The online space grows more competitive each day. Nonprofits are up against big-name companies, vying for consumers’ attention. If you’re grasping at straws and still aren’t capturing prospects’ attention, it might be time to try nonprofit advertising.
Advertising is often perceived as a misuse of donations, but it’s surprisingly effective. There’s a reason companies invest in paid advertising – it works! Where traditional marketing approaches fall short, paid advertising can elevate your cause and extend your reach to new audiences.
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refine your existing efforts, this guide will provide everything you need to create a high-ROI nonprofit advertising strategy, including everything from common types of ads to real-world examples you can emulate. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Whether you’re investing in digital nonprofit advertising or creating newspaper ads, get ready to brainstorm how ads can support your cause and get your services in front of new audiences.
Understanding Nonprofit Advertising
The world of nonprofit advertising is expansive, so let’s start with the fundamentals, kicking off with a basic definition.
What Are Nonprofit Ads?
Also referred to as charity advertising, nonprofit ads are paid ads that nonprofits use to promote their services and fundraisers. Advertising includes digital platforms such as paid search ads and social media ads, as well as traditional advertising methods such as community radio and print ads.
While paid ads can make a notable difference in your outreach, know they’re just one part of your marketing strategy. “Nonprofit marketing” refers to all the activities your nonprofit leverages to promote its brand and mission, while advertising is a specific subset of nonprofit marketing that refers strictly to paid channels.
In the for-profit world, companies create billboards, promotional materials for TV, and digital ads to promote goods and services. Advertising looks a little different for nonprofits, though. Instead of promoting a tangible product, nonprofit advertising is used to “sell” a cause. When done effectively, charity ads educate target audiences about the mission, goals, and services of the organization, as well as solicit donations or other forms of support.
What’s The Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing?
Inbound and outbound marketing are two distinct marketing approaches, each with unique strategies and benefits. For a balanced marketing plan, use both paid and free channels to reach your audience without blowing your budget out of the water. Let’s compare these two strategies:
- Inbound marketing, often referred to as “pull marketing,” is designed to attract prospects by pulling them in with content related to their interests. Common inbound channels include search engine optimization (SEO), blogs, videos, podcasts, and organic social media content. Inbound marketing requires time to develop and share quality content. SEO, in particular, is a crucial form of inbound marketing. By targeting relevant keywords, creating valuable content, and improving the overall user experience of your site, you can attract more organic traffic. While it takes time to see results from SEO, the long-term benefits include a steady stream of engaged visitors and reduced reliance on paid advertising.
- Outbound marketing is commonly called “push marketing” since it involves pushing messages out to a wide audience, regardless of whether the audience has expressed interest in your mission. Typically associated with paid strategies, commonly used outbound channels include TV commercials, pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, direct mail campaigns, newspaper ads, and social media ads. Outbound marketing can deliver quick results and is especially useful for time-sensitive campaigns and events.
Both inbound and outbound marketing have their place in a comprehensive marketing strategy. To strike a balance, we suggest using inbound tactics like optimizing your nonprofit’s website for search engines. This strategy helps build a strong online presence and attract supporters organically. Once you create valuable content, amplify its reach using paid ads.
This approach allows you to leverage the strengths of both strategies: the long-term sustainability of inbound marketing and the immediate impact of outbound marketing.
Why Should Nonprofits Use Advertising?
Nonprofit advertising is undoubtedly worth the investment. From securing new donors to connecting with beneficiaries, you can achieve a lot with persuasive ads.
If you’re not convinced you should spend your hard-earned donations on promoting your work, here are a few common reasons why you should:
- Drive high-quality conversions. Getting Attention’s nonprofit advertising guide explains that with powerful ads, “you can convert an ordinary viewer into a valuable supporter. You might shoot for conversions like donations, volunteer sign-ups, contact form completions, event registrations, or shares to social media sites.” Plus, many platforms have audience targeting capabilities, allowing you to narrow your audience and deliver valuable content to likely supporters.
- Build a stronger, more recognizable brand. Nonprofit advertising puts your digital content in front of more prospects than word-of-mouth alone. Existing supporters will also be met with your charitable ads, keeping your cause front of mind even when they haven’t interacted with you for a while.
- See major returns on low-cost efforts. In some cases, you only pay when a user clicks your ad. Many platforms, like Google Ads, offer discounts and free platform use to verified nonprofits. Even when you pay out of pocket for ads, you don’t have to pay to generate revenue from nonprofit ads. This Google Ad Grant Impact Report explains that view-through revenue—revenue from donors who saw but didn’t click on an ad—accounts for 35% of all giving sourced from digital ads.
For positive results, put in time and effort into creating authentic ads. Otherwise, you’ll waste your budget that could be better used supporting other areas of your mission.
Choosing Between Inbound vs. Outbound Strategies
When choosing between inbound and outbound strategies, nonprofits should consider their goals. Whether the aim is immediate visibility, sustainable growth, or building credibility, both outbound advertising and inbound SEO offer unique advantages.
Let’s take a look at the specific benefits of advertising vs. SEO.
Why Use Advertising:
- Immediate Visibility: Advertising provides quick exposure and immediate results, ideal for time-sensitive campaigns or events.
- Targeted Reach: Paid ads can be highly targeted, ensuring your message reaches the right audience.
- High-Quality Conversions: With compelling ads, you can drive valuable actions like donations, volunteer sign-ups, and event registrations.
Why Use SEO:
- Sustainable Growth: SEO helps organizations build a long-term online presence, attracting organic traffic consistently.
- Cost-Effective: Once established, SEO can provide ongoing benefits without additional costs.
- Credibility and Trust: Content that ranks well on Google also tends to be original, valuable, and reliable. Therefore, high-quality, optimized content enhances your nonprofit’s credibility, fostering long-term supporter relationships.
SEO is ideal for promoting your nonprofit’s services, products, and annual events that attract wide audiences. Meanwhile, you might reserve ads for direct fundraising campaigns, other ways to give, localized offerings, and one-time events.
By understanding the strengths of both approaches, your nonprofit can strategically decide whether to prioritize immediate impact with advertising, sustainable growth with SEO, or ideally both for your marketing plan.
What Are the Challenges of Charity Advertising?
When used efficiently, nonprofit ads can help you make incredible strides for your mission. However, you’ll need to overcome some hurdles.
Here are some challenges you’ll want to get in front of when planning your promotional strategies:
- Donors want their funds to go directly toward your mission. They might resist the idea of their contributions being spent on paid ads. That’s why some nonprofits are hesitant to pay for advertising — they’re worried about what existing prospective donors will think of them.
- You’ll need to dedicate time to managing your ads. Some organizations don’t have the staff or time to create their ads. That goes for monitoring your campaigns and making adjustments to maximize results, too. You shouldn’t use a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Not to mention, some advertising platforms have a considerable learning curve. We recommend working with a nonprofit advertising expert to mitigate these challenges.
- Conveying your message can be challenging. Ads are notorious for seeming inauthentic. When possible, use storytelling components like original images to make your ads appear genuine.
To preemptively overcome these challenges, choose affordable advertising channels and be authentic in your promotion. We also recommend working with a nonprofit advertising agency. These professionals devote their time to managing campaigns backed by their technical expertise, so you can focus on other activities.
How Can I Work Nonprofit Ads Into My Budget?
Considering that nonprofit advertising is a paid form of marketing, you’ll need to allocate sufficient funds toward it.
A common misconception is that paid advertising is unattainable for nonprofits with limited budgets. In reality, many paid advertising platforms offer free or discounted access to verified organizations. Here are some ways your nonprofit can tap into advertising for free, minimizing the negative reactions donors might have:
- Through the Google Ad Grants program, you can receive $10,000 in free ad credits every month. You’ll spend your credits on promoting your website’s most important content, like your donation form or volunteer registration page.
- A rule by the Federal Communications Commission can help you leverage free radio ads if you format them as public service announcements.
- Through business sponsorships, companies may promote your nonprofit to customers free of charge as part of their corporate philanthropy practices.
Beyond these free opportunities, let’s look at how organizations break down their nonprofit advertising budgets across different platforms. According to M+R Benchmarks’ annual study, organizations allocate their advertising budgets in the following percentages:
- 22% on display ads
- 35% on search ads
- 36% on social media
- 8% on video ads and other forms of advertising
Use these percentages to guide you when allocating money toward advertising in your annual budget. Considering that search ads yield the highest return on ad spend, we recommend investing most of your budget in that area. According to that same M+R Benchmarks Study, it generates an incredible $2.75 return for every dollar spent, while display ads generate $0.33.
7 Types of Nonprofit Ads
Considering that paid advertising incurs costs, be strategic about which platforms you use. Decide which ones will align with your goals and will help you reach your target audience. To help you grasp your options, let’s walk through seven of the most common nonprofit advertising platforms, starting with our favorite.
Type 1: Google Search Ads and SEO
Paid search ads are online advertisements that promote an organization’s web content. These ads are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) and are triggered by keywords related to the advertiser’s organization. Advertisers pay each time someone clicks their ad, so they’re not overpaying for advertising space. This makes it cost-effective for reaching and driving qualified leads.
Meanwhile, you can also use SEO to take up even more real estate on SERPs. By optimizing your website’s content for relevant keywords, you can improve your organic search rankings, making it easier for potential supporters to find your organization and purchase your products. SEO involves tactics like keyword research, on-page optimization, content creation, and link building. While it requires an investment of time and effort, the long-term benefits of SEO can turn organic search into a reliable lead source channel for your nonprofit’s purchasable products, services, and programs.
Google Ad Grants
When eligible for Google Ad Grants, nonprofits can tap into this nonprofit advertising channel for free. So long as they comply with the program’s rules, they’ll receive $10,000 each month to spend on amplifying their web content on Google Search. If you’re a visual learner, watch this video from the Google Ad experts at Getting Attention:
If this sounds like an irresistible offer, here’s how to get started with this nonprofit advertising platform:
- Check your nonprofit’s eligibility. Google limits participation to those with valid charity status. Governmental, healthcare, and educational organizations are ineligible. You’ll also need a website that meets the program’s requirements. Explore our Google Grants eligibility guide to determine your eligibility status.
- Create a Google for Nonprofits account. Through Google for Nonprofits, you can access the Google Ad Grant application and a range of helpful tools like Google WorkSpace and the YouTube Nonprofit Program. You’ll provide information like your tax identification number and contact information.
- Wait for Verification. Percent works with Google to verify organizations’ legitimacy and help maintain the integrity of Google’s program. They may reach out for additional documentation, so keep an eye on your email.
- Apply for the Google Grant. Once approved, you’ll gain access to the Google Ad Grant application. Fill out the eligibility form and wait for approval. In no time, you’ll receive $10,000 to spend on Google Ads every month.
We recommend working with a Google Grants agency like Getting Attention to maximize this charity advertising opportunity. They’ll work to understand your mission, choose the right keywords, and craft compelling nonprofit ads that drive results.
How to Integrate Your Google Ads and SEO Strategies
Integrating Google Ads with your SEO strategy can enhance your nonprofit’s visibility within search results, drive traffic to your website, and maximize your impact.
Following SEO best practices means creating a website that ranks organically to reach a broad audience and can be promoted with Google Ads to connect with localized, targeted audiences.
Here’s how you can combine these two approaches:
- Use Google Ads to supplement SEO. SEO is a long-term strategy that takes several months to yield results. During this period, Google Ads can provide immediate visibility. By bidding on the keywords your SEO efforts target, you can ensure that your nonprofit appears at the top of search results pages even before your organic rankings improve.
- Pay attention to keyword performance. Google Ads provides detailed reports on which keywords drive the most traffic and conversions. Use these insights from your paid campaigns to refine your organic SEO keyword strategy.
- Improve your landing pages. High-quality landing pages not only improve your ad performance but also boost organic search rankings. Ensure your landing pages are optimized for SEO by including relevant keywords, providing valuable content, and enhancing the user experience.
- Analyze your Google Ad performance to understand what content resonates with supporters. Use this information to optimize your website content, blog posts, and other SEO materials. For example, if a certain style of ad copy has a high click-through rate, consider incorporating similar language and themes into your website content.
When it comes to search engine advertising strategy, we recommend working with an SEO agency, especially if you’re new to SEO.
An SEO agency brings expert knowledge, tools, and a holistic approach to maximize the effectiveness of both efforts. We recommend Nexus Marketing as the best choice for nonprofits that sell products and services. With its team’s deep understanding of the nonprofit sector, proven track record in driving results, and extensive network within the mission-driven space, Nexus Marketing will deliver customized, results-driven strategies that align with your organization’s unique mission and goals.
Type 2: Social Media Ads
Did you know that 59% of Gen Zers are inspired to donate by a message they saw on social media? You’re missing out if you’re not promoting your cause through this channel!
Most nonprofits recognize this digital marketing channel is effective for leveraging social proof to build trust. Unless you have a large following consistently sharing your content, it can be challenging to gain traction, though. That’s why we recommend allocating money toward social media ads.
Social Media Advertising Platforms
To avoid stretching your nonprofit advertising budget too thin, consider the platforms from which you’ll purchase ad space. As you get started, keep these charity advertising platforms in mind:
- Instagram ads appear throughout the app in users’ feeds, between Stories, and on their explore pages. While designed similarly to normal posts, each ad contains a “sponsored label.” Use this method to tap into additional features unavailable for traditional posts. Include links, CTA buttons, and product catalogs. Then, track ad performance with the insights Instagram provides.
- Facebook ads allow you to tap into the world’s most popular social network. With the ability to target people based on their interests, demographics, and location, nonprofits can create highly targeted campaigns that will likely reach their desired audience. Use Facebook ads to boost engagement, build brand awareness, and even solicit donations with integrated fundraising features.
- X (formerly Twitter) ads allow you to connect with younger audiences. Nonprofits can create targeted campaigns based on user interests and location. Use these to tailor messaging to different audiences, drive website traffic, increase brand visibility, and engage with followers.
- TikTok ads, available through TikTok for Good, offer a dynamic way to reach a younger, highly engaged audience through video ads. Your nonprofit can tell its story, raise awareness, and drive action in a creative, visually engaging format.
These nonprofit advertising channels allow you to leverage user-friendly features and reach supporters where they already are: scrolling through social media. Plus, social media has an incredible reach. Sources estimate there will be 5.8 billion social media users worldwide by 2027.
When creating messages, remember social media tends to be trend-based, so monitor what’s trending to create timely ads for your cause.
Type 3: Sponsored Retargeting
Sponsored retargeting is a collaborative advertising approach where a business or organization sponsors your nonprofit by purchasing ads from you. These ads typically feature co-branded elements. The reasons a company might engage in sponsored retargeting include:
- Improved Reputation: Companies can bolster their reputation by aligning their image with your nonprofit, positioning them as a socially responsible company.
- Audience Overlap: The overlap in audience demographics between the company and your nonprofit makes this an attractive opportunity to promote the company’s services to relevant individuals.
Both your nonprofit and the sponsor can share these advertisements on your respective platforms, increasing visibility and audience engagement for both parties. Overall, this mutually beneficial arrangement not only serves immediate advertising goals but also strengthens the long-term relationship between your nonprofit and its corporate sponsors.
Type 4: Community Radio
Community radio can be ideal for advertising your mission to a local audience. Radio ads can be tailored to specific demographics and areas. Plus, you can physically speak to your audience, showing passion for your cause.
Some nonprofits qualify for free public service announcements on community radio stations. Thanks to the Federal Communications Commission, radio stations must allot some radio time to charitable organizations.
If you’re filling free nonprofit advertising space, there’s one caveat: you’ll need to format your messages as announcements rather than ads.
In other words, you can’t explicitly request donations. However, you can use radio ads to drive website traffic and generate buzz. Then, if your social media posts or website are optimized, visitors may wind up clicking the ‘Donate’ or ‘Volunteer’ button.
Type 5: Print Advertising for Nonprofits
If you want to go a more traditional route with your nonprofit ads, try print advertising. Print ads, such as newspaper and magazine placements, target specific geographic areas, allowing nonprofits to reach their desired audience effectively.
Relatively inexpensive and adaptable, print ads can be placed in various publications, from local newspapers to national magazines. You can even create banners and flyers to promote your cause at local events.
This method works for a few reasons. For instance, print ads tend to be:
- Memorable. You can provide readers with a tangible message to reference later, making it easy to save and circle back.
- Tailored to the cause. Print ads can be designed to match a specific aesthetic. By incorporating your organization’s branding, these types of nonprofit ads can convey your message in a visually appealing, unique way.
- Great for establishing credibility. Print ads can be placed in specific publications or at events your target audience will likely attend. By appearing in a respected publication or at a reputable event, your nonprofit can establish its legitimacy.
In your nonprofit advertising strategy, consider the role of print ads for reaching specific audiences. For example, nature organizations might use publications like National Geographic to connect their cause with respected, influential scientific content.
Type 6: Influencer Advertising
Influencers have an established web presence, usually due to social media or a blog. They’ve created a trustworthy brand and amassed a highly engaged audience.
Companies work with social media influencers to promote their products every day. Have you thought about how working with an influencer can amplify your nonprofit’s brand?
Influencers have a large, engaged audience that trusts their opinion and is likelier to engage with their content. Like you do when choosing corporate partners, choose someone who aligns with your brand.
For example, let’s say you work for a food security organization. You might partner with a food blogger or an influencer who publishes recipes. This will help:
- Convert and activate new supporters. By asking their followers to donate, follow, or show support in some other way, influencers can drive like-minded people to support your cause.
- Draw attention to your work. Influencers can promote engaging content that can spark conversations and encourage people to look into your work.
When leveraging these ads, develop materials for influencers to work with. Then, they can make it their own to give it a more authentic feel that aligns with their brand.
Type 7: Retargeted Advertising
We’ve all experienced this at some point. While online shopping, we add something to our cart like a comfy new shirt. We get distracted and leave the site, only to be met with ads on other websites for that same exact shirt. This is what we refer to as a “retargeted ad.”
While primarily used to promote products, retargeted ads allow nonprofits to engage people who have already shown interest in the mission.
Retargeted advertising places a cookie on a user’s device and then displays relevant ads based on their prior online activity. These ads can effectively reach people who have already visited your nonprofit’s website or interacted with you on social media. They’re tailored to the individual user, making them an effective way to drive conversions.
How to Use Retargeted Ads
If you’re unsure how retargeting ads fit into your nonprofit advertising strategy, let’s review a few examples.
Retargeted ads can remind people of a nonprofit’s mission, encourage donations, and promote events or services. Here are a few use cases for this strategy:
- Abandoned donations: Retarget someone who left your donation page before submitting their donation. They were already considering donating, and it’s up to you to determine why they didn’t follow through. Think through common reasons why someone might abandon a gift. For example, maybe they wanted to research your services more before submitting a donation. If that seems like a viable reason someone would’ve walked away, create retargeted ads that explain your work.
- Event reminders: Create a retargeting ad campaign to re-engage anyone who didn’t complete their event registration. Let’s say someone left to check their calendar but then forgot to return and finish registering. This type of ad can be a great reminder to revisit your event registration page!
This type of nonprofit ad is a fantastic way to engage users, even if they’ve never actually donated or taken any other action. At some point, users who receive these ads showed interest in your cause online, and a little reminder might be just what they need.
Steps to Creating Your Nonprofit Advertising Strategy
Steps to Creating Your Nonprofit Advertising Strategy
So you’ve decided nonprofit advertising is a smart move. Great! Now, let’s walk through easy steps to create an effective nonprofit advertising plan:
1. Define your campaign objectives.
What are you hoping to achieve by purchasing ad space? Do you want to boost volunteer numbers, secure more volunteer grants, sell your product offerings, increase digital donations, or educate the public about your cause? Having a goal will help you pick which content to promote.
For example, if your nonprofit offers paid training programs, you might launch an SEO strategy focused on increasing enrollment and generating revenue for these services. Adding an SEO component to your advertising strategy can help you identify the most relevant keywords and topics to focus on in your ad campaigns.
2. Set a budget.
If you’re not careful, nonprofit advertising costs can quickly add up. When dividing your budget across different advertising platforms, think back to the industry-standard distributions we discussed earlier.
Suppose your nonprofit sells branded merchandise; allocating part of your budget to promote these revenue-generating activities can help sustain your organization’s financial health. Additionally, consider investing in SEO to complement your advertising efforts and add a cost-effective marketing channel to your strategy.
3. Identify your target audience.
Who are you trying to reach with your charity’s ads? Are you attempting to re-engage lapsed donors, connect with first-time volunteers, or find customers for your services? Get specific here, and consider the demographics of who you’re attempting to reach.
For instance, if your nonprofit provides educational workshops to small businesses, targeting entrepreneurs and small business owners in your area would be key. Use SEO data to gain insights into your audience’s online behavior and preferences, helping you refine your ad placements.
4. Choose platforms for ad distribution.
What platforms will put your nonprofit’s ads in front of the appropriate audiences? For example, maybe you’ll use social media ads to connect with Millennial or Gen Z donors across the country while using radio and print ads to reach a local audience.
For instance, if your nonprofit offers consulting services to other organizations, LinkedIn ads could be an effective way to reach professionals and decision-makers.
5. Create ad content.
Now comes the fun part! Create ads that persuade people to take action. For example, if your nonprofit sells online courses, your ads should highlight the unique value and benefits of the courses to attract new learners.
When possible, add compelling images and videos to spark an emotional response. Advertising platforms often limit the length of ads, so make the most of the characters you’re allotted and point to your content that’s optimized for search engines. We’ll explore nonprofit advertising examples in the next section to spark inspiration.
Following these steps will help generate influential ads for your cause. The work’s not over yet, though!
6. Assess your nonprofit advertising strategy.
For effective nonprofit advertising, actively monitor your campaigns using tracking systems, rather than just setting them and forgetting them.
To gauge ad performance, focus on metrics like clicks and reach. Most advertising platforms, including Google Ads, have built-in tools for tracking these key performance indicators (KPIs):
- Impressions refer to how many times your ad was shown to users. It can help you gauge how large your reach is.
- Click-through-rate (CTR) measures how many clicks your charity’s ad received divided by how many impressions it received. This metric indicates how relevant your ad is to users. For reference, if your Google Ad had 5 clicks and 100 impressions, your CTR would be 5%.
- Conversion rate refers to the number of visitors who complete a desired goal, like registering for an event or donating. The higher your conversion rate, the better. Just ensure the action is meaningful to your work.
- Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who click through to your site and leave before viewing any other pages. This can indicate page quality. A low bounce rate is always best!
Using these KPIs, you can proactively gauge your nonprofit ad performance at any point. Throughout your campaign, make adjustments based on results.
3 Nonprofit Advertising Examples
You can research charity ad ideas all you want, but nothing measures up to seeing examples from real organizations. Let’s walk through some nonprofit ad examples to see paid marketing in action.
American Heart Association
Type of Nonprofit Ad: Google Ad
Google Ad Grants have the power to transform any nonprofit’s marketing. Available to verified 501(c)(3) organizations, it can help amplify the most important pages on your website on Google Search.
For this nonprofit advertising example, the American Heart Association targeted terms like “donate to fight heart disease.” Their ad works for a few reasons:
- Users searching donation-related terms are likely to convert.
- The pages the American Heart Association featured correlate with this search intent.
Notice how they offered a few ways for users to engage. Since they’re clearly prospective donors at this stage, users can visit different giving-focused pages, such as the organization’s “ways to give” page, a page showcasing donations in action, or pages about monthly giving. If you’re feeling creative, take a similar approach and promote matching gifts by featuring your ‘ways to give’ page or including matching gifts on your donation form.
To take this ad one step further, the American Heart Association could use extensions to append their phone number, giving users another way to engage. This strategy is more technical, and working with a Google Grants agency can help you take full advantage of this nonprofit advertising opportunity.
Doctors Without Borders
Type of Nonprofit Ad: Facebook Ad
Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization delivering emergency aid and healthcare to in-need populations. Seeking the most effective way to amplify their Giving Tuesday efforts, they turned to Facebook Ads and created a Facebook Fundraiser. The combination yielded twice as much revenue as its Giving Tuesday campaign the previous year.
The organization ran its ads for less than 2 weeks and generated impressive metrics:
- Ad spend for Giving Tuesday ads: $26,000
- Donation value from ads: $72,000
- Return on ad spend: 2.8x
- Donors: 60% new, 40% recurring
This campaign exemplifies the power of social sharing and timely nonprofit ads. It also boosted our all-time favorite fundraising strategy: matching gifts.
While this is a great example of nonprofit advertising for a large organization, smaller nonprofits can also tap into this strategy at lower rates. Even when spending a lot less, you can achieve impressive results. You just have to leverage targeting features and create persuasive messages.
Girls Inc.
Type of Nonprofit Ad: Influencer Ad
For this nonprofit advertising example, Girls Inc. partnered with popular lifestyle blogger Vanessa Scott and Saks OFF 5th to create and market an exclusive t-shirt.
Capitalizing on National Women’s Day, the charity created a shirt with its brand colors. Reading “Every Day is Women’s Day,” the shirt’s core message aligns with its mission to empower girls to overcome environmental challenges.
To support the campaign, Vanessa shared an Instagram post sporting the t-shirt. She explained what the awareness day meant to her, why Girls Inc. is important, and how 100% of the shirt’s proceeds would support the cause.
Not only does this example show the power of influencer ads, but it also demonstrates how nonprofits can partner with socially responsible corporations to amplify their causes.
Wrapping Up
When you create genuine ads, you can inspire more people than ever to support your cause.
There are a lot of nonprofit advertising platforms out there, though. Carefully think through which platforms will connect you with the right audiences before purchasing ad space. Whether you leverage Google Ads or partner with influencers, you’ll surely gain traction for your cause.
As you get started, stay updated with marketing trends and best practices to craft the best ads possible. Here are some helpful resources to get started:
Double the Donation Releases Volunteer Functionality for Corporate Volunteer Benefits
/in Company Updates, About Double the Donation /by Adam WeingerDouble the Donation, the leader in corporate matching gifts automation for nonprofits, is proud to expand its horizons with their new corporate volunteering functionality, designed to help organizations connect their volunteers with volunteer grant and volunteer PTO opportunities provided by their employers.
This corporate volutneering functionality, now available to existing Double the Donation clients, gives organizations the opportunity to use a plugin specifically designed to surface information about volunteer grants, a.k.a. “dollars for doers”, and volunteer time off programs from Double the Donation’s extensive database. Now, donors, volunteers, and other supporters can easily find out if their employer offers special incentives for volunteerism.
Read on to learn more about how your organization can use Double the Donation Volunteering to raise more in volunteer grants or get more supporters through volunteer PTO!
What’s Available within Double the Donation Volunteering?
Double the Donation clients can easily access the corporate volunteering functionality through the top navigation in their account. A new dashboard highlights top volunteer grant programs as well as top volunteer PTO programs. Organizations can also see available resources and templates to help their push for volunteer grants, and can also stay up to date on upcoming events hosted by Double the Donation.
Additionally in the volunteering section of their account, organizations have access to a new plugin that puts volunteer grant and volunteer time off information front and center. Nonprofits can both use the plugin directly from within their account, as well as embed the plugin on their website or integrated volunteer registration forms for visitors to use and search from.
Keep an eye out for updates as Double the Donation adds more features very soon!
Get Started with Double the Donation Volunteering
Double the Donation Volunteering by Double the Donation empowers fundraisers and corporate philanthropy coordinators to deepen their relationships with supporters by exposing them to the benefits companies make available to them.
Ready to learn more about both Double the Donation’s matching gift and corporate volunteer incentive functionality? Request a demo today to learn more about how both can help your organization raise more with every supporter interaction.
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. To learn more about Double the Donation, visit https://doublethedonation.com and request a demo at: https://doublethedonation.com/get-a-demo/
The Future of Matching Gifts: Auto-Submission Functionality
/in About Double the Donation /by Adam WeingerThe nonprofit landscape is continuously changing, and our team at Double the Donation is constantly making improvements to our matching gift solution, Double the Donation Matching, to evolve along with it. To provide users with the best possible software for their fundraising needs, we’re proud to add the latest cutting-edge technology in matching gifts to our platform: auto-submission.
This revolutionary feature makes it easier than ever for donors to complete and submit their matching gift requests to employers by turning a multi-step process into a single click.
Looking to learn more about the functionality? You’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we’ll share everything you need to know to make the most of matching gift auto-submission.
We’re excited to be the leading provider of matching gift technology, and if you or your team has any questions about auto-submission not answered by this guide, our team is more than happy to help.
What is matching gift auto-submission?
Matching gift auto-submission is essentially the automation of the corporate matching gift request process.
Traditionally, for donors to participate in their employers’ matching gift programs, they have to take the following steps:
When developing a matching gift program, companies should eliminate as many barriers to participation as possible. If a company has a laborious and complex matching gift application submission system, employees might not participate in the program.
In contrast to this lengthy process, when donors can automatically submit their match requests, the process looks like this:
With a user-friendly matching gift process, companies can do more good for their communities, better engage employees, and build strong relationships with nonprofits.
Check out the video overview below to learn more and see it in action:
Key benefits of matching gift auto-submission
Streamlining the matching gift process with auto-submission benefits every party involved in the process. Let’s take a look at how auto-submission improves matching gifts for each stakeholder.
Benefits for Donors
Donors appreciate knowing their gifts will go further with matching gifts, but complicated request processes can discourage even the most dedicated supporters. Double the Donation has long worked to streamline the matching gift submissions by:
Now auto-submission functionality brings simplicity to the next level. With auto-submission, corporate employees can give directly to a nonprofit through their website, a peer-to-peer fundraising page, or other donation tool. From there, submitting their match requests to their company is so quick and easy that participating is practically a no-brainer.
Benefits for Nonprofits
The link between an easy matching gift process and greater nonprofit revenue is clear; when more donors successfully submit their matches, more matching gift funds get sent your way.
This means nonprofits can tap into additional income streams to pursue their missions. Plus, since matching gift funds are likely to be unrestricted revenue, nonprofits are free to spend these extra donations on important but underfunded overhead costs. When the process is automated from start to finish, your team can focus on programming rather than chasing down donors.
Benefits for Companies
Companies offer employee programs like matching gifts to increase employee engagement and better appeal to existing and prospective consumers. The more their employees participate in matching initiatives, the more the companies give to nonprofit causes and the better their reputation becomes. When employees see the ease of matching gift auto-submission, their participation in employee giving programs goes up.
Benefits for Corporate Giving Vendors
Corporate giving vendors design software for companies that streamlines and improves workplace giving programs like matching gifts. When vendors offer matching gift auto-submission functionality, they make it easier for companies, employees, and nonprofits to tap into a widespread employee giving program, matching gifts. As a result, these CSR platforms see increased usage and satisfaction among corporate clients who want to optimize their employees’ giving experiences. In the end, this improves these software vendors’ SaaS renewal rates, attracts new corporate clients, and drives up long-term revenue.
The quicker and simpler it is to participate in corporate matching gift programs, the more likely individuals are to take the required steps. As a result, nonprofits and companies alike can expect significantly more match-eligible donations driven to completion, which is a win-win for everybody!
How new auto-submission functionality works
Auto-submission sounds great, but how does it actually work?
We’ve already gone over the basic process, but let’s hone in on a few key steps. Particularly, we’ll look at steps two through four in the following infographic which explains just what the software does with a donor’s employment information.
In the end, corporate matching gifts are paid out to your organization the same way as if an individual had manually submitted their matching gift request on their own. To learn more about how this technology works, check out this video exploring Double the Donation’s auto-submission functionality:
Our trailblazing auto-submission partners
Double the Donation leverages partnerships with other innovative technology providers to expand its services and functionality. Matching gift auto-submission is no different.
Auto-submission is on the rise, and we’re happy to show off three CSR vendors who have partnered with Double the Donation to bring this cutting-edge technology to donors:
Millie
Millie is a social impact platform designed to make workplace giving and volunteering accessible, fun, and impactful. They are big believers that change comes from everyone, and Millie is on a mission to empower businesses of all sizes to start and grow social impact programs. Whether a company has 100 employees, 5,000 employees, or anything in between, Millie helps engage teams with donation matching, volunteer programming, fundraising campaigns, gifting, ERG tools, and more.
Employees of companies that utilize Milie’s software can leverage matching gift auto-submission to submit match requests to their employers more easily. For nonprofits using Double the Donation, donors will be asked on the gift confirmation page to enter their corporate email address. From there, an email will be sent requesting the donor verify their recently submitted donation and subsequent matching gift request, which will then be completed and processed by Millie.
POINT
POINT is known for being a robust yet user-friendly volunteer management app for nonprofits, volunteers, and companies. POINT aims to be an all-in-one solution for corporate social responsibility needs, including volunteering, giving, matching, and partnering.
To leverage matching gift auto-submission through POINT, qualifying donors enter their email address into the POINT app. The email address is automatically verified with POINT, providing the user with a list of nonprofits associated with their app profile to choose from. They will then be asked to select the organization the donation match should be sent to. From there, the submission is processed behind the scenes.
Selflessly
Selflessly helps HR and company culture leaders increase employee engagement through its corporate giving and volunteering software solution. Selflessly makes it easy to make a social impact by providing companies with all the tools they need in one platform. Employees can donate to nonprofits, coordinate volunteer opportunities, create team campaigns, receive matching gifts, and more. They prioritize inclusive workplaces to support all employees and the causes they care about.
Individuals working for companies that use Selflessly to manage their matching gift programs can log into their employer’s Selflessly portal and request a donation match to their favorite organizations. Now, when those organizations utilize Double the Donation’s auto-submission technology, the request process is as easy as entering their corporate email address when giving. Double the Donation and Selflessly will handle the rest!
Discover even more about matching gift auto-submission
Matching gift auto-submission goes a long way toward increasing the number of completed match donation requests. For organizations like yours, that will mean more corporate revenue and engagement opportunities, with fewer eligible gifts slipping through the cracks. And, best of all, your donors are going to love it!
Interested in learning more about matching gifts and best practices your organization can take to increase corporate revenue? Check out these other educational resources:
Nonprofit Basics: Museum Membership
/in Nonprofit Basics /by Adam WeingerMuseums are centers of cultural curiosity. Their events create a sense of community, belonging, and inspiration. Audiences of all ages from middle schoolers to retirees are invited to pause and reflect on their history. However, museums can run into some serious challenges when it comes to finding reliable funding.
With a few exceptions, most museums are privately funded and therefore rely heavily on donations. To keep their doors open, museums must be creative with their revenue streams. That’s why promoting museum membership opportunities is essential.
On the other side of the coin, museum members are often interested in joining a community full of curious, like-minded people. However, amid hectic schedules, it’s easy for them to miss out on a museum’s latest displays. Museum memberships provide community members with an extra incentive both to visit new exhibits and return to old favorites.
Therefore, museum memberships offer a win-win for both museums and members.
What is a museum membership?
To put it simply, a museum membership is a monetized, tax-deductible pass available for the general public to redeem for free admission. Membership passes typically offer special discounts and privileges as well.
Memberships are appealing to frequent museum-goers as they will likely save a couple of ticket payments with the added appeal of a few extra perks. Membership packages can be tailored to specific member needs based on annual or group options.
If you’re a decision-maker at a museum or cultural organization, consider implementing a museum membership program to boost awareness and admission levels. Growing your membership base can increase your donation amounts and promotional efforts, so you can focus on your next exhibition.
What are the benefits of a museum membership?
Membership benefits vary depending on the museum and its membership packages. Besides free admission, here’s a list of potential benefits a museum membership might offer:
If your museum has multiple locations or partners with other museums, global museum access is a great selling point. Travelers and individuals changing addresses will be happy to have consistent benefits, no matter where they are.
For instance, a family may have kids intrigued by a local children’s museum exhibit while the parents are looking for offerings geared toward adults. By reaching out to your museum network, you can find partnership opportunities that serve both of these audiences, allowing you to advertise a range of experiences to members.
How do members apply?
Although membership sign-ups can differ between museums, they usually follow a standard process:
When setting up your museum’s membership program, ensure your benefits are worth the price. Compare your offerings to competitors and consider how you can differentiate your organization, whether it’s through programming, events, community, or content.
How can museums create a membership program?
Are you ready to implement a museum membership program? Managing memberships can be tricky, requiring museums to balance everything from event registration to payment processing to weekly newsletter communication. Fortunately, software can help.
A robust customer relationship management (CRM) platform or association management software (AMS) can streamline the museum membership process to help you retain current members while recruiting new ones. An effective management system can level up your membership process in a variety of ways, including:
Additionally, consider investing in a community engagement platform. This tool provides your members with an online space to connect, allowing you to:
If you already like your AMS, explore community engagement platforms that integrate with your current software. This expands your program’s value for members while retaining the backend tools your staff appreciates for creating events, collecting dues, and managing communication.
Other Resources to Explore
Nonprofit Basics – Learn more about the nonprofit management essentials by exploring other expert resources
40+ Marketing Ideas for Nonprofits to Spread Your Mission – Leverage your resources and increase your revenue with these cutting-edge marketing ideas.
6 Powerful Member Management Features to Build Resilency – Use these six tools to effectively manage your museum memberships.
How to Track Volunteer Grants: Tools, Metrics & More
/in About Double the Donation, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerVolunteer grants, also known as “dollars for doers” programs, are a form of corporate giving that rewards employees’ volunteerism by providing monetary donations to the organizations they support.
These programs supply an invaluable source of funding for nonprofits and schools—however, identifying, pursuing, and managing funding through the programs can be challenging without the right tools and strategies in place. So, if you’re looking for new insights to help track volunteer grants effectively for your team, you’ve come to the right place.
In this guide, we’ll explore the essential tools and metrics needed to track and report on volunteer grant opportunities—from identification through completion. Empowering your organization with the following information will ensure your team maximizes its potential from the programs with ease:
Ready to get tracking? Let’s dive in.
Why Should Organizations Track Volunteer Grants?
Corporate volunteer grants offer immense potential for nonprofits, but few organizations are making the most of the opportunities before them. Why? A lack of an established volunteer grant tracking process can certainly play a role. Meanwhile, tracking volunteer grants effectively allows fundraisers to supercharge their corporate giving and volunteer engagement efforts alike.
If you’re wondering why your team should invest in revamping its volunteer grant tracking system, our leading reasons include:
Key Volunteer Grant Metrics & KPIs to Monitor
The best way to determine the success of your organization’s volunteer grant marketing efforts is to track select KPIs (or key performance indicators). The metrics you choose to measure can help your team assess its overall impact, improve outreach efforts, demonstrate value to stakeholders, and more.
Here are a few metrics we recommend tracking within your volunteer grant strategy.
Recommended KPI: Volunteer Grant Eligibility Rate
Why it Matters: This metric represents the portion of your volunteer network identified as eligible for a volunteer grant program through their employers. The figure allows your team to better understand and pursue the volunteer grant opportunity.
How to Track This Volunteer Grant Metric: Use a volunteer grant database tool to triage volunteers based on whether their employers offer volunteer grant programs. Then, divide the number of volunteers who work for participating companies by the total number of volunteers in your community.
Recommended KPI: Volunteer Grant Completion Rate
Why it Matters: This metric represents the portion of your volunteer-eligible supporter base that ultimately submit in a volunteer grant. Understanding this figure allows you to measure the efficiency of the full volunteer grant process and identifies areas for improvement in your strategy.
How to Track This Volunteer Grant Metric: Divide the number of volunteer-grant eligible individuals who ultimately produce a volunteer grant for your organization by the total number of volunteer-grant eligible individuals.
Recommended KPI: Total Volunteer Grant Funding Received
Why it Matters: This metric represents the direct financial benefit from companies through volunteer grant programs, indicating the overall level of support.
How to Track This Volunteer Grant Metric: Add the sum of each volunteer grant you receive in a given time period.
Recommended KPI: Grant Amount per Volunteer
Why it Matters: This metric represents the average value a volunteer grant brings. It also allows you to more accurately forecast incoming grant revenue and aids in tailoring realistic targets and expectations for the results of your implemented strategies.
How to Track This Volunteer Grant Metric: Add the sum of each volunteer grant you receive in a given time period, then divide the total amount of funds by the number of volunteer grants received.
Recommended KPI: Number of Companies Providing Volunteer Grants
Why it Matters: This metric represents the extent of your organization’s current corporate volunteer grant contributor network, and demonstrates your potential for future growth.
How to Track This Volunteer Grant Metric: Count each company that contributes one or more volunteer grants to your organization in a given time period. See if these top volunteer grant companies are supporting your efforts!
Top Tools to Track Volunteer Grants Accurately & Efficiently
Equipping your team with the right tools to track volunteer grants is an essential component of the process. After all, doing so allows for increasingly accurate and efficient management of volunteer data. Plus, innovative technology allows you to enhance reporting capabilities and strengthen relationships with individual volunteers and corporate partners alike.
Effective tracking tools will help your organization streamline volunteer grant identification and promotional efforts, too, ultimately leading to increased funding, improved engagement, and better, more-informed decision-making.
Here’s what we suggest:
A specialized volunteer grant database
For example, Double the Donation can provide exclusive access to forms and guidelines for thousands of companies that provide volunteer grants (and matching gifts, VTO, etc.). This ultimately simplifies the process of securing volunteer grants, making it easier for volunteers to do their part in the request and driving more volunteer grants to completion.
Comprehensive volunteer time-tracking tools
For volunteers to submit grant requests to their employers, they’ll generally need to supply some sort of record of their activities.
For that purpose, you’ll want to ensure you’re making it easy for volunteers by equipping them with tools to track and verify the hours they spend with your organization.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) portals
Many companies facilitate volunteer grants through their CSR platforms. In that case, your team will need to log in to the portals to verify volunteer hours. (Don’t worry—we have a handy guide here on navigating those platforms.)
These portals will also allow you to see how many volunteer grants have made it to this step!
Remember: the right tools can go a long way. Effective tracking tools will help streamline your identification and promotional efforts, too. In the end, it ultimately leads to increased funding, improved engagement, and better, more-informed decision-making.
Next Steps for Tracking More Volunteer Grants
Tracking and reporting on volunteer grant opportunities is a vital component of a successful corporate engagement strategy. With the right tools and key metrics, your team can track volunteer grants more seamlessly than ever before.
As a result, your organization can boost its financial resources, strengthen relationships with corporate partners, and encourage greater volunteer involvement.
Interested in learning more about how you can track volunteer grants and other forms of corporate giving? Check out these recommended resources:
The Volunteer Grant Research Guide | Finding More Funding
/in About Double the Donation, Marketing Strategies, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerVolunteer grants (also known as dollars for doers programs) present a lucrative opportunity for nonprofits to maximize their available resources and bolster their impact. However, navigating the complex world of research, engagement, eligibility guidelines, and submissions can be daunting. Lucky for you, that’s where our complete guide to volunteer grant research comes into play.
Designed to demystify volunteer grant research and more, this resource equips nonprofits with the knowledge and tools they need to identify, pursue, and secure more dollars for doers revenue than ever before.
In order to build much-needed familiarity with the programs, we’ll walk you through each step of the volunteer grant research process here. These phases include:
Whether you’re a seasoned volunteer manager or new to the corporate volunteerism sector, our guide will help you uncover more funding opportunities, allowing your organization to thrive.
Let’s begin!
Understanding the Volunteer Grant Opportunity 🧠
Volunteer grants are financial contributions provided by corporations to nonprofits where their employees volunteer. These programs are offered by thousands of businesses of all shapes, sizes, and sectors—including IBM, Google, Home Depot, Starbucks, Microsoft, Disney, and 40% of the Fortune 500.
However, a lack of volunteer grant awareness among teams and supporters alike has resulted in a significant gap in the programs being utilized and funding being secured. Therefore, for the best results, it’s crucial that a nonprofit’s team has a solid understanding of the volunteer grant opportunity before it can maximize its funding potential. After all, a well-informed team can more effectively communicate the benefits to volunteers, encouraging greater participation and maximizing the organization’s grant earnings.
Familiarity with companies offering these programs—and the specific eligibility criteria for each—is also essential for effectively targeting the right opportunities. Since each volunteer grant program is unique, having extensive knowledge of the programs allows nonprofits to tailor their outreach and engagement strategies according to each supporter’s eligibility. Learn how solutions like Double the Donation Volunteering can help you access the information you need to secure more volunteer grants:
Recommended resource to take your corporate volunteer knowledge to the next level: Double the Donation’s free downloadable Ultimate Guide to Volunteer Grants
Identifying Your Organization’s Needs & Goals 🎯
For a nonprofit to effectively pursue volunteer grants, it should first identify the unique needs and goals related to these grants. What, specifically, is holding your organization back from reaching its volunteer grant potential?
Perhaps you need better data on where your supporters work.
Or, if you do have accurate and up-to-date employment information for your volunteers, perhaps the roadblock is determining which individuals qualify for volunteer grant programs.
Or maybe you experience drop-off getting supporters to complete the request process on your behalf.
Regardless of the reason, once you’ve determined what’s stopping you from fully leveraging the opportunity, make a plan for overcoming the challenge. Clearly defined goals provide a roadmap for targeting volunteer grants in a way that will have the most significant impact on your cause. We recommend establishing goals that are SMART—or Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example: “To secure $1,000 in volunteer grant funding by the end of the fiscal year.”
A detailed understanding of your objectives allows your team to craft compelling narratives for volunteer grant-related content. As a result, you can better demonstrate how a volunteer’s participation enables your organization to achieve tangible outcomes, thus making a stronger case for engagement.
It also ensures that everyone—staff, volunteers, and beyond—is working toward a common objective: maximizing the potential for volunteer grant success.
Collecting Employment Information from Supporters 💼
Collecting employment information from supporters is a strategic approach for nonprofits to identify and leverage volunteer grant opportunities to their greatest potential. By understanding which companies their supporters work for, organizations can pinpoint potential sources of volunteer grants.
Fortunately, there are a few ways for fundraisers to source this information. For the best results, we recommend implementing a combination of the following methods:
Once you have this employment information on hand, you can use it to tailor your outreach and engagement efforts. For instance, knowing that a significant number of volunteers are employed by a company with a grant program might lead you to focus on building relationships with the business.
Uncovering Eligible Volunteers in Your Network 🔎
Volunteer grants are a specific type of grant generally tied to an employee engagement program offered by the company. As a result, an employer donates money to the nonprofit based on the number of volunteer hours contributed by their employees.
Recognizing which volunteers work for participating companies allows nonprofits to strategically identify and pursue the opportunities available to them.
Ultimately, this targeted strategy leverages existing volunteer efforts to generate more substantial funding, enabling the nonprofit to further its mission and enhance its programs and services.
You might want to scan your entire database for opportunities, too—including existing volunteers, donors, and prospects. From there, you can alert current volunteers of their eligibility while informing donors and other non-volunteers about how they can provide more comprehensive support for your cause, empowering them to get involved in a new way.
Top tip: Jump to the section on volunteer grant databases below to learn the best way to identify volunteer grant-eligible supporters in your network!
Encouraging Volunteers to Pursue Corporate Grants ✍️
Once you know who qualifies for volunteer grants from your network, it’s important to take time to encourage them to actually participate. By motivating eligible supporters to apply for said grant opportunities, nonprofits can unlock significant funding and supercharge their volunteer engagement.
Many volunteers are unaware that their employers offer such programs, so simply providing information on eligibility and involvement can inspire volunteers to take action. Help supporters navigate the submission process and remind them to take advantage of their eligibility before it expires. By encouraging volunteers to pursue corporate grants, your organization can significantly increase its funding, thereby enhancing its ability to fulfill its mission and expand its reach in the community.
Encouraging volunteers to log their hours and apply for grants can lead to substantial financial contributions from their employers. This approach not only boosts the organization’s funding but also strengthens volunteer engagement, as volunteers see a direct impact of their work being amplified through additional resources.
Bonus: Enlisting a Volunteer Grant Database Tool 🦾
Our final recommendation is one that is powered by innovative technology: a corporate giving or volunteer grant database.
Enlisting a volunteer grant solution like Double the Donation in your nonprofit’s engagement strategy is an excellent way to efficiently manage and maximize volunteer grants. A database tool can centralize information, provide direct links to online submission forms and eligibility criteria, and streamline the grant application process for volunteers.
By aggregating all the information you need in one place, the tool saves time and effort for both the nonprofit team and its supporters. Volunteers can easily access up-to-date information about available grants, application deadlines, and eligibility requirements, and being equipped with the right information makes them more inclined to complete the process.
Next Steps & More Volunteer Grant Resources
Securing funding through volunteer grants can be transformative for mission-focused organizations. Not only do the programs provide access to new streams of corporate philanthropy revenue, but they also incentivize greater levels of engagement among volunteers in the first place.
By leveraging this guide, nonprofits like yours can systematically approach the grant research and application process with greater confidence and efficiency. Remember, the key to success lies in thorough preparation, a clear understanding of the opportunity before you, and a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience.
Let this guide be your roadmap to making a greater difference in the communities you serve. Good luck!
Interested in learning more about volunteer grant research and other workplace giving programs? Check out these recommended resources:
How to Get Matching Gifts Trending at Your Organization
/in Fundraising Ideas, Marketing Strategies, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerEmployee matching gifts are one of the most popular forms of corporate philanthropy. Still, the source is widely untapped, largely due to a lack of knowledge surrounding the programs. If you’re looking to drive participation at your organization (in order to maximize funding and elevate donor engagement), it’s time to get matching gifts trending among supporters.
But how can you go about doing so? Start a buzz around matching gifts at your nonprofit with these helpful tips:
Our hope is that, by incorporating our recommended practices, matching gifts will become a well-known and fully utilized source of support among you and your supporters.
Let’s jump in with our first trick.
1. Share a blog post.
Blog articles are an effective medium for marketing matching gifts and other employee giving forms to your
supporters. A well-written post provides an opportunity to share an in-depth explanation of the philanthropy programs, along with showing donors that your organization is focused on maximizing fundraising from every source.
Not sure where to get started? We’ve written the following article that your team can use to kick off your matching gift blogging strategy. From there, you can send a link to the newly published resource in your newsletters and other communications to ensure donors know about this opportunity to increase their impact.
Meanwhile, if you choose to write a blog post from scratch, we recommend:
2. Use hashtags on social media.
Your organization likely relies on social media as a core tenet of your digital marketing strategy. But do you have a plan in place to maximize your reach and engagement on key networking platforms?
Research indicates that incorporating hashtags in your posts goes a long way in terms of visibility, audience engagement, and more. A hashtag, which is essentially an octothorpe symbol followed by a key word or phrase, is a social media tool used to organize posts based on content topic. And including one or more in your postings can drive engagement by up to 100% compared to posts without hashtags.
In your next social media post about matching gifts for your organization, consider utilizing a few related hashtags and see how your audience responds. Here are a few examples you can use:
It’s also important to note that the way you use hashtags can and should vary depending on the social platforms you use. For example, studies show that Tweets with 1-2 hashtags see more than twice as much engagement as those without hashtags. But Tweets with more than two hashtags actually see a drop in engagement.
Meanwhile, the most-interacted-with Instagram posts typically include 11+ hashtags!
3. Prioritize video content.
According to content marketing research for nonprofits, video content is one of the most essential components of an optimized engagement plan. In fact, 66% of individuals find short-form videos to be the most engaging type of material published on social media.
Not to mention, of an organization’s audience…
In the age of YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, Snapchat, and more, video-sharing is becoming an increasingly integral part of nonprofit marketing. And when it comes to matching gifts, producing video content can play a critical role in informing and inspiring action among donors.
For example, check out this exemplary matching gift video that demonstrates the ease with which a donor can complete the process to amplify their impact on behalf of a cause they care about:
Once they had the video created, the organization opted to share the content on both its website and social media channels to further its reach.
Take a look at the Facebook post here:
Want to make your own video? Here’s a sample script you can use to get started:
“Increasing revenue with matching gifts isn’t too tricky, but we need our donors’ help. Last year we collected $[total revenue] worth of matching gifts. This year, we’d like to receive even more. We’ve set a goal to raise over $[revenue goal] from these programs by the end of the year. If we meet our goal, we’ll be able to [summary of your nonprofit mission and/or specific project or programming].
You can help us reach these goals by searching for your own match eligibility. Immediately assess your eligibility and gain access to detailed information about your employer’s corporate giving program. All you have to do is search our database of companies with matching gift programs. Click the link in the caption [to your organization’s dedicated matching gift page] to learn more.”
4. Explore artificial intelligence and technology for content creation.
A significant roadblock facing all sorts of nonprofits is a lack of time and effort dedicated to their marketing strategies—especially when it comes to matching gifts. In fact, Nonprofits Source finds that over 80% of nonprofits report difficulty building strong workplace giving strategies due to limited staff and resources.
One unique and innovative solution? Artificial intelligence and smart technology.
AI-powered tools are currently sweeping the nation, particularly in regard to brands streamlining content creation while putting more time back into the hands of staff members. To provide some examples of how this can impact matching gifts, we tested a few artificial intelligence tools to see what they could come up with.
Here’s a sample social media caption written by one AI chatbot tool, ChatGPT (from the emojis to the hashtags and everything in between):
Not to mention, our very own matching gift solution can help streamline donor communications while maintaining targeted and personalized efforts. With this tool, you can easily collect and track donor employment data, identify match-eligible donations, and trigger automated email follow-ups that drive more matching gifts to completion. And it can all take place without your fundraising team having to lift a finger!
5. Host a real-time Q&A online.
From the perspective of a donor who has never requested a matching gift, the entire process can seem a bit overwhelming. What your team can do, as the nonprofit they’re supporting, is make an effort to answer any questions your supporters may have.
And what better way to do so than with a real-time Q&A session? According to recent live-streaming research, real-time content generates 27% more watch time per viewer than on-demand video. Users like interacting with their favorite organizations, and doing so as a nonprofit can help facilitate deeper relationships with donors. In fact, 79% of marketers indicate that a more authentic interaction with their audience is a top benefit of live-streamed video.
While you’ll likely aim to answer a number of questions in any pre-recorded content you share, it can be hard to predict what exactly your donors will want to know. So let them tell you in real time. We recommend:
Today, most social media platforms offer some sort of live-streaming option—including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and even Twitter. So pick your favorite platform (ideally one that already sees a lot of user engagement with your nonprofit) and go live!
6. Consider influencers and peer advocates.
Influencer marketing and peer-to-peer fundraising are based on a shared principle: social proof. Social proof revolves around the psychological finding that people are more likely to assume the actions of others when making their decisions.
Luckily, you can use this idea in your next matching gifts campaign!
The first step in leveraging social proof for matching gifts involves locating a number of individuals who you’d like to promote matching gifts to your audience. When donors see other supporters participating in matching gift initiatives, it can be the inspiration they need to get involved themselves.
These so-called “influencers” might be someone closely associated with your nonprofit cause, such as:
Or, you might even be able to get a popular influencer (or micro-influencer) on board! For the best results, look for individuals who share a similar target audience to your nonprofit. Plus, existing connections to your organization or its mission can go a long way toward making that connection.
Regardless of who you choose to get involved, encourage these individuals to share information about gift-matching opportunities—such as your new matching gift videos—on their personal social media pages. Provide them with pre-made images, suggested captions, video scripts or outlines, and more, empowering champions to advocate for matching gifts and encourage others to get involved.
From there, your nonprofit can typically re-post the content to your own pages (depending on the platform or platforms used), furthering the reach of the posts.
7. Make the most of free advertising with Google Grants.
Another marketing strategy that you won’t want to overlook is paid search engine advertising. And don’t be alarmed by the word “paid,” either. Google offers nonprofits access to a generous in-kind grant in the form of free ad space (the equivalent of up to $10,000 per month), known as the Google Ad Grant.
Now, why should you promote matching gifts to your audience with the Google Grant? First of all, it’s a free marketing opportunity. Of course you want to make the most of it! Not to mention, research indicates that search advertisements (such as Google Ads) have the highest ROI for nonprofit paid advertising—with an average value of $4.78 for every dollar.
When you participate in the Google Ad Grant, you essentially choose a page (or pages) and the keywords you’d like to advertise for. Then, when a donor or prospect searches the phrase (e.g., matching gifts for Cat Rescue Club), they’ll be met with your relevant sponsored content (i.e., your donation form, dedicated match page, ways to give page, blog article) at the top of the results page.
The Google Grant is a great way to increase visibility and expand the reach of your organization’s fundraising efforts. And when done well, it can drive more match-eligible donors through the giving—and matching—processes.
Ready to apply for the Google Grant? Check out this step-by-step guide from the experts at Getting Attention.
8. Keep up with shifting trends.
When it comes to getting donation-matching (or just about anything else) “trending” at your organization, it’s important that you have a solid understanding of current trends. After all, trends can change fairly quickly, along with the introduction and development of new technology, changing consumer—and supporter—preferences, and more.
And in order to get matching gifts trending effectively, there are a few key types of trends to consider as you craft your strategy. These include…
It ultimately boils down to this: just because something is a key trend today doesn’t mean it will necessarily be the same five years from now. So keep an eye out, make a note of any significant shifts you see, and reconvene with your marketing team on a regular basis.
And if you’re a Double the Donation user, we’ll always keep you up to date with the latest trends that our team is seeing! Check back with our blog, attend upcoming webinars, or explore our online Matching Gift Academy to stay at the forefront of matching gift innovation.
Next Steps
You’ve heard the tips. Now, get started by implementing these tried-and-true practices in your own organization’s strategy.
Just remember: the more familiar your audience is with the idea of matching gifts, the more likely they are to partake in their employers’ programming. And the more funding you’ll ultimately receive from corporate philanthropy opportunities available to your cause.
Want to learn more? Explore additional resources and discover how you can double your organization’s fundraising impact with matching gifts:
The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Volunteer Grants [For Nonprofits]
/in Marketing Strategies, About Double the Donation, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerIn the dynamic landscape of nonprofit operations, organizations constantly face the challenges of recruiting and retaining dedicated volunteers, sourcing sufficient funds, and maintaining high levels of engagement. Various strategies have been devised to overcome these challenges, but one opportunity stands out as a potent yet often underutilized resource: corporate volunteer grants.
What are Volunteer Grants?
Volunteer grants, which are also known as “Dollars for Doers” or employer-sponsored volunteer programs, are corporate giving initiatives in which companies provide monetary donations to nonprofits where their employees volunteer. These grants can significantly enhance a nonprofit’s funding while also fostering a culture of collaboration between corporations, nonprofits, and their shared teams.
As a result, the approach you take to marketing volunteer grants to supporters is crucial. In order to drive the best results, the marketing process generally includes the following steps:
In this guide, we’ll walk you through each item so you can ensure your team is marketing volunteer grants effectively. Plus, create the greatest positive impact for your cause.
Let’s begin!
Segmenting your volunteer grant marketing approach
In the realm of nonprofit fundraising, a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing rarely yields optimal results. Marketing volunteer grants is no different.
Therefore, understanding your nonprofit’s audience is crucial for effectively promoting the opportunities to your supporter base. By tailoring your communications with a data-driven strategy, you can increase engagement, awareness, and participation in the revenue-generating programs.
For example, existing volunteers could receive one piece of content asking them to see if their employer will match their time. Meanwhile, volunteer prospects might receive another message informing them about the opportunity and encouraging them to sign up for a volunteer shift to get started.
If you know the supporter’s company, you can also segment your marketing based on a recipient’s likely eligibility for a grant. And, if there’s a history of eligibility for—or participation in—other forms of workplace giving programs (such as matching gifts or volunteer time off), this can also be helpful information to note.
Creating and sharing useful volunteer grant marketing content
Creating and sharing volunteer grant-related content through your marketing efforts is pivotal for nonprofits aiming to promote the opportunity to their supporters. By providing clear, informative, and engaging materials, you can educate volunteers about the programs, demystify the process, and invite supporters to get involved.
When done well, your content should strengthen the connection with volunteers by highlighting the dual value of their time alongside financial support from their employers. This targeted approach not only raises awareness but also empowers volunteers to take action, leading to increased participation in the programs.
Check out the following content topics and ideas for marketing volunteer grants to your audience:
Marketing volunteer grants with multi-channel promotions
There’s no one perfect platform through which your organization can market volunteer grants to reach 100% of your audience. That’s why we recommend taking a multichannel approach, ensuring your message has a broader reach, and you expose a greater percentage of your audience to the opportunity.
While the specific means you use will vary according to your existing promotional plans and resources, we recommend marketing volunteer grants across the following channels:
1) Your website
Your website can serve as a central hub for providing detailed information about volunteer grants to your supporters. We recommend establishing a dedicated page to explain what these are, how supporters can apply for them, and the impact they have on your mission. You’ll also want to embed a volunteer grant database in the page to ensure users have easy access to program guidelines and next steps.
Plus, add a section about the opportunity on your website’s Ways to Give hub. However, you may decide to combine your Match Page and Volunteer Grants Page, creating a complete workplace giving resource instead.
2) Social media
Social media platforms are excellent for raising awareness and driving traffic to your website. Regular posts, stories, and updates about grant opportunities, testimonials, and submission tips can reach a wide audience and encourage eligible volunteers to get involved. Meanwhile, interactive content like polls and Q&A sessions can also boost engagement and get supporters excited about the opportunity. Then, link back to your dedicated volunteer grants page so you can supply hyper-personalized information even from your broader marketing efforts.
3) Email
Email campaigns can deliver personalized and targeted information directly to your supporters’ inboxes. Digital newsletters can feature detailed step-by-step walkthroughs, reminders about submission deadlines, and success stories to encourage participation.
At the same time, more segmented emails can ensure each volunteer receives targeted content relevant to them, their engagement history, and their employing company.
4) Text messages
Text marketing offers a powerful opportunity for sharing short, sweet, and to-the-point messages with your audience. When it comes to marketing volunteer grants, it’s a direct, quick, and easy way to remind supporters about volunteer grant opportunities.
For the best results, we recommend prioritizing brief, concise messages linking out to additional information to prompt quick and tangible next steps from supporters.
5) Volunteer sign-up forms
Integrating information about volunteer grants into your organization’s volunteer sign-up forms ensures that new and existing volunteers are exposed to the programs.
Even better, volunteers expect to share a good amount of information about themselves when they sign up to donate their time to your cause. As each volunteer completes an online sign-up form, your team has a unique opportunity to promote volunteer grant opportunities and source employment data that can help uncover funding in your network.
💡 Top tip: Embed a company database tool in your sign-up forms by integrating your volunteer registration platform with Double the Donation! Make it easy for supporters to learn about the opportunity and provide invaluable employment insights.
6) Paid advertising
Our final recommendation is what is often referred to as paid advertising. However, don’t let the “paid” part hold you back. Sites like Google and Microsoft each offer registered nonprofits free access to their platforms, meaning you’ll benefit from sponsored search listings at no cost.
In doing so, you can effectively target specific demographics likely to be interested in volunteer grants. Plus, drive new qualified traffic to your website, raise awareness among a broader audience, and attract new supporters to your cause.
💡 Top tip: Request a free consultation with our recommended paid advertising consultant, Getting Attention, to initiate the Google Grant application process today.
Marketing volunteer grants with one-off corporate partnerships
More than likely, a lot of your supporters already work for companies with volunteer grant programs. For those who don’t, however, custom or “one-off” partnerships can offer an excellent way to begin facilitating relationships with employers in your network.
This targeted approach allows nonprofits to build a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with a specific company, fostering a sense of exclusivity and dedicated support. It can even lead to increased volunteer engagement from the company’s employees, who may feel more connected and committed to the cause due to their employer’s direct involvement.
💡 Top tip: Reach out to existing supporters’ employers to pitch a volunteer grant partnership. You may even be able to source a warm introduction from a donor or volunteer to help break the ice!
Sourcing inspiration from real-world examples of marketing volunteer grants
Sourcing inspiration from real-world examples of volunteer grant marketing efforts can help nonprofits promote the opportunities to their own audiences more effectively than ever before. Examining case studies, testimonials, and best practices in action from fundraising peers allows nonprofits to identify innovative approaches and avoid common pitfalls.
By adapting and implementing these tested methods, nonprofits can enhance their outreach efforts, increase awareness of volunteer grant programs, and ultimately boost their results.
Check out the following examples of nonprofits marketing volunteer grants well:
Organization A 🐶
In our first example of standout volunteer grant marketing, one animal welfare nonprofit has effectively harnessed the potential of volunteer grants through a multi-faceted and user-friendly online approach. Specifically, this team created a dedicated employee giving page and embedded Double the Donation’s database tool. This way, they can provide real-time information on thousands of companies’ volunteer grant programs with just a few clicks.
But the nonprofit didn’t stop there, either! Instead, this team also integrated employment-related questions directly within their volunteer application forms. As an individual completes the sign-up process, they are prompted to supply details such as their company name, role, and knowledge of workplace giving (matching gift) program availability. Thus, by gathering this information upfront, the organization can identify potential grant opportunities and proactively assist volunteers in applying for them.
Organization B 🩺
Our next example is an organization that focuses on health and medical support. This nonprofit’s strategy for marketing volunteer grants is built around detailed guidance and robust information. The organization has built out a dedicated volunteer grants page with an embedded company search tool, making it easy for volunteers to find out if their employers offer grant programs.
The online resource also features a step-by-step walkthrough of the process for requesting a volunteer grant, ensuring that volunteers understand each stage and what is required. Plus, to further underscore the value of volunteer grants, this team highlights statistics that showcase the prevalence of these programs with concrete data.
Organization C 🩺
Another health and medical nonprofit has also developed a multi-channel approach to promoting volunteer grants. This organization’s dedicated employee giving page includes everything an individual would need to know to get involved—from an embedded company search tool with a detailed FAQ section to information about the nonprofit and more.
Additionally, the organization prominently mentions volunteer grants on its “Ways to Give” page, ensuring potential donors and volunteers are aware of this opportunity and encouraged to participate.
Organization D 🥫
For this food bank, promoting volunteer grants begins with visibility on crucial web pages—including a prominent mention on the organization’s “Ways to Give” page. This ensures visitors are made aware of this opportunity and encouraged to get involved. They’ve even embedded Double the Donation’s search tool right within the page, providing information on thousands of companies’ programs and making it easy for volunteers to see if their employers participate.
Organization E 🧪
This research foundation leverages a combined approach to marketing volunteer grants with informational content, practical tools, and more. In a detailed blog post, the team illustrates the power of volunteer grants and matching gifts, explaining the process and encouraging supporters to get involved.
From there, the blog links to the organization’s workplace giving page, which provides extensive information on various companies’ volunteer grant programs and is complete with a company search widget.
Organization F 🌳
Organization F, an environmental nonprofit, has used a digital newsletter to educate and motivate its supporters about volunteer grant opportunities amongst other content. This sample newsletter included a section dedicated to the impact of workplace giving and other unique fundraising opportunities and encouraged readers to look into their volunteer grant eligibility to strengthen their impact even further.
Organization G 🧒
This organization, which is focused on youth mentorship opportunities, ensures that information about volunteer grants and other workplace giving opportunities is easily accessible by mentioning them directly on its donation page. This strategic placement means that anyone considering a financial contribution is also made aware of the potential for additional support through volunteer grants.
By integrating this information into a key page, the nonprofit increases the likelihood that visitors will explore and take advantage of volunteer grant opportunities, enhancing their overall fundraising efforts.
Organization H 🐶
Another animal welfare nonprofit designed a “pawsitively” adorable employee giving page that overviews the top types of workplace philanthropy. Of course, this includes volunteer grants!
By offering a comprehensive overview complete with eye-catching facts and figures, the team is able to educate its supporters about various ways to contribute through their workplace. This increases participation in volunteer grant programs and maximizes funding potential overall.
Organization I 🧒
This youth-focused organization’s workplace giving page prominently highlights Dollars for Doers as a key opportunity for corporate involvement. In order to foster a complete understanding of the programs, the nonprofit’s online resource includes alternative names for these programs and details how participation can benefit both the organization and its supporters on a personal level.
Organization J 🧒
Social media can also be a great tool for marketing volunteer grants, as demonstrated by this youth and community organization. To increase awareness of the opportunity and inspire participation through social proof, the nonprofit took to Facebook to celebrate a successful volunteer grant received. The post thanks the grant-giving institution, thus fostering greater engagement, and outlines the intended use for the funding. It’s a great way to inspire others to seek volunteer grant funds on your behalf, too!
Organization K 🧒
Another Facebook post, this youth and community organization utilizes social media to raise awareness and share informational content regarding volunteer grants. Specifically, the post highlights the growing trend of such grants, details how supporters can get involved, and provides specific next steps to encourage participation.
By using social media to educate and motivate their audience, the fundraiser increases volunteer grant visibility and drives more supporters to take the intended action.
Wrapping up & additional volunteer grant marketing resources
Volunteer grants represent a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits to enhance their funding and engagement simultaneously. By educating supporters, partnering with companies in your network, and powering your promotional efforts with the right tools, your organization can optimize its volunteer grant marketing efforts with ease.
Now, it’s time to embrace the potential of volunteer grants for your cause. Incorporate the above tips and tricks in your strategy, then sit back and watch it thrive as you harness the power of corporate partnerships for your nonprofit’s mission.
Interested in learning more about leading employee philanthropy opportunities? We recommend the following resources:
Top Volunteer Grant Databases to Grow Your Tech Stack
/in About Double the Donation, Marketing Strategies, Learning Center /by Adam WeingerVolunteer grants are a vital source of funding for nonprofits, enabling them to maximize their impact and encourage their supporters to do the same. However, navigating the various programs available to your organization can be challenging. That’s where volunteer grant databases come in!
If you’re looking to expand your organization’s fundraising toolkit with a volunteer grant database, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about top volunteer grant databases and how they can benefit your mission.
This includes:
By incorporating a database tool into your tech stack, your nonprofit can streamline its fundraising, better engage its volunteer base, and support its mission more effectively than ever before.
What Is a Volunteer Grant Database?
A volunteer grant database is a specialized tool designed to help nonprofits identify and manage volunteer grant opportunities. These grants, which are also known as “dollars for doers,” are offered by businesses as a way to provide monetary donations to nonprofits based on the volunteer hours their employees contribute.
Tons of companies offer the programs, but keeping track of each one’s criteria and submissions can quickly become an overwhelming task for nonprofit teams. Supporters often lack knowledge of their companies’ programs, too, so it often falls on the organization to uncover qualifying opportunities.
Fortunately, volunteer grant databases do it for you!
How? A volunteer grant database tool compiles comprehensive information on thousands of corporate giving programs (including volunteer grants, matching gifts, and volunteer time off). Each listing supplies company-specific eligibility criteria (e.g., qualifying employees, minimum number of hours, grant thresholds, etc.), links to online submission forms, and more.
How Does a Volunteer Grant Database Impact Fundraising?
Incorporating a volunteer grant database into your fundraising strategy can significantly enhance your supporter engagement, financial health, and more.
Here’s how it can do so.
More Identified Dollars for Doers Opportunities 🔍
By providing access to a centralized repository of grant opportunities, a volunteer grant database can help your team quickly screen for eligible volunteers. Even if supporters are unaware of their grant potential, your team can flag eligible individuals to pursue a more personalized approach and encourage their submissions.
Simplified Request Process for Volunteers ✍️
Speaking of submissions, each volunteer is generally required to complete a request form for their employer in order to secure grant funding on your organization’s behalf. Providing access to a volunteer grant database is one of the best ways to streamline submissions and reduce unnecessary friction in the process. All an individual has to do is enter their employer’s name and navigate to the provided request form.
Enhanced Operational Efficiency ⚡
Manually identifying and researching volunteer grant opportunities requires a lot of organizational bandwidth. By automating the process with a volunteer grant database tool, you can free up your team’s time for other high-value activities.
Improved Grant Tracking 📌
Volunteer grants follow a multi-step process from identification to submission and through the disbursement of funds. A volunteer grant tool like Double the Donation offers tracking functionality that helps monitor the status of available grants and address any issues that may arise.
Increased Funding through Corporate Giving Opportunities 🏢
The easier it is for volunteers to request funding from their employers, the more likely they are to do so. That means more corporate giving revenue making its way to your organization.
But it’s not just volunteer grants, either. A volunteer grant database will often supply resources on matching gifts and other corporate giving programs, too!
Our Volunteer Grant Database Recommendation: Double the Donation
When selecting a volunteer grant database for your nonprofit, it’s important to consider several key factors. After all, you want to ensure the tool effectively supports your fundraising efforts and organizational needs—both now and in the time to come.
Lucky for you, we’ve explored potential database options and would like to supply you with our top recommendation: Double the Donation.
Now, let’s see why this tool stands apart as the leading solution:
Other Top Tools & Resources For Growing Volunteer Grants
In addition to volunteer grant databases, there are a number of other handy tools and resources that can help supercharge your organization’s volunteer grant strategy.
These include:
Volunteer grant compilations
If your team has yet to make the leap to a volunteer grant database—which we highly recommend doing—free online resources (such as those offered by Double the Donation) can help identify select opportunities in your database.
For example, this compilation of top volunteer grant programs highlights several generous companies’ initiatives. It provides an excellent chance to cross-reference your supporter data and see if any existing or prospective volunteers work for these well-known examples.
Volunteer time-trackers
Time-tracking tools are generally software applications that help nonprofits record and manage the hours contributed by their team members. When volunteers are encouraged (or required) to track the time they spend with your cause, you’ll find it’s easier than ever to streamline volunteer grant requests.
Keep in mind that these tools can also vary greatly in their level of sophistication. Some organizations manage hour-tracking efforts with paper forms, others employ spreadsheets, and others still invest in dedicated solutions.
Volunteer management tools
You may already have a Volunteer Management System, or VMS, in your nonprofit toolkit. This type of tool is designed to help nonprofits organize, recruit, and manage their volunteer workforce, typically offering features for scheduling, communication, task assignments, and more. When it’s easy for supporters to sign up and partake in volunteer activities, you’ll have more eligible individuals to pursue volunteer grants in the first place!
Not to mention, a well-managed volunteer program can typically provide the necessary documentation and proof of volunteer hours needed for grant applications.
CSR platforms
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platforms are comprehensive solutions that assist companies in managing their employee giving and volunteer programs. These platforms also facilitate collaboration between companies and nonprofits, making it easier to coordinate philanthropic efforts for both teams.
As a result, most CSR platforms incorporate a nonprofit-facing portal that organizations can access for free. From there, they can manage their side of the programs (i.e., reviewing and verifying volunteer requests).
Final Thoughts on Volunteer Grant Databases & More
Investing in a volunteer grant database can significantly boost your nonprofit’s fundraising capabilities. By streamlining the volunteer grant discovery and submission processes, dedicated tools like Double the Donation can help maximize the value of volunteer grants for your cause.
Integrating these tools into your tech stack allows you to ensure your nonprofit is well-equipped to leverage the full potential of volunteer grants, ultimately powering organizational growth.
Continue growing your corporate giving knowledge. Read up on these recommended resources to learn more:
A Complete Guide to Creating a Donation Page (with Examples)
/in Nonprofit Basics, Marketing Strategies /by Adam WeingerPicture this: You’ve just led a successful marketing campaign that earned high engagement rates on social media and through email. You see traffic coming to your website, but for some reason, supporters seem to stop at the final hurdle: your donation page.
With all the work that goes into fundraising, ensure your donation page makes the giving experience better rather than being one more obstacle to get past. To help your nonprofit design a better donation page, this guide will explore:
If you’re ready to elevate your giving process with a new and improved donation page, let’s get started.
How to Set Up Your Donation Page
Donation pages consist of two parts: the donation page and the donation form. The donation page hosts your donation form, and the donation form is the part of the page where donors input their payment information and other relevant details.
To start setting up this page, follow these steps:
How much you can customize your donation page depends on your software and technical expertise. For small organizations, there are many out-of-the-box donation forms you can embed into your website with only minimal customization necessary. In contrast, larger nonprofits may choose fully customizable solutions and work with developers to fine-tune every aspect of their donation process.
Donation Page Best Practices
The purpose of the page that hosts your donation form is to make the giving process as easy as possible. Essentially, when designing your donation page, consider how each element can help supporters get past this final hurdle to complete their donation journeys.
With that in mind, a few best practices include:
After submitting a donation form, supporters should be greeted with a confirmation page that thanks them for their gift. You can get creative with your confirmation page by adding photographs and illustrations or playing with your typography. However, the financial information should be clear, so there is no confusion over whether a donor’s gift went through.
Additionally, follow up with supporters with a donation receipt. The IRS requires all gifts of $250 to receive written confirmation, but it’s good practice to create receipts for all gifts.
Donation Form Best Practices
Your donation form is an essential part of your nonprofit’s donation page and can play a pivotal role in a supporter’s decision to donate.
This includes collecting:
Additionally, your entire website should follow website accessibility guidelines, but there are a few additional elements to consider when it comes to forms. For example, for each entry field, add a text indicator, such as an asterisk, for required fields rather than relying on color alone. Try navigating your donation form entirely by keyboard, running your page through colorblind filters, and making sure all text can be read by screen readers.
Now that you know what a donation form and page should look like, let’s explore a few examples of these best practices in action.
10 Donation Page Examples
1. Humane Society of Forsyth County
Limit distractions on your donation page. The Humane Society of Forsyth County shows you how to create a page that does just that.
This minimalist design uses limited graphical elements and conditional logic to move donors smoothly through the giving process. If donors check a box that needs extra information, one clearly appears and disappears if the check is removed. This avoids clutter and ensures donors only engage with the elements they need to make their gift.
Plus, this donation page is also a showcase for creating suggested giving amounts. The boldest and most colorful part of the page in this stripped-down design is the donation levels. This prompts supporters to engage with them and the recurring giving options below. Plus, supporters also have the option to adjust their total gift amount even after selecting a suggested giving amount, reassuring supporters that how much they give is ultimately up to them.
2. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital provides maximum flexibility to donors in terms of how they give.
When choosing a payment method, supporters can click several large buttons (which are easily accessible for mobile users) to give via credit card, PayPal, or even check. Pressing each option alters the rest of the donation form to reflect only that payment method, so supporters don’t have to scroll past entry fields for payment types they’re not using.
When it comes to payment methods your nonprofit will accept, consider at least offering a third-party processor like PayPal in addition to credit and debit cards. These processors provide donors more control over their gifts, helping them feel rest assured that their financial information and donations are protected.
3. World Wildlife Fund
One-time gifts are helpful, but recurring donations are reliable and allow your nonprofit to connect with donors long-term. To drive as many recurring gifts as possible, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has a donation page that defaults to monthly giving.
The entire donation page is set up to encourage supporters to upgrade their one-time gifts to recurring ones. Clicking on the option to “Give Once” causes a message box with an arrow pointing to the monthly giving option to appear, emphasizing how much more of a difference recurring gifts make by calling these donors “heroes for nature 365 days a year.”
Additionally, the suggested giving amounts for one-time and monthly giving options also persuade supporters to become recurring donors. Toggling back and forth between the two options only requires a button click, and supporters can compare the relatively low monthly donation costs to the equivalent one-time options.
The value of monthly gifts for both the WWF and donors is only further emphasized in the brief donation page description. This section shares how donors can become Partners in Conservation with a gift of $84+/month or $1,000+. While monthly donors will give a little more than $1,000 a year at $84 per month, many supporters will see the stark contrast between these numbers and feel the monthly option is the better deal.
4. Feeding America
Feeding America has a strong donation page, but where it really shines is in its search engine marketing.
Anyone searching for “Feeding America” will be shown a Google Ad for Feeding America. This ad strategically takes up the entire above-the-fold section of the search results page with sitelinks, which extend the Google Ad with additional landing pages. These links let nonprofits list important pages (like your donation page) and allow users to jump straight to them.
Plus, with Feeding America’s strong search engine optimization strategy (SEO), you can find high-ranking Google search results for their site for nearly all terms related to U.S.-based food banks and feeding children in America.
To achieve similar results for your nonprofit, consider working with an SEO marketing agency or investing in the Google Ad Grant. For reference, the Google Ad Grant provides $10,000 in free ad credits nonprofits can use to create Google Ads.
5. American Heart Association
84% of donors state they’re more likely to donate if a match is offered. The American Heart Association leverages this giving behavior by prominently emphasizing matching opportunities right on its homepage
On the donation form itself, a brief description explains the importance of the American Heart Association’s target issue. After this call to action, there is another brief reminder about an ongoing matching campaign. This helps instill urgency as it explains that donors need to give “now” and that this match applies to “gifts today,” indicating supporters may not get this opportunity if they put off donating.
Additionally, the American Heart Association’s donation page is designed to prevent cart abandonment, which occurs when an individual begins a checkout process but stops before finalizing their payment. When a donor exits the donation form, a pop-up appears prompting them to share their email address to be reminded to give later.
And taking it even further, American Heart Association highlights company matching in its peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, Raise Your Way. Imagine getting your family, friends, and extended network to support American Heart Association—and then getting all of their donations doubled!
6. United Way
Public recognition applauds the donor who just gave and encourages fellow supporters to follow suit. United Way adds public recognition to its donation page with a donor leaderboard.
Recent donations are listed on the donation page, reflecting gifts as they’re processed in real time. This means donors can give and check back in on the donation page to see their own gifts reflected.
Plus, a donor leaderboard that constantly updates in real-time shows that United Way is a healthy nonprofit with a lively supporter base. This reassures potential donors that their gifts will be put to good use by a reputable nonprofit.
7. International Rescue Committee
While donation page designs should be free of clutter, adding your mission statement or an example of impact can go a long way toward getting donations across the finish line. The International Rescue Committee’s donation page shows a strong example of how to demonstrate urgency and impact.
The photograph on this page shows potential beneficiaries, helping donors picture just who their gifts will help. The text over the picture, “DOUBLE your impact for refugees,” provides additional context in case a visitor needs clarification about the photograph.
The mission statement below the photo states the International Rescue Committee’s belief that everyone deserves safety and provides a few examples of locations where they are focusing their efforts.
8. University of Georgia
Nonprofits should keep their donation pages short and to the point. However, as the University of Georgia (UGA) shows, you can add a few extra entry fields that provide extensive value.
Near the end of this donation page, supporters are prompted to add their employers’ information to discover if they are eligible for matching gifts. This user-friendly search tool auto-completes as supporters type, letting them find their employers in seconds.
UGA also uses its donation page as an opportunity to gather information for its appreciation and donor retention strategy. Supporters have the option to add their social media handles for Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) in an entry field that explains how UGA’s social media accounts regularly post about donors.
Both this and the matching gift entry field are not required, letting interested supporters opt in, while those who just want to make a donation can be on their way.
9. Humane Society of Broward County
Giving in honor or memory of someone else is a powerful way for donors to give their support to others and remember loved ones impacted by your cause. The Humane Society of Broward County demonstrates how nonprofits can make memorial donations an effective part of your donation form.
As a humane society, this nonprofit recognizes that many of its supporters are likely animal lovers and have pets in their lives currently or who have passed that they may want to recognize. Supporters can easily choose to make their donation in memory or honor of a pet or a person.
While pets may not be able to read the personal messages supporters write, the donation page description explains that gifts of $25+ made in honor or memoriam of an animal will be printed in the Humane Society of Broward County’s newsletter. This provides public recognition, creates a keepsake for the donors, builds donor relationships, and prompts supporters to give a bit more.
10. Canadian Radiological Foundation
Let’s take a step back from donation pages and take a look at another page you can create to accompany your donation page: a donor recognition page. The Canadian Radiological Foundation encourages support from new and existing donors by creating a virtual donor wall of their names.
Of the names listed, several are highlighted in blue to signal that they are part of an exclusive donor group known as the 500 Club. The 500 Club is a fundraising initiative launched by the Candian Radiological Foundation that donors can join by giving $500. This strategy encourages donors to upgrade their giving level to become part of an exclusive club and earn a limited edition pin and recognition in external communication, such as the donor acknowledgment page.
If your nonprofit wants to do something similar, you can create a virtual donor wall. List the names of donors who gave above a certain amount, gave to a specific campaign, or fulfilled any other requirement you feel deserves extra recognition.
More Donation Resources
Donors are the lifeblood of your nonprofit, and your donation page is the key tool your organization has for collecting support online. When maintaining your website, planning a new marketing strategy, or launching a rebrand, your donation page should always be at the top of your priority list.
To improve your donation earning potential, explore these additional resources on how to earn and make the most of each donor relationship:
Nonprofit Advertising: The Best Advice & Persuasive Examples
/in Learning Center, Marketing Strategies /by Adam WeingerThe online space grows more competitive each day. Nonprofits are up against big-name companies, vying for consumers’ attention. If you’re grasping at straws and still aren’t capturing prospects’ attention, it might be time to try nonprofit advertising.
Advertising is often perceived as a misuse of donations, but it’s surprisingly effective. There’s a reason companies invest in paid advertising – it works! Where traditional marketing approaches fall short, paid advertising can elevate your cause and extend your reach to new audiences.
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refine your existing efforts, this guide will provide everything you need to create a high-ROI nonprofit advertising strategy, including everything from common types of ads to real-world examples you can emulate. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Whether you’re investing in digital nonprofit advertising or creating newspaper ads, get ready to brainstorm how ads can support your cause and get your services in front of new audiences.
Understanding Nonprofit Advertising
The world of nonprofit advertising is expansive, so let’s start with the fundamentals, kicking off with a basic definition.
What Are Nonprofit Ads?
Also referred to as charity advertising, nonprofit ads are paid ads that nonprofits use to promote their services and fundraisers. Advertising includes digital platforms such as paid search ads and social media ads, as well as traditional advertising methods such as community radio and print ads.
While paid ads can make a notable difference in your outreach, know they’re just one part of your marketing strategy. “Nonprofit marketing” refers to all the activities your nonprofit leverages to promote its brand and mission, while advertising is a specific subset of nonprofit marketing that refers strictly to paid channels.
In the for-profit world, companies create billboards, promotional materials for TV, and digital ads to promote goods and services. Advertising looks a little different for nonprofits, though. Instead of promoting a tangible product, nonprofit advertising is used to “sell” a cause. When done effectively, charity ads educate target audiences about the mission, goals, and services of the organization, as well as solicit donations or other forms of support.
What’s The Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Marketing?
Inbound and outbound marketing are two distinct marketing approaches, each with unique strategies and benefits. For a balanced marketing plan, use both paid and free channels to reach your audience without blowing your budget out of the water. Let’s compare these two strategies:
Both inbound and outbound marketing have their place in a comprehensive marketing strategy. To strike a balance, we suggest using inbound tactics like optimizing your nonprofit’s website for search engines. This strategy helps build a strong online presence and attract supporters organically. Once you create valuable content, amplify its reach using paid ads.
This approach allows you to leverage the strengths of both strategies: the long-term sustainability of inbound marketing and the immediate impact of outbound marketing.
Why Should Nonprofits Use Advertising?
Nonprofit advertising is undoubtedly worth the investment. From securing new donors to connecting with beneficiaries, you can achieve a lot with persuasive ads.
If you’re not convinced you should spend your hard-earned donations on promoting your work, here are a few common reasons why you should:
For positive results, put in time and effort into creating authentic ads. Otherwise, you’ll waste your budget that could be better used supporting other areas of your mission.
Choosing Between Inbound vs. Outbound Strategies
When choosing between inbound and outbound strategies, nonprofits should consider their goals. Whether the aim is immediate visibility, sustainable growth, or building credibility, both outbound advertising and inbound SEO offer unique advantages.
Let’s take a look at the specific benefits of advertising vs. SEO.
Why Use Advertising:
Why Use SEO:
SEO is ideal for promoting your nonprofit’s services, products, and annual events that attract wide audiences. Meanwhile, you might reserve ads for direct fundraising campaigns, other ways to give, localized offerings, and one-time events.
By understanding the strengths of both approaches, your nonprofit can strategically decide whether to prioritize immediate impact with advertising, sustainable growth with SEO, or ideally both for your marketing plan.
What Are the Challenges of Charity Advertising?
When used efficiently, nonprofit ads can help you make incredible strides for your mission. However, you’ll need to overcome some hurdles.
Here are some challenges you’ll want to get in front of when planning your promotional strategies:
To preemptively overcome these challenges, choose affordable advertising channels and be authentic in your promotion. We also recommend working with a nonprofit advertising agency. These professionals devote their time to managing campaigns backed by their technical expertise, so you can focus on other activities.
How Can I Work Nonprofit Ads Into My Budget?
Considering that nonprofit advertising is a paid form of marketing, you’ll need to allocate sufficient funds toward it.
A common misconception is that paid advertising is unattainable for nonprofits with limited budgets. In reality, many paid advertising platforms offer free or discounted access to verified organizations. Here are some ways your nonprofit can tap into advertising for free, minimizing the negative reactions donors might have:
Beyond these free opportunities, let’s look at how organizations break down their nonprofit advertising budgets across different platforms. According to M+R Benchmarks’ annual study, organizations allocate their advertising budgets in the following percentages:
Use these percentages to guide you when allocating money toward advertising in your annual budget. Considering that search ads yield the highest return on ad spend, we recommend investing most of your budget in that area. According to that same M+R Benchmarks Study, it generates an incredible $2.75 return for every dollar spent, while display ads generate $0.33.
7 Types of Nonprofit Ads
Considering that paid advertising incurs costs, be strategic about which platforms you use. Decide which ones will align with your goals and will help you reach your target audience. To help you grasp your options, let’s walk through seven of the most common nonprofit advertising platforms, starting with our favorite.
Type 1: Google Search Ads and SEO
Paid search ads are online advertisements that promote an organization’s web content. These ads are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) and are triggered by keywords related to the advertiser’s organization. Advertisers pay each time someone clicks their ad, so they’re not overpaying for advertising space. This makes it cost-effective for reaching and driving qualified leads.
Meanwhile, you can also use SEO to take up even more real estate on SERPs. By optimizing your website’s content for relevant keywords, you can improve your organic search rankings, making it easier for potential supporters to find your organization and purchase your products. SEO involves tactics like keyword research, on-page optimization, content creation, and link building. While it requires an investment of time and effort, the long-term benefits of SEO can turn organic search into a reliable lead source channel for your nonprofit’s purchasable products, services, and programs.
Google Ad Grants
When eligible for Google Ad Grants, nonprofits can tap into this nonprofit advertising channel for free. So long as they comply with the program’s rules, they’ll receive $10,000 each month to spend on amplifying their web content on Google Search. If you’re a visual learner, watch this video from the Google Ad experts at Getting Attention:
We recommend working with a Google Grants agency like Getting Attention to maximize this charity advertising opportunity. They’ll work to understand your mission, choose the right keywords, and craft compelling nonprofit ads that drive results.
How to Integrate Your Google Ads and SEO Strategies
Integrating Google Ads with your SEO strategy can enhance your nonprofit’s visibility within search results, drive traffic to your website, and maximize your impact.
Following SEO best practices means creating a website that ranks organically to reach a broad audience and can be promoted with Google Ads to connect with localized, targeted audiences.
Here’s how you can combine these two approaches:
When it comes to search engine advertising strategy, we recommend working with an SEO agency, especially if you’re new to SEO.
An SEO agency brings expert knowledge, tools, and a holistic approach to maximize the effectiveness of both efforts. We recommend Nexus Marketing as the best choice for nonprofits that sell products and services. With its team’s deep understanding of the nonprofit sector, proven track record in driving results, and extensive network within the mission-driven space, Nexus Marketing will deliver customized, results-driven strategies that align with your organization’s unique mission and goals.
Type 2: Social Media Ads
Did you know that 59% of Gen Zers are inspired to donate by a message they saw on social media? You’re missing out if you’re not promoting your cause through this channel!
Most nonprofits recognize this digital marketing channel is effective for leveraging social proof to build trust. Unless you have a large following consistently sharing your content, it can be challenging to gain traction, though. That’s why we recommend allocating money toward social media ads.
Social Media Advertising Platforms
To avoid stretching your nonprofit advertising budget too thin, consider the platforms from which you’ll purchase ad space. As you get started, keep these charity advertising platforms in mind:
These nonprofit advertising channels allow you to leverage user-friendly features and reach supporters where they already are: scrolling through social media. Plus, social media has an incredible reach. Sources estimate there will be 5.8 billion social media users worldwide by 2027.
When creating messages, remember social media tends to be trend-based, so monitor what’s trending to create timely ads for your cause.
Type 3: Sponsored Retargeting
Sponsored retargeting is a collaborative advertising approach where a business or organization sponsors your nonprofit by purchasing ads from you. These ads typically feature co-branded elements. The reasons a company might engage in sponsored retargeting include:
Both your nonprofit and the sponsor can share these advertisements on your respective platforms, increasing visibility and audience engagement for both parties. Overall, this mutually beneficial arrangement not only serves immediate advertising goals but also strengthens the long-term relationship between your nonprofit and its corporate sponsors.
Type 4: Community Radio
Community radio can be ideal for advertising your mission to a local audience. Radio ads can be tailored to specific demographics and areas. Plus, you can physically speak to your audience, showing passion for your cause.
Some nonprofits qualify for free public service announcements on community radio stations. Thanks to the Federal Communications Commission, radio stations must allot some radio time to charitable organizations.
If you’re filling free nonprofit advertising space, there’s one caveat: you’ll need to format your messages as announcements rather than ads.
In other words, you can’t explicitly request donations. However, you can use radio ads to drive website traffic and generate buzz. Then, if your social media posts or website are optimized, visitors may wind up clicking the ‘Donate’ or ‘Volunteer’ button.
Type 5: Print Advertising for Nonprofits
If you want to go a more traditional route with your nonprofit ads, try print advertising. Print ads, such as newspaper and magazine placements, target specific geographic areas, allowing nonprofits to reach their desired audience effectively.
Relatively inexpensive and adaptable, print ads can be placed in various publications, from local newspapers to national magazines. You can even create banners and flyers to promote your cause at local events.
This method works for a few reasons. For instance, print ads tend to be:
In your nonprofit advertising strategy, consider the role of print ads for reaching specific audiences. For example, nature organizations might use publications like National Geographic to connect their cause with respected, influential scientific content.
Type 6: Influencer Advertising
Influencers have an established web presence, usually due to social media or a blog. They’ve created a trustworthy brand and amassed a highly engaged audience.
Companies work with social media influencers to promote their products every day. Have you thought about how working with an influencer can amplify your nonprofit’s brand?
Influencers have a large, engaged audience that trusts their opinion and is likelier to engage with their content. Like you do when choosing corporate partners, choose someone who aligns with your brand.
For example, let’s say you work for a food security organization. You might partner with a food blogger or an influencer who publishes recipes. This will help:
When leveraging these ads, develop materials for influencers to work with. Then, they can make it their own to give it a more authentic feel that aligns with their brand.
Type 7: Retargeted Advertising
We’ve all experienced this at some point. While online shopping, we add something to our cart like a comfy new shirt. We get distracted and leave the site, only to be met with ads on other websites for that same exact shirt. This is what we refer to as a “retargeted ad.”
While primarily used to promote products, retargeted ads allow nonprofits to engage people who have already shown interest in the mission.
Retargeted advertising places a cookie on a user’s device and then displays relevant ads based on their prior online activity. These ads can effectively reach people who have already visited your nonprofit’s website or interacted with you on social media. They’re tailored to the individual user, making them an effective way to drive conversions.
How to Use Retargeted Ads
If you’re unsure how retargeting ads fit into your nonprofit advertising strategy, let’s review a few examples.
Retargeted ads can remind people of a nonprofit’s mission, encourage donations, and promote events or services. Here are a few use cases for this strategy:
This type of nonprofit ad is a fantastic way to engage users, even if they’ve never actually donated or taken any other action. At some point, users who receive these ads showed interest in your cause online, and a little reminder might be just what they need.
Steps to Creating Your Nonprofit Advertising Strategy
Steps to Creating Your Nonprofit Advertising Strategy
So you’ve decided nonprofit advertising is a smart move. Great! Now, let’s walk through easy steps to create an effective nonprofit advertising plan:
1. Define your campaign objectives.
What are you hoping to achieve by purchasing ad space? Do you want to boost volunteer numbers, secure more volunteer grants, sell your product offerings, increase digital donations, or educate the public about your cause? Having a goal will help you pick which content to promote.
For example, if your nonprofit offers paid training programs, you might launch an SEO strategy focused on increasing enrollment and generating revenue for these services. Adding an SEO component to your advertising strategy can help you identify the most relevant keywords and topics to focus on in your ad campaigns.
2. Set a budget.
If you’re not careful, nonprofit advertising costs can quickly add up. When dividing your budget across different advertising platforms, think back to the industry-standard distributions we discussed earlier.
Suppose your nonprofit sells branded merchandise; allocating part of your budget to promote these revenue-generating activities can help sustain your organization’s financial health. Additionally, consider investing in SEO to complement your advertising efforts and add a cost-effective marketing channel to your strategy.
3. Identify your target audience.
Who are you trying to reach with your charity’s ads? Are you attempting to re-engage lapsed donors, connect with first-time volunteers, or find customers for your services? Get specific here, and consider the demographics of who you’re attempting to reach.
For instance, if your nonprofit provides educational workshops to small businesses, targeting entrepreneurs and small business owners in your area would be key. Use SEO data to gain insights into your audience’s online behavior and preferences, helping you refine your ad placements.
4. Choose platforms for ad distribution.
What platforms will put your nonprofit’s ads in front of the appropriate audiences? For example, maybe you’ll use social media ads to connect with Millennial or Gen Z donors across the country while using radio and print ads to reach a local audience.
For instance, if your nonprofit offers consulting services to other organizations, LinkedIn ads could be an effective way to reach professionals and decision-makers.
5. Create ad content.
Now comes the fun part! Create ads that persuade people to take action. For example, if your nonprofit sells online courses, your ads should highlight the unique value and benefits of the courses to attract new learners.
When possible, add compelling images and videos to spark an emotional response. Advertising platforms often limit the length of ads, so make the most of the characters you’re allotted and point to your content that’s optimized for search engines. We’ll explore nonprofit advertising examples in the next section to spark inspiration.
Following these steps will help generate influential ads for your cause. The work’s not over yet, though!
6. Assess your nonprofit advertising strategy.
For effective nonprofit advertising, actively monitor your campaigns using tracking systems, rather than just setting them and forgetting them.
To gauge ad performance, focus on metrics like clicks and reach. Most advertising platforms, including Google Ads, have built-in tools for tracking these key performance indicators (KPIs):
Using these KPIs, you can proactively gauge your nonprofit ad performance at any point. Throughout your campaign, make adjustments based on results.
3 Nonprofit Advertising Examples
You can research charity ad ideas all you want, but nothing measures up to seeing examples from real organizations. Let’s walk through some nonprofit ad examples to see paid marketing in action.
American Heart Association
Type of Nonprofit Ad: Google Ad
Google Ad Grants have the power to transform any nonprofit’s marketing. Available to verified 501(c)(3) organizations, it can help amplify the most important pages on your website on Google Search.
For this nonprofit advertising example, the American Heart Association targeted terms like “donate to fight heart disease.” Their ad works for a few reasons:
Notice how they offered a few ways for users to engage. Since they’re clearly prospective donors at this stage, users can visit different giving-focused pages, such as the organization’s “ways to give” page, a page showcasing donations in action, or pages about monthly giving. If you’re feeling creative, take a similar approach and promote matching gifts by featuring your ‘ways to give’ page or including matching gifts on your donation form.
To take this ad one step further, the American Heart Association could use extensions to append their phone number, giving users another way to engage. This strategy is more technical, and working with a Google Grants agency can help you take full advantage of this nonprofit advertising opportunity.
Doctors Without Borders
Type of Nonprofit Ad: Facebook Ad
Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization delivering emergency aid and healthcare to in-need populations. Seeking the most effective way to amplify their Giving Tuesday efforts, they turned to Facebook Ads and created a Facebook Fundraiser. The combination yielded twice as much revenue as its Giving Tuesday campaign the previous year.
The organization ran its ads for less than 2 weeks and generated impressive metrics:
This campaign exemplifies the power of social sharing and timely nonprofit ads. It also boosted our all-time favorite fundraising strategy: matching gifts.
While this is a great example of nonprofit advertising for a large organization, smaller nonprofits can also tap into this strategy at lower rates. Even when spending a lot less, you can achieve impressive results. You just have to leverage targeting features and create persuasive messages.
Girls Inc.
Type of Nonprofit Ad: Influencer Ad
For this nonprofit advertising example, Girls Inc. partnered with popular lifestyle blogger Vanessa Scott and Saks OFF 5th to create and market an exclusive t-shirt.
Capitalizing on National Women’s Day, the charity created a shirt with its brand colors. Reading “Every Day is Women’s Day,” the shirt’s core message aligns with its mission to empower girls to overcome environmental challenges.
To support the campaign, Vanessa shared an Instagram post sporting the t-shirt. She explained what the awareness day meant to her, why Girls Inc. is important, and how 100% of the shirt’s proceeds would support the cause.
Not only does this example show the power of influencer ads, but it also demonstrates how nonprofits can partner with socially responsible corporations to amplify their causes.
Wrapping Up
When you create genuine ads, you can inspire more people than ever to support your cause.
There are a lot of nonprofit advertising platforms out there, though. Carefully think through which platforms will connect you with the right audiences before purchasing ad space. Whether you leverage Google Ads or partner with influencers, you’ll surely gain traction for your cause.
As you get started, stay updated with marketing trends and best practices to craft the best ads possible. Here are some helpful resources to get started: