This is why nonprofit impact reporting is so important. In fact, 18% of donors leave or stop donating due to poor communication. 

Whether you’re keeping donors updated, presenting a case to internal stakeholders or creating an annual report design that speaks to stakeholders, demonstrating impact plays a key role in nonprofit communications. 

The idea is to inform and reassure external and internal stakeholders about the impact your nonprofit is having. But, it isn’t enough to create a wordy report or bombard your audience with numbers. You need to measure nonprofit impact, according to McKinsey and communicate value in a visually-appealing manner so that it draws readers in and keeps them engaged.

Here’s how you can use visuals to effectively communicate impact and make it count. 

Highlight milestones using timeline infographics

Consider these statements: “Hosted a charity run. ” “Hosted a charity run and raised over $1 million toward cancer research. ” Which statement is more impactful? Clearly, the latter. 

That’s because people want to know what your nonprofit has achieved–which is reflected in the second statement, as opposed to the first which merely states an activity. After all, nothing says ‘impact’ like accomplishments. 

An effective way to present your nonprofit’s achievements is by using a timeline infographic. It helps readers visualize the various milestones you’ve achieved along the way without getting overwhelmed. 

Here’s a good example of a nonprofit timeline infographic that highlights milestones achieved for each month of the year. One look at it is enough to reassure donors that their money is being well-utilized, which helps increase donor retention. 

Source: Venngage

Use illustrations to emphasize the problem 

Let’s say, you funded 50,000 water projects and reached 10,000,000 people. 

The numbers sound great but what does this mean to the average donor?

Communicating impact is not just about jumping straight into the numbers. You have to provide context and address the burning problem your nonprofit is trying to solve and make people believe in your cause. 

A better way to present this information would be to start by telling the audience how many people lack access to clean

and safe drinking water. Once everyone understands the problem, your fundraising impact numbers are sure to leave a more lasting impression.

You can educate your audience about the cause by using illustrations. Not only do they inject personality into the communication but they also make it easier for people to scan and digest information. 

Take a look at this infographic that uses illustrations to throw light on the global water crisis. It complements startling statistics with bold fonts and illustrations that capture attention and make people want to read it. 

Source: Venngage

Use charts to present statistics and financial figures

Your nonprofit impact communication is bound to be filled with statistical data and financial figures. 

You can either present it in words or use data visualization to communicate the same information more clearly and effectively. The idea is to present data so that it’s pleasing to look at while being functional in its communication. 

Here’s how you can use different types of charts to communicate impact:

• Highlight a single data point (use donut charts)

Source: Venngage

• Make comparisons (use bar charts, pie charts, stacked bar charts)

Source: Venngage

• Demonstrate change over time (use line chart, area chart)

Source: Venngage

• Present groupings or rankings (use tables, flow chart)

Source: Venngage

Here’s an example of a nonprofit using donut charts and tables to highlight important statistics and figures, making it easier for the reader to interpret the data. Notice how it uses a contrasting color (orange) to highlight key categories and statistics. 

It’s also important to pick a consistent color scheme in line with your brand colors while using charts and other visual elements. 

Source: Venngage

Add real photos and video testimonials to strike a chord

While original graphics such as infographics, charts and illustrations are necessary for nonprofit communication, photos of people your nonprofit is impacting are powerful in their own way. 

They successfully capture attention and evoke emotional responses thereby inspiring action. Using real photos puts a face to the cause, making it easier for your potential and current donors to trust your nonprofit organization. 

Here’s an example of a nonprofit organization, Children International, that uses authentic imagery to strike a chord with their audience, giving a glimpse into how they are transforming lives.

While using real-life photos, it’s common to wonder whether you should opt for photos with happy faces or sad ones. An online experiment was conducted to test both approaches.

It’s interesting to note that sad pictures worked better for people who didn’t feel personally connected to charities. On the other hand, those with high levels of charitable involvement showed more intentions to donate after looking at happy-faced pictures.

Another type of social proof you can use to demonstrate impact is video testimonials from those who have benefited from your nonprofit organization. Make sure you ask the right questions to get the most out of these testimonials. 

The takeaway: use visuals to strengthen your nonprofit impact report

As a nonprofit organization, your ultimate goal is to enrich the lives of people. Hence, stakeholders involved will want to know how impactful your work has been and the difference you’re making in the world. 

Make your nonprofit impact report count by moving away from boring communication and implementing these visual strategies. They will help you communicate impact more effectively while sparking emotional reactions and building trust.

Author Bio

Simki Dutta is a content marketer at Venngage, a free infographic maker and design platform. When she’s not working, she can be found refreshing her Twitter feed and binge-watching Netflix shows. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

The post Nonprofit Impact Report: How to Visually Communicate Your Impact appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

In 2015 and 2016, the minds behind the annual giving holiday #GivingTuesday created #MyGivingStory, a campaign that aims to raise awareness by using storytelling as a marketing tactic. Project organizers analyzed the results from the 2015 and 2016 contests to find what helped them succeed and get more votes in 2017. Elements of effective storytelling in #MyGivingStory entries included all of the following features:

The post [INFOGRAPHIC] The Elements of Effective Storytelling appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

How to Structure an Infographic for Your Nonprofit

Just like any other infographic you create, the idea is to be clear, concise, and to the point. You also want to make maximum impact with minimal text; the more your audience has to read, the less likely they’re going to be drawn in by your infographic, plain and simple. Take this infographic from Compassion International:

This infographic tells you everything you need to know about the differences sponsorship makes in a child’s life, and shows the research in interactive and creative ways. There is no excessive text, and the text that is present is short, concise, and well-written. Another thing this infographic does well is it immediately draws the audience in; infographics appeal to the emotional brain, so make sure you use images that show the people, animals, or places that your nonprofit is benefiting.

Ask for help

Another option for your nonprofit’s infographics is to focus on the difference people can make by engaging with your nonprofit or supporting your cause. This can come in the form of A) giving options, and B) showing the difference those options make in numbers. Take this next image below. It highlights the concerns and shows No Child For Sale’s mission, and then gives the audience a range of options that let them help. This triggers that emotional response once again, and the visual statistics stick in their minds much better than a written article alone.

Show your purpose

And then there is another option, the shortest and simplest of them all. The infographic below illustrates the main intent behind the nonprofit and illustrates exactly what sort of difference their efforts make in blunt, bright statistics. Housing First essentially lays out their mission in 30 words or less, and they have designed a simple infographic that is easy to consume and harder to forget.

Show your impact

And then there is the “Difference Made” infographic, which essentially shows your audience and potential donors exactly how you’re using your funds, what the greater impact of your programs are, and why more people should donate. This is usually relegated to the extensive white paper PDF packet that many nonprofits create to explain their expenditures and overhead, which tends to be incredibly dry and hard for the average audience to consume. Not only can you insert great infographics like the one below into your dryer—yet necessary—information packets, but you can also use it to generate social media buzz. This highly visual, bright infographic explains what MISHA does, why they do it, and who they have helped in the process without being overwhelming.

It is projected that people who use infographics and other visuals in their cause marketing campaigns, social media, and email experience at least a 35% increase in engagement. For your nonprofit, that could mean 35%+ increase in donations, media awareness, volunteers, and / or connections. It is also believed that visuals help sway your audience to make an emotional decision, which can help increase your visibility as well as your bottom line. If an infographic can be so powerful in generating buzz for your nonprofit, why not start creating and using them today?
Do you know of other options to help nonprofits create infographics or is there something you’d like to add? Join the conversation below!

Originally published 11.21.16—Updated 12.19.17

The post Show, Don’t Tell: The Importance of Infographics appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

In addition to the right personality, charities and nonprofit groups also need to devise an ideal fundraising activity to pique people’s interests and convince them to donate. The most successful fundraising campaigns tend to involve a degree of donor participation, an element of fun, and transparency as to donations being put to good use. People can sometimes be quite skeptical about the consequences of their donations, so if you can provide clear evidence of the money making a discernible difference to the lives of those for whom you’re fundraising, you’ve a very strong chance of succeeding with the fundraiser.

This infographic offers some good tips on how to organize fundraising activities so that the public will want to donate to your cause not just once, but repeatedly.

The post [Infographic] Guide to Organizing the Perfect Fundraiser appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

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We’ve talked about getting 100 percent of your board members to fundraise. But maybe they’re providing a significant monetary contribution by themselves and don’t want to actively recruit other fundraisers. As Lori Jacobwith points out, that’s ok. There are other powerful ways that board members can help while not directly asking for money. Check out these tips from Jacobwith in our infographic below [click to enlarge].

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Online fundraising continues to percolate through the nonprofit space. However, the adoption rate has not kept pace with behavioral trends of everyday donors. For example, over half of all emails are now opened on a mobile device, while organizations see less than a fifth of donations coming online. This is despite technology enabling nonprofits of all sizes the ability to accept donations through any device, anytime, anywhere.

But there are some outliers! The below infographic highlights some nonprofit fundraisers that are processing the majority of their revenue online: five events process more than 80% of all donations online. For the top fundraiser, AIDS/LifeCycle: Ride to end AIDS, this equates to just shy of $14 million. For ZERO’s Endurance Team, $237,000. In each case, these online donations translate to less overhead on the organization’s part to process, organize and use donor data in an effective manner.

Check out the top online fundraisers from 2014:

This infographic first appeared on RallyBound.

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It’s time for nonprofits to take a gigantic leap into the digital world by focusing on strategy.

Click below to enlarge the infographic and see how nonprofits ranked their digital strategy for 2015.

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Peer-to-Peer Fundraising (also known as Crowdfunding) is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people via the internet. Often people associate peer-to-peer fundraising with personal fundraising campaigns. It is true that this is a very effective way for an individual to raise money for an important cause. Yet, crowdfunding can also be a very effective fundraising tool for nonprofits.

Crowdfunding for nonprofits allows organizations to expand their reach by engaging current supporters to raise funds for your cause. Participants can include: employees, donors, volunteers, people affected directly by the cause, board members, sponsors and more. With crowdfunding, current supporters aren’t just volunteering their time or making personal donations, they are actually helping you raise money by reaching out to their personal networks and requesting donations on your behalf. Sometimes this personal appeal is a much easier “sell,” as the potential donor would prefer to give to a credible source (or friend) vs. an organization they don’t have a personal relationship with.

A peer-to-peer fundraising campaign can help your nonprofit accomplish a number of strategic goals such as: increased website traffic, greater awareness for your cause, attracting new potential supporters, and of course the potential to raise more money due to numerous advocates soliciting donations (we’ve seen many of our clients triple or quadruple the monies raised in the past through crowdfunding).

The infographic below illustrates just how much value a peer-to-peer fundraising event can have for a nonprofit organization. This information was pulled from numerous industry reports, as well as actual case studies of DoJiggy clients that host peer-to-peer fundraising events using crowdfunding software.

This infographic first appeared on DoJiggy.

The post Why Nonprofits Should Consider Hosting a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaign [Infographic] appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

This infographic was originally published on RallyBound.

The post The Top 10 Single Largest Nonprofit Fundraising Events from 2014 [Infographic] appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

In our January/February 2015 edition, we explored how to keep donors around all year. To reserve your free copy of our next issue, sign up today. 

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