3 Ways for Nonprofits to Find New Supporters in 2023

As we head into this year, many of us are still navigating through recent economic changes and new marketing trends. We see both a shadow of uncertainty from inflation and a ray of light as digital marketing methods become more effective. As a result, you may evaluate trends to find the most effective ways to gain new supporters. 

We’ve compiled a few tips for growing your donor and volunteer list this year. These may seem simple but stay with us as we explain how to implement them best.

Your nonprofit can find new supporters in 2023 by incorporating these three methods: 

• Diversify your content. 
• Broaden your sources of help. 
• Grow your audience with Ad Grants.

 

1. Diversify Your Content 

User-generated Content (UGC)

According to Nosto, “79 percent of people say user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.” While finding donors and volunteers differs from finding buyers, UGC demonstrates nonprofit impact. 

As you’ve likely heard, stories move people. Fortunately, nonprofits have some of the best stories to tell. 

For example, Solar Sister utilizes UGC to share its organization’s impact on so many lives. This nonprofit empowers women with clean energy entrepreneurship skills and products. Since at least 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without electricity, Solar Sister’s efforts help both women entrepreneurs and countless families. Their story from Nyakno is inspiring.

By allowing those you help to tell their stories, you accomplish the following:

• Spread awareness of a problem AND your nonprofit’s solution
• Show potential donors your impact rather than simply “telling” them
• Personalize the individuals that the donors and volunteers help
• Encourage those who need you most to reach out

Share Videos and Infographics

By sharing visual content, you can relay your message in faster ways that are more consistent with your audience’s needs. Since time is a precious resource, your viewers will appreciate shorter content and bite-sized information. 

You can present this content on social media or embed it in your blog posts. Think of videos and infographics as the visual stories you want to tell about essential issues, your impact, and how your supporters made this possible. Sharing infographics and videos increases the likelihood that you’ll get engagement on your content. This engagement can eventually lead to website visits, donations, memberships, and volunteer sign-ups. 

Here is a quick example of how effective infographics can be. These Instagram posts are derived from our blog article. We included a link to the whole article in each caption.  

As you can see, the first post ensures that you receive a bit of information even if you don’t have time to read our full blog post. 

 

Did it take much longer to read the first post compared to the second?

While we’d all love for audiences to read every blog post, they need to have the option to absorb the short version too. This way, it is up to viewers whether or not they decide to visit the blog and read more. By presenting these options, you give your audience autonomy and demonstrate consideration of their time. 

Videos are an increasingly valuable form of content to share as well. They can evoke emotion, entertain, and educate. You can share videos as featured content on your landing pages, blog posts, and social media. 

For social media locations that are strictly limited to video, you can reach audiences that otherwise would not have found your nonprofit. This includes Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, and longer YouTube videos. 

Volunteer Newsletters

If you haven’t tried sharing volunteer newsletters before, these can show appreciation for your volunteers and encourage more people to donate their time. It can help demonstrate impact with your general audience. 

There are a few places to consider sharing volunteer newsletters and purposes for them as well. First and foremost, share them via email with your current volunteers. Highlight specific impacts individuals or groups made over the past month or quarter. Speak to the dedication of your volunteers. You can include a personal story if one of them would like to share. These newsletters help build a community and validate efforts. It can solidify volunteers’ decisions to continue committing their time. 

Secondly, you can share volunteer newsletters on your social media channels. For Instagram, you could create a collage of meaningful pictures with a gratitude-themed caption and share the newsletter link in your bio (Linktree). You can also share Reels or TikToks depicting your volunteer impact. 

On other platforms, share the entire newsletter, sections, or videos. For example, LinkedIn allows you to publish full articles and newsletters on the platform (Click “write an article” and then “create a newsletter”). By sharing your volunteer newsletters on social media, you can build interest among potential volunteers in your audience. 

Donor Impact Newsletters

Another area where newsletters are beneficial is with your donors. Unless they’ve limited communication, you should email these directly to them. It’s always a good idea to share nonprofit impact with donors! In fact, the most common reason donors stop giving is too frequent solicitations without communication of impact. 

Demonstrate how their contribution has changed lives and has enabled your nonprofit to continue this essential work. Additionally, you can include announcements of events, important milestones, and personal stories. You can also share them on social media to increase donor retention and encourage new donors. 

Won’t these newsletters take too much time? 

The time commitment involved with creating both types of newsletters doesn’t have to be extensive. You may be able to repurpose content from each, “piggy-backing” off of content you’ve already created. This is especially true for instances where your volunteer and donor impact intersect. 

For example, let’s say a group of volunteers runs a highly successful dog adoption event, and the space is rented with donated funds. Or, you have volunteers transporting rescue pets to veterinary clinics, and donations fund this medical care. In these situations, you can write newsletter content celebrating the overall impact and personalize the wording to thank each group. Explain how their donations or voluntary efforts made this possible. 

2. Broaden Your Sources of Help

Consider these examples of non-monetary support that can be impactful for your organization:

Previous donors

While monetary contributions are vital, only some can donate funds. However, people still look for ways to donate their time or tell their friends about your organization’s essential work. 

Previous donors can share your information with their friends and family. Some may no longer be able to donate but might look for other opportunities to stay involved. Let them know that you appreciate everything they have given. Welcome them to share posts about your organization. Unless they prefer to stop communication, continue to include the previous donor as a valued partner in your mission. 

Internships 

Offering internships for college credit or work experience is an excellent way for you to get help with your cause. This also allows a student, career-changer, or entry-level associate to learn from your dedicated team and gain resume experience.

 Interns can help with content creation, virtual assistance, fundraising, marketing, and other tasks. While some students search for paid opportunities, remote internships (paid and unpaid) have become increasingly competitive for them. Furthermore, numerous millennials and Gen Zs say their dream job would be nonprofit work. Many of us remember being a student and wishing someone would give us a chance!

Keep in mind that interns want to learn, make an impact, and gain valuable experience for their resumes. They may also seek paid positions within your organization. You can increase your applicant pool by offering these internships on a part-time basis that an intern could manage alongside other responsibilities. Remember that many students or career changers must continue their paid work to make ends meet. 

Remote Volunteers 

Often underestimated, remote volunteers can help with your mission in more ways than you might realize. Of course, this depends on their assigned tasks. While a generous pet foster or kennel helper is an in-person commitment, remote volunteers can create an impact in other ways. 

They can assist with virtual events, content writing, Canva design, photo & video editing, T-shirt art, and various office tasks. Remote volunteers can also teach your team a specialized skill they may have. Potential volunteers often want to make a difference, learn new skills, and be part of a community. You may be surprised by the generosity and willingness to help from people that are states away. 

3. Grow Your Audience With Ad Grants

The Google Ad Grant and Microsoft Ads For Social Impact Grants are free advertising for nonprofits. By displaying ads on popular search engines, your nonprofit can reach more donors and volunteers. 

Google Ad Grant

Google provides $10,000 in monthly ad spend with its grant for eligible nonprofits. The ads are on the Google search engine, which is the largest in the world. Nonprofits can spend the entire amount monthly or only as much as needed. Then, the following month, they receive another 10k in ad spend. If your nonprofit already has the Google Ad Grant, ensure you get the most out of this free advertising. 

Understandably, you may be curious how much of a difference the Google Ad Grant can make. We encourage you to look at Google’s success stories to learn more about how the Google Ad Grant has drastically increased nonprofit impact. Check out this resource for guidance on the technicalities of Google Grant success and management.  

Microsoft Ads for Social Impact Grant

This new ad grant has only been available to nonprofits since the summer of 2022. The Microsoft Ad Grant has fewer website requirements, making it an option for nonprofits with less content on their site. 

The Microsoft Ads for Social Impact Grant gives eligible nonprofits $3,000 monthly ad spend. These ads are on the Microsoft Search Network (Bing, Yahoo, AOL) and Microsoft Audience Network (outlook.com, MSN, Microsoft Edge, Ecosia).

While the Microsoft Network makes up a smaller portion of the US search market than Google, you can still reach 47 million searchers that are not on Google. Additionally, Microsoft’s audience is notoriously supportive of nonprofits. See a few unique benefits of the Microsoft Grant below. 

Using Both the Google Ad and Microsoft for Social Impact Grants 

You’re likely to miss out on additional supporters if you aren’t extending your reach by utilizing both of these nonprofit ad grants. Understandably, you might ask how beneficial it is to have both grants. Some nonprofits have already added both to their marketing strategy. They’ve been very pleased with the outcome.

For example, the YWCA USA more than tripled its clicks by utilizing both the Google Grant and Microsoft Ads for Social Impact. They increased their total number of ad clicks from 3,420 to 11,475 in two months. Additionally, this organization had more than 432,000 ad impressions within two months by effectively and simultaneously managing both grants.

While professional management is not required, this takes work off your plate and helps you get better results. Connect with us if you have any questions or need some help! 

Conclusion

Now that you’ve read our recommendations for 2023 marketing for supporters, we hope that you have found areas of opportunity unique to your nonprofit. While we see the value in the totality of these methods, we recognize a few key points from our own work with successful nonprofits. Each organization has its talents, resources, and niche. It’s important to do the necessary research to discover how your nonprofit fits into the philanthropic goals of your target volunteers and donors. We believe that this insight into your audiences and their goals will continue to be essential for growing their support. 

Our goal at Nonprofit Megaphone is to amplify nonprofit missions and equip nonprofits to thrive. If you find value in regular marketing tips and tricks, we encourage you to follow us and check out our blog. You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter, where we deliver one of our top blog posts and a summary of content tips. Thank you for reading!

 

Information and Tips on the Google Ad Grant for Nonprofits

The Google Ad Grant for nonprofits have provided free advertising for nonprofit organizations since 2003. This fantastic Google program grants each qualifying nonprofit up to $10,000 per month in search ads shown on Google.com. 

While this is an excellent resource for nonprofits, many organizations have not obtained the Google Ad Grant for their nonprofits yet. Some haven’t succeeded with their Google ads thus far. 

Let’s discuss some of the most frequently asked questions about the Google Ad Grant. We will also dive into how to see results from Google Ads. We want every nonprofit to get the most out of this free program!

Who is eligible for the Google Ad Grant?

To qualify for the grant, nonprofit organizations must meet the following requirements:

• Your nonprofit is in an eligible country. Although the Google Ad Grant is expanding, it is not yet available in all countries. For a list of eligible countries and their requirements, click here. 

• You have 501(c)(3) as a nonprofit. This status is required for all nonprofits to qualify in the United States. In other countries, nonprofits must have similar classifications to qualify (see the linked list above for details). 

• Your organization is not a hospital, school, college, or governmental institution. Philanthropic arms of educational institutions may still qualify.

• You must have an SSL certificate installed on your website if applying for the grant for the first time. This means that a lock icon appears in the navigation bar in Google Chrome. If you see “not secure” next to your website’s URL in Chrome, SSL is not installed. Sometimes, there is a configuration issue.

• You have a high-quality website that is hosted on your own domain. For example, use “ournonprofit.org,” not “ournonprofit.weebly.com.” To understand Google’s specific requirements for your website, click here.

If you meet these criteria, you are eligible for the Google Ad Grant! For additional information and eligibility tips, check out our video and article, “Google Ad Grant Eligibility Explained.”

What are the steps to apply for the Google Ad Grant? 

1. First, become a member of Google for Nonprofits through TechSoup. 

• If you have not previously registered your organization with TechSoup.org, sign up for an account here. TechSoup provides discounts and other services that you may find worthwhile. Most importantly, TechSoup provides a Validation Token that Google uses to verify your eligibility.

• Use your TechSoup Validation Token to enroll with Google for Nonprofits.

2. Second, submit your nonprofit’s website to Google for review.

• Sign into Google for Nonprofits.

• Then click “Google Ad Grants”>”Get Started” under “Request a Google for Nonprofits Account.”

• Fill out the assessment by clicking the eligibility form link. Click “Activate” to submit your organization’s website for review.

Pro Tip: During the application process, you will be asked whether you wish to sign up for a “Smart Campaigns” or a “Classic” Google Ads account. Apply for the Classic version to access the full suite of tools and options available.

6 Tips for utilizing the Google Ad Grant to the fullest

While the Google Ad Grant gives nonprofits $10,000 in monthly ad credits, many organizations reach their goals without using the total amount. This is excellent news! However, these ad credits do not roll over from month to month. Therefore, you’ll want to develop a solid strategy to get the most out of this program. 

1. List your goals in order of priority. 

You have many goals, and figuring out where to start might be challenging. As a first step, list what you would like to accomplish with Google Ads. Do you want to grow awareness of your impact through your blog? Promoting your blog through an ad campaign would be a great start. Maybe your organization desperately needs volunteers to reach several important milestones for those you are helping. In this case, you can focus on an ad campaign that resonates with the values of your target volunteer audience.  

2. Select your top five goals for the first campaigns.

Start with 3-5 campaigns. You’ll get the best results by starting with your top 3-5 goals for these campaigns. While you can run more, managing more than this amount at once may be difficult. Since each campaign will require your attention to be effective, you should choose your campaigns based on what is the highest priority to advertise. 

3. Be intentional with your ad groups.

Be specific with your ad words for each campaign, keeping your goals in mind. It’s most effective to have a group of closely related keywords and ads that target various related phrases. See the image below from WordStream for a simple example of keyword phrases.

Image credit: WordStream

4. Prepare your website with your target audience in mind

Since your ad campaigns can potentially increase your site visitors considerably, you’ll want to increase the chances that visitors act while there. What does preparing your website for your target audience mean?

First, ensure that your website has a clean, modern, and user-friendly design. Use easy-to-read fonts and high-contrast color pallets. Keep visitor accessibility in mind as well. Also, test your website on mobile devices to ensure the layout is mobile-friendly. 

In addition to general design tips, we recommend this list of components to be included on your nonprofit website:

• Have at least ten promotable pages with at least 300 words each. 
• Include a blog with searchable posts that are 700-1000 words long. 
• Install Google Tag Manager to count important button clicks. 
• Keep call-to-action forms on your website. If using a PDF form, ensure that this is its own landing page on your site. 
• Include “thank you” landing pages for all call-to-action forms.
• Keep your website security updated and address any security flags.

Here, we have included eight recommended nonprofit website must-haves.

As we have noted, it is essential to have quality content on your website! This is important for Google Ad Grant compliance and increasing ad campaign success. When new visitors come to your website, you will want them to understand your mission and impact quickly. To learn more about how your content helps you to reach your marketing goals, check out our article, “3 Reasons to Use Web Content for Marketing Your Nonprofit.” 

5. Build and maintain your social media presence

Although this is talked about frequently, we can’t stress enough the importance of a nonprofit’s social media presence. Here is why: 

While the Google Ad Grant is a game-changer for nonprofit marketing, not every potential supporter will find you through Google. Consider the way that you browse online. How many times have you noticed an organization or business for the first time on social media?

Think of social media as a valuable asset in your marketing toolbox to utilize your Google Ad Grant. For example, you may receive website visitors from your Google Ad Campaigns that want to check out your social media presence from the icons on your website. If you don’t have your social media linked on your website or your social page on that platform is bare, your potential supporters may choose a nonprofit that shares more of its impact.  

Remember, your social media posts can tell stories in real time that new and existing supporters otherwise wouldn’t see. You can share your impact in regular updates, recognize a sponsor, announce an upcoming fundraiser, and provide frequent educational content about your mission. The possibilities are endless. Use niche-specific hashtags, keywords, and trending audio for the best results to reach a larger audience. 

Here are some quick tips for nonprofit social media growth: 

• Post regularly at the times when your audience is most active.
• Use multimedia, including video, text, and infographics. 
• Engage with other accounts. This is one way the algorithm decides whom to show your content. Don’t “post and ghost.”
• Write meaningful captions and be intentional with hashtags. Experts currently recommend that we go back to adding hashtags in the caption, not the comments. 
• Make your social media icons easy to find on your site’s homepage.

6. Track your Google Ad performance

Naturally, you can’t improve what you can’t see. Like many tools, the Google Ad Grant’s success hinges on your nonprofit’s continuous evaluation and adjustment.

Through valuable data, Google is great about letting you know which campaigns are working and which ones aren’t. This prevents you from expending energy, resources, and ad-spend on the wrong campaigns. 

By taking the time to understand and adjust your campaigns as needed, you’ll streamline the process of seeing results with Google Ads. 

Maintaining compliance

Since you won’t want to lose the great benefits of the Google Ad Grant, you’ll need to ensure that you stay in compliance. Because the grant renews monthly, we recommend setting a recurring to-do for your compliance checklist. 

This is a list from Google of common violations that can cause suspension of the Google Ad Grant: 

• Abusing the ad network or misrepresenting your organization
• Losing your nonprofit status
• Not keeping your CTR (click-through rate) at 5% or higher
• Failing to meet Google for Nonprofits eligibility criteria
• Needing re-verification (this is primarily for organizations who signed up with Google for Nonprofits before 2016)
• Repeatedly violating Google’s Terms & Policies

How to know when you need help

In some cases, researching and seeking Google support can solve problems and keep your organization on the right track with the Google Ad Grant. However, we recognize that every nonprofit faces the challenge of not having enough help in some regard. You’re busy changing the world, so your plate might be full!

You might consider seeking help for the following reasons:

• You’ve encountered an obstacle while trying to acquire the grant.
• Your account has been suspended, and you need help with reactivation. 
• Tracking progress is challenging because some data doesn’t make sense. 
• You’re struggling to understand how you can improve your campaigns.
• You aren’t seeing the results you had hoped for with the Google Ad Grant. 
• Managing the Grant is entirely too time-consuming for your team. 
• You find the Google Ad Grant application process or management overwhelming. 

We fully understand that while the Google Ad Grant is a fantastic tool, it can be challenging to figure everything out. 

Getting help with your Google Ad Grant

For general questions about the grant or your account, you can visit Google’s Ad Grants Help page. This page includes frequently asked questions and solutions to common problems. Also, they have provided links at the bottom of the page to “ask the help community” or to contact Google for assistance.

If you need additional help acquiring or managing the Google Ad Grant, you may be interested in partnering with Google Certified Professionals, like our team at Nonprofit Megaphone. 

Professional grant management saves you time, ensures the proper steps are followed, and helps you see faster results. At Nonprofit Megaphone, we were once shocked to learn that 75% of eligible nonprofits had either not heard of or were not currently using the Google Grant. Therefore, we set out to change that.

We now have a 100% success rate in acquiring the grant and currently manage more than 48 million ad dollars. If you are considering that your organization could benefit from our experience, feel free to connect with us for a consultation.  

Conclusion

The Google Ad Grant is one of the most under-utilized resources nonprofits have for growing their impact and awareness around their causes. Many organizations aren’t aware that they qualify or haven’t gotten the most out of the Google Ad Grant. We hope that this article has answered essential questions you may have had about applying for the grant, seeing success after acquiring it, and getting help if you need it. For more Google Ad Grant tips and nonprofit marketing strategies, check out our blog and Instagram. 

5 Free Tools For Nonprofits to Save Time and Money

If your nonprofit is looking for ways to streamline projects while you grow awareness for your mission, you’re not alone. Nonprofits of all sizes often struggle with not having enough hands on deck to complete large projects and handle all sides of  communication.

Since your organization runs on charitable donations, you’ll naturally want to lower the amount you have to spend on business tools. This is why free business tools are essential to preserving those funds for your life-changing work.

We’ve compiled a list of 5 free tools that you should utilize today:

 

1. Canva for Design 

Canva is excellent for creating professional designs. You may be quite familiar with this design tool already, but did you know that Canva has a program specifically for Nonprofits? 

While the basic Canva version is free to everyone, you may have noticed that you cannot remove the background for logos or that you don’t have access to all the design features and templates. Therefore, it is best to have a Pro Account with Canva, which unlocks many features. The Canva for Nonprofits Program gives 501(c)(3) organizations free access to Canva Pro. 

With the use of Pro, you can create designs for just about any project. This plan includes features you may not have explored yet, such as the following : 

• Create professional videos. You can now create videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube, and your website. Canva has a library of music you can pair with your videos. It allows you to adjust the audio to the section that is best for your video, just as you would within social media apps. Can also allow you to adjust video clip length to time perfectly for a professional and polished video. Additionally, there is an extensive library of pre-made videos within the Canva platform that you can customize and use for your introduction or transition between clips. 

 

For example, our Nonprofit Megaphone team made this Instagram Reel with Canva Pro for Earth Day this year. While our Reel consisted of a slide show of original photos from our team, Canva’s intro video clip was beneficial in showing viewers initially what our Reel was about. Social media experts agree that Reels with text intro clips perform better than those without an introduction. Remember that many of your viewers might be scrolling their feed with the sound muted, but they are more likely to listen to your reel if they understand what it’s about first.

 

• Access an extensive library of infographics. As with its most frequently used design features, you can use Canva Pro to create infographics. This is an excellent way to demonstrate your nonprofit’s mission, year-end stats, and goals. Consider sharing infographics in your blog articles or on social media. In our experience, we have found that educational infographics provide more value to our viewers than single photo posts. Audiences seem to appreciate being able to absorb your message quickly, which helps them decide if they want to interact with your post. 

 

• Save time with social media templates. For just about every holiday, Canva has a template available that you can customize with your brand colors or message. It also has a searchable feature to help you create your post in the right size and format for the platform you want to post to.  

 

• Use free images. There is also a vast library of copyright-free images to use for your website, articles, and social media. With the Pro version of Canva, you’ll have access to many more images than you do with a Basic version. Many of these Pro-only images are less common and generic. As a nonprofit, you likely have many authentic images of your own, but additional pictures may help tell your story. 

You can access the Pro version in the Canva for Nonprofits Program by providing your official 501(c)(3) documentation. To learn more about Canva’s program for nonprofits, click here. 

2. Google Workspace for Collaboration

You may already have Google Workspace for your Nonprofit, but there may be features that you haven’t utilized yet. For collaboration, Google Drive is a perfect tool within Google Workspace. In case you are unfamiliar with its functions, your team can work on the same document simultaneously, suggest edits, and make comments. 

Google Drive integrates with Docs (similar to MS Word), sheets (similar to Excel), and slides (similar to Powerpoint). This allows you to create files within Drive or convert your existing files into Drive’s formatting to allow team collaboration. 

Teams can work on Google Sheets together to share ideas and numerical progress or gather data from each team member. Additionally, Google Docs eliminates the need for excessive emails because it allows your team to comment back and forth about suggested edits within the document. You can use the “suggestion mode” feature to demonstrate what you would change without altering the original document.  This can be very helpful with collaboration on large projects.

Did you know that Google offers a Google Workspace for Nonprofits? It’s free! The benefit of using this program is that it provides a professional Google Workspace for your nonprofit organization, including many features that are not free to businesses. 

Google Workspace for nonprofits includes

• Professional email addresses at your nonprofit’s domain
• 100-participant video meetings
• 30 GB cloud storage per user
• Security and management controls
• Standard support 

As Google states, their Nonprofit-only offer is zero dollars per month per user! This program is available for charitable organizations that meet eligibility requirements in their country. Please note that certain entities do not qualify, such as government organizations, hospitals, healthcare organizations, and academic institutions. However, Google does offer a separate program for schools. 

To view the full eligibility requirements, click here. 

3. Free Conference Call for Large Team Meetings

Although other services offer audio and video communications for nonprofits, the limit on participants within most free plans can be quite restrictive for a larger team. To obtain free conference calls and meetings for a large nonprofit team, you may want to look into FreeConferenceCall.com. 

This service not only provides free services but is also dedicated to helping charities. Free Conference Call has a “pay what you can” pricing model, and this is just as it sounds. Free Conference Call encourages all entities to pay any amount possible towards their services, but they still provide free conference calls and meetings if payment is not feasible.

 

 

Although this free service has some limitations on features, nonprofits can take advantage of free online video conferences with up to 1,000 participants and no time limit! Additionally, you can record your meetings with the speaker displayed as well as use chat and track attendance.
View their quick video to understand everything that comes with a free account.

4. Slack for Team Communication

If your nonprofit team hasn’t tried Slack yet, what are you waiting for? Slack is a cloud-based tool for workplace chat, collaboration, team building, and meetings. The best part is they offer a Slack for Nonprofits Program.
Benefits of Slack
While it has been thought of as simply a chat tool, it can provide much more than that. Slack is perfect for remote teams and a great help to on-site teams as well. Do you ever just have a quick question for a teammate that seems unnecessary for an email? The use of Slack can drastically reduce emails clogging up your inbox. You can easily chat with your collaborators directly from each of your desks.
Since Slack offers the ability to create different channels, you can boost team morale by having channels for birthdays, pets, GIFs of the day, or polls to see who wants to attend Game Night. Creating these channels offers a form of team building that tends to gain more participation from the entire team versus asking for feedback in large meetings. Of course, not everyone loves to speak in front of a group, but your office introverts might jump at the chance to participate in group chat.
Additionally, Slack offers other valuable features. For instance, you can connect your Google Calendar with Slack to create meeting reminders and embed meeting links directly on Slack for convenience. Also, you can make 1:1 voice and video calls between teammates.
For remote teams, Slack provides a unique team environment for your nonprofit. Not only can you utilize the previous features described here, but teammates can use status updates to communicate more efficiently. They can easily set their status to communicate when available, in a meeting, at lunch, or running an errand. The status-update feature drastically reduces confusion and prevents team members from feeling ignored or overwhelmed.

5. HeyOrca! for Social Media News and Trends

This service provides social media scheduling services, but they also serve as a great source of information on all things social media-related. We recently learned the benefits of HeyOrca’s free weekly social media newsletter and are happy to spread the word to nonprofits. 

“HeyOrca! Brief” is their free weekly social media newsletter that provides valuable insights relevant to any organization with a social media presence. They make it concise and fun for busy social media managers, as it usually only takes a minute to read or scan. 

They will give you the latest news or upcoming changes you can expect on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. For instance, you will likely get the inside scoop on new design features and format changes before they take place. 

Why might you need to keep track of what these platforms are doing? Due to the competition between the different social media platforms as they battle it out to be number one, they seem to be making a lot of changes without slowing down. 

Algorithm changes are frequent these days, which can impact the growth of your Nonprofit’s social media presence. Consequently, getting lower reach on any platform you regularly use can affect how many donors and volunteers learn about your organization. Likewise, you can take advantage of tremendous growth opportunities if you are on the right side of these algorithm changes. Therefore, it is worthwhile to keep track of this as best you can. 

In addition to social media news, HeyOrca also provides you with a list of trending audio and information about what content is succeeding. As you may be familiar with this concept when creating Reels and TikToks, using trending audio increases the likelihood that your video will get more views. Keep in mind that this method is best utilized when you can use popular audio near the beginning of the trend before this audio use becomes oversaturated. 

HeyOrca provides social media scheduling services and may offer additional services that are not free. However, they provide options when you sign up to select what you may or may not be interested in. You can simply select that you only want the weekly newsletter if that is the case. 

Takeaway: Free Services Elevate your Nonprofit

As we wrap up this list of five free nonprofit tools, we hope that you are taking advantage of them all. Should you have any questions about the information covered here, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Nonprofit Megaphone Team via our website or social media pages. We are happy to help you grow. 

Nonprofit Megaphone specializes in Google Ad Grant management services for nonprofits. Another free tool for nonprofits, the Google Ad Grant provides eligible nonprofits with $10,000 in ad credits monthly to spend on Google ads. To learn more about this incredible grant for Nonprofit marketing or to contact us, click here.

As we inch closer to the end of the year, your nonprofit organization may be doing a deep dive into the progress you’ve made this year. With fall approaching, there are still many opportunities for fundraising events, holiday donations, and seasonal campaigns. Our 4 Nonprofit Marketing Strategies for Fall Growth will improve your ability to reach your year-end goals

With so much on your plate, are you looking for a more streamlined way for your nonprofit to grow through the end of the year and beyond? 

We’ve got you covered! We’ve compiled a list of 4 marketing strategies that nonprofits can focus on over these next few months: 

1. Use social media for storytelling.
2. Run hybrid events. 
3. Utilize the Google Ad Grant.
4. Refresh your website. 

While these are simple tips, let’s get into the details of how to implement each of these the right way to see results.

1. Use social media for storytelling.

One advantage nonprofits have on social media is a continuous supply of authentic content and meaningful stories. While each platform presents unique challenges with organic reach, nonprofits have an advantage. You can have the audience engagement of a creator and the large following of a business. 

As a nonprofit organization, your followers want to see your large-scale impact, small victories, and inspiring stories. You can maintain a consistent presence and keep them updated with regular posts. Social media gives your organization an excellent opportunity for storytelling to grow support for your mission. 

Video content

The convenience of Instagram reels and TikTok videos allows you to create bite-sized content easily. Videos are important because the majority of social media users are continuing to engage more with video content over other forms of content. 

Your audience might tune in regularly to your Instagram reels for updates on a specific life story they’ve begun following. Or they may want to follow along in your nonprofit’s journey as you overcome hardships. With an extensive library of available music, you can evoke emotion with your videos.

For example, a farm animal sanctuary gained significantly more followers after sharing its difficult time relocating all of its residents to safety ahead of wildfires. Another nonprofit went viral when they shared an on-trend funny video, “Things people have said to me about rescuing senior dogs.”

When these nonprofits shared their stories, this elicited strong emotions from their audience. This caused them to be shared over and over, contributing to their success. 

Short-form video content is essential for reaching non-followers to grow your account and gain more support for your mission. For platforms that support both photo and video content, such as Instagram, the algorithm is favoring video content above all else. This makes spreading awareness for your mission through video more possible than ever. 

Infographics

With so much competition and shortening attention spans, it can be challenging to get important information across to your audience quickly. People tend to avoid large bodies of text and often don’t have enough time to read it all. 

Consider presenting educational or statistical information in the form of infographics. You can use simple templates and design features on design tools like Canva to summarize your information and present it in a more visually appealing way. 

For example, a colorful infographic showing “5 Sustainability Hacks” will likely have much more engagement than a long caption or plain bulleted list. 

Bonus Tip

If you create infographics for Instagram or Facebook, you can also use them within a blog post discussing that topic. Remember that infographic images give your blog additional ways to be found under Google images for those keywords. 

Don’t forget your growing Gen Z audience

Discussing social media wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Generation Z (people born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s). 

As many in this generation have reached young adulthood, they bring a combination of concern for important causes and a take-action attitude. This is a highly valuable audience for your nonprofit social media presence.  

Gen Z grew up in the digital era. Therefore, they may have high expectations for brevity and tech-friendly content. While this generation can be a challenging audience to capture, it’s worth the effort. 

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Gen Z, they aren’t afraid to stand up for the issues they care about. Many of them are highly creative and can bring a fresh take to your organization as volunteers and collaborators. 

We recommend you consider asking your Gen Z employees or volunteers their opinion on marketing designs, blog posts, and campaigns. You might be surprised by the insight they bring. It is essential to have a solid grasp of who your social media audience is, and this will be increasing numbers of Gen Z moving forward. If you haven’t already, the time to get to know them is now! 

Use your insights

Be sure to regularly check your insights to better understand your follower audience. This will guide the timing and content types for your status updates. Pay attention to the days/times your followers are most active, their time zone, and age demographics. 

This information allows you to experiment with the best posting times to reach the highest engagement. Use music and trends that align best with the age of your existing and target audience. 

Since you’ll likely have a mixture of demographics, try posting a variety of short and longer content. For example, your Gen Z and young Millennial audience might engage more with an eight-second video posted at night with trending audio. Your other audiences might engage more with a twenty to a forty-second-long video posted in the morning with classic songs. 

Review your post insights to learn what resonates with your audience. Since these metrics will differ for every nonprofit, check your insights regularly to determine what is best for your organization and time zone.

2. Run hybrid events.

Offer virtual options for your in-person events. There are still many people who are reluctant to attend potentially crowded events. Some are restricting their outings due to the pandemic dragging on and the potential cold/flu season of the winter ahead.

How do you convert in-person events into hybrid events? 

The key is proper organization. Have one to two dedicated team members responsible for handling the virtual aspect of your event. They’ll host a live video on social media that you promoted before the event. You can also record this to share with additional audiences afterward. 

Additionally, you should provide a decent live view of the main activities. The team member(s) can stay present with your audience throughout the event. For best results, provide a live chat and answer audience questions. Preferably, your main speaker should be an approachable person who is comfortable presenting and knowledgeable about your event’s goals. 

Engage your virtual audience

Ask the audience questions like, “Where are you streaming from today? How did you hear about our event? What do you guys think we should do for our next fundraiser?” 

Be sure to thank them for participating in your event and engaging with you. Towards the end of the live presentation, plant a seed for the next event by announcing when/what it will be and how to attend. 

Don’t forget the call-to-action

You should also include a call-to-action before ending the live video, such as “Sign up for our newsletter or blog if you want to see more of our activities and hear about future events. If you aren’t following us on “x” social media platform yet, be sure to do so. We post “x content” every week!

3. Utilize the Google Ad Grant.

Whether you currently have the Google Ad Grant or still need to apply, let’s discuss how it can be a game changer for your marketing strategy. 

What is the Google Ad Grant?

Short on time? Check out this 5-minute video where our CEO, Grant Hansel, explains how the Google Ad Grant works and what it means for you!  

Google Ad Grants provide eligible nonprofits with $10,000 in ad credits monthly to spend on ads. These are the ads that appear in Google searches. This program was created by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s former COO, to help nonprofits reach larger audiences and grow their impact. 

Since the Google Ad Grant is designed specifically for nonprofits, all organizations that qualify are awarded the grant. If you haven’t taken this step yet, click here to learn more about qualifications. 

Why is it worth the time? 

With the Google Ad Grant, you can improve your marketing reach in these ways:

• Attract more website visitors
• Reach those who need you most
• Recruit volunteers
• Track campaign progress through data
• Gain new supporters of your mission
• Market multiple priorities simultaneously

 

You already have the grant 

If you are already utilizing the Google Ad Grant and want to see more results, you can try improving your ads. To make your ads successful, run three-to five campaigns since more could prove challenging to manage. 

We recommend keeping your ad groups focused. Be intentional by using closely-related keywords in your campaign for targeted phrases. Also, try experimenting with different headlines and descriptions, using as much of the character limit as possible. 

Additionally, maintaining compliance and monitoring performance are important factors for seeing long-term results. For more tips, read our recommended tips for getting the most out of your Google Grant. 

Get some help with your grant 

Overwhelmed by all the processes? We all know that feeling. Consider professional Google Ad Grant management to maximize your success. Since specialists know the ins and outs of the Google Grant, partnering with a grant management team can take the stress away.

4. Refresh your website.

While the importance of having an up-to-date website is no secret, audiences have come to expect a lot from websites as the user experience has improved. You can be ahead of the game by tweaking a few items to increase readability and navigation. 

Readability

What makes your web pages easy to read? Take a look at your font, sentence structure, white space, paragraph length, and contrast. These factors can either come together nicely for a great first impression, or they can hurt your click-through rate. 

• Font. Select a font that is easy to read and modern. Unless a readable Serif font is part of your Nonprofit’s style, Sans-Serif fonts have a higher success rate for readability. Additionally, experts recommend that text-heavy pages have a font size be at least 16px. In general, anything smaller than that could compromise readability for visually impaired readers. Anything too much larger could also make reading more difficult.

 

• Sentence structure. While sentences may be grammatically correct, they can still be difficult to read. Try using a mixture of short and long sentences. Use transitional phrases. Choose those moments when you want to get right to the point and those moments when it’s important to be more specific. 

 

Using a service like Grammarly can be very helpful. However, you don’t have to take every Grammarly suggestion or change your writing too much. These tools are becoming increasingly intuitive, but only you know the intention behind what you are writing. You may not need to change it! 

 

• White space. In her book, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Robin Williams says:

“Don’t be afraid to create your Design (or your life) with plenty of blank space- it’s rest for the eyes (and the Soul).” We couldn’t agree more! 

 

From a web design perspective, white space is important for readability. By strategically placing extra space, you can emphasize essential points and make your site scannable for your reader. 

 

• Paragraph length. Closely partnered with white space, it’s important to look at paragraph length too. While many of us were taught to avoid large blocks of text, the new standard for paragraph length forces us to break even some of our most traditional rules. 

 

These are style rules taught in school, such as keeping text that covers a central subject in one paragraph. Although this makes sense for academic writing, it may be best to break up larger paragraphs to encourage readers to stick with you on the web.  

 

• Contrast. Keep your contrast high on each web page. While some colors complement each other well, remember that text needs to be opposite the background. Pair light with dark consistently for text and background.

 

Navigation

Here is a quick checklist for optimal website navigation:

• Social media links on the home page
• Concise menu
• Mobile friendly
• Optimized for searchability 
• Minimal to no pop-ups 
• Good download efficiency 
• “Back-to-top” & “Main Menu” buttons

 

Bonus Tip 

Make your social media icons very easy to find on your website’s home page. Double-check to ensure that you don’t have broken links. 

We also recommend checking the “open in a different tab” option when adding your social media icons. This will open the social media platform up in a separate tab, making it easier for users to click right back over to continue viewing your website. 

Get ready for Fall

We intentionally narrowed down this list of marketing strategies to only four, as these are ways that we’ve seen Nonprofits grow faster near the end of the year. Since we work with many amazing organizations, we know that time is precious when you are trying to make an impact. Think of each strategy as one way to get new visitors to learn about your organization, visit your website, and stay on your site long enough to take action. 

At Nonprofit Megaphone, we understand that managing the grant to see results can be time-consuming for nonprofits. That’s why we currently manage over 48 million in ad dollars for nonprofits and have a 100% success rate in acquiring the Grant. Connect with us to learn more!

 

This content is sponsored by Nonprofit Megaphone.