13 Types of Fundraising Flyers to Market Your Organization

When your nonprofit develops a marketing plan, you’ll probably brainstorm some of the content you’ll create for several popular communication channels, including your website, email, social media, and direct mail. To make your nonprofit stand out, consider branching out from these typical marketing methods and adding a new—but also traditional—marketing channel: fundraising flyers.

Fundraising flyers have been around for years, whether they were attached to bulletin boards,  handed out at events, stacked in a bin by the front desk, sent in the mail, or delivered door-to-door. While paper flyers are still an effective way to draw attention to your cause, digital fundraising flyers open up even more opportunities for nonprofits.

Fundraising flyers come in all shapes, sizes, and content types. In this article, we’ll help you incorporate the types of fundraising flyers that will be most helpful to your organization into your marketing strategy by answering these questions:

• What information should be on a fundraising flyer?
• What are some fundraising flyer content ideas?
• What are some fundraising flyer format ideas?
• How do I get started with designing fundraising flyers?

Designing fundraising flyers can be highly rewarding for your organization, but it can also come with challenges. If you’d like help getting started or have any questions along the way, you can reach out to a graphic design service that will work with you on all your fundraising flyer needs.

What information should be on a fundraising flyer?

The exact information you include on a fundraising flyer will depend on your organization’s current goals and the delivery method you choose. For instance, you’ll prioritize different details on a mailer promoting an ongoing fundraising drive than you would on a downloadable digital flyer advertising a one-time event.

There are a few common pieces of information that should always be on fundraising flyers, including:

• Your organization’s name and logo. These foundational pieces of your nonprofit’s brand will allow supporters to identify that the flyer belongs to your organization immediately. In addition to increasing brand recognition, these elements make it stand out from any other flyers they may see.
• Consistent visual branding. Aside from your name and logo, you’ll want to use your nonprofit’s brand fonts and colors to cement the connection between your flyer and your organization. While you’re focusing on these elements, ensure that your flyer is legible—for example, use dark-colored text on a light background or light-colored text on a dark background.
• The title and purpose of your fundraiser. Supporters will only want to get involved if they know what they’re putting their time and money towards. Give your fundraiser a catchy name and explain its goals clearly on the flyer.
• How supporters can participate. If you’re hosting an event, put the date, time, and location on the flyer. If you’re promoting a different fundraising method, such as a product fundraiser or in-kind donation drive, include the different ways in which supporters can contribute (online, in-person, via text, etc.).
• Any benefits of participating. Supporters will have extra motivation to get involved in your fundraiser if they see on your flyer that they can enter a raffle, earn a prize, or enjoy a fun activity by participating. If you aren’t offering these incentives, place extra emphasis on the positive impact that supporters can make by contributing.
• A specific call to action. Include a link or QR code where interested supporters can go to give to or register for your fundraiser as soon as they see your flyer, accompanied by a noticeable call-to-action phrase like “Sign Up Today!” or “Click Here to Donate Now!”
• Contact information for your organization. Some supporters might have questions or want to learn more about your fundraiser before they commit to participating. To help them out, add a line of text to the bottom of your flyer that says, “For more information, contact us at…” followed by a phone number or email address.

Above all, your fundraising flyer should be helpful to supporters, so plan the content and style of your flyer with them in mind.

What are some fundraising flyer content ideas?

In some ways, the name “fundraising flyer” can be a bit misleading as it may sound like it applies only to flyers that promote traditional donation drives. In reality, you can use a fundraising flyer to promote whatever fits with your organization’s current goals, whether that’s non-standard fundraisers or even fundraising-adjacent initiatives.. These nine content ideas are great places to start.

1. Organizational overview flyer

If your nonprofit is relatively new, trying to reach an untapped group of potential supporters, or promoting your annual fund, you may want to create a flyer explaining the basics of who you are and how you make a difference. This way, you can connect new supporters to more resources after they get an overview of your mission and impact. While you may gain donors in the process, the main result will likely be increased awareness about your nonprofit that you can leverage for future support.

Elements to include

• A more prominent logo than on other types of flyers.
• Your organization’s mission statement and core values.
• Examples of major impacts you’ve made, supported with statistics and images.
• A link to the homepage of your website and/or a contact form.

Example: charity:water

2. Giving Tuesday fundraiser flyer

Your organization likely relies on receiving many donations on Giving Tuesday, but you’ll need to make your nonprofit stand out from all the others that will be vying for gifts. Sending out a fundraising flyer well in advance will allow your supporters to mark their calendars, know where to go to donate, and learn about any perks you may be offering in exchange for donating that day.

Elements to include

• The Giving Tuesday hashtag or logo in addition to your organization’s.
• Special initiatives happening that day, like one-time matching programs or raffle entries for each donation made.
• Photos illustrating the impact supporters’ donations can make.
• A link to your donation webpage (either your regular one or a special one set up for the day).

Example: YMCA

3. In-kind donation drive flyer

Fundraising flyers aren’t just for collecting monetary donations—they also work well for in-kind donation drives. Spread the word about your next food drive, clothing drive, school supply collection, or other need that can be fulfilled with gifts of physical items by designing a flyer.

Elements to include

• A list of items that need to be donated (and anything your organization can’t accept).
• Start and end dates for the drive.
• How donations will be collected—for example, indicate whether they’ll be picked up from supporters’ homes and workplaces or if they need to be brought directly to your organization.

Example: Community Food Bank

4. In-person event fundraiser flyer

Attract more attendees to your organization’s next event by distributing flyers far and wide. Because in-person events often require large upfront costs, attracting participants to come and make donations is key to an effective event fundraiser. A flyer is also a great way to put all the basic information that supporters need to know in one place.

Elements to include

• The title, date, time, and location of the event.
• A short description of what participants will do at the event.
• Some ways in which attending the event will make an impact.
• The names and logos of your event’s sponsors.

Example: American Red Cross

5. Virtual event fundraiser flyer

Using a flyer to advertise your organization’s virtual event has similar effects to advertising an in-person event. You’ll just need to include slightly different details and keep the design a more simple as you’ll probably distribute the flyer via digital channels only. The flyer should be easy to download and skim for supporters who may quickly scroll past it.

Elements to include

• A more concise, image-heavy description of the event, its impact, and its sponsors.
• Any relevant links and instructions for how to participate virtually.
• The date and time if applicable, or a note that participation is flexible.

Example: Coats’ Disease Foundation

6. Raffle fundraiser flyer

If supporters have a chance to get an appealing prize in exchange for donating, tell them about it by making a flyer for your raffle fundraiser. Distributing this type of flyer in print or on social media is especially effective since you’ll likely get entries from supporters who have never engaged with your nonprofit before but notice the raffle prize. Once they enter, you’ll be able to send them more information about your mission and encourage further involvement.

Elements to include:

• A small-print description of your nonprofit’s purpose at the bottom of the flyer so that you can feature the prizes more prominently.
• Specific details about and images related to the prizes.
• Where to buy raffle tickets and how much each ticket costs.
• The drawing and prize pickup dates.
• The name and logo of the organization(s) providing the prizes.

Example: PURRfect Partners

7. Product fundraiser flyer

If your organization is raising money by selling a product, give people everything they need to know via a flyer. Photos of branded merchandise, food, holiday decorations, or household items are eye-catching, encouraging participation by showing off the rewards that supporters will get when they donate.

Elements to include

• The products you’re selling, their prices, and any other significant details (like materials or allergen information).
• Start and end dates for the sale.
• A link to your online shop or other information on how to purchase items.

Example: Girl Scouts

8. Specific fundraising initiative flyer

Your nonprofit can spread awareness of new donation programs, major funding needs, or initiatives targeted at specific groups by highlighting them on fundraising flyers. Audience analysis will be especially helpful in this situation to ensure that you distribute your flyer in ways that your intended donors will notice.

Elements to include

• Your mission statement front and center, no matter how well recognized your organization is.
• Lots of details about the initiative’s purpose and rationale, supported by statistics.
• Multiple ways to give.

Example: United Way

 

9. Volunteer opportunity flyer

Your organization can use flyers not only to attract donors, but also to bring in volunteers. You’ll still help to fulfill important needs, and volunteers are likely to engage with your nonprofit again in the future—and eventually donate—once they’ve seen your impact firsthand. You could choose to make a large flyer explaining all the volunteer openings your nonprofit is trying to fill or several smaller flyers highlighting specific opportunities.

Elements to include

• A description of what volunteering opportunities entail, supported by images.
• Benefits both to your nonprofit and to volunteers.
• The date, time, and location of each opportunity.
• Several ways to sign up or contact your organization.

Example: Habitat for Humanity

What are some fundraising flyer format ideas?

In addition to the variety of content types that you can use for your fundraising flyers, you can design them in several different styles. Each format type is suited for different delivery methods, and although you could use any style of flyer with any content you wanted, some types below and in the previous list pair particularly well.

10. Classic poster-style flyer

When you think of a flyer, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a rectangular poster about the size of a piece of printer paper. These are probably the most versatile style of flyer—in digital form, they’ll be small files that download quickly from your website; and you can print many copies in-house to deliver door-to-door or post around your community with permission.

Best content types for this flyer style

• Raffles
• In-kind donation drives
• In-person and virtual events

Example: American Heart Association

11. Mailer-style flyer

When you start a direct mail marketing campaign, include a flyer with information and updates on your organization to illustrate the impact that donations will make. Alternatively, mail out flyers individually to spread awareness of your organization.

Best content types for this flyer style

• Giving Tuesday
• Specific initiatives

Example: BRAC

12. Uniquely shaped flyer

Anyone can make a rectangular flyer, and nearly all organizations will. To make yours stand out on a bulletin board or in the mail, try designing your flyer in a different shape. It could be the outline of your logo, a shape related to your mission (such as a paw print for an animal shelter or a stack of books for an education-focused nonprofit), or an important item to the fundraiser you’re advertising (like a running shoe for a 5K or a can of soup for a food drive).

The main drawbacks to uniquely shaped flyers are that they can be more time-consuming to produce in-house since your staff or volunteers will have to cut each one out individually, and a print shop may charge more for each one. But if you really want to make your flyer stand out, these extra costs will be worth the added benefit of grabbing supporters’ attention.

Best content types for this flyer style

• Anything that doesn’t require too much explanation as you may have less available space than on a rectangular flyer, but where you want to catch people’s attention.

13. Brochure-style flyer

For fundraisers where you need to go into extra detail in the marketing materials, creating a tri-fold brochure instead of a single-page flyer will maximize the available space on a standard piece of paper. These may take longer to download digitally than a poster-style flyer, but they’re just as easy to print many copies of so that each supporter can take one and refer back to it later. If you need help creating an effective three-column layout, reach out to an experienced designer.

Best content types for this flyer style

• Organizational overview: Include a variety of statistics and photos of your impact.
• Product fundraiser: Show all the items you have available for sale in detail.
• Volunteer opportunity: Give supporters several options for involvement.

Example: Make-a-Wish

How do I get started with designing fundraising flyers?

When you decide to make any content type or style of fundraising flyer for your nonprofit, you have two main options for creating the design. First, someone within your organization can make the flyer themselves. There are a number of nonprofit graphic design tools available to help you, each of which offers a range of templates and features so that you can choose the program that best fits your needs.

But if you run into challenges when trying to create a flyer in-house or want to take your design to the next level, you can partner with expert graphic designers. Kwala is a graphic design service that connects nonprofits with a team of experienced professionals. Their subscription model gives your organization an unlimited number of designs and revisions each month for a flat rate. If you want to try out Kwala’s services before committing to the monthly rate, you can also request a quote on a one-off project.

Wrapping up: Additional fundraising flyer resources

No matter what content or format type you choose, fundraising flyers are a great way to market your nonprofit. Spread awareness and spark engagement by creating a flyer for your organization today!

For more information, check out these resources:

• Nonprofit Marketing Ideas: Promote Your Cause Effectively. Are you trying to figure out how fundraising flyers will fit into your nonprofit’s overall marketing strategy? Take a look at these ideas.
• Creating Your Best Fundraising Flyer: 8 FAQs. Do you still have unanswered questions about designing fundraising flyers? This FAQ list will help you overcome challenges in the flyer creation process.
• Kwala: Quality Subscription-Based Graphic Design. Are you ready to partner with expert graphic designers to create fundraising flyers for your organization? Fill out Kwala’s onboarding form to get started.