Successful Marketing Strategies for Non-Profits and Foundations with Case Studies

In the past three decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of nonprofit organizations. As a result of this expansion, the charity sector has begun to take a larger interest in the significance of marketing. Nonprofits did not begin to use marketing tactics until the 1960s and 1970s, but it is now widely recognized as standard operating procedure.

Traditional marketing techniques don’t really work for nonprofits, and the findings of this research suggest that new marketing plan tailored especially to this sector should be developed.

In this guide, we explore of marketing plans that are unique to nonprofit organizations via the use of survey and interviews, among other methods. In contrast to ordinary research from other blogs, this one analyzes marketing aspects from the perspective of a nonprofit organization, which is unique. Nonprofit organizations have a different perspective of marketing than for-profit companies, and the strategic ramifications of this fact are addressed.

The Importance of Marketing

Nonprofit marketing is effective since it performs a variety of tasks in order to keep charity organizations operating.

• Increasing public awareness. A nonprofit, like any other corporate brand, must educate and inform its target audience about the group and the issues it supports.

• Bringing attention to a cause and its services. Donors, volunteers, and the organizations with whom the nonprofit works must be aware of the work that is being done.

• Fundraising. Nonprofit organizations depend on contributions in order to carry out their humanitarian missions. In the nonprofit marketing world, fundraising is a critical role, and it may take the form of soliciting general contributions or promoting particular fundraiser events or campaigns.

• Memberships and regular contributions are encouraged. Nonprofit advertising should be used in order to promote long-term participation. This helps to expand the number of connections that the charity may rely on for fundraising efforts, as well as the number of recurring contributions that the nonprofit receives.

• Recruiting and retaining volunteers. Most charities rely on individuals to take action or engage in projects in addition to donating to their cause.

• Pushing social and political change. Nonprofit marketing that is done well may exert influence on opinion leaders, legislators, and common citizens to effect changes in society that are beneficial to the nonprofit’s mission.

Examples of Nonprofit Marketing

Regardless of the particular objectives sought via charity marketing, the vast majority of efforts fall into four main categories.

• Traditional fundraising model. Consumers are asked to make a monetary contribution to a project or charity campaign under the traditional fundraising model. Some companies collaborate with charities to develop long-term fundraising campaigns for issues that are important to their workers.

• Consumer charity. is a collaboration between a for-profit company and a charitable organization that encourage customers to utilize their buying power to benefit the organization. In most cases, this takes the shape of charitable giving, in which customers purchase goods because a portion of the purchase cost will be given to a particular charitable organization.

• Message focused campaigns. Consumer behavior is one of the goals of message-focused campaigns, which aim to raise awareness, promote political change, and influence consumer behavior. They are often held in conjunction with or immediately after particular fundraising or volunteer recruitment efforts.

• An event marketing campaign. is organized around a single fundraising campaign or promotional event, which is often one at which contributions will be gathered or where the proceeds from admission will be donated directly to a charitable organization. A special visitor or celebrity partner, whose brand persona and connections are utilized to increase attendance, is often included in these marketing efforts to help boost attendance.

Easy Steps to Marketing Your Nonprofit Organization

Identify your Target Audience

It is necessary to understand who you are hoping to reach and also what you want them to accomplish so that you can take effort to increase your nonprofit organization.

• What really is their age and what is their gender?
• What is the level of their income?
• Do people have confidence in specific news sources?
• In which social media sites do they participate?
• What is the best method to get in touch with them?
• What are the topics which are most inclined to pique their interest?
• Would you need them to contribute, volunteer, become a member of your group, or spread the news about your cause?

Following a thorough understanding of who your target audience is, and where they’d be located, you can customize your promotional efforts to reach individuals and encourage people to take action. It may be beneficial to do research on businesses that are comparable to yours in order to discover how they advertise themselves to the very same demographic.

Establish Specific, Measurable Objectives

Unless you understand what you’re attempting to accomplish, you won’t be able to determine if your charity marketing is successful. Having quantifiable objectives provides you with a means of determining what really is working best to improve.

The objectives you establish should be appropriate for your organization’s purpose and should contain items such as:

• Donations or revenue are both acceptable.
• Signing up for an email list
• Donor/member retention is important.
• Donors and members who have just joined
• Yearly goals that you wish to accomplish.
• The amount of individuals you can assist, the number of events you can conduct, or other services your nonprofit organization offers are all examples of impact.

Once you’ve established your objectives, consult within your team to decide how you’ll track your progress toward achieving them.

Design Marketing Materials to Promote your Business.

Do you send out brochures or postcards to your customers? Is it OK to send thank-you letters to donors? Are you planning to make public appearances or to set up an information booth at upcoming events? Do your employees carry business cards with them?

Any time your organization interacts with the general public, marketing materials are required. Your organization’s branding should be prominently shown on these materials, which should also contain information about your organization’s achievements, services, and beliefs, as well as information on how to become engaged or where to make a contribution.

Larger charities often have an in-house design department that is responsible for creating these marketing pieces. If your organization is a small one, search for a graphic design business in your neighborhood. For charities operating on a limited budget, a freelancer who doesn’t have the same infrastructure and personnel expenses as a design company may be able to provide a more competitive pricing.

Develop a Social Media Strategy.

To attract new contributors and increase public awareness, a digital marketing plan is an inexpensive and efficient method. When it comes to contacting a big number of individuals interested in your organization, social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram may be very effective tools.

Choose two or three social media sites wherein your target audience is most likely to be located rather than attempting to be involved on each and every social media network available. Then concentrate all of your attention and marketing efforts on that area.

Because social media does not have physical borders, it is one of the most effective forms of marketing. You may connect with individuals in your immediate vicinity as well as those halfway across the world, enabling you to broaden the scope of your nonprofit’s impact.

Make Changes to (or start a new) Website.

Creating a professional-looking webpage and keeping it up to date on a regular basis are essential components of your nonprofit’s online marketing strategy. If you don’t already have a site, or if your website hasn’t been updated in a while, you’ll need to put some effort and money into it in order to establish a route for internet marketing.

On your website, you provide valuable information such as:

• The history and purpose of your non-profit organization
• The latest breaking news
• Events and activities that will take place in the near future
• Case studies that have been successful
• Coverage in the media
• How to make a monetary donation or to volunteer

Having a website that seems professional and trustworthy is essential if you want people to leave your website with a good image of your company. Someone on your nonprofit’s staff who is familiar with the web may be able to put up a basic website by buying and customizing a design template from a third party. If you don’t have a designer, you’ll have to hire one.

After your website is up and running, it should be updated on a regular basis as part of your overall marketing strategy. Keeping your website updated on a regular basis helps to enhance its search engine optimization, making it simpler for visitors to discover you online. Updates also communicate to key individuals, such as funders as well as the media, that your organization is a dynamic and engaged one.

Develop a Database of Information.

Once you’ve created your marketing materials, it’s time to put them to use in your business. However, you won’t be able to do so until you’ve built up a database of existing and potential members.

People must be convinced to contribute or participate in a cause if they are to get regular and well-planned communication. Utilize your database to develop marketing efforts such as the following:

• Mailings sent out on a whim
• Calls to follow-up on the conversation
• Invitations to events and newsletters
• Public relations efforts with the media
• Donation campaigns are held on an annual basis.

It is possible to split your market into groups depending on a variety of criteria, like whether they have previously contributed or their economic level. It is also possible to determine whether they want to be reached by email or traditional postal mail. Described as market segmentation, this technique assists your nonprofit organization in reaching the broadest potential audience in the most cost-efficient and successful manner feasible.

Demonstrate Your Achievements

Your nonprofit’s marketing should highlight not just the organization’s purpose, but also the concrete outcomes that have been accomplished. In addition to motivating existing members to remain active, success stories can attract new members and provide an intriguing perspective for media attention.

Display your accomplishments by using the following methods:

• Donors are contacted through email or postal mail.
• Publications in the press
• Updates to the website
• Events that take place on a local or national level
• Opinion pieces published in regional or national news sources

Share information regarding fundraising results, the individuals or organizations which have benefitted through your foundation’s work, projects you’ve accomplished, laws you’ve impacted, or any other tangible indicators of success that your organization has achieved.

Forming Partnerships

Marketing your charity organization is not necessarily a one-person job. Strategic alliances may help you reach a wider audience with your marketing efforts.

Look for opportunities to collaborate with individuals or groups that share your purpose and can assist you in furthering your efforts. Other charities with similar or comparable goals, local volunteer groups, corporations seeking philanthropic collaborations, or government agencies are examples of organizations that could be considered.

And don’t forget about media attention. Communicate your knowledge and experience to reporters who are searching for sources on current problems, or submit a press release highlighting your organization’s accomplishments to news organizations. Nonprofit organizations often benefit from this stage alone, since it provides significant enrichment and marketing possibilities.

Nonprofit Marketing Strategies to Increase Awareness

Digital marketing

Marketing via social media

Nonprofits may use social media marketing to spread their messages both worldwide and locally to specific targeted audiences, as well as react swiftly to disasters and other crises. There are many advantages to using social media for charities, including:

• Increase public awareness by doing the following: Communicate the mission, as well as new projects, campaigns, and problems, in order to reach those who need assistance.
• Create a sense of belonging: Increase the size of the base and the number of prospective volunteers, presenters, sponsors, and mentors you have. They provide channels and groups via which individuals may communicate, exchange resources, and keep up to date on topics of importance to them.
• Motivate people to take action: Promote participation in tangible actions (such as sit-ins, protest marches, and marathons), lobbying the government to adopt certain policy positions, and organizing fundraisers to collect funds for a specific cause.
• Make a difference by spreading the word: They create a compelling story by celebrating wins both big and little, acknowledging the efforts of each and every volunteer and contributor, and sharing campaign outcomes in real time, among other things.

Email marketing

Besides being important in helping the business of big and small businesses, email marketing has shown to be an incredibly beneficial instrument for non-profit organizations. Email marketing may make a significant contribution to reaching and engaging individuals via personal outreach that is spread out across time, and it is becoming more popular.

Email marketing for non-profit organizations:

• It assists in keeping the workload under control.
• Contact is established with all of the recipients who have been chosen using the simplest possible sequence of procedures.
• Develops a donor base, differentiating various levels of “loyalty” among those who give to it.
• The reach of projects is increased since more people are reached in a shorter period of time.

Due to the amount of time (and often restricted resources) that most workers (frequently volunteers) of charitable groups have, e – marketing is among the most effective methods to establish a channel of communication with donors and supporters.

Furthermore, it is capable of conveying to donors the outcomes obtained in terms of its effect of the contributions received, as well as to express the organization’s thanks and gratitude, by sending an email to them.

Video marketing

Video, in all of its forms, has been shown to be one of the most often utilized resources in the content marketing strategy of companies and organizations, according to research. According to the most recent Wyzowl study (2021 edition), videos are a critical component of 93 percent of marketers’ overall marketing strategies.

They are a potent instrument that may be used to:

The usage of video as a marketing technique is increasing with every passing year (the amount of companies utilizing video as a promotional tool has grown by 41% since 2016).
It achieves the goal of improving knowledge of goods and services among prospective and current consumers.
The extraordinary events of 2020 have had a significant impact on both the supply and demand for video, to the point that the following has occurred:

• 90% of marketers think that videos have grown even more essential for brand communication in recent years.
• Consumers report that the epidemic has had an impact on the quantity of video material they watch online, with the overwhelming majority (96 percent) stating that the amount has risen as a result.
• Eighty-six percent of video marketers claim that video has boosted the amount of visitors to their website.
• According to 94 percent of video marketers, video has assisted in increasing consumers’ knowledge of their service or product.

People continue to enjoy video content online for an estimate of 24 hour per week (a rise of 2 hours each week from a year ago and a boost of more over 7 hours per week over 3 years), and they are 2 times as inclined to share it like any other type of information, along with posts on social media, blog entries and articles, and sales pages, according to the latest research.

Using Content Marketing to Drive More Traffic to Your Website

Content marketing has grown into a term that has outgrown its meaning, so let’s break it down into its most basic components.

Your charity should strive to publish at least one new blog post, video, podcast, or web page each month on a subject that is relevant to the organization’s purpose and objectives. That is the essence of content marketing — at its most basic level. There’s much you can do once you’ve finished creating this material, and many of those choices are included in other sections of this guide.

The content serves as the building block. To be effective, one should have something to suggest that people will want to hear and that will attract attention to your company. In the absence of any response, you will be excluded from the discussions that individuals are holding with themselves, their colleagues, and their families.

What topics do you have to cover in your content? Here are some suggestions to get your creative juices flowing:

• Tell the tale of a recipient who received assistance from your organization.
• Take on a problem that is relevant to your goal and express your point of view.
• In response to inquiries from members of the public regarding problems relevant to your purpose, provide sufficient detail to show your knowledge on the subject matter. These aren’t 300-word articles or 30-second movies, but rather longer pieces.
• Make a public notice about a fundraising effort that will take place soon.
• Start a petition to get things done.
• Bring attention to a “hero” from inside your group or from the issue for which you are fighting.

Use this information to create informative and well-written blogs and other content for your website, and you’ll begin to attract the attention of search engines, which will assist others who are interested in the same topics discover your site.

If the concept of content marketing seems overwhelming to you, don’t allow it take over your operations. It is sufficient to add one new page each month to get things going. Despite their tiny size, even the smallest charities may generate one page each month. All you have to do is make a commitment to it. That is, put it in your calendar and don’t let up until you get it done.

Find Volunteers

Volunteers are transformed into allies. They take on the role of peer-to-peer fundraisers. They make a donation to the cause. Volunteers are your most powerful allies.

They’re also fantastic since most charities are in desperate need of assistance!

The proper combination of dedicated volunteers may assist your charity in growing more quickly and effectively than if you depend solely on your paid employees to do all of the tasks. And the best part is that you can find participants to do chores from anywhere in the globe thanks to internet tools.

Making a great website and online presence, for example, requires dedication and effort. While it is not advisable to commit key activities that need regular attention to volunteers, giving them one-off jobs that you don’t have time for may help you develop by leaps and bounds in a short period of time.

Suppose you come across a tech-savvy contributor from Argentina who is passionate about your mission and would go to any length to assist you, including publishing pictures and material on your social media profiles to raise awareness.

Once again, it is highly advised that volunteers do not be used to produce this kind of material. Generally speaking, people are unsuited for that degree of responsibility and may feel overwhelmed as a result of their situation. However, if you make it for them, they will be delighted to share it.

Volunteer Match is a fantastic website for discovering volunteer opportunities.

Begin a Peer-to-peer Fundraiser Campaign for a Good Cause

After gaining sufficient following, supporters, and subscribers who are enthusiastic about what you’re doing, you may be in a position to launch a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) campaign to spread the word about your cause.

P2P simply refers to the fact that your fans act as fundraisers for you. The money is raised on your behalf by their friends, relatives, colleagues, and anyone else they are able to contact on your behalf These individuals may host live shows such as house meetings, excursions, and business presentations. They may communicate with existing email contact lists as well as their social media following. They have the option of sending postcards in which they may be as imaginative as they like.

Most importantly, they will reach individuals who would otherwise be impossible to contact.

P2P fundraising has become considerably simpler thanks to Facebook. You may set up what is known as a Facebook Fundraiser, that is very simple to set up and enables each individual to collect money on your behalf via their own Facebook profile.

Create Products that are Related to your Mission

T-shirts, mugs, wristbands, caps, and pens are examples of mementos that may be created by any group. In addition, with more thinking, you may be much more imaginative.

When it comes to fundraising, being “creative” generally refers to coming up with concepts that only your charity might come up with. Nobody could possibly perform what you’re searching for since it’s so unique to your goal. That’s the kind of gift that your current supporters will be most enthusiastic about receiving.

You should also take into consideration the low-hanging fruit, such as the things listed above.

Then you may sell your goods via a WooCommerce shop you’ve created. Once your online shop is up and running, advertise your goods via social networks, through emails, via Ad Grants, and also in your newsletters to drive traffic to your site.

Once you’ve developed your goods, you can use them as incentives in your fundraising efforts — for example, anybody who contributes more than $40 will get a free T-shirt.

A plugin called Name Your Price, available via WooCommerce, may assist you in achieving this goal.

It enables donors and purchasers to establish their own prices for your goods, which is very convenient. Consider the following scenario: instead of selling the same t-shirt at $15, you might set a minimum cost at $15 but allowing customers to spend much more. Consumers will interpret this as a charitable contribution, which it is. Your charitable organization will consider it a reasonable purchase for a t-shirt.

Case Studies

When done correctly, successful marketing initiatives may start conversations that extend well beyond your usual donor base. Use the strategies and tactics used by the following popular nonprofit marketing campaigns to improve the marketing of your own organization.

CoorDown

An Italian nonprofit organization, COORDOWN, created the #DearFutureMom campaign on World Down Syndrome Day to raise awareness of the condition. In the popular movie, individuals with Down syndrome are shown offering words of wisdom to expectant mothers and fathers.

What makes it so great:

In order to get people to identify with the cause, this advertising makes use of an emotional appeal. The organization also makes use of real individuals to help give a personality to the population that the charity serves. Additionally, the inclusion of a hashtag increases the video’s shareability!

TED

Ted Lectures made use of Twitter’s newest polling function to ask questions about current talks and events, which was deployed by the organization.

What makes it so great:

Ted Talks have previously shown to be very effective at going viral! This interactive element of the marketing strategy engages supporters and enables them to have their voices heard via the use of polls. Users may opt in and express their views (as well as information about the nonprofit’s purpose) with no effort thanks to this low-effort Twitter feature.

The Movember Foundation

The Movember Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of males. Supporters of this campaign are encouraged to grow a mustache throughout the month of November in order to create awareness about the issue.

What makes it so great:

In order to achieve its goals, this campaign must raise awareness and spark a dialogue among participants. People will speak more about your cause if you encourage them to do something different and sharing with their friends and family. This is the same approach that has resulted in the enormous popularity of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!

The PAWS Chicago 5K Run/Walk

PAWS is a non-profit animal shelter organization headquartered in Chicago that helps animals in need. The phrase “Pets Are Worth Saving” is an abbreviation that stands for “Pets Are Worth Saving.” The group, which was established in 1997, is dedicated to finding answers to the problem of euthanasia of homeless dogs.

The PAWS Chicago 5K Walk/Run seems to be the region’s biggest dog-friendly event and is held every year on the first Saturday in October. Every year, it attracts about 7,000 people as well as more than 3,000 dogs.

The route is divided into two sections: a running course and a walking course, with dogs permitted exclusively on the walking track. Furthermore, individuals may choose to engage in the event either as a team or individually.

The race kicks out with a presentation from the creator, Paula Fasseas, and the announcement of the top charity fundraising individuals and teams for the year ahead. Following the speech, there will be a pet parade, which will eventually lead to the start of the race.

What makes it so great:

Event planning that is in line with your message is done by In the planning stages of an event, be certain that people can connect it to your cause. You want people to recognise your cause when they look back on their experience with you.

AARP Spotify Playlists

In order to raise awareness of the American Music Therapy Association, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) produced Spotify playlists to complement an article on music therapy.

What makes it so great:

Since about December 2017, Spotify boasted 157 million subscribers, which means your organization may be reaching a large number of people via playlists. Whether your charity is music-based or not, creating a suitable playlist with a branded picture may encourage people to listen to songs that are important to your cause while also remembering your organization as they sing along to the songs they are listening to.

Rise Together

Rise Together is a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of addiction and the promotion of good mental health among young people. Using the hashtag #TheFutureIsYouth, the #TheFutureIsYouth initiative brings together people from all around the globe to express their idea of what a brighter future might look like. It promotes user involvement via narrative, as well as the usage of the campaign hashtags in order to raise awareness and support for the cause.

What makes it so great:

For a variety of reasons, user-generated material is a wonderful thing to see. For starters, it promotes your community and specific members—people with whom participants of your network identify—in a positive way. It also provides genuine information about your cause via real-life storytelling, which may be more impactful than just posting your mission statement on a website or social media platform. Giving individuals of your organization a platform to express themselves also helps to expand awareness as well as the impact of your connection via user sharing and participation.

Pencils of Promise

Pencils of Promise is a worldwide project that works to ensure that all children have access to high-quality education. Their Back to School initiative sought to collect enough money to enable 1,600 kids to return to school for a full year in order to achieve their goal. Pencils of Promise utilized its websites and Instagram in innovative ways to promote the campaign and thank donors who took part in the effort.

What makes it so great:

Celebrating donor involvement goes a long way toward achieving success. The #backtoschool campaign expresses gratitude to contributors through Instagram and also maintains a list of sponsors on their website. Not only does it make contributors feel good to know that they are acknowledged, but they also enjoy being able to witness the results of their contributions in real life. Putting contributors in a prominent place in campaign media is an excellent method to increase community involvement by promoting reposts, tagging, and extending your loyal following. In order to assist you in organizing such a campaign, please click here to obtain a free template about nonprofit donor personalities.

Final Thoughts

As you’ve seen, there are many methods to improve the fundraising tactics of your nonprofit organization. And although each one of these strategies may help you achieve better outcomes on its own, combining them will usually result in the most successful and complete fundraising possibilities.

Never forget that your fundraising efforts are a never-ending work in progress. It is important not to get caught up in the failures or the occurrences that do not generate the revenue that was anticipated. Keep a watchful eye on your data and analytics results. Pay close attention to your performance indicators. Take some time to think about your communication strategy. In addition, you should constantly strive to improve.