Your non-profit needs to build awareness, promote your cause or service, fundraise, encourage membership and contribution, and recruit and engage volunteers, all while driving change. How do you do that?
Tell Your Story
Non-profits need to tell their story. Storytelling gives voice to those in need. Supporters can see how important your work is and how they can help. When possible, provide real-life examples so they can reflect on what can happen right in their community. Videos and pictures are great storytelling tools.
Walk the Talk
Be wholly dedicated to your cause, living the values you extoll. Show you’re a good steward by showing what you do with donated funds or resources. Donors want to know what percent of their donation will reach the recipient and what percentage goes toward administration. A pie chart makes a great visual representation of fund usage. Please prove that you value donors’ support and will manage their gifts well.
Study Fundraising
Though many marketing principles apply to nonprofits, you’ll want to study fundraising psychology when communicating with potential donors.
Learn why more people give when a campaign is close to its goal and why individual stories open more pockets than telling stories about a whole group of people. Also, study event marketing for charity drives or fundraising events.
Recruit Influencers and Ambassadors
Study influencer marketing and brand ambassadors. In the non-profit world, this is similar to a brand evangelist. People like to make an association between an organization and a company. We enjoy dealing with and interacting with humans on social media, not companies and organizations.
To Increase Donations:
- Invest in a custom donation page.
- Set up Amazon Smile. At no cost to the customer, Amazon will donate .5% of the purchase to your cause. Set up an account as a non-profit and get Amazon users to select you as their charity.
- Apply for a Google Grant to get your pay-per-click campaigns covered.
- Write handwritten thank-you notes to improve donor retention and donor satisfaction.
Consider Consumer Partnerships
In addition to traditional fundraising, consider consumer partnerships. This may include rounding up at the checkout or cause marketing (part of a product’s proceeds goes to the charity).
Marketing for Non-Profits
- Tell your story
- Walk the talk
- Study fundraising
- Recruit influencers and ambassadors
- Consider consumer partnerships