That means you’ll need to take a step back and understand the full picture of the member experience.

Membership Marketing Funnel: Understanding The Member Experience

What does the current journey look like for prospective members to become active and engaged supporters? These questions will help guide you to create an actionable membership marketing plan that prioritizes member experience above all else.

If you provide a positive and memorable experience, you’ll give your members every reason to take the next defined step and engage. You can use a membership funnel to visualize your member’s journey:

This image showcases the steps that prospective members take to become converted and engaged members.

  1. Capture: Prospective members are “captured” when they are introduced and become aware of your mission through email, word of mouth, your website, or another source that prompts them to consider learning more about your organization.
  2. Nurture: Follow-up emails, direct mail, or other methods prompt prospects to continue their research and build up experience with your organization.
  3. Convert: Various membership benefits, in addition to your regular marketing communications, convince prospects to become full-time members of your organization.
  4. Retain and Re-engage: Regular marketing efforts continually engage existing members with personalized member experiences such as members-only events, discounts, and workshops. Surveys and feedback opportunities are implemented to ensure your organization is exceeding membership expectations and re-engaging lapsed members.


Every organization should have set marketing efforts based on each of the above stages of the member journey. That way, your team will have a well-rounded strategy that enriches your member’s experience from start to finish.

Membership Marketing Tools

It’s one thing to know marketing can have transformative effects on your organization, it’s entirely another to know which tools to leverage to help you get there. That said, let’s explore the top tools you should keep handy in your member marketing toolkit:

  • CRM (customer relationship management software): A CRM system lets your nonprofit manage member data, track interactions, and personalize its messaging. The right CRM will help you segment your audience based on predetermined criteria such as demographics, interest, and engagement level.
  • Email: Email marketing tools let you create consistent, targeted email campaigns that inspire and engage your members. Several email marketing tools offer templates, automated email capabilities, and analytics to track your email open rates. Keep in mind that almost 70% of new members are captured via email, so choose a tool that boosts your results.
  • Social media: Social media management tools like Canva or HootSuite can help you create eye-catching social graphics and schedule your posts.
  • Analytics: Marketing tools like Google Analytics can give your organization a bird’s eye view of member engagement by analyzing website traffic and campaign performance.
  • Website: Your website acts as the home base for your marketing efforts. Therefore, it should include clear information about how a new member can join, relevant schedule information, and member testimonials to highlight the impact of your organization’s programs.

This last point bears emphasizing as your website is essential for other onsite content strategies including Google Ads. This means a clean, organized website should not only engage your current members but also attract new ones. With this in mind, let’s explore our top ten nonprofit membership marketing ideas.

Is your website set up for success? Download Getting Attention’s Website Checklist for tips

10 Solid Membership Marketing Ideas

Below are ten membership marketing ideas your organization can leverage. Let’s break down each according to member acquisition and member retention:

 This infographic pictures 10 membership marketing ideas that are all explained in depth below.

Membership Marketing Ideas for Member Acquisition

Member acquisition refers to the process of attracting and acquiring new members to your organization and is represented in the “capture”, “nurture”, and “convert” steps of the marketing funnel. Note that membership acquisition is notoriously tricky as 68% of organizations face challenges in growing their member base.

Try these ideas to help your organization get its feet off the ground and hit its acquisition goals:

1. Referral Programs

People trust people more than they trust organizations. For example, if a trusted friend told you that you need to check out a new restaurant, you’d be more likely to go than if the restaurant reached out to you personally.

That said, consider leveraging your existing member relationships by creating a referral program. You can do this by:

  1. Identifying your target member: Are you wanting to recruit more students or more experienced professionals? Determine your current member base gaps and select an ideal persona that would bridge them. Then target existing members who have connections with these leads.
  2. Determine member incentives to offer referees and referrers: You could offer a membership discount, free webinar, or free brand merchandise to incentivize existing members to refer and prospective members to join your organization.
  3. Set guidelines: It’s best to set a timeline to prompt more referrers to act with urgency. Additionally, you’ll want to attain qualified leads, so it might be best to set a benchmark for the amount of time referred members are required to stay at your organization to obtain the referral incentive.
  4. Advertise your program: Communicate your referral program guidelines on your website, social media, at events, and through emails to inspire more member applications.

Ideally, your referral program is a win-win-win situation for your referrer, referee, and organization as your referrer and referee enjoy the program’s incentives and your member acquisition rate keeps climbing!

2. Email Marketing Campaign

Send out a dedicated email marketing campaign to nurture your existing contacts and lead them one step closer to conversion. To nudge your prospective members using email marketing, follow these best practices:

This image describes the best practices for creating an effective email membership marketing campaign to incentivize prospective members.

 

  • Segment your email list: The average nonprofit email list size is 4,191 recipients. Narrow them down by engagement level and demographics to target prospective members.
  • Create compelling subject lines: 64% of recipients decide to open or delete emails based on subject lines. Stand out in your recipient’s inbox with lines that communicate your organization’s value in memorable and relevant ways.
  • Craft engaging content: Use a mix of visuals, storytelling, and distinct calls to action that lead your recipients to take the next defined step, whether that’s to join a prospective member Q&A or sign up for a yearly conference.
  • Personalize your emails: Include recipient names and personalized recommendations that recognize individual recipients and take note of their experience with your organization.
  • Maintain consistency and frequency: Make sure every email is scheduled at a rate that keeps recipients informed without overwhelming them.

Track your email open rates to discover your campaign’s effectiveness and make any adjustments as necessary. For example, you might find that emails with short YouTube video explainers perform better than simple images. Using that information, you might seek to edit more video content that inspires new members to join.

3. Website Content Marketing

82% of marketers actively use content marketing, so join them by utilizing your existing website to add relevant content that educates and fascinates users. For example, you might start a blog that provides organizational insights, information, or case studies that highlight how your organization actively furthers its mission.

Doing this will boost your credibility and differentiate you from similar organizations that might not offer the same valuable resources. For example, Double the Donation’s blog establishes itself as a thought leader within the nonprofit fundraising space with topics like donor retention, fundraising events, and matching gift solicitation.

4. Social Media Marketing

Aside from promoting your blog posts, social media can be a powerful tool to convince prospective members to convert as there are 4.80 billion social media users worldwide. The key is to regularly post engaging content to make your organization stand out, such as:

  • Testimonials: Share stories from existing members that highlight their unique experiences with your organization. With permission, post the member’s photo along with quotes or relevant video content.
  • Member spotlights: Highlight your most engaged members and what makes them irreplaceable to your organization. This will communicate to prospects that they would enter into a community that appreciates and recognizes their unique contributions.
  • User-generated content: Encourage your followers to create and share their own content such as videos, stories, or posts. You can incentivize them by creating contests and awarding the most creative submissions.

Remember to respond to comments and repost tagged content to engage with current and potential members. Doing this will establish credibility and show prospects that your organization is dedicated to providing an interactive and fruitful experience.

5. Corporate Partnerships

Another effective way to reach new supporters is through corporate partnerships. This method helps you expand your reach by teaming up with organizations that have the same target audience as you. In the past, these relationships took the form of sponsorships only.

However, they have evolved since then and now represent opportunities for your organizations to meaningfully collaborate beyond providing brand name promotion. Today, you can research opportunities such as volunteering or skills sharing.

6. Search Ads

Search ads target prospective members who are already interested in your organization. Specifically, the Google Ad Grant is aimed toward nonprofit organizations and can help your organization spread awareness and attract new members. The best part? This program has donated more than 1.8 million dollars worth of search ads to nonprofits.

Basically, the Google Ad Grant program for eligible nonprofits provides funds to spend on search ads in Google. Meaning your organization will show up at the top of the results when someone is looking for additional information relating to your nonprofit’s mission.

More specifically, you can use the Google Ad Grant program to:

  • Educate and inform your audience: If your organization focuses on increasing public awareness about a certain topic, you can use the Google Ad Grant program to launch educational campaigns.
  • Attract new donors or members: Donors and members will be able to find you when they search for your organization online in no time.
  • Promote events: You can use the Google Ad Grants program to let your audience know about upcoming events like conferences, workshops, or fundraisers.

Although the Google Ad Grant program offers serval advantages, ensuring eligibility and maintaining your account can take some time. That’s why many organizations partner with agency experts like Getting Attention to get the most out of their accounts.

Click this image to learn how to leverage the Google Ad Grant and enhance your membership marketing strategy.

Membership Marketing Ideas for Member Retention

It can be tempting to think that once you’ve converted a new member the marketing work is over. However, it’s much more cost-effective to place additional effort into member retention than only focusing on member acquisition. Members also tend to stick with organizations that make them feel valued for their individual contributions. To up your member retention rate, try these strategies:

7. Personalized Communication

Indicate to your members that they are not just another number with personalized communication efforts. Refer to your existing member data to guide your communication efforts according to your member’s membership type, demographics, and unique contributions.

For example, if your organization is focused on environmental conservation, you might invite local members to an environmental clean-up and educational seminar that’s conveniently located for them.

8. Tiered Membership Levels

Give new members flexibility with how they choose to engage with your organization by offering them tiered membership levels. This also provides an upselling opportunity for you to use when collecting dues from your member base. Here is what your tiers could look like:

  • Basic Membership: Offers a basic package that gives members access to your directory, newsletter access, virtual event invitations, and recognition as a supporter on your website.
  • Premium Membership: Offers all benefits of the Basic Membership and exclusive access to workshops, training sessions, and online resources.
  • Platinum Membership: Offers all benefits of the Premium Membership, one-on-one expert consultations, VIP access to in-person events, and the opportunity to serve on an advisory board.

By offering members these options, they can select to engage in a way that works best for their goals. Each level provides different perks which can also incentivize members to increase their level later down the road.

9. Exclusive Content

Exclusive content deals can prompt prospective members to sign-up or convince existing members to increase their membership level. Here are a few exclusive content examples:

This is an image of ideas for exclusive content that you can offer to enhance your existing membership marketing retention efforts.

  • Premium resources: Recent and compelling e-books, white papers, or other downloadable resources can offer expert advice.
  • Webinars and workshops: Exclusive workshops and webinars can facilitate networking opportunities amongst members, enabling them to build a flourishing community.
  • Early access and discounts: Provide members with early access to events and new products or offer discounted merchandise or services.
  • Member spotlight: Recognize individual member accomplishments through a “member of the month” spotlight that those who embody your values.

Member-exclusive content should offer unique benefits that can be found only in your organization. Plan your benefits ahead of time and advertise them to prospective, new, and experienced members.

10. Appreciation Events

Celebrate member milestones with dedicated appreciation events. Members who have achieved 5, 10, 15, or more years of membership, have dedicated a large number of volunteer hours, or have given a large number of donations should be recognized for their loyalty.

You can host a wide variety of appreciation events including:

  • Virtual happy hour
  • Brunch with your organization’s leaders
  • Annual member retreat
  • Special interest workshops or classes
  • Formal dinner

Define the standards members need to achieve ahead of time before finalizing your guest list. Creating events like this will show your members that you are dedicated to going above and beyond to exceed their expectations.

Conclusion + Additional Resources

Your ideal membership experience should directly inform your marketing efforts.

Use marketing tools like social media, search ads, and many other channels to activate a tailored marketing strategy for member acquisition and retention. Track and monitor each marketing strategy and note the ones that produce the most engagement for your outlined target audience.

We hope you enjoyed this guide to membership marketing! Check out these articles to keep learning:

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