Donor walls are a great way to show appreciation to donors and demonstrate the impact of their contributions, which can aid in donor retention and acquisition. They provide a tangible way to thank and recognize donors for their support, while also creating a sense of community and allowing donors to show off their commitment to the organization.

What is a Donor Wall?

A donor recognition wall is a permanent display honoring an organization’s generous supporters, which can take the form of an immersive, interactive experience. Nonprofits, universities, medical facilities, and faith-based organizations are among those that create these walls to recognize major donors, corporate sponsors, and major contributors. The cost of a donor recognition wall will depend on its size and materials used, but it’s considered a critical investment that can improve donor retention and add a beautiful focal point to a space.

Different Types of Donor Walls

Traditional Donor Walls

Traditional donor walls are the classic option, often made of engraved metal plaques, acrylic with vinyl or etched lettering, glass, or other material-based components. They’re typically arranged in a board or giving tree. The appeal of a traditional donor wall is in the art-like overall aesthetic and the luxury of tactile donor names. These are a good option for organizations with low volumes of donors to recognize. Updating the list of donors can be moderate in cost, and the initial investment is less than a digital donor wall.

Digital Donor Walls

Digital donor walls are a more modern approach, made of a screen or a series of screens. They can display a dynamic amount of names with many giving levels and types of giving. Videos, photos, and other multimedia elements can be added to the screen(s) in real-time. They’re great for organizations with a high volume of donors to recognize or that want to showcase their history, mission statements, ‘Why I Give stories’, donor highlights, impact stories, and more. There’s no cost to add or update the list of donors, but the initial investment is more than a traditional donor wall.

Hybrid Donor Walls

Hybrid donor walls are the best of both worlds. They combine the art-like cabinetry found in traditional donor walls and blend it with the ease of use and magnificence of digital donor walls. This provides a more interactive and engaging experience for donors and visitors, while still providing a tangible way to recognize and honor donors. The initial investment for a hybrid digital donor wall is the most expensive option, but there is generally no cost to update the list of donors.

Virtual Donor Walls

Virtual donor walls are accessible through nonprofit websites, leveraging much of the same software technology as a digital donor wall. These can be used to keep recognition up to date and leveraged for online marketing strategies. They are particularly useful for organizations with no physical or public presence that other donor walls would require. Updating the donor lists has no cost, and the initial cost to develop a virtual donor wall is a fraction of the cost of other digital or hybrid solutions. Virtual donor walls are a great way to recognize and honor donors online, making them a cost-effective solution for organizations that don’t have the budget for traditional or digital donor walls.

Benefits of A Donor Wall

Culture of Philanthropy-Building

Donor walls are a powerful tool for building a culture of philanthropy within an organization. They provide a tangible way to steward and thank donors for their support, while also creating a sense of community and shared purpose. By displaying donor names and contributions in a public space, donor walls demonstrate the impact of individual giving and encourage others to get involved.

Donor Acquisition and Retention

In addition to recognizing donors, donor walls also serve as an important tool for donor acquisition and retention. They provide a way for potential donors to see the impact of giving and understand the value of their contributions. They also help to build a sense of community and shared purpose among donors, which can encourage them to continue giving and even increase their level of support.

Donor Engagement

Donor walls are not just a display of appreciation, but they’re also a way to engage donors and encourage them to continue their support. They provide a tangible representation of the impact of giving, and help donors to see the value of their contributions. By recognizing donors in a public space, donor walls create a sense of community among donors and build a sense of shared purpose. This can encourage donors to stay connected with the organization and continue their support.

Overall, donor walls play a crucial role in building a culture of philanthropy within an organization. They provide a powerful tool for recognizing and thanking donors, encouraging giving, and promoting transparency and accountability. They are a valuable investment for any organization committed to building a strong culture of philanthropy and fostering a sense of community among donors.

Other Resources to Explore

Nonprofit Basics – Learn more about other nonprofit management essentials by checking out these expert resources.

8 Donor Engagement Strategies to Drive Nonprofit Support – Donor engagement is crucial for building a strong nonprofit organization. Take advantage of the strategies discussed in this article to boost your efforts.

Retaining Matching Gift Donors: 4+ Effective Strategies – Retaining donors in addition to acquiring new donors, offers a multitude of benefits. Explore ways to keep matching gift donors engaged with your organization.

As one of the most influential companies in the world, Google empowers charitable organizations to increase their visibility within Google Search for free through its dedicated corporate giving program called Google Ad Grants. We’ll cover everything you need to know about this program.

• What Are Google Ad Grants?
• How to Get Started With Google Ad Grants
• Make the Most of Your Google Ad Grant Budget
• Other Resources to Explore

Since Google has over 92% of the global search engine market share, you’d be remiss to turn down the free advertising money. The program can help you connect with prospects around the world without negatively impacting your marketing budget.

What Are Google Ad Grants?

The Google Ad Grants program awards organizations $10,000 worth of Google Ads credits each month. Eligible organizations use these credits to bid on keywords and promote their web content. With free access to Google’s keyword research tools, nonprofits can place compelling ads in prominent locations on Google Search results pages, connecting them with likely supporters for their cause.

Google’s program enables nonprofits to go beyond driving more meaningful website traffic. Depending on the pages you promote with the Google Grant, here’s how the Google Ad Grant can support your initiatives in more creative capacities:

• Increase revenue by sharing donation and sponsorship opportunities.
• Recruit volunteers to support your projects.
• Boost attendance for your webinars, charity races, and other events.
• Effect change through grassroots activism, petitions, and other advocacy activities.
• Inform and educate users about your cause and work.

Participants can fully leverage the program by crafting powerful ad copy combined with effective keyword research, strategic bidding strategies, and carefully-chosen landing pages.

How To Get Started With Google Ad Grants

The good news is that Google makes it straightforward to join the program. Applying for the Google Grant is a simple, multi-step process. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Meet the requirements. You’ll need to agree to the program’s policies, hold valid charity status, and have a high-quality website to meet the eligibility criteria. Governmental entities, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions are automatically ineligible.
2. Sign up for Google for Nonprofits. Visit Google for Nonprofits’ registration website and fill out the subsequent forms. Once you’re approved, this will unlock the Google Grants application. Plus, you’ll have access to a variety of other organizational tools and perks through Google for Nonprofits.
3. Wait for verification from Percent. Percent partners with companies like Google to provide mission-driven organizations with free and discounted products. When you apply for Google for Nonprofits, they’ll be the ones to verify your nonprofit’s legitimacy. Typically, requests are reviewed in 2-14 business days. Know that Percent may reach out for more information or documentation to verify your organization.
4. Apply for the Google Ad Grant. Log into your Google for Nonprofits account and fill out the Google Grants application. You’ll provide additional identifying information, such as your website URL and details regarding your goals with the program.

Keep an eye on your email for your invitation within the next few business days. Once you’re approved, you’ll automatically receive $329 per day to spend on your Google Ad campaigns.

Best of all, the grant will automatically renew each month. You just need to keep your account in good standing by adhering to the ongoing compliance requirements.

Make the Most of Your Google Ad Grant Budget

As with any marketing effort, you need a carefully-crafted plan to drive real results for your nonprofit. Let’s walk through some tried-and-true tips.

1. Optimize your website.

Your Google Ads will drive traffic to your website. With this in mind, you should prioritize the user experience to drive more donations, boost volunteer registrations, or achieve any other goal. Ultimately, you want users to click through your site to find a professional design that drives them to engage with your organization.

Here are a few elements of your website to consider:

• Promotable pages: Fill your site with high-quality content to promote through Google Ads. Each page should be centered around a core topic, whether it’s your donation form, volunteer registration page, or information about a major initiative.
• Mobile responsiveness: Half of all nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices. Mobile users will likely encounter your Google Ads, so make sure your design automatically reformats itself based on screen size.
• Security: Your website should encrypt information users share with you. Your URL should show “https” instead of “http” to offer users greater protection on your site.
• Organizational information: List your EIN somewhere on your site, preferably in your website’s footer. You might also have a page devoted to explaining your mission.

Tie all of these elements together with powerful graphic design. This will create a cohesive site that inspires users to explore your site and convert into supporters.

2. Create robust ads with compelling copy, landing pages, and ad extensions.

Optimize your ads by paying special attention to these core building blocks for your ads:

• Landing pages: These are the pages you’ll drive users to visit. Choose ones that match the user intent for your keywords and are designed to drive users to complete the desired action. For example, if you’re targeting terms like “animal rescue volunteering,” you should link to your volunteer registration page.
• Copy: Users will read this to understand the content of your landing page and determine whether it meets their needs. Ensure your ad copy is specific, concise, and strategically features keywords. You’ll also want to include a call-to-action with action verbs such as “donate,” “sign up,” or “support” to tell users what next step you want them to take.
• Ad extensions: These allow you to expand your ads with additional information. For instance, sitelink extensions allow you to link to additional landing pages on your website, while call extensions include a button that mobile users can tap to call your organization.

These will result in more compelling ads and ultimately drive more clicks and meaningful traffic to your nonprofit’s website.

3. Maintain compliance. 

Nonprofits interested in the Google Ad Grant need to keep a few requirements in mind when selecting their keywords and monitoring their campaigns. Specifically, they need to:

• Use keywords longer than a single word. Choose keywords that are at least two or three words long. This helps ensure that your content is more closely aligned to specific search queries. However, Google does allow a few exceptions specifically for nonprofit ad campaigns.
• Avoid generic keywords. Generic keywords provide little context for what content a website visitor is about to click on. For example, “e-books and downloadable content” does not explain what type of content visitors would download. Choosing words specific to your mission and goals also increases the chances that the visitors who click on your ads will be interested in your content.
• Remove or pause campaigns with low-quality scores. Quality scores are a 10-point assessment of your campaign’s relevance to the keyword, useful content, and potential to earn a high CTR. Google Ad Grant campaigns must have a quality score of at least three. If you have campaigns with lower quality scores, pause or remove them.
• Maintain a 5% click-through rate (CTR) each month. Google Ad Grants accounts that fail to achieve a 5% CTR for two consecutive months may be deactivated. You can avoid this by ensuring all of your ad campaigns are enabled and potentially pausing ad campaigns that have a high impressions rating but low CTR.
• Have valid conversion tracking. All Ad Grants accounts created after January 2018 need accurate conversion tracking. You can track your conversions by creating a Google Analytics account and connecting it to your Google Ad Grants account. Set a goal in Google Analytics related to the action you want a supporter to take after clicking on one of your ads, like donating. Then, import your goal to Google Ad Grants, so you can monitor if supporters who click your ads go onto complete your target goal.
• Have at least two ads per ad group and two ad groups per campaign. When launching a Google Ad campaign, you’ll create ad groups. Ad groups are multiple ads that target the same keyword cluster of closely related terms. For example, you might target both “donate” and “charity” in separate ads in an ad group. Creating multiple ad groups helps get your ad in front of more people searching keywords related to your nonprofit. 
• Use at least two sitelink ad extensions. Sitelink ad extensions make your ads better and provide searchers with more opportunities to click on your ads by listing additional pages on your website that are relevant to the searcher’s query. 
• Respond to the Ad Grant program survey. Google surveys Ad Grant participants every year. Your survey will be sent to the email addresses connected to your Google Ad Grants account. Be sure you get a confirmation email when you have completed your survey. You can also access the survey directly from Google if you aren’t receiving confirmation notices. 

Maintaining compliance improves your ads and ensures you continue getting Google Ad Grant funding. Of course, meeting all of these requirements can be difficult, especially when you’re just getting started. That’s why many nonprofits turn to consultants for help. Working with a Google partner makes this process much easier since these agencies are the first to here about programmatic updates.

4. Consider professional Google Ad Grants management.

A lot goes into managing a Google Ad Grant account between developing compelling ads and meeting ongoing requirements. The last thing you want is your account to be deactivated after not meeting the compliance requirements.

That’s where a professional Google Grants manager can step in to save the day. Turn to a professional to ease your marketing team’s workload through services like:

• Google Ad Grants applications
• Campaign development, including keyword research and ad copy development
• Ongoing compliance and account reactivation

We recommend working with one of Google’s certified partners. These consultants have been vetted by the Google Ads team and demonstrated a clear understanding of the program. Plus, this will give you a direct line to the latest updates to the program, so you can create the best ads possible and comply with regulations.

Whichever agency you choose, professionals know what it takes to stand out on Google Search. They know the ins and outs of the program, so you can sit back and relax knowing that you’re inspiring as many prospects as possible.

Other Resources to Explore

Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.

Hiring a Google Grants Agency: A Guide and 5 Expert Agencies – Explore the role a professional Google Grants manager can play further. Plus, get our top agency recommendations.

What Is A Google Ad Grant? The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits – Continue researching the basics of the Google Ad Grant with this complete guide from the experts at Getting Attention.

Between donations, events, and volunteer participation, you collect donor data constantly. The rise of fundraising technology and nonprofit digital marketing has only made data more accessible, and that can be a great thing for professional fundraisers!

Your donor data is incredibly valuable. It provides you with insight into who your donors are, what motivates them to support your cause, and how you can keep your cause top of mind.

In this quick guide, we’ll share the fundamentals of managing your nonprofit’s donor data, so you don’t let yours go to waste!

What Is Donor Data?

Donor data refers to the information that nonprofits collect about their individual donors. The most common types of supporter data organizations store include:

• Full names, preferred nicknames, and titles
• Contact information such as mailing addresses, emails, and phone numbers
• Employer information
• Preferred communication channels
• Donation history and average gift amount
• Wealth indicators (such as real estate or stock holdings)
• Other engagement history (such as events attended and hours volunteered)

To organize this information, nonprofits typically store data in a donor database or a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Nonprofits can integrate external tools (such as online donation forms and event management software), so new donor details will automatically be added to supporters’ profiles within the main database.

Why Is Donor Data Important?

Data fuels today’s fundraising efforts. As we mentioned, you collect data at every turn. When you leverage this data thoughtfully, your nonprofit can experience these benefits:

• Cultivate donor relationships. The data you store for supporters gives you a better understanding of what types of engagement opportunities will resonate with them and what channels will help effectively deliver those opportunities to them. By knowing donors’ priorities, communication preferences, and behaviors, you can cultivate meaningful relationships that drive improved fundraising results.
• Prevent donors from lapsing. Jitasa’s guide to donor analytics explains that your donor data can help you monitor individual donors’ engagement. If someone stops giving, attending events, or reading emails, you can reach out to engage them before they lapse entirely.
• Demonstrate impact. By storing engagement history, you can track the impact of donors’ contributions on your organization’s mission and programs. In turn, you’ll be able to follow up and demonstrate the impact of your work when thanking donors and other stakeholders. That will help build credibility and trust with your community.
• Tap into corporate philanthropy opportunities. By gathering employer names and job titles, you can pinpoint which donors are eligible for their companies’ corporate giving programs, such as matching gifts and volunteer grants. Then, you can follow up and let eligible donors know about relevant opportunities. (Hint: If you don’t have this information on hand, you can invest in a matching gift solution or conduct an employer data append.)

Between highlighting the right engagement opportunities and communicating impact, your organization stands to gain a lot from effective donor data management practices. Of course, to properly manage donor data, you first need to collect the right details.

What Donor Data Should We Collect?

The more information you have about your donors, the better prepared your organization will be to tailor your fundraising efforts and communication strategies to meet individual needs and preferences. This ultimately fosters deeper donor engagement and maximizes philanthropic support for your cause!

Understanding giving histories, communication preferences, interests, and more enables your organization to craft targeted appeals that foster long-term donor loyalty. While we briefly touched on common types of supporter data nonprofits gather, it’s worth a closer look. NPOInfo’s guide to donor data management delves into a range of data you should collect to set your team up for success.

Some of the highlights include:

• Demographics: Get to know supporters based on their characteristics. Demographic donor data typically includes age, gender, location, and employment details.
• Contact information: Make sure you collect postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles. This will allow you to connect via multiple channels and ensure you reach out to the right people for your email solicitations, phonathon fundraisers, and other campaigns.
• Giving habits: Common giving data you’ll want to collect includes gift amounts, frequency, preferred methods, and recency. You can also track recent upgrades and downgrades in support to stay on top of lapsed engagement.
• Interactions: The types of interactions nonprofits record vary from organization to organization. For inspiration, you might track event attendance, social media engagement, volunteer activities, website visits, email open rates, and direct mail response rates.

Storing this kind of information will empower you to separate your community into meaningful segments and deliver targeted fundraising appeals to each group.

Knowing who your supporters are depends on your ability to collect and synthesize the right data. Doing so will ultimately empower you to experience the benefits we mentioned earlier.

How to Effectively Manage Donor Data

You know why you should collect details and have all the right information about supporters. Now, how can you leverage that data to drive deeper relationships?

Let’s take a look at three recommendations for maintaining a clean CRM and ensuring your donor relationships thrive.

Use Data Appends to Build Stronger Profiles.

You won’t know everything about your supporters. But did you know you can use reliable data sources to enhance your donor profiles and append missing or outdated data elements in your database?

When you leverage a trustworthy data append service like Double the Donation, you can pull details like these to inform your strategy:

• Employer information (to uncover matching gift and volunteer grant eligibility)
• Landline and cell phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Mailing addresses and updates
• Birthdates
• And more!

Then, backed with these fresh new donor insights, your team will be empowered to…

• Fill in data gaps: Fill in missing or outdated elements to establish a more complete understanding of who your donors are and what drives them to give.
• Enhance its fundraising strategy: Appending demographic and behavioral data can help your team understand donors’ backgrounds, values, philanthropic motivations, and giving capacities. This information can help inform your fundraising and engagement plans, leading to more effective cultivation and stewardship efforts overall.
• Stay in contact: Supporters move, get new email addresses, and change their phone numbers daily. Appending donor data means you can stay connected by filling in missing or outdated contact details.

Luckily, the appending process is fairly straightforward. Your team will send a file with donor data for each constituent to your appends provider. Then, the appending company matches the information you supply to a larger, external database with updated information. Some providers will even conduct manual checks to make sure the appended data is accurate!

Dive into the appending world with our data append starter guide. You’ll learn what types of information you can append and how to get started.

Use Your Donor Data to Personalize Communication.

Donor relationships are built on establishing personal connections. Show individuals that you care about them individually by using donor data to:

• Craft tailored messages for segments. Segment donors into different groups based on interests and engagement levels. Once you’ve done that, you can craft tailored messaging that speaks directly to each group’s interests and needs. This may include personalized emails, direct mail campaigns, or phone outreach specific to the group’s giving history or interests.
• Send relevant engagement opportunities. Store each donor’s past history with your organization, so you can reach out with applicable opportunities. For example, share information about corporate giving based on individuals’ eligibility, upcoming events based on past attendance, and certain programs based on recent giving history.
• Use the right outreach channels. Make sure you’re delivering these wonderful engagement opportunities through the right channels. By questioning each donor’s communication preferences, you can reach out using the channels they check most frequently, whether it’s email, text, phone call, or direct mail.

Your donor data can take your nonprofit marketing up a notch. Today’s CRMs allow you to store pretty much any information you want, so you can form meaningful segments and deliver the right messages to the right groups.

Protect Donor Data By Taking Security Precautions.

When someone gives to your organization, they’re entrusting you with their personal information. Failing to take proper security precautions can result in a violation of that trust. If your donor data falls into the wrong hands, you might even lose some of your donors altogether.

To avoid this, here are a few security steps any nonprofit should take when handling donor data:

• Implement access controls. Restrict donor data access to only those individuals who need to access it to fulfill their responsibilities. Access to any sensitive information should be granted on a need-to-know basis based on an individual’s job.
• Use reliable software. Any tools you use should exercise proper security practices. For starters, ensure any systems encrypt donor data. Encryption scrambles data, making it unreadable to unauthorized users.
• Regularly update and patch systems. Ensure your software systems are up-to-date at all times with the latest security patches to prevent vulnerabilities a hacker can exploit.

Increased reliance on technology can be a benefit and a challenge all at once for nonprofits. While you can gather more information than you ever thought possible, unauthorized users can exploit system vulnerabilities to steal that information. Make sure to take every precaution you can to protect your donor data, and it’ll pay off!

Other Resources to Explore

Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.

Wealth Screening for Nonprofits: The Definitive Guide – Interested in pulling wealth indicators for your donors? Read this ultimate guide to learn how wealth screening works for nonprofits.

Prospect Research: The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits – Prospect research is the process of gathering information about your donors and prospects. Explore our prospect research guide to learn more.

Nonprofits are challenged to capture and maintain their supporters’ attention every day. If your standard development efforts aren’t measuring up to expectations, it might be time to rethink your online fundraising strategies. Try creating charity eCards to reinvigorate your supporters and provide an interactive way to support your work.

From environmental organizations to churches, any cause can get in on the action and create charity eCards. They’re a fantastic way to raise extra revenue and spread awareness for your mission without requiring too much extra work for your team.

If this sounds like an exciting opportunity, we’re here to help. Before diving into crafting your nonprofit eCards, let’s review the fundamentals!

What Are Charity eCards?

Charity eCards are digital greeting cards that supporters can send to loved ones to celebrate special occasions and spread awareness for an organization. Some nonprofits even create virtual greeting cards for staff to show appreciation for committed supporters and corporate partners.

Perfect for any organization, they’re a low-cost, eco-friendly way for donors to make a difference without having to spend a lot of money. They also serve as a powerful source of peer referrals. Whenever someone purchases a nonprofit eCard, they can create a personalized message to go along with it. This allows them to express their love for the cause and encourage their loved ones to look into the nonprofit, too. All you need to power these campaigns is an online greeting card website.

Types of Charity eCards

What makes nonprofit eCards so valuable is their versatility. Whether you’re creating a few for a cause awareness campaign or offering a year-round collection, there are countless ways you can incorporate them into your work.

Let’s take a look at a few ideas and examples that’ll supercharge your approach to nonprofit eCards!

Cause Awareness Campaign eCards

As explained in Fundraising Letters’ guide to digital cards, “Cause awareness days help nonprofits raise support for particular causes by engaging people in dialogue and inspiring them to take action. If there’s an awareness day associated with your cause, that’s the perfect opportunity to design an eCard that supporters can send to their loved ones.”

Environmental organizations can celebrate Earth Day. Mental health organizations can boost awareness during Suicide Prevention Week and World Mental Health Day. Homeless prevention organizations can amplify their work during Poverty in America Awareness Month or Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Do some research and see if there’s a day, week, or month connected to your work.

Even if there’s not one associated with your mission, you can launch an awareness campaign to gain support and credibility. This is a great way to position your organization as a pioneer in the space.

Either way, there are two approaches you can take when offering these nonprofit eCards:

1. Offer them for free. Create a collection of three or four eCards. Then, encourage your supporters to share their favorite designs with their friends and family.
2. Connect them to a fundraiser. Have supporters donate and then send eCards letting their loved ones know and encouraging them to do the same.

To spark inspiration, we’ve pulled an example from Peace Winds. For World Refugee Day, the organization offered a collection of Father’s Day cards that highlighted refugees’ situations. Since the two holidays fall near each other each year, supporters could select an eCard to send to a father figure in their life while also spreading awareness for the cause.

Invitations

When planning your next event, create virtual invitations your supporters can send to their loved ones. Invitations can help boost registrations, whether it’s a massively-attended 5K or a small volunteer appreciation event. Especially when sent by a loved one or someone at the organization, invitations can add a personal touch to your event promotion.

You’ll want to offer this type of nonprofit eCard for free. Include key details like the date, time, and location of your nonprofit’s event, either in the message that populates with each eCard or on the card itself. Make it incredibly apparent the event is associated with your nonprofit by using your nonprofit’s branding, such as your logo, colors, and fonts.

For this example, we’ve grabbed a church service invitation from Vineyard Vines. At any point during the year, church members can grab their favorites and send them to invite someone to the next service personally. The church keeps its strategy fresh by creating new nonprofit eCards for special services, like Easter.

Birthday and Holiday eCards for Nonprofits

Spread some birthday and holiday cheer with personalized eCards for your cause. Birthdays and holidays happen year-round, so you can create digital greeting cards for every occasion. Best of all, people already send personalized cards during these special days, making them the perfect fundraising opportunity. After all, who wouldn’t want to send a card that’s also associated with a cause the recipient cares about?

Beyond birthdays, some holidays that lend themselves well to cards include:

• New Year’s
• Valentine’s Day
• Easter
• Mother’s Day and Father’s Day
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas, Hannukah, and other year-end holidays

This strategy works especially well for holidays associated with gifts. Instead of finding the perfect gift to celebrate a birthday or holiday, the sender can simply donate in the recipient’s name. Then, they’ll select a nonprofit eCard, letting them know. Either create generic cards for holidays or tailor them to your cause.

Let’s look at a Valentine’s Day charity eCard example from One Tail At A Time. As an animal rescue organization that supports under-resourced animal shelters and pet families, they connected the holiday to their furry friends. As part of their Puppygram campaign, they created a series of charity eCards that featured One Tail’s rescue animals. Supporters could purchase each card for $25.

Supporters could also donate $500 to have a “puppygram” delivered directly to someone. With this option, the organization would show up with a couple of rescue pups directly to someone. To take the puppy cuddles up a notch, a donor could give $1,000 to have a whole litter of pups show up. What an innovative way to spread cause awareness and love on Valentine’s Day!

Appreciation Charity eCards

Thank-you cards are a time-tested tradition for expressing gratitude for someone’s generosity and growing relationships. There are a few approaches you can take with this type of nonprofit eCard:

• Create a simple thank-you card for your supporters to send to loved ones.
• Have your team use these cards to cultivate relationships with donors, sponsors, and volunteers.
• Have leadership and staff members express appreciation for hardworking colleagues.

As explained in eCardWidget’s guide to employee engagement, getting creative with your appreciation tactics allows you to form interpersonal connections and celebrate major milestones. It doesn’t matter if they’re donating, volunteering, or working hard every day as a staff member. Everyone deserves some recognition, no matter how they support your mission!

To get your creativity flowing, let’s look at an example from Youth For Understanding. This card was part of a collection that was launched for a specific appreciation campaign but offers a generic design you can emulate.

While each example we’ve explored has been tailored to each organization, this design is a great example of a generic charity eCard you can offer. It suits every occasion, no matter who’s sending it. Whether you send these greeting cards internally or let supporters get in on the action, a thank-you card is a must for your nonprofit eCard collection.

How to Create Spectacular Nonprofit eCards

Even if you’re not an expert graphic designer, you can create charity eCards that generate more awareness and donations for your cause. So long as you use an intuitive eCard service, you’ll have access to every design tool you’ll need, whether you want to work off a template or start from scratch.

Here are a few ways to make engaging eCards that excite your team and supporters:

• Infuse your nonprofit’s brand. Connect each nonprofit eCard to your mission by using your colors, logo, font, and graphics associated with your cause. Edit the message associated with each eCard to emphasize that all proceeds of the eCard purchase will go to your nonprofit.
• Add a call to action to each eCard. The best way to do this is to edit the message that will be sent with each eCard. Direct the recipient to your nonprofit’s website where they can learn more about your cause. Make it clear whether you want them to donate, volunteer, register for an event, or simply read about your work.
• Get creative with how you offer eCards. You might offer them for free or in exchange for a donation. Remember, you can also allow staff to send them to supporters or to their colleagues to recognize outstanding work. The right eCard platform will give you a few options. Some offer fundraising tool integrations, allowing you to integrate eCards into the donation process or sell them as fundraising products in your nonprofit’s eStore.

Other Resources to Explore

Nonprofit Basics – Learn more nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources.

Donation eCard Examples that Share the Joy of Giving – Explore other charity eCard examples from real organizations and start brainstorming how you’ll use your cards to boost your fundraising revenue.

Birthday Fundraisers: How to Secure Year-Round Support – Birthday eCards are a great way to bring in donations. Get guidance for your birthday eCards and dive into some other tried-and-true birthday fundraisers with this guide.