This article explores the impact of CSR, frequently asked questions, and key benefits for businesses.

What’s the Impact of CSR? FAQ & Key Benefits for Businesses

/in , , /by

Corporate social responsibility (often referred to as CSR) is a practice followed by many companies where they work to improve society in some form as a part of corporate citizenship. CSR is often seen in terms of philanthropy, environmental leadership, ethical labor practices, and economic responsibility.

If you’re wondering what the impact of CSR is⁠—particularly for the businesses that enact these practices in the first place⁠—the advantages are expansive.

In this guide, we’ll dive into the benefits of corporate social responsibility⁠ and everything your company needs to know to maximize its effectiveness. We’ll explore the following topics:

Ready to get up to speed on socially responsible efforts and see what you can do to take your business to the next level? Let’s begin!

Click through to learn more about how matching gift auto-submission can boost the impact of CSR on your business.

FAQs about the Impact of CSR

Does your company have an existing CSR plan in place that you’d like to improve, or are you looking to dive into strategic corporate social responsibility for the first time? Either way, you’ll likely have some questions regarding the practice and its effectiveness. Let’s walk through five common questions and their answers.

What are the types of corporate social responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility is an overarching term used to describe a wide range of corporate efforts that are designed to make the world a better place. Most CSR initiatives will encompass these key values:

This graphic and the text below show the three main components of CSR for businesses.

  • Environmental: Historically, corporations have been responsible for the vast majority of global emissions and other causes of climate change. Now, many businesses are working to reverse the damage through environmentally friendly initiatives in the way they manage their operations.
  • Social: The “social” component of corporate social responsibility refers to a company’s impact on its community and the individuals within. Businesses following this practice should work to bring a positive net impact to people as a whole.
  • Economic: CSR also incorporates responsible economic business practices where companies give generously to their communities through nonprofit donations, fair wages, and more. The idea behind economic responsibility is that companies should bring economic benefit to all stakeholders⁠—including employees, customers, suppliers, and overall communities.

Some CSR efforts may incorporate elements from multiple categories. For example, a company financially contributing to an environmentally-focused nonprofit (whether through grants, matching gifts, etc.) can fall under both environmental and economic responsibilities. Matching gift programs often fall under multiple categories, boosting the impact of CSR on your business in each of these key areas.

How does a company become more socially responsible?

There are tons of practices that businesses of all shapes, sizes, and sectors can adopt to increase their level of corporate social responsibility. Here are a few things a company might do:

  • Offer competitive wages and benefits packages to employees.
  • Provide generous parental leave, tuition reimbursement, and retirement benefits.
  • Participate in workplace giving programs such as matching gifts and volunteer grants.
  • Support philanthropic causes in the form of monetary and in-kind donations.
  • Use recycled materials while producing goods that are also recyclable.
  • Reduce carbon emissions from business operations.
  • Keep up with and pay corporate taxes dutifully.

The tactics you choose to employ at your business can also play a role in the benefits you see overall. For example, prioritizing staff wages and employee benefits can have a significant effect on the company’s internal culture and team member engagement. While this will likely also result in improved consumer relations (i.e., shoppers like to buy from businesses they know treat employees well), the impact seen might be lesser as compared to the effect on the employees.

And the same is true the other way around! Producing ethical goods with sustainable practices can bring positive results to both consumers and employees, though consumer relations may see a larger, more tangible impact in terms of sales.

What is ESG and how does it compare to CSR?

ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance, and it’s a measure of the extent to which a business makes a positive impact on society beyond its own shareholders.

While ESG goes hand in hand with CSR, they’re not entirely synonymous⁠. CSR is a business model used to hold a company accountable for its actions to society, while ESG is a quantifiable measurement of a company’s social impact outcome.

How do employees participate in CSR?

Positive employee relations are a major benefit for companies that prioritize CSR. But did you know that the employees themselves can participate⁠ (and benefit⁠) as well? Employee-driven programs can even drive positive results for your workplace!

For example, employees who participate in a company’s matching gifts or volunteer grant programs benefit from knowing their own nonprofit donations or volunteer hours are making even more significant impacts on charitable causes that they care about. Plus, they know their employers are making an effort to support their favorite charities as well. Consequently, employees can feel more satisfied in their jobs.

Try the following ideas to drive participation in CSR at your company:

  • Promote new and existing CSR initiatives to employees, including specific instructions on how to get involved.
  • Highlight your company’s social impact efforts during conversations with candidates and new hires.
  • Gamify CSR with interactive elements such as badges, rewards, trophies, and more for top participants.
  • Encourage friendly competition among employees to see which teams or individuals are the most CSR-involved.
  • Set company-wide goals for participation, along with rewards or benefits for reaching those goals.
  • Empower employees to suggest new ideas and feedback for existing efforts in order to continually refine your CSR strategy.

Consider using CSR software to encourage employees to get involved in your philanthropic efforts and track their engagement. CSR software provides a centralized platform for employees to access information and opportunities related to your initiatives. Plus, it can facilitate collaboration among employees, fostering a sense of community and purpose around your CSR activities.

What CSR trends are businesses adopting?

As new social, environmental, and economic needs arise, the CSR movement will continue to evolve. Here are a few CSR trends you can expect to see in the near future!

  • Many companies are transitioning to more employee-driven CSR programs⁠—especially when it comes to philanthropy. In fact, our research reports that 39% of companies aim to expand their workplace giving initiatives in the next two years!
  • Companies are doing this by starting new matching gift programs, as well as expanding existing ones and making it easier for employees to participate by simplifying the matching gift request process. For example, this video explains how companies can use CSR platforms that integrate with Double the Donation to fully automate the submission process:

Additionally, more and more companies are taking a stand on social issues and other current events. A 2020 study reported that nearly 60% of consumers expect the brands they support to have a position on topics such as racial discrimination, social justice, climate change, income inequality, and more. About 50% of survey respondents even reported conducting online research to see how a business reacts to social issues before making a buying decision!

4 Top Benefits of CSR for Businesses

Corporate social responsibility tactics provide participating companies with powerful business benefits. Consumers, employees, and other essential shareholders will be more inclined to support your efforts, and you’ll see impactful results such as these!

This image and the text below explain the top benefits and impact of CSR on businesses.

1. Increased employee engagement

People want to work for companies that they feel good about contributing to. When an individual knows that their efforts at a business help drive social good, they’ll be motivated to produce elevated results in their roles. And for that reason, there’s a significant positive correlation between employee engagement and corporate giving.

Pride in the company, along with belief in senior leadership, are some of the most essential drivers of employee engagement levels⁠—and luckily, both components see benefits from social responsibility as well.

When employees are particularly engaged, the company will also see high levels of productivity, increased retention rates, and more.

2. New talent attracted to your team

Just like effective CSR efforts drive existing employees to want to do more in their roles at your company, the same efforts can also be used to attract new employees to the team.

As a result, many HR representatives are prioritizing corporate social responsibility in their recruiting efforts and within conversations with prospective candidates. Individuals looking to join a company that participates in CSR will be drawn to your business, and you’ll have a competitive advantage against other potential employers.

3. Improved company culture

Companies often see positive impacts of CSR on their internal company cultures, which, of course, helps drive increased levels of engagement and retention. For example, the following types of CSR initiatives can bring about a more positive business culture:

  • Matching gifts. By matching your employees’ donations to the causes they care about most, you’ll show them that you support their personal charitable interests and want to help them make a difference.
  • Group volunteer opportunities. Volunteer outings work well as team-building activities that boost morale and get staff members better acquainted with one another. Employees get to spend time with their colleagues in an informal setting while making a positive impact on their community.
  • Annual giving campaigns. Encourage employees to come together once a year to give to a good cause. You can even turn it into a competition between departments and give out a prize. This sense of friendly competition brings team members closer together.

Utilizing philanthropic initiatives as a way to build a positive company culture is a common practice for many businesses. But remember, the most successful efforts involve hands-on involvement by leadership as well. When employees see their managers and company leaders participating, they’ll be more inclined to do so themselves!

4. Unique marketing opportunities

Cause marketing (or cause-related marketing) is a form of CSR in which a business supports a charitable cause while receiving strategic marketing benefits from the relationship. These types of CSR campaigns often involve a company offering to give a certain amount of money to a nonprofit in response to increased sales results (for example, 10% of a company’s profits may be donated to charity, or a business may donate $1,000 for every 100 products sold).

When done well, cause marketing enables consumers to feel good about their purchases from socially responsible companies. As a result, the consumers are willing to pay a higher price, switch brand loyalties, or increase quantities of their purchases due to it benefiting a good cause.

For your business, not only will you have the opportunity to participate in charitable efforts, but you can also gain more customers and more dollars toward your bottom line.

Click this image to watch our free webinar about the benefits and impact of CSR on businesses, nonprofits, and donors.

Key Statistics That Demonstrate the Impact of CSR

The facts about the impact of CSR speak for themselves. Take a look at these facts and figures that demonstrate the effects of CSR on employees and consumers alike:

This image and the text below illustrate key statistics about the impact of CSR.

How CSR Impacts Businesses’ Employees

(Sources: Double the Donation and re: Charity)

71% of employees state that it’s very important to work at a company that partakes in philanthropy.

77% of employees reported a sense of purpose as part of the reason they selected their current employer.

55% of employees would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company.

Employees who participate in corporate giving have 75% longer tenures with their companies.

96% of employees who volunteer with their companies report having a positive company culture.

96% of employees want their employers to match the donations they make to nonprofits.

In one survey, 84% of respondents said they’re more likely to donate if their employer offers a match.

How CSR Impacts Businesses’ Consumers

(Sources: Harvard Business School)

72% of consumers believe companies should have a legal responsibility to society.

77% of consumers are motivated to purchase from companies committed to making the world a better place.

Over 90% of consumers worldwide are likely to switch to brands supporting a good cause.

More than 66% of consumers would pay more to buy from socially and environmentally responsible businesses.

Creating value for the customer, positively impacting society, and inspiring innovation and positive change are the three highest-ranking components of a company’s purpose.

88% of people want to know about a company’s CSR efforts when considering making a purchase.

5 Examples of Businesses Doing CSR Right

Looking to get started with CSR efforts but not sure how to begin? Get inspired by these popular companies that have exemplified what it looks like to be socially responsible and philanthropic.

Explore the impact of CSR on businesses like Gilead Sciences, whose logo is featured here.

Gilead Sciences

When it comes to philanthropic corporations, Gilead Sciences has led the pack for several years in a row. This biotechnology company contributes an average of $400 million each year to nonprofit causes, which comes out to nearly 3% of their pre-tax profits. Plus, they offer a matching gift program for current full-time employees, agreeing to match donations of up to $2,000 per year to most nonprofit organizations!

They’ve also published a number of lofty goals to further elevate their CSR by 2030⁠—including achieving net zero operational greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring 100% of their packaging is recyclable, eliminating all unnecessary plastics, and significantly increasing Black, Hispanic, and female representation in the company.

This is an image of the logo for Johnson & Johnson, a company that demonstrates the positive impact of CSR on businesses.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson has prioritized reducing their company’s impact on the planet over the last three decades by highlighting the importance of sustainable business practices. One key pillar of this effort was accomplished by harnessing wind power to significantly reduce pollution from their operations and ultimately offering up a renewable (and economically friendly) alternative to traditional electricity.

In addition to the company’s environmental efforts, Johnson & Johnson also donates generously to many nonprofit organizations, including schools, health and human services, civic and community organizations, and more. Much of this funding is contributed through workplace giving programs as well, matching team member donations at a 2:1 rate up to $20,000 per employee per year!

This image of the Google logo highlights the impact of CSR on the company’s reputation and success.

Google

Google is another example of a highly regarded business with multiple effective CSR efforts in place. As a result, the company has earned the Reputation Institute’s highest CSR score, due in part to its philanthropic initiatives, renewable energy projects, and environmental impact reduction.

Not only do their data centers use 50% less energy than other comparable institutions, but they’ve also committed more than $1 billion to develop environmental efforts in the future. Plus, they have a generous donation-matching program, offering up to a $10,000 gift match for full- and part-time employees. They even offer additional nonprofit grants through the Google Ad Grants program, which gives eligible organizations $10,000 in free monthly ad credits per month to promote their work.

This image of the Lyft logo emphasizes the impact of CSR on the company, discussed in the text below.

Lyft

One example of a business hosting a successful cause marketing campaign as a component of an overall CSR strategy is Lyft. Through their partnership with organizations like Bread of Life, United Way, and the National Council on Aging, Lyft offered free rides to essential workers and vulnerable populations through an initiative called LyftUp during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this model in place, Lyft has elevated its brand reputation as one that cares about the underserved in its communities, thus driving popularity and sales.

This image of the Ben & Jerry’s logo highlights the impact of CSR initiatives on the company’s success.

Ben & Jerry’s

Since 1988, Ben & Jerry’s has been known for being a particularly outspoken advocate for all sorts of social causes. The company has partnered with nonprofit organizations such as 1% for Peace, Farm Aid, Children’s Defense Fund, Rock the Vote, Alaska Wilderness League, MyClimate, NativeEnergy, and many more to provide aid for social, environmental, economic, and scientific causes.

They’ve also launched more than one ice cream flavor dedicated to their favorite social causes, which include “Save Our Swirled,” “Empower Mint,” “Justice ReMix’d,” and “Peace Pop.”

Final Note on the Impact of CSR

Corporate social responsibility is often framed as a win-win-win situation because companies, nonprofits, and the greater community all benefit greatly from its existence. As you consider how CSR impacts businesses like yours, think about all the good you can do for your employees, your business, and your community!

Want to learn more about the impact of CSR and philanthropy on businesses like yours? Check out these other guides:

Click this image to learn how to leverage matching gift auto-submission to boost the impact of CSR on your business.

Suggesting Matching Gifts: A Responsive Fundraising Approach

Suggesting Matching Gifts: A Responsive Fundraising Approach

/in /by

Did you know that an estimated $4-7 billion in unmatched funds goes unclaimed annually? What would it mean for your nonprofit if you could generate an extra 15% or 20% of revenue annually purely through matching gifts?

Suggesting matching gifts to your supporters can be an important step in cultivating a deeper relationship. It allows you to engage with your supporters and empower them to uncover untapped potential generosity for your organization.

But it’s not a matter of snapping your fingers and voila, matching gifts appear! In order to generate that increase in generosity, your supporters need to first be made aware of matching gifts. In order to do that, you need to educate your supporters about their company’s possible matching gift programs and suggest that they get involved.

In this helpful guide, we’ll dive into how Virtuous’ responsive fundraising framework enables your organization to build meaningful and personal relationships with your donors. Plus, increase their generosity to help you achieve mission-critical goals.

What is Responsive Fundraising?

Responsive fundraising puts the donor at the center of your fundraising strategy and enables you to grow giving through optimized donor journeys that respond to the unique needs of each individual. Through the four phases — listen, connect, suggest, and learn —the responsive approach enables nonprofits to build trust and loyalty through personalized engagement and provide the most value to their supporters.

Responsive fundraising framework overview

In a hyper-connected world, donors want to feel like members of a community. They want to understand their role in the impact your organization is making. Perhaps most important of all, they want to be thanked sincerely and personally for their contributions.

Responsive fundraisers look to create deep connections that serve donors in the right way. Let’s dig in more to each part of the Responsive Framework to understand it better.

  • Listen

In order to successfully build a relationship with your supporters you need to learn more about them. Listening is crucial for learning and understanding who your supporters are and why they want to engage with you. Listening to your supporters can happen directly through conversations or indirectly via social listening, website activity, and email tracking. The more you listen, the more you begin to understand your supporters!

  • Connect

Giving is deeply personal, and you should connect with your donors in a way that acknowledges and respects that. Regardless of the channel (website, email, mail, or phone) or medium (in-person or digitally) you want to connect with donors in a way that is one-to-one, contextual, and collaborative.

Responsive fundraising ensures you connect with the right supporter at the right time with the right message. With the responsive framework, nonprofits should personalize the experience every time they connect with every donor. When a supporter visits your website, attends an event, receives an email, or gets a phone call, they should feel like they are part of an ongoing conversation with your organization — enabling you to build lasting connections and increase trust.

  • Suggest

Below we will dig into the “Suggest” step on a much deeper level. However, at a birds-eye view, once you’ve established trust with your donors by listening and connecting in personal ways, you have an opportunity to suggest next steps that are the best fit for each individual.

Responsive fundraising acknowledges that everyone has unique value and something to give, instead of generic, unresponsive asks that push everyone to do or give the same thing.

  • Learn

Experienced fundraisers know that, while there are best practices and great ideas out there about fundraising, nothing is “one size fits all.” The only way to know for sure what works with your unique supporters is to test and experiment. The results you get will help inform what you do next and how you do it.

By continually learning as you go, your organization will become more and more responsive. Responsive fundraising is a continually improving cycle. When you take a responsive approach, you’ll adapt and experiment. With clear visibility into your data and a complete, holistic view of your supporters, you’ll be able to see what’s working and what isn’t, then adjust accordingly.

The Importance of Suggesting

Suggesting a next step to your supporters is important because this is where you get to prove how well you know them. If you suggest something that is aligned with your supporter’s interests and abilities, you are more likely to get a “yes” from them. If you suggest a misaligned next step, on the other hand, you put that relationship at risk.

The good news is that the responsive framework sets you up for suggesting the right thing. If you have truly listened and connected with your supporters, you should have some clarity around the suggestion step. Just make sure you are suggesting action items that are based on who your supporters are and what makes sense for them, rather than solely what your organization wants to see happen.

Why “Suggest” and Not “Ask”

It is worth noting the language of “suggest” as an intentional decision here, as “ask” is more commonly used in the fundraising community. However, we believe that the real power lies in suggesting something to your supporters, not in asking something of them.

“Ask” is a more passive way to approach requesting a donation. Because of the history of the “fundraising ask,” this word implies a financial contribution. It also implies that giving is a financial hardship, and it can feel quite transactional in nature. While financial contributions are important, using the language of “ask” can be limiting.

To open up the possibilities, responsive fundraising focuses instead on “suggesting” next steps to your supporters. It’s a two-way street where you suggest an action, but your supporters are more than welcome to respond with their own thoughts and opinions. It’s conversational in nature. And perhaps most importantly, suggesting includes a variety of impactful behaviors beyond financial giving.

Think of it this way: An “ask” would be telling a supporter what financial contribution you want from them. A “suggestion” would be connecting with your supporter and having a conversation where you provide ideas and inspiration for how they can be more involved with your organization in a targeted and personalized way.

Why Suggesting Matching Gifts Makes Sense

When you suggest a next step to a supporter, the goal is to make the right suggestion at the right time. Often, this means not asking for more financial support, especially if they just made a donation.

You want to suggest something that further deepens the relationship but is contextual and personal. It’s also important that you suggest a next step that provides value to your organization as well. If financial generosity is a top goal for your organization, suggesting a matching gift is the perfect way to meet both your organizational needs and remain relevant and contextualized in your suggestion to your supporter. 

A good suggestion should be strengthen your relationship with the supporter. Suggesting matching gifts in the right way naturally cultivates a deeper relationship with your supporters. In order to successfully initiate the matching gift process, you’ll need to educate and empower your donors. That process of education and empowerment will naturally bring your supporters closer to your organization. It’s not enough to just suggest the right thing; how you suggest matching gifts matters as well.

4 Ideas for Suggesting a Matching Gift

To effectively suggest a matching gift, your organization needs to start with education. Your team and your donors need to be aware that matching gifts exist and understand what they need to do to initiate the process.

Implementing a new method for suggesting matching gifts into your donation and cultivation strategy doesn’t have to be difficult. Below are four ways to suggest matching gifts to your donors.

Regardless of how you integrate matching gifts into your donation and cultivation processes, it’s important that you craft a strategy regarding the funding source! Ignoring matching gifts altogether is leaving money on the table. It also means you are missing out on an incredibly easy opportunity to take another step in building a long-lasting relationship with your donors.

Option 1: Suggesting Matching Gifts in the Donation Process

You can make suggesting matching gifts as easy as possible by adding it right on your giving forms. This can be accomplished by integrating your online donation tools with a matching gift solution like Double the Donation. This allows you to suggest a next step for your donors right as they wrap up their initial engagement with your organization!

You can design a giving experience that prompts donors to continue supporting and engaging with your nonprofit. Building suggestions into your process makes it easier for your team to manage while still providing clear next steps for your supporters.

When creating your online form, it is also important to consider what additional information you may need for matching gift campaigns in the future. Basic profile information such as e-mail is pretty straightforward, but you may also want to consider including a “Employer” field. When donors tell you who they work for, you have all the information you need for future communications and campaigns around matching gifts.

Option 2: Build the Suggestion Into Your Thank You Cadence

Similar to suggesting matching gifts directly on the giving form, building the suggestion into your thank you cadence helps make this an automated process. In order to implement this, first take stock of your existing thank you cadences. Every organization approaches this slightly differently, so here are some suggestions that you can build into your process wherever it makes sense.

  • Thank You Phone Calls

When calling donors to thank them, make sure you’re prepared to suggest a matching gift. When your nonprofit database contains helpful employer information, your staff can even prepare before the call by researching whether that employer matches employee donations. That level of personalization and thoughtfulness is truly impactful! With the Virtuous – Double the Donation integration, this step can easily be conducted within the CRM, saving your team valuable administrative time.

  • Thank You Emails

Add in a simple call to action in your thank you emails that prompts donors to look into whether their company has a matching gift. This can be standard language you include that links out to helpful resources (such as your dedicated matching gift page and embedded company database search tool) or suggests that they call your organization’s HR department directly for more information.

  • Thank You Texts 

Nowadays, an increasing number of organizations are reaching out to donors via SMS. Texts are unique because of their short and sweet nature. Though you’ll want most of the text to focus on thanking the donor for their contribution, consider incorporating a quick blurb with a link to to learn more about matching gifts.

Suggesting matching gifts with automated outreach through your CRM

Option 3: Email Your Donors Suggesting a Matching Gift

Another way to suggest matching gifts to your supporters is via a marketing campaign designed and delivered from your nonprofit CRM. This option allows you to conduct personalized outreach to your supporters that is based on donor signals.

For this campaign, the donor signal you want to look for is employer information (which you’ll want to have a dedicated field in your CRM to track). Remember, you’ll want to include this field on your online giving forms so that you can more easily gather the information. That way, if you know a supporter works for a company with a matching gift program, you’ll know to include that individual in your next matching gift email campaign.

To implement this campaign, consider sending an email to everyone who donated recently (e.g., last 30 to 60 days) and did not initiate a matching gift already. Alternatively, you might set this up as a re-engagement campaign, where you reach out to lapsed donors, encouraging them to donate again and look into matching gifts.

When suggesting matching gifts in any context, but particularly via an email campaign, offer to help your supporter in this process. Encourage donors to connect with a member of your staff to further the conversation. Include links that can help your supporters navigate matching gifts. Responsive fundraising is all about building meaningful connections with your supporters. Providing context and resources is a great way to make this suggestion meaningful and actionable.

Option 4: Suggesting Matching Gifts in Ongoing Cultivation Efforts

Anyone who is cultivating relationships with supporters should be prepared to have a conversation about matching gifts. The greatest obstacle to suggesting matching gifts is the education gap. Fundraisers and (some) donors understand that matching gifts exist, but they are not equipped enough to feel empowered to act on matching gifts.

Educating your supporters starts with educating your own internal team. Take advantage of the resources available. Partner with organizations like Double the Donation who provide both an integration with your online giving form and educational support for your team. Anyone who is talking to donors or prospects on a regular basis should be able to have an educated conversation if the opportunity for suggesting matching gifts arises in their cultivation efforts.

Pursuing matching gifts is a great suggestion when cultivating a relationship with someone who wants to give but is showing hesitancy about their financial ability to contribute more. If they are passionate about your mission but indicate they are not in a place to make a large donation, suggesting that they look into matching gifts is a great way to keep the conversation alive. They may not be able to donate a significant amount themselves, but if they can give a little and their company matches, they immediately double⁠—and sometimes even triple⁠—their impact. While we all know that any donation is better than none, the appeal of a matching gift may be enough to inspire a donor to action!

Other Suggestions to Make

Matching gifts are not the only engagement opportunities you can suggest to supporters. Depending on where they are in their donor journey, additional suggestions might include:

  • Sharing your organization on their social media profiles to spread awareness;
  • Inviting them to an event or a tour of your facilities;
  • Sharing upcoming volunteer opportunities;
  • Fundraising on behalf of your organization.

Make a list of all the ways a supporter can get involved with your organization, and use that as the basis for suggesting next steps to your supporters in the future.

Conclusion

Responsive fundraising is all about meeting your supporters where they are and building the relationship from there. Matching gifts are a great way to continue a conversation with your donors⁠—or even to inspire someone to donate in the first place.

Regardless of the suggestion you make, always personalize your donor outreach. When you listen and connect with your supporters, you will be fully equipped to make the next best suggestion that works for everyone – resulting in more generosity and better relationships!

Givinga and Double the Donation Partner to Enable Matching Gift Auto-Submission

/in /by

Double the Donation is proud to partner with Givinga to help employees of companies with matching gift programs more effectively submit their matching gift requests. 

“We believe there are innovative and impactful ways to expand corporate matching, and our partnership with Double the Donation gives us an opportunity to showcase our Easy Match capabilities,” said Joe Phoenix, Cofounder and CEO of Givinga. “Combining Double the Donation’s charity matching services with our corporate-giving-made-easy capabilities will allow our partners to reimagine corporate philanthropy by aligning with employees and customers to maximize impact.”

With matching gift auto-submission, donors who give to nonprofits using Double the Donation can not only discover their match eligibility in real time as they give, but can also immediately submit their matching gift request – no redirect required. 

“We’re excited to begin offering our nonprofit clients what they’ve been requesting since the birth of matching gifts: a way for donors to submit their matching gift requests with no hassle,” said Adam Weinger, President at Double the Donation. “Double the Donation and Givinga are aligned in our mission to close the matching gift loop to benefit nonprofits, donors, and companies alike.”

Givinga and Double the Donation look forward to expanding the possibilities for donors to give flexibly with the support of their employers, and for nonprofits to reap the benefits of matching gift programs as auto-submission continues its journey to full release. 

The Matching Process Made Easy for Donors, Companies, and Nonprofits

The new integration between Givinga and Double the Donation means after giving on an integrated donation page where Double the Donation is enabled, donors can immediately submit their matching gift request directly from the nonprofit’s donation confirmation page. 

Employees of Givinga clients can then enter their company email address, then choose how much of their available matching funds they can request to be sent to the nonprofit. Once the donor hits “Submit” – that’s it! The matching gift request has been submitted, without any need for a redirect or re-entry of donation information. 

Making Corporate Philanthropy Better, One Match at a Time

Givinga and Double the Donation’s partnership brings donors, companies, and nonprofits closer together in making a positive difference, one match at a time. If you want to learn more about our matching gift auto-submisison beta initiative, read more here–and if you’re just getting started with matching gifts as a nonprofit or higher education institution, request a demo from Double the Donation today!

About Givinga: Givinga is on a mission to redefine philanthropy. They’ve developed tools and technology to remove the traditional barriers to philanthropy, empowering companies to develop modern giving solutions that align with and enhance their corporate strategy. Givinga’s technology, Philantech®, supports workplace giving programs, brands seeking to enhance their charitable impact, startups reimagining B2C charitable giving, foundations looking to increase donor engagement, and more.

About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donation platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts.

Double the Donation and CharityStack Integrate 360MatchPro Into Donation Experience

/in /by

Double the Donation and CharityStack are proud to announce a new partnership together, providing advanced matching gift functionality to nonprofits looking to raise more without having to ask for more out of their donors’ wallets.

The partnership comes in the form of an integration between 360MatchPro, Double the Donation’s most advanced matching gift software, and CharityStack’s intuitive donation pages.

“Partnering with Double the Donation was an easy choice,” said Mubarrat Choudhury, Founder at CharityStack. “With our dynamic form designs and the 360MatchPro powered matching gift search, organizations can expect to see a solid rise in matching gift engagement from their donorbase.”

Donors on CharityStack pages can now interact with 360MatchPro’s auto-complete search tool to find their company’s matching gift programs and discover their own match potential. This closes the awareness gap for the 78% of donors who are unaware of their eligibility for a matching gift from their employers.

“It’s a simple fact that matching gift automation make a huge difference for fundraisers as they strive to meet their goals,” said Adam Weinger, President at Double the Donation. “And a direct integration between 360MatchPro and CharityStack means donors interact with matching gifts at a key point in their giving process. It’s a simple addition that boost revenue for organizations without any extra effort from their busy teams.”

Read more about the integration below!

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!

Getting started with the CharityStack and 360MatchPro integration is quick and easy to configure. From the CharityStack backend, nonprofit clients can add their 360MatchPro credentials to activate their integration. From here, it’s just a matter of toggling on matching for the desired forms. From there, donors can start discovering their match eligibility in no time!

Easily activate with CharityStack pages with your 360MatchPro API keys!

On CharityStack donation pages, donors can search their company name and 360MatchPro will present smart results from its database of over 25,000 corporations. 360MatchPro can then follow up with donors via email after their donation is complete to continue the matching gift submission process.

Donors can search their company name during the giving process on CharityStack donation pages.

Donors can then double, triple, and sometimes quadruple their gift impact with a matching gift from their employer sent directly to the nonprofit.

Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with 360MatchPro!

Joint efforts between CharityStack and Double the Donation mean nonprofits can easily raise more from matching gifts–check out some more details below!

  • Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: 360MatchPro enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities 360MatchPro discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
  • Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
  • Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let 360MatchPro automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that 360MatchPro can handle the rest.

Ready to start your matching gifts journey? Request a demo today and make sure to let us know you use CharityStack!

About CharityStack: CharityStack is a single platform to create your nonprofit, fundraise your first dollar, set up banking, & start making an impact. For more, visit CharityStack.org.


About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The 360MatchPro platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts.

 

Double the Donation and Classy Launch Matching Gift Functionality on Embedded Donation Forms

/in , /by

Double the Donation and Classy have come together to debut a recent development in their existing integration. This pair has now launched Double the Donation matching gift functionality on Classy’s embedded donation forms.

Classy’s preferred matching gift solution, Double the Donation, already works with Classy’s standard donation forms to identify match-eligible donors and drive their matching gift requests to completion. As Classy continues to develop more ways for nonprofits to create meaningful connections with supporters through a full suite of giving experiences, they recognize the importance of offering a robust matching gift solution on all of their available donation pages to drive giving opportunities forward.

“Our customers consistently share their success with Double the Donation, making it an important offering in the Classy fundraising suite,” said Thom Morris, Director of Product Marketing at Classy. “Classy’s embedded donation forms convert at 2x the industry average and we’re seeing our nonprofit customers grow their revenue as a result. With the addition of Double the Donation, we are excited to fuel matching gift funds through this integration to double the impact on the increase in donations from our embedded forms.”

This new product integration will offer similar functionality to the existing standard donation form counterpart, providing nonprofits with a seamless integration experience. This means that as donors navigate their donation flow, they will be able to drive matching gift donations regardless of which form they are using.

“Our organization, Double the Donation, already makes it simple for nonprofits to capitalize on matching gift funds and fuel fundraising success,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “With our new integration release, we are excited to extend this functionality to organizations using the embedded donation form solution.”

This integration can be seamlessly activated within the Classy platform, making it simple for nonprofit fundraisings to capitalize on the billions of dollars offered through matching gift programs each year.

360MatchPro - Activate in seconds and start raising more from matching gifts!

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!

Double the Donation integrates seamlessly with Classy to provide users with a simple, no-code setup process. Once a fundraiser gets signed on with both Classy donation forms and Double the Donation’s Double the Donation, they can connect the two services. 

By navigating to the Double the Donation app in the “Apps and Services” section of their Classy account, users can add the matching gift solution to their desired donation forms. 

360MatchPro integration populated on a Classy embedded giving form

Once the integration is activated, each solution works together to drive revenue opportunities for your organization. By finding matching gift opportunities and driving them to completion, Double the Donation and Classy make it simple to optimize the giving process.

drive more matching gifts to completion with Double the Donation

Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with Double the Donation!

Double the Donation and Classy offer valuable matching gift features to help your organization double donations for your mission.

With the power of this solution, your organization can:

  • Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: Double the Donation enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities Double the Donationdiscovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
  • Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
  • Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let Double the Donation automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that Double the Donation can handle the rest.

How Double the Donation tools drive value

Ready to get started? Schedule a personalized demo.

About Classy: Classy is a social enterprise that creates online fundraising software for nonprofits, modernizing the giving experience to accelerate social impact around the world. Based in San Diego, CA, Classy is trusted by organizations of all sizes, from the fastest-growing nonprofits like Team Rubicon and The Trevor Project to some of the world’s largest social organizations, such as The Salvation Army, Robin Hood Foundation, and Shriners Hospitals for Children. Classy also hosts the Collaborative conference, a two-day immersive experience that unites the most inventive minds in the social sector to uncover the ideas and strategies necessary to propel our industry forward and unlock the world’s generosity. For more information, visit www.classy.org or follow Classy on LinkedIn.

About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The Double the Donationplat form provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more, visit: https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/

This image shows the title of the post and an illustration of two people developing a marketing strategy.

Nonprofit Marketing: How to Spread Awareness & Win Support

/in , /by

Picture this: you’re scrolling through your social media feed. You see a video of your niece taking her first steps, posts about a good friend recovering from a hard-fought battle against cancer, and pictures from a family friend’s wedding.

Among those posts, you see a virtual event flyer for a local upcoming 5K that promises to donate its proceeds to support skin cancer research. After seeing posts about your friend’s situation, you’re intrigued. You visit the organization’s website to learn more and ultimately register to attend. That’s the power of effective nonprofit marketing!

A well-thought-out nonprofit marketing plan is a must. From fundraising to recruiting volunteers to selling your programs and services, a coordinated marketing plan is the only way to stand out from businesses and other nonprofits alike vying for consumers’ attention. 

If your nonprofit marketing strategy needs a refresh, you’ve come to the right place! This article will give you everything you need to build and maintain an effective marketing plan. Here’s what we’ll cover:

By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of how to develop an effective marketing program for your nonprofit. From crafting persuasive messages to monitoring performance analytics, we’re confident you’ll have everything you need to spread awareness for your cause.

Want $10,000 in free advertising funds? You can get it with the Google Ad Grant! Get help applying with our favorite Google Ad Grant agency. Connect with Getting Attention.

What Is Nonprofit Marketing?

Nonprofit marketing encompasses all activities and strategies designed to raise awareness and generate interest in a nonprofit organization’s mission and services. It involves communicating with potential donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders to increase donations, sales for services, engagement, and participation in the organization.

Nonprofit marketing typically involves using a combination of traditional outreach (e.g., print, radio, and TV) and digital marketing (e.g., email, social media, search engine optimization, and online advertising). Nonprofit organizations should also develop branding guidelines, a website, and other assets to craft professional outreach that resonates with supporters.

Why Nonprofits Need a Marketing Strategy

Nonprofits do incredibly important work, but they need the support of others to make their work possible. With a proper marketing strategy, your nonprofit can:

This image shows the benefits you can expect from nonprofit marketing, as outlined in the text below.

  • Raise awareness for your mission and services. Nonprofit marketing spreads the word about what your organization stands for and what it does to help its beneficiaries. People who could benefit from your programs will discover how to get the help they need, and individuals unaware of your cause will increase their knowledge and start their supporter journeys.
  • Promote products, services, and programs for sale. Some nonprofits aim to attract customers. For instance, museums sell memberships, publishers sell books, and training professionals sell courses. With your marketing strategy, you can target your core audience for sales and promote your offerings. 
  • Persuade those who feel connected to your work. Let’s say you run an animal shelter. Many people are passionate about rescuing animals, but why should they care about your organization specifically? Inspire those passionate about your work to get involved by emphasizing what makes your organization unique, showcasing the positive work you’ve already done, and discussing the urgency of your target issue through your nonprofit marketing.
  • Create meaningful, sustainable relationships. Personalizing your outreach allows you to learn more about your supporters’ specific interests and preferences. As a result, you’ll build long-term relationships with donors, volunteers, customers, and other stakeholders that can lead to reliable support for years to come.
  • Drive greater outcomes for your mission. The more people that know about your mission, the more support you can earn for your beneficiaries.
  • Raise funds for your work. Nonprofits are always looking for additional funding to put toward their missions. With nonprofit marketing, you can promote your products and services, share your work, and draw attention to ongoing campaigns that inspire people to give.
  • Share engagement opportunities. There are likely multiple ways people can get involved in your organization beyond donating. Encourage people to lend their support in non-monetary ways by sharing upcoming news about events and projects supporters can participate in.
  • Boost volunteerism. Volunteers are vital to helping your nonprofit run smoothly. By promoting volunteer opportunities and sharing volunteer registration information, your organization can expand its volunteer base.

Successful marketing for nonprofit organizations extends beyond getting your content in front of as many eyes as possible. It requires emotionally connecting with supporters through relationship-building and storytelling strategies, while also providing information about how they can help your cause.

Types of Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations

New marketing channels emerge constantly. As a nonprofit marketer, it’s up to you to determine which ones will be the most effective for your cause. We recommend using a multichannel technique. Doing so will allow you to reach a wider audience and engage supporters on multiple levels.

For example, you can use social media to reach a younger demographic while leveraging direct mail and email marketing to reach an older audience. Using multiple channels also allows you to track campaigns more effectively, showing you which channels generate the best return on investment (ROI).

However, marketing research has found that only 30% of marketers are highly confident in their ability to deliver a multichannel strategy. By developing a strong multichannel nonprofit marketing strategy, you’ll already be one giant leap ahead of 70% of marketers!

To get started, let’s dive into the most popular nonprofit marketing channels.

The most common nonprofit marketing channels, listed out below.

Search Ads

Nonprofits can leverage search advertising to increase their digital presence and attract more donations and volunteers. With this nonprofit marketing strategy, your nonprofit will pay to have your content appear at the top of search results pages for mission-critical keywords (like “donate to end homelessness” or “volunteer at a homeless shelter”) and create ads for your nonprofit that target those terms.

This nonprofit marketing example shows how organizations can target mission-critical keywords via Google Ads.

Organizations have a couple of options to tap into paid search advertising, but the top one is Google Ads.

This Google Ad Grant Impact Report explains that Google owns over 92% of the global search engine market. What’s more, Google Ads have an average ROI of $4.78, making it a cost-effective route for tight budgets.

With a thoughtful approach, search advertising can help to increase website traffic, improve your organization’s visibility, and drive donations and volunteer registrations. 

Best of all, you can tap into free search advertising through programs like the Google Ad Grant.

We recommend working with a Google Grants manager to make the most of Google’s program. As our suggested agency, Getting Attention will work with you to understand your nonprofit marketing goals and design Google ad campaigns that champion your cause.

Instead of learning the intricacies of keyword research, you can focus on the areas of nonprofit marketing you’re comfortable with while Getting Attention handles search results ads.

Sign up for Getting Attention’s newsletter to learn more about Google Ad Grants and other nonprofit marketing tools.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine ads are a strong way to drive traffic quickly, but reports show that top-ranking organic search results can actually have higher click-through rates than ads. Of course, claiming the top positions for your target keywords doesn’t happen by accident. To turn search engine results into a reliable channel for reaching new donors, customers, volunteers, and other supporters, you need a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

Search engines prioritize ranking high-value, user-friendly content that meets users’ needs, and SEO is the practice of making your content meet those standards. As such, SEO has a few main components:

  • Keyword strategy. What keywords are your potential supporters searching for that might lead them to your nonprofit? For example, a nonprofit book publisher looking to reach customers might target keywords like “[X city] bookstores,” “independent publishers,” or “books about X.” When choosing your keywords, there are several factors to consider, including search traffic, audience intent, competition, and relation to your cause. 

The factors nonprofits should consider when selecting keywords, including audience intent, traffic, and competition.

  • Content strategy. Once you have a list of keywords to target, it’s time to start creating unique content optimized for those keywords. Add the specific keywords strategically throughout the content, but prioritize being natural above all else. Search engines can spot websites that add needless keywords, a practice known as “keyword stuffing,” and punish organizations that do so. 

An example of keyword stuffing and how it leads to poor content.

  • Technical strategy. Search engines like Google want to recommend websites that work. As such, websites with fast loading times, functional links, and mobile adaptiveness tend to rank higher than those with technical errors. 

Any nonprofit can invest in SEO, but it’s most effective for nonprofits selling products and services. Few individuals use search engines to find new nonprofits to give to, because they need to build a relationship with a nonprofit over time before donating. In contrast, people ready to buy use search engines to find the products and services they’re ready to purchase.

Social Media Marketing for Nonprofits

With the right nonprofit marketing strategies, you can use social media to spread the message about your mission and goals, attract volunteers and donors, and build relationships with supporters. Here are a few ways to make the most of this channel:

  • Gather feedback. Social media can be used to ask questions, prompt conversations, and gather feedback from supporters to help shape your organization’s strategy and plans. MemberClicks’ event feedback survey guide notes that only 38% of people already use social media to collect feedback on their events. However, with convenient features like polls, collecting feedback has never been simpler.
  • Share success stories and updates. Social media is a great channel for demonstrating impact through testimonials and project updates. By sharing stories about helping those in need, nonprofits can increase engagement, build relationships, and inspire others to take action.
  • Interact with supporters. Social media makes two-way communication easier than ever. Respond to comments, shine the spotlight on dedicated followers, and join conversations related to your mission.

Incorporate these nonprofit marketing strategies to get more out of your social media campaigns. Spend time identifying key platforms, understanding each platform’s audience, and creating a content calendar for the best results.

Email Marketing

Email marketing can help increase donations, boost event attendance, earn sales, and build a larger support base. By sending out regular email newsletters, nonprofits can keep current supporters engaged and informed about important projects and events. 

To drive greater engagement through this channel, you might:

  • Segment your email list. Create groups for donors, customers, recurring supporters, volunteers, match-eligible donors, corporate sponsors, and so on. That way, you can personalize content and deliver tailored engagement opportunities to each segment.
  • Use creative subject lines that grab attention. Research has shown that creative subject lines are more likely to be opened, so brainstorm interesting and engaging subject lines for each email. Remember to keep your subject lines short, as emails with long subject lines are more likely to be overlooked.

Through email marketing, nonprofits can create compelling content that resonates with their target audiences and encourages them to take action.

Cause Marketing

Cause marketing is a unique type of marketing for nonprofit organizations that involves collaborating with for-profits. It often refers to social or charitable campaigns created by for-profit brands. As its popularity has grown, companies often use this strategy to show their commitment to social responsibility. The goal is to create awareness around a cause and synthesize a message that resonates with the company or influencer’s target audience.

Take the collaboration between the shoe company TOMS and charity: water for example. Together, they launched a cause marketing campaign in which TOMS released a limited-edition collection of charity: water eyewear to raise money for clean water. For every pair sold, TOMS contributed $10 to help bring water to households in Orissa, India.

In the past, TOMS also created two limited-edition shoes and donated $5 from the sale of each one to charity: water. These cause marketing campaigns successfully raised awareness and funds for both organizations, while also positioning TOMS as a socially responsible brand. Check out this video about the partnership that charity: water created:

 

As with any type of corporate partnership, we recommend partnering with people and companies whose values and mission align with your nonprofit. After all, they’ll be associated with your nonprofit and can influence your brand’s image.

Direct Mail Marketing for Nonprofits

Direct mail marketing for nonprofit organizations can help connect with audiences more personally than other channels. You can customize content to specific segments, especially those who may not be online or active on social media. While this channel isn’t as popular as it once was, many people still prefer the personal touch of physical outreach. 

Printing costs can add up, so consider how this channel plays into your overall nonprofit marketing strategy. For example, you might craft personalized membership renewal letters, postcards with a donation solicitation, brochures about a big capital campaign, or any other materials.

Depending on your exact materials, include some sort of call-to-action, such as your donation page URL, a QR code that leads to an event registration form, an ad for a new sale or promotion, a perforated donation slip, or your nonprofit’s contact information. This will go a long way in encouraging future interactions and building relationships.

Do you have poor deliverability rates for your nonprofit’s direct mail marketing? Conduct an address append to make sure you have the right addresses on file!

Radio Advertisements

Radio ads empower nonprofits to reach large audiences in a relatively short amount of time. Ads can be tailored to a specific region or demographic, and with the right messaging, they can be quite powerful in getting your cause’s message out to the public.

Radio ads can help drive donations, event registrations, volunteer sign-ups, and awareness of your nonprofit’s mission. Additionally, radio ads are often cost-effective, making them a great way to reach potential donors, volunteers, and supporters.

Best of all, your organization might qualify for free public service announcements on local radio stations. The Federal Communications Commission requires radio stations to allot a certain amount of radio time to nonprofits. There’s one caveat, though; your messages should be formatted as announcements rather than ads, meaning nonprofits looking to promote their products and services should look to other marketing channels.

Newspaper Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations

Ads and newspaper articles are a great way to connect with local audiences, especially if you have a particularly newsworthy cause. With the ability to include visuals and compelling copy, newspaper ads and news stories can be used to create awareness of a nonprofit.

Maybe you have a specific campaign or upcoming event that your community might be interested in participating in. That’d be a great opportunity to buy ad space or reach out to your local newspaper with a story proposal. It’s also a fantastic place to share your impact on the community. Include a call to action, encouraging readers to get involved and make a difference in their community.

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

Content marketing involves creating and distributing relevant, valuable content to attract, engage, and retain supporters. It’s also a reliable way to establish trust with your audience. Content can come in several forms, such as:

  • Blogging: This nonprofit marketing strategy is great for creating engaging articles about your cause, sharing relevant stories, promoting your products and services, and providing information about upcoming initiatives.
  • Videos: Visual content like videos can forge an emotional connection with your audience by demonstrating the impact of your cause.
  • Ebooks, webinars, and podcasts: This form of nonprofit marketing provides unique educational content that can help you share samples of your offerings and connect with and grow your audience.
  • Infographics and other interactive content: As a highly shareable form of content marketing for nonprofit organizations, infographics can provide in-depth information about your cause in a visually engaging way.

This image shows the different types of content marketing, as outlined in the text above.

This form of nonprofit marketing can help position your nonprofit as a reliable resource for news and information about your cause. Plus, it’s easy to distribute across different channels, including your website, social media, and email.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

There’s no better way to market your cause than by relying on those who feel passionate about it. Word-of-mouth marketing enables you to leverage the power of social proof.

If you’re new to this concept, social proof is the idea that people conform to the behaviors of others in order to feel accepted. So, when someone speaks positively about your organization, their friends and family are likely to trust their recommendations.

Semrush’s marketing statistics page estimates that 88% of people had the highest level of trust in a brand when a friend or family member recommended it.

For nonprofits with products and services for sale, word-of-mouth is based heavily on the quality of your offerings and customer service. If you offer a subscription service or a product customers are expected to buy multiple times, provide an easy way to contact you with questions. 

For other nonprofits, encourage your volunteers to share their experiences, reach out to their loved ones, and post on social media to spread awareness. Some nonprofits even develop referral programs to reward those who spread the word and help attract new supporters. Note that the success of this nonprofit marketing strategy depends on strong relationships with supporters.

Mobile Nonprofit Marketing

Leverage text outreach to make supporting your nonprofit incredibly convenient. Compared to other forms of marketing for nonprofit organizations, texts have an astoundingly high open rate. Some sources estimate that SMS open rates are as high as 98%.

Text messages are a great way to send out reminders, project updates, and calls to action. You might send out a volunteer registration form or an event registration page. With text-to-give tools, nonprofits can even use SMS text marketing to collect donations.

If you’re not already leveraging this form of nonprofit marketing, consider whether it’s a viable option for engaging your supporters and keeping them updated on your mission, goals, and product offerings. If you’re having trouble contacting supporters, you might want to double-check that you have the right phone numbers on file with a phone number append.

How to Create Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan

As a nonprofit marketer, you already know you’re working with limited resources. That’s why it’s vital to create a nonprofit marketing plan. Developing a solid nonprofit marketing plan requires thoughtful planning and research, as well as a thorough understanding of your organization’s objectives.

While each organization’s plan will vary, there are some common steps you can take to create yours.

This image shows the steps of a nonprofit marketing plan, as outlined in the text below.

Conduct a nonprofit marketing audit.

Evaluate your organization’s current marketing strategy and activities to identify areas for improvement. Assessing past performance helps you build off what works and what doesn’t, so you can avoid the same mistakes.

When conducting your nonprofit marketing audit, we recommend analyzing:

  • The platforms you used. Did they help you reach your target audience? Did certain ones yield better results and engagement than others?
  • The tools you leveraged. What marketing apps or software features did you use? Were they effective? Or do you need to invest in new marketing apps for nonprofits?
  • The progress you made toward goals. Were your goals too ambitious, or did you blow them out of the water?
  • The KPIs you chose. Did they accurately gauge success? If you could go back, which metrics would you monitor instead?

Essentially, you’re determining what worked well and what could be improved for future outreach during this stage.

As a helpful tip, determine if you can reuse any old marketing materials (like photography, written content, or videos) during this step. Even if you can tweak existing collateral, that’ll save your team time that can be spent on other areas of your mission.

Define your nonprofit marketing goals.

Actionable goals will ensure every team member is on the same page when crafting messages. For example, let’s look at a real-world case study of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (NLA). This nonprofit sells courses and hosts events focused on helping nonprofit professionals improve their skills. 

The NLA partnered with Nexus Marketing to set reasonable goals related to promoting its services and take these actions to achieve those objectives: 

  • Create blog content focused on nonprofit management and professional learning
  • Audit their website to increase user-friendliness and improve search engine rankings
  • Conduct keyword research and submit articles for publication to third-party sites to maximize search engine rankings
  • Participate in webinars aimed at nonprofit professionals to share their strategies and thought leadership directly with their target audience

As a result of these efforts, the NLA saw its click-through rate increase by over 100% in the span of six months, bringing in new sales leads and turning search engines into a revenue-generating channel.

When setting your own goals, we recommend using the SMART method to ensure your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. That means you’ll need to create a clear goal, attach metrics, and set a deadline. To ensure it’s within reach, your goal should be incrementally higher than past performance.

Determine your audiences.

Each nonprofit has a variety of audiences. Define each group you’re attempting to target, so you can create messages that resonate with each segment. For example, common nonprofit audiences include:

  • Donors
  • Customers
  • Volunteers
  • Advocates 
  • Beneficiaries
  • Business partners 

A quick way to organize your audiences is by using your constituent relationship management (CRM) software’s segmentation features. By separating your contacts with tags and lists, you can send the most inspiring outreach to the right groups.

Create a nonprofit brand guide.

Every piece of communication should strengthen brand awareness. The second someone sees outreach from your organization, they should immediately know it’s associated with your cause. Define elements like:

    • Your nonprofit’s voice and personality
    • What makes your nonprofit unique from similar organizations
    • Your official fonts and colors
    • Imagery standards

Knowing how to position your nonprofit makes it easier to create cohesive messages. In turn, your nonprofit will connect with supporters on a deeper level and gain their trust.

For a reliable framework, check out Getting Attention’s nonprofit marketing plan guide. You can explore common methods for reviewing past performance, setting benchmarks, and spreading brand awareness.

Nonprofit Marketing Strategies to Drive Results

Following the steps laid out above, you’ll establish a solid foundation for your outreach. Now, it’s time to tweak your nonprofit marketing plan with strategies that drive meaningful results for your cause.

Promote Matching Gifts.

Getting supporters involved with corporate giving opportunities like matching gifts is an easy way to generate support while tapping into another revenue stream at the same time. However, many corporate matching gifts go unclaimed, adding up to about $4-$7 billion in unclaimed funds each year.
To boost matching gift awareness, here are a few channels you can use:

  • Your website: Create content on your website about corporate giving. We suggest starting by embedding our employer search tool into your donation page, which inserts corporate giving into the donation process. Then, dive further into it by developing a ‘Ways to Give’ page and a dedicated matching gifts page.
    This image shows a matching gifts page.
  • Search ads: Use Google Ads to promote your website’s corporate giving content. You can target general terms related to supporting your nonprofit, helping to connect with individuals who might not know about matching gifts. Our guide to promoting matching gifts with Google Ads takes a deep dive into this nonprofit marketing strategy.

Using matching gift auto-submission, you can even cut out a few steps in the match request process. Donors can conveniently select that they’d like our tools to check their eligibility and submit a match request to their employer for them. Marketing matching gifts as a convenient way to give will go a long way in pushing your mission forward.

Check out Top Nonprofits’ Matching Gifts Research Report for some examples of how real nonprofits promote matching gifts, like the example above.

Learn more about matching gifts!

Work with an SEO agency.

SEO is a long-term strategy that requires several months of dedicated work to see results and continuous upkeep to maintain your search engine rankings. Outsourcing the bulk of the work can pay off so your nonprofit can focus on its mission and other marketing strategies while your SEO strategy gets off the ground.

If you’re a nonprofit with products, programs, or services for sale, it can be worthwhile to invest in your SEO strategy by working with a nonprofit marketing agency. When assessing potential agencies, we recommend looking for ones with:

  • A focus on ROI. SEO has several metrics to consider, such as traffic volume, click-through rates, and keyword ranking positions. However, at the end of the day, the primary metric that matters is conversions. Find an SEO agency that is ready to help you find your audience and create a solid plan for generating revenue. 
  • Connections in the mission-driven space. The more high-quality, relevant websites that link to yours, the higher your search engine rankings can be. An SEO agency with connections in your space can facilitate introductions and set up blog submission opportunities, getting your content out there and in front of your target audience, all while boosting your link portfolio. 
  • High-quality content creation and optimization. As seen with our keyword stuffing example, it’s easy to make keyword-optimized content that isn’t very good. However, actual users will bounce right off of this content. Partner with an SEO agency that’s committed to putting in the hard work of creating high-quality content that represents your nonprofit’s expertise and thought leadership. 

Our favorite SEO agency is Nexus Marketing, which ticks all of these boxes and more. With 10+ years cultivating SEO strategies for organizations in the nonprofit space, Nexus Marketing has repeatedly taken clients with limited to no search engine presence and put them on the map, boosting traffic and turning clicks into sales.

Turn search engine traffic into revenue with your SEO strategy. Connect with Nexus Marketing.

Make the Most of Google Ads.

As we explored earlier Google Ads are an incredible way to market your mission. However, their team understands that most nonprofits are limited on resources, which is why they offer free access to the platform to eligible organizations.

By applying for Google Grants, you’ll receive $10,000 to spend on the platform every month. Don’t let this free nonprofit marketing money go to waste, though! Here are a few ways to maximize your success:

  • Carefully research your keywords. You’ll need to choose keywords that will connect you with the right users. Keywords should relate to your mission and services and target a specific user intent, like donating or volunteering.
  • Leverage geotargeting. Search advertising platforms allow you to target specific geographic areas and demographic groups, allowing you to reach the right people with the right message. Use this feature to make the most of your Google Ad Grant.
  • Use strong headlines and effective copy to grab attention. Your ad’s headlines and copy will be displayed on the search results pages for keywords you bid on. Spend time crafting ones that capture people’s attention. To simplify A/B testing, Google offers Responsive Search Ads (RSAs). You’ll enter a variety of headlines and copy. Then, Google will automatically test different combinations to drive better results.

While incredibly beneficial, the Google Ads interface can take some time to master. Keyword research might be challenging if you’re unfamiliar with Google Keyword Planner, and adhering to compliance regulations can be a bit tricky. That’s why we recommend working with the Google Grants experts at Getting Attention. They’ll help you apply for the program, set up your account, and create ads that take your nonprofit marketing to the next level!

Show Off Your Supporters

While you’re busy communicating what your nonprofit does and the reason why it works toward that mission, don’t forget to include the how! Your donors are at the core of what your nonprofit can accomplish, and you must make their contributions known in your marketing materials.

Highlighting your donors shows them the direct connection between their contributions and tangible impact. When they know the importance of their donations, they’ll be compelled to give again. Plus, this will urge others to get involved when they see the potential impact of their participation as well as the lengths your nonprofit will go to recognize its donors.

Make your donors the face of your marketing campaign by:

  • Sharing donor testimonials: Interview your donors and ask about their experiences with your nonprofit. With their permission, you can share information about supporting your nonprofit from the supporter’s perspective! Ask them questions
  • about why their involvement is so fulfilling and what they love about your organization.
  • Providing the numbers: Share the impact of what your donors’ contributions can accomplish by sharing statistics and numbers associated with your work. For example, how many dollars were raised by a fundraising campaign, and how was that money spent? Organize this data in visually appealing infographics and include your nonprofit’s branding. Then, share the information on all your marketing channels.
  • Illustrating the work: Sometimes, seeing the nonprofit community at work speaks more volumes than just describing the impact donors make. Use photos and videos of fundraising events, volunteer activities, and other ways your donors give to truly capture the heart of your nonprofit’s supporters.

As you turn the spotlight on your supporters, be sure to make your appreciation efforts meaningful and genuine. After all, you don’t want them to feel used as a marketing ploy! Make sure your public recognition supplements your other, personal signs of gratitude, and don’t share any donor information without their permission.

Final Thoughts

Nonprofit marketing is essential for driving donations, earning sales, and growing awareness for your cause. Through targeted outreach, nonprofits like yours can engage potential donors, volunteers, customers, and other supporters to build relationships that will then help to further worthwhile missions.

By practicing effective marketing strategies, you’ll naturally boost visibility for your work and foster a sense of community around your cause, inspiring others to participate in your events and purchase your offerings. Monitor your results every step of the way, so you can make adjustments and generate greater results for your brand awareness.

The best nonprofit marketers never stop learning! As you start to build out your nonprofit marketing plan, explore these additional resources:

Get a consultation with Getting Attention for help with Google Ad Grant management.

Top Matching Gift Practices | Actionable Insights & Examples

Matching Gift Best Practices | Actionable Insights & Examples

/in , , /by

Nonprofits, schools, and other fundraising groups are always on the lookout for new and improved ways to fund their missions. Corporate matching gifts offer an excellent fundraising lift, but many organizations have an underdeveloped strategy for pursuing this funding source. That’s why we recommend taking a look at matching gift practices from nonprofits that are already seeing high levels of success.

Recent findings have analyzed the highest revenue-generating peer-to-peer-based fundraisers and compiled a number of top strategies followed by each. Based on the report, we’ve created our own list of matching gift best practices that we suggest nonprofits employ:

  1. Understand the importance of matching gifts in overall fundraising.
  2. Appoint a dedicated Matching Gift Specialist.
  3. Establish a plan to drive matching gift participation in fundraising efforts.
  4. Create a detailed and easily accessible matching gift page.
  5. Incorporate matching gifts within the donation form.
  6. Provide company-specific program details on the confirmation screen.
  7. Send personalized matching gift emails post-transaction.
  8. Strive for ease and accessibility.
  9. Keep a record of individuals’ matching gift statuses.
  10. Thank donors for their matching gift participation.
  11. Cultivate relationships with donors’ employing companies.
  12. Leverage innovative matching gift software.

Over the course of this guide, we’ll provide actionable insights and real-world examples of fundraisers having successfully implemented these practices. In the end, we hope that these exemplary organizations and practices will inspire you to take your matching gift program to the next level.

1. Understand the importance of matching gifts in overall fundraising.

The first step in optimizing your matching gift fundraising plan has to do with understanding its value. After all, when you (and your team) know why you’re doing what you’re doing to pursue matching gift opportunities, you’ll tend to be more motivated to see results.

So here’s why. The benefits of matching gifts for nonprofits are generally threefold ⁠—

  • Increased corporate philanthropy funding. One of the most apparent advantages of matching gift programs is the corporate match donations that an organization receives. Think of it like the “free” part of a “buy one, get one free” promotion. When donors participate, they funnel additional corporate revenue from their employing companies to your organization. And doing so produces substantial results!
  • Increased individual giving revenue. Not only do matching gift programs increase nonprofit fundraising by making more corporate funds available, but they also elevate individual giving in a few key ways. In fact, Double the Donation research reports that over 84% of survey participants are more likely to donate, and 1 in 3 donors would contribute a larger amount if matching is applied to their donation.
  • Increased donor engagement. Nonprofits that employed strategic matching gift follow-ups saw up to 6x more post-donation engagement opportunities. Each outreach message is another chance to keep your cause at the top of donors’ minds for longer. This encourages supporters to get further involved with (and make a larger impact on) your organization without reaching back into their own wallets.

All in all, fundraising research demonstrates a positive correlation between matching gift practices and overall fundraising success.

Check out this graph from the Top Nonprofits report that illustrates the finding, with each point representing a top P2P event according to its total revenue and matching gift score:

Chart detailing the correlation between matching gift practices and overall fundraising revenue

This shows us that the more developed an organization’s matching strategy, the higher fundraising revenue they can expect. And at the same time, the higher the fundraising revenue an organization sees, the more developed its matching gift strategy likely is.

In other words, exploring matching gift practices like the ones outlined below typically produces multi-faceted fundraising success.

2. Appoint a dedicated Matching Gift Specialist.

In the ideal situation, everyone on your organization’s team will be well-versed in matching gift programs. However, by appointing an expert to lead your team, you’ll have the time and resources to implement matching gifts into your overall fundraising strategy.

Your nonprofit will be more prepared after hiring a matching gift specialist than it would be having your whole staff know just a few basic facts about matching gifts. The coordinator is the expert, but the rest of your employees should know enough to field the questions that they can and pass along the rest as needed.

The specialist is the designated point person for all matching gift queries and problems and the staff member in charge of ensuring the donations are received.

Your coordinator will be able to keep your various departments in the loop about what’s going on and need-to-know information. All staff members should be promoting matching gifts when relevant, but the matching gift coordinator is the coach leading your team to victory.

If the matching gift specialist position is new territory for your organization, why not consider hiring an executive search firm? Consultants can help you craft the perfect job description and lead you through the entire hiring process, ensuring that everything runs smoothly!

3. Establish a plan to drive matching gift participation in fundraising efforts.

Once you understand the value of matching gifts⁠, it’s time to begin developing (and/or finetuning) your plan to maximize the funding source. Why?

Another key finding from the Top Nonprofits report saw that 100% of the P2P Top 30 fundraisers have some sort of dedicated matching gift strategy in place. While the extent of their efforts varies from one organization or event to the next, the fact that every nonprofit that made the list incorporated matching gifts in their fundraising plan in one way or another remains significant.

Follow these leading organizations’ examples and be sure that your team takes the time and effort to establish a well-thought-out plan regarding corporate matching. For the best results, we recommend training your team in the basics of matching gifts and incorporating the rest of these impactful matching gift practices pursued by the top fundraising organizations in your overall strategy.

Double donations with our matching gift marketing guide

4. Create a detailed and easily accessible matching gift page.

As a nonprofit fundraiser, you likely understand that your organization’s website is one of your most valuable assets for marketing, donor engagement, and more. It makes sense that you’d want to use that resource to promote matching gifts to your audience⁠.

Hosting a dedicated matching gift web page is one of the best ways to do so⁠—and 93.3% of the P2P Top 30 agree!

Let’s take a look at an inspirational example from one of the Top 30 fundraisers included in the study⁠.

Example matching gift page from Covenant House

Here’s what this organization did well in its matching gift web page:

  • Shared a brief explanation of matching gift programs and their value for donors and nonprofits;
  • Embedded an auto-completing matching gift database search tool, providing access to tens of thousands of companies’ matching gift program guidelines with a few clicks;
  • Overviewed the process involved for donors to get their gifts matched on behalf of the organization;
  • Provided contact information often required in donors’ submission forms, ensuring everything they need is all in one, readily available hub;
  • Ensured the page was easily accessible from the website’s main “Get Involved” tab.

The organization even provided an additional tab on its workplace giving page that targets potential corporate sponsors, highlighting details such as the number of companies involved, matching donations made, and total revenue raised through such programs.

5. Incorporate matching gifts within the donation form.

We’ve long stated that including matching gifts directly within the donation experience itself is one of the best ways to get the ball rolling for donors. And if the fundraisers whose practices were analyzed during the research report are any indication, many top nonprofits agree.

For one, a donation page provides an excellent opportunity to collect much-needed employment information from donors. Once you have this data, your team can then trigger targeted communications to drive more matches to completion.

Plus, simply mentioning matching gift opportunities within your online form allows your donors to begin familiarizing themselves with the idea of the programs as early as possible.

Here’s one organization that made the most of its online giving page to promote matching gifts.

Example matching gift donation page from the Walk to End Alzheimer's

Here’s what this organization did well on its donation page, specifically in regard to matching gifts:

  • Established a dedicated section within the form, clearly labeled “Matching Gifts,” to grab supporters’ attention as they give;
  • Provided a brief overview of matching gift programs and how to use the embedded search tool to locate company information;
  • Shared next steps in the matching gift process, ensuring donors can expect additional information pertaining to their gifts and matches on the confirmation page.

By implementing these matching gift practices and more, the nonprofit was able to see standout match success through key peer-to-peer programs and additional fundraising efforts. Not to mention similar donation form tactics were also employed by many other high-ranking organizations included in the matching gift report.

6. Provide company-specific program details on the confirmation screen.

The next recommended practice has to do with the step directly after an individual completes an online donation form. In nearly all cases, the user then automatically reroutes to a gift confirmation screen. This page acknowledges that the donation was submitted, thanks the supporter for their contribution, and provides additional opportunities for involvement.

And throughout the matching gift research report, we saw that the vast majority of top nonprofits (~83.3%) also use this valuable piece of real estate to further promote matching gift participation.

Let’s take a look at one example of this practice.

Matching gift best practices on the confirmation page

Here’s what this organization did well on its confirmation page, specifically regarding matching gifts:

  • Provided detailed information about an individual’s contribution, enabling them to easily compare against their company’s established matching gift eligibility criteria;
  • Embedded an auto-populating matching gift widget, complete with specific program information for the company they selected on the previous page;
  • Inspired immediate action with links straight to company guidelines and online submission forms.

Offering a simpler matching gift experience following an initial donation increases the likelihood of donor participation. That said, fundraisers like this team aim to streamline the process while making the most of still-high levels of supporter engagement. And when done so effectively, many donors choose to initiate their matches right from the confirmation screen.

7. Send personalized matching gift emails post-transaction.

For donors who ultimately don’t choose to get their gifts matched directly from the confirmation screen, we know that sending follow-up emails can be the next best step. That’s why 86.6% of the P2P Top 30 are pursuing matching gift opportunities with post-transaction messaging.

Let’s take a look at one leading organization’s post-donation communications⁠—and how they highlight matching gifts.

First, here’s the donation receipt an individual receives in the minutes after submitting their gift:

Example matching gift follow-up email from LLS

And this is what the follow-up matching gift email looks like:

Example matching gift follow-up email from LLS

Here’s what this organization did well in its post-donation matching gift communications:

  • Thanked donors for their initial support, acknowledging their gift impact and the opportunity for amplified results from corporate matching;
  • Leveraged customizable messaging, using the nonprofit’s own consistent branding (fonts, images, colors) and email domain;
  • Included matching gift information in both the gift confirmation email/donation receipt;
  • Sent messages in a timely manner, with the donation receipt and initial matching email coming in within the first hour after the gift being made;
  • Let donors know within the gift receipt that they will receive additional email correspondence with next steps for matching gifts;
  • Referenced personalized details, such as the donor’s name, acknowledgment of a recent gift, and the company they work for;
  • Shared company-specific matching gift eligibility criteria, including minimum and maximum donation amounts, match ratios, request deadlines, and more;
  • Provided direct links to the online submission portal for the donor’s employer, empowering them to initiate a match with ease.

The matching gift email also encourages supporters to follow up with the organization for a quick matching gift status update after submitting their request. This enables the nonprofit’s development team to better track and forecast incoming match revenue.

8. Strive for ease and accessibility.

For a donor, securing a matching gift is an easy process that has the misfortune of sounding complicated. To remedy this, brand it better by simplifying the process.

Clear and concise language with straightforward directions will encourage your donors to seek out matching gifts. Donors who have already been generous enough to donate should not have to follow up with a lot of paperwork.

To better explain matching gifts, you can:

  1. List the typical steps involved in the process on your matching gifts explainer page.
  2. Insert a matching gift widget that can help the donor search for their company’s program.
  3. Mail out informational materials about corporate philanthropy.
  4. Highlight key matching gift statistics in your educational resources.
  5. Point out a few of the companies that commonly match gifts for your nonprofit.

Ensure that your nonprofit is a one-stop shop for all things matching gifts! That way, donors won’t have to seek out this information themselves. Get ahead of the game and give your supporters all the information they need to fully understand their opportunities.

9. Keep a record of individuals’ matching gift statuses.

Maintaining ongoing records of donors’ matching gift statuses falls under the matching gift coordinator’s jurisdiction. Essentially, you’ll want to know what requests have been made, when they are processed, and when they have been fulfilled.

Keeping accurate records will guarantee that no revenue opportunities slip through the cracks. There can be a lot of moving parts in the process among the donor, donor’s employer, and the nonprofit, and there will be some level of back-and-forth. A clear trail of what has happened and what needs to happen will make interactions a lot easier and a lot more efficient.

Regardless of what you choose, the more standardized and systematic the process you use is, the better the results will be. And the right software can help, too⁠—complete with trackable email buttons and all!

Matching gift best practices on the follow-up email.

10. Thank donors for their matching gift participation.

Donors involved with matching gifts have gone the extra mile for your cause, so your appreciation should match that level of energy.

Just like matching gifts have doubled your donations, matching gift thank yous should be doubled as well. Thank them once for the initial donation and a second time when the matched gift goes through.

In fact, you may even want to put together a special event to honor matching gift donors. The goal is to show genuine gratitude towards what they’ve done to help, and something like a special event will also promote the program to those who are unaware of it.

If you don’t have the resources for an entire event, try publicly thanking those involved on social media. This is a great place to promote matching gifts and is also a top outlet for acknowledgment. For instance, a strategic Facebook post can kill two birds with one stone by thanking a matching gift donor while getting the idea of matching gifts into the heads of your Facebook community.

Nonetheless, you’ll need to find an appropriate way to demonstrate your gratitude and ensure that the donors feel appreciated. Whether it’s through a full-blown appreciation event or thank-you letters, let your donors know their contributions are vital to your mission.

11. Cultivate relationships with donors’ employing companies.

You should also consider thanking your donors’ companies as well. The donor has brought the company to you, so go ahead and cover all your bases. That’s why it’s so important to collect employment data!

After all, matching gifts can provide a much-desired introduction to major corporations with top-notch corporate giving.

When an employee asks their company to match their gift, by nature of the process, the company will be exposed to your nonprofit. If you want to foster a new relationship, your nonprofit is going to have to impress the company. In some cases, you’ll even develop long-term partnerships with them.

By having all of your matching gifts ducks in a row, your staff can focus on building those corporate relationships instead of troubleshooting submission issues.

Plus, whenever you need an extra helping hand at one of your events, these companies will likely be more than happy to help out through their corporate volunteer program since you’ll already be on their radar.

12. Leverage innovative matching gift software.

While it’s technically possible to develop a matching gift strategy without the aid of dedicated technology to power your efforts, doing so is likely to require substantial investments of time, effort, and resources. On the other hand, matching gift software can go a long way toward streamlining and automating the process.

As you consider the possibilities, it’s worth noting that, of the organizations’ practices analyzed in the Top Nonprofits report, those that use matching gift software saw average matching gift scores more than twice as high as those that did not appear to use matching gift software.

Still, choosing the right software provider is essential, as well. The study reports that 73.3% of the P2P Top 30 fundraisers⁠—and ⁠90% of the 10 highest-earning events—leveraged Double the Donation’s match software.

Pie chart examining matching gift software providers used by the P2P Top 30

Not to mention, employing a best-in-class technology solution like Double the Donation can also help your team incorporate the above best practices into your matching gift strategy⁠—from hosting a dedicated matching gift page (complete with an embedded company search tool) to highlighting matching gifts throughout the giving experience and beyond.

If you’re interested in exploring Double the Donation’s automation platform, you can request a demo here to get started.

Plus, keep in mind that your more general fundraising technology can play a significant role here, as well. For example, Top Nonprofits indicates that organizations using tools without sufficient matching gift integration and customization options saw significantly lower matching gift scores overall⁠⁠—compared to fundraisers whose giving tools integrated seamlessly with a matching gift solution.

That said, we recommend taking a look at Double the Donation’s wide array of technology partners if you’re in the market for a new fundraising platform that will work well with an elevated matching gift strategy.

Wrapping Up

Whether your team is just getting started with matching gifts or you’re looking to optimize an existing strategy, taking a look at tips and tricks followed by organizations with impactful matching gift efforts can go a long way.

Integrating the above matching gift practices in your nonprofit’s fundraising has the potential to bring your overall giving to previously unimaginable heights. And now’s the best time to get started!

Keep up the learning—explore additional resources from Double the Donation and other matching gift industry experts below:

Corporate Matching Gift Fundraising Examples-of Effective-Strategies and Successes


Bring matching gift success to your own organization with Double the Donation's matching gift practices, tips, and tools.

Image with text that says "Double the Donation Releases Enhanced Blackbaud CRM Matching Gift Integration Using New Blackbaud SKY API" with the Blackbaud and Double the Donation logos and a handshake graphic

Double the Donation Releases Enhanced Blackbaud CRM™ Matching Gift Integration Using New Blackbaud SKY API®

/in /by

Double the Donation is excited to debut an enhanced Blackbaud CRM™ integration with Blackbaud’s new SKY API® technology. As a Premier ISV Partner in the Blackbaud ecosystem and a SKY API early adopter, Double the Donation is thrilled to release this updated iteration to the Blackbaud CRM integration.

This innovative solution will further streamline the matching gift process and help organizations continue to take advantage of the billions of dollars in unclaimed matching gift revenue.

“Blackbaud is constantly looking for ways to innovate and propel our technology forward, and the Double the Donation and Blackbaud CRM integration using our new SKY API technology does just that,” said Bill Walsh, Director of Innovation Blackbaud. “With this enhancement, organizations can utilize the leading matching gift solution and raise more from matching gifts without sacrificing staff time or effort.”

This enhanced matching gift technology makes it even simpler for Blackbaud CRM users to connect their Blackbaud and Double the Donation instances and start raising more from corporate matching gifts.

“It’s been an exciting process as our development team started working with Blackbaud’s new SKY API technology, and we are thrilled to release this enhanced integration functionality,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “This new technology allows organizations to focus on the most important parts of their mission while still increasing matching gift revenue with the power of Double the Donation.”

Double the Donation and Blackbaud CRM’s integration equips fundraisers with the industry leading matching gift software, effortlessly connecting donors to next steps and raising more for the causes that matter most.

360MatchPro - Activate in seconds and start raising more from matching gifts!

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!

With this seamless integration and streamlined activation process, you can connect your Blackbaud CRM and Double the Donation instances in minutes.

Image depicting the integration activation screen for Blackbaud CRM

Once you’ve connected Blackbaud CRM to your Double the Donation account, you’re all set! Double the Donation allows you to send automated email notifications to donors to determine their matching gift eligibility and then connect donors to their matching gift application form based on their employer information. This means donors can start the matching gifts process with just one click making it even easier to drive revenue with matching gifts.

Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with Double the Donation!

Double the Donation ensures your matching gift opportunities don’t fall through the cracks.

Take advantage of this solution to:

Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: Double the Donation enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities Double the Donation discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.

Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.

Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let Double the Donation automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that Double the Donation can handle the rest.

 

Ready to drive matching gifts for your next fundraising effort? Schedule a personalized demo to learn how matching gifts can fund your mission.

About Blackbaud: The Blackbaud Partner Network is a group of leading technology and services firms providing the social good community with the solutions, applications, and strategies they need to make a difference in their local communities and worldwide. To learn more about Blackbaud’s Technology Partner program, visit: http://www.blackbaud.com/partners

About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. Double the Donation integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more visit https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo

This complete guide covers everything you need to know about digital marketing for nonprofits.

Digital Marketing for Nonprofits: The Ultimate Guide

/in , /by

As a nonprofit marketer, brand awareness is at the top of your priorities list. While nonprofits have limited funding to grow their prospect lists, digital marketing for nonprofits opens up a world of opportunities for causes trying to get the most out of their budgets. Plus, your potential reach has never been so large! You can reach supporters across the globe in a matter of mere seconds, whether you’re promoting matching gifts, marketing your products and services, or sharing volunteering opportunities.

From social media to email to search engine marketing, you have so many incredible, low-cost options at your disposal to make your cause known. If you really want to stand out online, you’ve come to the right place! We’re here to help you harness the power of digital marketing for nonprofits by covering these key topics:

Here at Double the Donation, we work with nonprofits to raise more money through matching gifts. A big part of that involves nonprofits proactively marketing corporate giving opportunities to supporters, and we’ve seen the power the online space holds. We’re hoping to share some of what we’ve learned so you can expand your reach.

With a little research, you’ll be a nonprofit digital marketing whiz in no time! However, if you need a bit of guidance for your nonprofit’s digital marketing strategy, we recommend turning to the experts at Nexus Marketing. They specialize in search engine optimization (SEO) marketing and offer services tailored to nonprofits that sell products and services.

Looking to promote your nonprofit's products and service offerings online? Get help from the SEO experts at Nexus Marketing. Contact Nexus Marketing.

What Is Digital Marketing for Nonprofits?

Digital marketing for nonprofits is a specific subset of marketing for organizations that relies on the internet and online-dependent technologies, such as desktop computers and mobile devices. Nonprofits use digital outlets to spread mission awareness, solicit donations, sell products and services, increase volunteer numbers, promote events, and publicize their services.

Common outreach strategies include social media, texting, search engine optimization, search advertising, or any other internet-based approach at an organization’s disposal.

Why Is Digital Marketing for Nonprofits Important?

A strong digital presence is a must for any organization that wants to thrive in the modern age. You might be wondering, “What exactly will establishing a digital presence do for my cause?” Great question!

Here’s a breakdown of some of the best parts of effective online marketing for nonprofit organizations like yours:

The benefits of digital marketing for nonprofits, listed below.

  • Eliminate geographical barriers. Supporters are more accessible than ever. By sending an email, publishing on social media, or sending a mass text, you can connect with people within seconds.
  • Make supporting your nonprofit convenient. Your supporters are already online. They’re scrolling through social media, shopping, and Googling stuff they care about. Going digital allows you to make learning about and donating to your cause easy.
  • Generating leads for products and services. Many nonprofits sell products and services to benefit their communities. If this description fits your nonprofit, then digital marketing channels can help you discover and build relationships with high-quality sales leads to grow your customer base. 
  • Open up two-way communication. Just like going digital makes your supporters more accessible, it does the same for your marketing team! Instead of talking at your supporters, you can engage in meaningful conversations when they comment on your social media posts or email you.
  • Raise more. By engaging in storytelling tactics and leveraging online fundraising tools, you can inspire people to donate to your cause. You can also promote engaging fundraising opportunities, like corporate giving!
  • Reduce marketing costs. We already touched on this, but digital marketing for nonprofits has minimal upfront costs, making it a cost-effective option.

The list of pros goes on and on! The examples above only scratch the surface. To experience any benefits, you’ll need a strong nonprofit digital marketing strategy to serve as the foundation of your outreach.

Creating Your Nonprofit Digital Marketing Strategy

It’s no secret that digital marketing for nonprofits is insanely powerful. However, it’s not enough to post on social media sporadically or send generic emails to constituents. The online space is competitive, so you need a holistic strategy that defines your objectives and how you’ll reach them. Otherwise, your efforts might be disjointed and not contribute much to strengthening your digital presence.

While each nonprofit’s marketing strategy will vary, there are some common steps to craft a plan that works for your cause. Let’s walk through those now!

Online marketing for nonprofits requires a few steps.

1. Define your nonprofit’s digital marketing goals.

Laying out clear goals will help you craft the right messages to the right audiences who will get you there. Every digital communication you send will get you one step closer to reaching whatever goals you set, so spend plenty of time hashing your objectives out with your marketing team.

Generally speaking, you might want to boost awareness for corporate giving, increase membership renewals, or increase sales for your nonprofit’s services. Think through how these goals correlate with your overall mission and how your digital marketing efforts can support that. Let’s take a look at a specific example of a bad goal vs. a SMART goal:

Goal 1) Grow our email subscriber list and use that channel to earn more sales.

Goal 2) Add 1,000 more subscribers to our email list and use that channel to raise an additional $50,000 in sales revenue by the end of the year.

Notice how the second goal is much clearer, defines how your nonprofit’s digital marketing can support your mission, and gives you solid metrics to work toward. That’s because it’s what we call a SMART goal.

The SMART Goal Framework

As a marketer, you might already be aware of this approach. The SMART goal framework allows you to set clear goals that anyone on your team can understand. The acronym stands for:

  • Specific: Be as clear as possible when setting nonprofit digital marketing goals. That way, everyone will know what you’re attempting to achieve! Returning to our example above, we’re clearly aiming to raise more money specifically through matching gifts by leveraging email rather than all channels.
  • Measurable: Your goal should have clear metrics attached to measure performance. In our example, the key performance indicators are 1,000 more subscribers and $5,000 in matching gift revenue sourced from that channel.
  • Attainable: Your goal should be reasonable yet still aspirational. You want to challenge your team without deterring them. For example, let’s say that you grew your email list by 800 subscribers and sourced $4,250 in matching gifts through that channel last year. That makes your new goal attainable yet aspirational!
  • Relevant: Your nonprofit’s digital marketing goal should play into your overall mission. In the example above, it’s clear that growing email subscriptions will provide valuable fundraising dollars.
  • Time-Based: Your goal needs a clear deadline to establish a sense of urgency! In the example above, we made the goal time-based by setting the end of the year as the deadline.

By following this framework, you can set objectives that make sense for your organization, make the most of digital outlets, and push your mission forward in meaningful ways.

2. Choose the right nonprofit digital marketing platforms.

There’s no shortage of nonprofit digital marketing platforms that you can leverage. Whether you’re trying to reach tech-savvy teens or email-reliant boomers, there’s a platform for reaching every segment of your audience.

Let’s walk through some of the most common ones:

  • Search ads. Paid advertising is a fantastic way to promote your cause. Plus, many paid digital marketing platforms offer free or discounted rates for nonprofits. For example, the Google Ad Grants program offers $10,000 in free monthly funding to eligible nonprofit organizations that apply. Then, these nonprofits can spend that funding to create ads promoting their website at the top of Google search results pages for mission-specific keywords. Using search ads like Google Ads, you can promote anything from donation forms to educational content, bringing more visibility to your cause on search engines.
  • SEO. In contrast to paid search ads, nonprofits can also drive website traffic with organic search results through search engine optimization, also known as SEO. Ranking number one among organic search results is a free way to attract new visitors to your website, which can be especially beneficial for nonprofits that depend on revenue-generating sales. However, to rank highly, nonprofits need to create content likely to get picked up and seen as valuable by search engines, which is where SEO comes in. SEO is the process of creating and adapting your content to be search engine friendly to boost online traffic. 
  • Social media. Channels like Instagram and Facebook are great organic channels for nonprofit digital marketing. Regularly post updates, engage in visual storytelling, and expand your audience by encouraging social sharing. Platforms like Facebook even offer unique fundraising features for supporters to drive donations on your behalf. 
  • Email. As our nonprofit fundraising statistics page explains, email-based marketing and promotional campaigns generate around 28% of all online nonprofit revenue. That makes email an essential channel for your nonprofit’s digital marketing strategy! Create eye-catching subject lines, send a regular newsletter, and promote relevant opportunities to each supporter group using your email marketing platform’s segmentation tools.
  • Texting. SMS marketing has an incredible open rate of over 98%, compared to just 20% for emails. By leveraging texting in your online outreach, you can send succinct updates directly to supporters’ phones and tap into fundraising tools like text-to-give. While a great way to connect with supporters, this nonprofit digital marketing channel isn’t for every organization! Organizations that find this strategy most useful are those with younger audiences.

When using digital marketing for nonprofits, focus on these main channels.

These platforms will serve as the foundation of your organization’s outreach. When getting started, think through your audience for each platform carefully. Then, craft messages that support your objectives and play to each channel’s strengths.

For example, if you’re aiming to boost awareness for your animal shelter’s adoption services, you might use search ads to amplify your adoption page, social media to share a testimonial video about an animal that found its forever home, email to promote an upcoming adoption event, and text to share a quick announcement and a link to your adoption page.

Pro tip: Use a mixture of platforms to connect with supporters. Multichannel marketing allows you to expand the number of people you’re able to reach, bringing more exposure to your cause online.

3. Push your digital marketing campaign live.

At this point, you’ll need to write your digital marketing messages and publish them on relevant platforms.

There’s a lot of competition online, so your team needs to do everything it can to stand out online. Get creative in how you present your messages. Lean into storytelling tactics, use visual techniques like video and images, and offer different engagement opportunities to garner as much attention as possible.

Remember, digital marketing for nonprofits offers two-way communication opportunities, so pay attention to people’s interactions with your posts and messages. You might like their comments, respond to their emails, or show them you appreciate their interactions with your team in some other way.

Finally, you’ll want to create a schedule for each platform, so your team creates a pattern of consistency. That way, supporters will regularly see your nonprofit’s updates in their inboxes and newsfeeds, keeping your cause top of mind.

Need campaign ideas to drive greater results through online marketing for nonprofits? Check out these creative marketing ideas from Getting Attention!

4. Monitor your nonprofit’s digital marketing performance.

Once you send your first round of outreach, the work’s just beginning! One of the best parts of going digital is that you can gather insightful metrics to inform future campaigns. Data-driven digital marketing for nonprofits is a must if you want to proactively grow your digital presence and provide value to your supporters.

During and after your campaigns, evaluate how successful your nonprofit digital marketing efforts are. Modern platforms make it easy to pull performance metrics and create reports to see how your efforts measure up against your goals.

Let’s break down the most common key performance indicators (KPIs) you can measure on each platform:

  • Email: Open rates, click-through rate (CTR), and unsubscribe rates are a few engagement metrics that your team should pay attention to.
  • Search ads: Your CTR and conversions (e.g., donations, event registrations, etc.) are the best metrics for determining the effectiveness of your search ads.
  • SEO. SEO shares many of the same metrics as search ads but also takes rankings into account. What keywords you rank for, fluctuations in your rankings, and whether ranking pages see increased traffic and lead generation should all be monitored.
  • Social media: Likes, shares, comments, and impressions can help you estimate your reach and engagement.
  • Text: Delivery rate, opt-out rate, and conversions can let you know if your text outreach is performing as expected.

If your outreach is underperforming, make adjustments as you go. Do you have low email open rates? Experiment with your subject lines to capture more attention. Do you have exceptionally high social media impressions but minimal shares, likes, and comments? Your content might be reaching plenty of people, but it’s not quite doing the trick and inspiring them.

Do you have low delivery rates for texts? That may mean your supporters have changed their phone numbers. Don’t worry; this happens! Use a phone number append to make sure you have accurate phone numbers for supporters if your delivery rate is alarmingly low.

No matter what metrics you monitor, you need to pay attention to your performance. Successful digital marketing for nonprofits rides on these numbers!

Tips To Take Online Marketing for Nonprofits Up a Notch

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to digital marketing for nonprofits. As you get into the swing of things, test out different strategies to discover what works for your organization!

Let’s explore several best practices you can use to tailor your plan and maximize your marketing ROI.

Promote Your Website with Google Ads.

We touched on Google Ads earlier, but there’s so much more to it than what we’ve covered! Search ads are one of the most effective digital marketing outlets for nonprofits.

In fact, Getting Attention’s Google Ad Grant Impact Report explains that search ads have the highest ROI of any nonprofit paid advertising channel, returning an incredible $4.78 for every dollar spent.

As we touched on, you’ll need to apply for the Google Grants program and meet the eligibility requirements to receive the $10,000 in ad credits. From here, you can create ads that promote your website’s content and use your free funding to bid on relevant keywords.

You can promote pretty much any valuable content, whether you want to bring attention to your donation form, services, volunteer opportunities, events, or something else. You can even use Google Ads to promote matching gifts! Here’s a quick example of how The Nature Conservancy, Rainforest Trust, and Greenpeace USA all targeted donors using Google Ads:

Here's an example of how organizations can use Google Ads to strengthen digital marketing for nonprofits.

With a thoughtful bidding strategy, you can bring more visibility to your cause than ever before. Plus, the grant will automatically renew every month, so you’ll have a reliable source of funding as long as you comply with the compliance requirements.

It’ll take some time to learn the intricacies of the program, which is why we recommend working with a Google Grants manager. Our preferred agency is Getting Attention! They work with you to craft your nonprofit’s digital marketing strategy for Google Ads. They’ll help you apply for the program, create your ads, and monitor metrics to make sure you’re driving meaningful results.

To leverage one of the best nonprofit marketing ideas, work with the Google Ad Grant experts at Getting Attention.

Optimize your website for search engines.

Your website is the hub of all your nonprofit’s digital marketing efforts. It’s where first-time supporters go to learn more about your cause and long-term supporters go to find new engagement opportunities. It also enables you to raise online donations and sell your products and services. 

As such, your website should be as easy to find as possible. With SEO, you can attract new customers for your services and products through search engine traffic. To improve your SEO rankings, nonprofits should get started with:

  • Keyword research. What words and phrases are your target audience likely searching for? For example, a nonprofit selling products related to continuing education courses might check the search results for keywords like “adult education classes.” By creating content targeting relevant keywords, you can attract audiences interested in your nonprofit’s offerings. 
  • Content creation. After identifying target keywords, consider what type of content is needed by users searching for that keyword. Then, be the organization that creates that high-value, original content. Doing so will cause visitors who click on your website to engage with your content, share it with others, and potentially make a conversion. 
  • Partnership building. Search engines evaluate websites based on several factors, including what websites link to yours. By building relationships with other organizations in your space, you can get your content in front of their audience and also improve your search engine rankings by building your pages’ linking profiles. 

SEO can be a particularly effective sales lead-generation tool for nonprofits that sell products and services. If this description fits your nonprofit, consider partnering with our favorite SEO agency, Nexus Marketing. 

Nexus Marketing’s approach to SEO is designed to turn search engine platforms into revenue-generating channels. With keyword research and strategic partnerships, Nexus Marketing will create high-quality content that showcases your products and thought leadership to prospective buyers and boosts your search engine rankings.

Generate sales leads and grow your audience with our favorite marketing consultant, Nexus Marketing.

Automate your nonprofit’s digital marketing when possible.

Marketing automation allows you to automate monotonous marketing work. With the right tools, your marketing team can automate routine tasks such as email marketing, social media posting, and ad campaigns. Not only will this boost efficiency, but it’ll help you provide a personalized experience for your supporters.

While automation certainly doesn’t replace manual outreach, the two can be used in conjunction to provide a timely, valuable experience to your supporters. This can lay the ground for healthy, long-term relationships.

Let’s take a look at a few areas where you can leverage automation:

  • Email streams. Let’s say you set up an email stream for a volunteer opportunity. The second someone registers to volunteer, your software might trigger a confirmation email. Then, you might have a reminder email within this stream to follow up a few days before the actual volunteer event. After the opportunity, you can automatically follow up with a well-written volunteer thank-you letter that’s customized with their volunteer details.
  • Google Ads. Google Ad Grants can be confusing, which is why Google’s advertising platform allows you to leverage search ad automation tools. Using features like responsive search ads (RSAs), your ads will adapt to show relevant messages to users. You’ll submit a variety of headlines and descriptions. Then, Google will swap them out to find the best fit for users and improve your results.
  • Matching gifts. Through the use of our matching gift tools, you can drive more corporate giving revenue through automation. You can set up email streams that follow up with match-eligible donors, encouraging them to submit their employer requests. We also launched an autosubmission function, which allows donors to skip steps in the employer request submission process. By selecting a box on your donation confirmation page, they can opt-in to have our tools automatically check their eligibility and submit their requests to their employers on their behalf. No need for your team to step in when you have automation handling the hard work for you!

Use autosubmission to automate your nonprofit digital marketing for matching gifts.

No matter how you leverage it, automation can be a powerful strategy when it comes to digital marketing for nonprofits. Think carefully about how it can play into your plans without risking the personalized touch of manual outreach, and explore the best tools to help you leverage marketing automation. Depending on your needs and existing technology, these might include matching gift tools, nonprofit Salesforce apps, or software designed to automate communications on a specific channel, like a text marketing app.

Tailor your outreach with segmentation.

Generic outreach won’t get you very far. Instead, personalize your outreach. This conveys that you care about your supporters, helping to capture their attention and build a stronger connection with each message you send.

Put yourself in a donor’s shoes. You receive an email that starts with “Dear generous donor.” Chances are, you won’t read the whole email. At the most, you might skim it. Your nonprofit’s online marketing tools should make it easy to customize your emails with recipients’ names.

Personalization should go further than adding their name to an email, though. That’s where segmentation comes into play!

You’ll want to create meaningful supporter segments, so you can send relevant appeals to those who are most likely to engage. To get started, you might create segments based on:

  • Past engagement history. Try creating groups based on past engagement with your organization—whether they’ve donated, attended events, volunteered, or engaged in other ways. That way, you can send volunteer opportunities primarily to volunteers, fundraising campaign details to committed donors, and so on. Common segments include first-time donors, recurring donors, match-eligible donors, volunteers, advocates, and peer-to-peer fundraisers.
  • Contact method. As you can tell by how many digital marketing outlets there are, there are countless ways to contact supporters. Consider noting their preferred communication methods in your CRM. That way, you can be sure to contact them using the channels to which they’re most responsive.
  • Age. Categorizing supporters by age allows you to determine the types of messages and platforms your supporters will be most receptive to. Even if they haven’t indicated their communication preferences, you can predict the best channels to use for each supporter. For instance, those under 25 might be more active on social media or be likely to interact with text messages, while supporters over 45 might prefer email.

Thoughtful segmentation can go a long way toward improving your nonprofit’s digital marketing. While primarily used in email marketing for nonprofits, it’s also a great strategy for any other channel!

Improve your nonprofit’s website.

With all that rides on your website, it’s well worth putting some thought behind your site’s design to create a valuable experience for each visitor. As a starting point, follow these best practices:

  • Use a mobile-responsive design. Half of all nonprofit web traffic comes from mobile users. By optimizing your site for mobile users, you’ll make it easy for all supporters to learn about your cause, no matter what device they’re using! Use a mobile-responsive CMS to resize your web content to fit any device automatically. From here, compress your images, minimize the number of pop-ups you include, and reduce the number of fields you include on any form.
  • Reduce load time. The longer it takes your website to load, the more likely people are to leave. In fact, research from Google estimates that the probability of bounce increases by 32% as page load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds. Page speed also plays a pivotal role in your SEO performance since Google uses it as one of its ranking factors. To reduce your site’s load time, compress images, reduce redirects, enable browser caching, and minify any unnecessary coding.
  • Feature corporate giving. Your website is the perfect place to increase awareness for corporate giving! Include our employer search tool on your donation form to encourage more users to research their eligibility for their employers’ programs. Then, get crafty by developing a dedicated matching gifts page that defines what they are, covers common guidelines, and walks through the process. If you already have a Ways to Give page, you can include information about matching gifts, volunteer grants, and other corporate giving opportunities there, too!

There’s plenty you can do to make your website as valuable as possible for your nonprofit marketing strategy. For other recommendations, we recommend checking out the site requirements for Google Ad Grants. While specific to the program, these rules provide guidance tailored for all nonprofits to help them create valuable web content that speaks to their mission and inspires supporters to donate, volunteer, and buy their products and services.

Wrapping Up

Digital marketing for nonprofits is an incredible opportunity to spread more awareness for your mission than ever before. From promoting corporate giving to increasing event attendance, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish for your mission.

Remember to spend time crafting a thoughtful nonprofit digital marketing strategy that plays to your organization’s strengths and connects you with your unique audience. Leverage all sorts of channels like social media, Google search ads, and email to make a lasting impression on supporters. In no time, you’ll strengthen your digital presence and drive greater outcomes for your work.

To continue enhancing your nonprofit’s outreach, explore these resources:

Work with Getting Attention to strengthen your nonprofit digital marketing strategy with the Google Ad Grant.

Double the Donation and Harness Giving Release 360MatchPro Matching Gifts Integration

/in /by

Double the Donation and Harness Giving have teamed up to provide nonprofits with advanced matching gift automation functionality with a 360MatchPro integration with Harness Giving forms.

“At Harness, we believe that the giving process should be empowering for the donor and stress-free for the nonprofit,” said Miraj Patel, Founder and CEO at Harness Giving. “By incorporating matching gifts seamlessly into our giving forms, donors are equipped with the tools to double their impact without major efforts from the nonprofit. It’s a clear win-win for everyone.”

The new integration allows donors to discover their match eligibility via a search from Double the Donation’s database of over 24,000 companies. Once a donor finds their company, they are presented with information on their employer’s matching gift program and are guided to complete the matching gift process.

“Our aim is to close the donor awareness gap and help nonprofits claim some of the $4-7 billion left on the table each year,” said Adam Weinger, President at Double the Donation. “With this new integration, Harness and Double the Donation are aligned in our mission to help organizations raise more from matching gifts.”

Now, mutual clients of Harness and Double the Donation can boost their fundraising potential by activating the turnkey integration. Read on to learn more about how 360MatchPro operates on Harness Giving pages.

360MatchPro - Activate in seconds and start raising more from matching gifts!

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts! 

With the new Harness Giving and 360MatchPro by Double the Donation integration, you can easily set up a connection without any custom coding required. Just enter your API keys from your 360MatchPro account to your Harness Giving platform, toggle Employer Matching on for your desired forms, and you’re ready to go! 

Once you’ve completed the setup process, donors will be able to search their employer’s name on the donation page via the 360MatchPro auto-complete search tool. 360MatchPro can then send them their next steps via email to help move that gift to completion!

The new functionality integrates seamlessly with the Harness Giving donation experience, meaning your donors can discover their eligibility while your giving pages maintain their modern Harness Giving style. 

360MatchPro-Drive-more-matching-gift-requests-to-completion-with-360MatchPro

Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with 360MatchPro!

The 360MatchPro and Harness Giving integration empower donors to deepen their impact on the organizations and campaigns they care about most, and empowers nonprofits to pursue their matching gift opportunities with more advanced and easy-to-use functionality. Check out these extra benefits: 

  • Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: 360MatchPro enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities 360MatchPro discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
  • Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
  • Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let 360MatchPro automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that 360MatchPro can handle the rest.

This image explains the 360MatchPro features listed above alongside an increasing graph to represent increasing donations.

Ready to get started with raising more from matching gifts? Request a demo today and let us know you use Harness Giving for your fundraising!

About Harness Giving: With a focus on recurring giving, our subscription platform helps nonprofits create seamless, gratifying experiences – from marketing and fundraising to stewardship. Donating should never  feel out of reach, so our customizable tools encourage people to give in ways that suit them best, helping nonprofits tap into a wider network of donors.

 About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The 360MatchPro platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts.