A Definitive Guide to Marketing for Nonprofits in 2024

Marketing can be challenging on its own, but it is a totally different story for nonprofits. After all, it is normal for a typical nonprofit organization to have a tight marketing budget & even smaller teams.

And when you consider the fact that every penny counts for a nonprofit, the odds start to add up!

That’s why we want to help you do marketing for nonprofits correctly! From creating a successful marketing plan to actionable marketing strategies, we will share them all in this marketing guide for nonprofits.

(P.S. This is an intensive guide with a lot of information. Feel free to bookmark this page so you can find valuable marketing information easily).

What is marketing for nonprofits?

The use of marketing strategies to spread a nonprofit organization’s cause, get donations, & find new volunteers is known as marketing for nonprofits.

In short, using any marketing strategy to help a nonprofit organization in any way beneficial will fall under the category of marketing a nonprofit.

It can include social media marketing, event marketing, SEO, influencer marketing, email marketing for nonprofits, etc.

Now that we understand what is marketing for nonprofits, the next question that’s very common is this: Do I really have to spend valuable resources and time on marketing a nonprofit?

On the surface, it may feel like an added responsibility or something that takes resources that are better spent somewhere else.

But in reality, your nonprofit organization will only have a limited influence & it wouldn’t be able to fulfill its cause of social good without marketing… After all, you need to spend money to inform people about your organization’s presence.

If someone doesn’t even know what you do or what good you are doing in society, there’s very little to no chance they will donate to your organization or become volunteers.

5 reasons to do marketing for nonprofits

Do you need some solid reasons why you should think about marketing for nonprofits? Here’s a quick rundown of how marketing can help your organization:

1. Raise awareness

When you hear the names such as WWF, PETA, or UNICEF, you will automatically know what these organizations stand for. That’s the power of using marketing to raise awareness about an organization’s cause!

Just like that, you also need to treat your nonprofit organization as a brand and should use marketing to raise awareness.

After all, people will only support you financially or by becoming a volunteer if they are aware of your organization & its cause!

Another benefit of using marketing strategies is raising awareness about different issues faced by society. This can include raising awareness about health issues, educating people about climate change, and so on.

2. Raise donations

Another reason to do marketing for a nonprofit organization is that it helps you raise funds!

Using marketing strategies on different mediums, such as social media, search engines, email, etc., can help an organization reach out to more people.

And we all know that increased traffic directly translates to more donations. Basically, the more people know about your nonprofit organization, the more donations you can raise online!

These donations can then be used to do good in society, raise awareness, and reach the objectives of your organization.

3. Recruit volunteers

Marketing for a nonprofit organization isn’t just limited to raising funds. It can also help organizations to recruit volunteers!

If you look at any nonprofit organization, regardless of its size or industry, you will realize that manpower is essential to further your cause & to do more good in society!

So if your nonprofit has enough funds but is short on volunteers, then that’s yet another reason to go for marketing. And if you need both (donations & volunteers), then that’s more reason to start thinking about developing a marketing strategy for your organization.

4. Drive recurring donations

These days, a lot of nonprofit organizations also offer recurring donation programs. These programs enable organizations to receive funds repeatedly rather than actively looking for fundraising every now and then!

So that’s yet another thing you can achieve with the help of a proper marketing campaign. For example, the WWF offers different options to donate regularly on its donation landing page.

Marketing can help an organization drive traffic to its landing page and get people to sign up for recurring donation programs.

5. Do more good

Raising donations and finding new volunteers can immensely help a nonprofit organization. But let’s not forget that the main purpose of any nonprofit is to do good!

So another reason for using marketing is that it helps you do more good by reaching out to people and animals that need your help.

This will allow more people to know about the services offered by your organization and reach out for help when and where it is needed!

How to create a nonprofit marketing plan

The process of creating a marketing plan for a nonprofit is similar to that of a for-profit. The only difference lies in the goals.

While a for-profit will work towards increasing its sales & earning profit, a nonprofit’s main goals are to further its social cause & do good in society.

But despite the difference in the goals, one thing is for certain… Having a proper marketing plan in place is essential to ensure that the goals and benefits of marketing can be reaped fully. It also ensures that a nonprofit organization can actually grow and further its cause!

So without any ado, let’s dive into how you can also create a marketing plan for your nonprofit organization:

1. Define your goals

The first step in creating a successful marketing plan is to establish the goals of your nonprofit organization. In simple words, what do you plan to achieve from a marketing campaign?

One of the key things to remember when establishing goals is that they should be attainable and actionable!

For example, let’s say that your organization’s objective is to protect the stray cats in your community. In this case, here’s a list of ideas that can help you advance your organization’s cause:

• Creating and distributing content to educate the community about the state of stray cats & their welfare.
• Sending email newsletters about adoptable cats, donations, and volunteer needs.
• Hosting events for training, educational resources, & adoption opportunities.

Now, convert these ideas into actionable goals. There are several methodologies of setting goals and one of them is known as SMART.

SMART stands for setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. So if we use the same example (organization about stray cats) mentioned above, then SMART goals will look like this:

Specific = Creating one social media post every week on the state of animal welfare in your community.

Measurable = Increase the stray cat adoption rate by 20%.

Attainable = Collect $2000 in donations every week (Trying to collect $2 million in donations for a small town nonprofit wouldn’t be attainable).

Relevant = Increasing the blog traffic will allow more people to know about cat adoption opportunities.

Timely = We will create a new blog post every week.

So based on all the properties mentioned above, here’s an example of a SMART goal:

“We want to raise $5000 in donations in the next 60 days.”

2. Understand your target audience

A typical nonprofit marketing campaign targets multiple groups of audiences, such as donors, volunteers, constituents, etc.

That’s why it is important to understand the different audience groups properly. Depending on the target audience, your marketing approach will also differ as well.

Once the different audience groups are defined, the next step will be to organize them into different groups. Using a CRM tool is one way to organize your audience into different groups by using tags and lists.

For example, asking for donations via email will have different messaging than asking for volunteers from the community.

So by understanding and organizing the target audience into different groups, you can easily send marketing material to the right audience.

3. Create a core message

Once you have a marketing goal and understand your target audience, you can move on to creating a core message!

A core message is how you can communicate with your target audience to convince them to help your nonprofit organization. The messaging you use in your marketing campaigns should be short and influential in order to help you achieve your marketing goals.

Earlier, we talked about understanding the target audience and sorting them into different groups. This was because you would need a different marketing message depending on the audience type.

So once a core message has been crafted, you can move on to creating different messages based on those core messages. But the words used to express the core message would change depending on the target audience. For example, the words will be different for the donors, volunteers, constituents, and so on.

Now if we continue with our example of an organization that helps stray cats, the core message will look something like this:

Core message: We help and protect stray cats in our community through adoption, animal advocacy, fostering, and education.

For donors: Help us to protect stray cats by donating to our animal care shelter.

For volunteers: Join us on our mission for the welfare of stray cats through advocacy and round-the-clock animal care.

As you can see, the core message is always to help stray cats, but the words can change depending on who is the target audience.

4. Choose a marketing channel

A common mistake many marketers make is that they jump right to this step. To execute your marketing plan successfully, you must complete all the above steps before moving to this one.

Considering you have established marketing goals, target audience, and core messaging, the next step is choosing a marketing channel.

Some of the common marketing channels include social media, video, email, events, and so on. Regardless of which marketing channel you choose, you should ask yourself these questions:

• How much money do you plan to spend?
• Who will be responsible for marketing activities?
• How this helps our nonprofit organization reach its marketing goal?
• When these marketing activities will take place?

Answering these questions will help your marketing team formulate a solid game plan and properly understand the entire process.

5. Analyze your results

Another important part of a successful marketing plan for nonprofits is to measure your results! By looking at the analytics of your marketing campaign, you can figure out what needs to be changed and what should be left as it is (if it is working optimally).

Once you have chosen a marketing channel and have started your marketing activities, pay close attention to key performance indicators.

These performance indicators can differ depending on your chosen marketing channel. Here’s a short list of different marketing channels and their related performance indicators:

• Email marketing – Number of emails opens and clicks.
• Video marketing – Number of video views.
• Social media – Engagement metrics such as comments, shares, likes, etc.
• Website – Traffic over a specified period.
• Event marketing – Number of ticket sales.

You can use different analytics tools to measure these performance indicators. Some of the popular analytics tools that can help you measure the performance of your marketing activities include Hubspot, Google Analytics, and social media analytics tools (Each social media platform like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter offers its own analytics tools).

If the money spent on these marketing activities doesn’t justify the results you are getting, it means you need to change your core messaging or reestablish your target audience. But in most cases, it is all about choosing the right marketing channels and the right marketing material.

9 marketing strategies for nonprofits

Once you have a solid marketing plan in place, the next important question to answer is choosing a marketing strategy that’s right for your nonprofit organization.

We know that budget can be an issue for any nonprofit and even if it isn’t, the majority of nonprofits prefer to spend money on their cause rather than marketing.

That’s why we will look at some marketing strategies that are perfect for nonprofits, along with how to do more with fewer resources:

1. Event marketing

Event marketing is one of the best ways to market a nonprofit organization. It allows an organization to connect with the community, gather support, raise funds, & even grow its influence.

A good example of event marketing is the PAWS 5K race organized by the PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) nonprofit organization. Through this race, the organization raises donations and awareness of its cause.

If you think about it, holding such an activity helps the community come together, ultimately bringing awareness to the cause (saving pets).

Another benefit of this event is that it helps the PAWS promote its adoption services to a wider audience. And last but not least, it is fun to attend, which attracts a lot of people who learn about the cause of PAWS and how they can support it!

Just like that, you can also use the event marketing strategy to bring more awareness to your cause and even to raise funds.

2. Email marketing

Only using email to send donation receipts or to call for new volunteers isn’t enough at all… You can also use email marketing to send updates about your nonprofit, raise funds, and educate people about your cause.

And one of the best things about email marketing is that it’s powerful and provides a more personal approach! Showing an ad on a website is a different thing, but sending a personalized email to the inbox can take marketing to a whole different level.

Here’s a list of tips to make the most out of email marketing for nonprofits:

• Send a newsletter regularly (daily, weekly, or monthly) about the latest updates, volunteer needs, new content, and industry data.
• Send regular emails about donations and different ways to help.
• Use email automation to send a “welcome email series” to new donors or subscribers. It can include your best content, information about your organization, its cause, and how they can support the organization.
• Include the email subscription form on your website pages to grow the list. If possible, you should also use a pop-up with an email subscription form to attract the most attention.

3. Video marketing

How much time is spent on reading written content vs. watching video content? According to research, an average user spends close to 84 minutes per day watching videos. On the contrary, the average time spent on reading is only 16.2 minutes per day.

So there’s no doubt that internet users spend more time watching videos than reading text! As a nonprofit organization, that means you can’t ignore the importance of video marketing in this modern age.

Another fact that can help you understand the importance of video marketing is the brain’s capacity to process visual content. According to research, the human brain can process video content up to 60000 times faster than text-based content.

To get started with video marketing, you can create engaging and interesting video content for your website as well as other popular video platforms. Some of the best platforms to distribute your video content for marketing purpose includes YouTube, Facebook, DailyMotion, and TikTok.

And while you are at it, don’t forget about producing visual content for the good-old TV! After all, all the big-name brands still continue to provide TV commercials, which means there are still a lot of people watching TV!

4. Social media marketing

The next channel that should be a part of your marketing strategy mix is social media. The best part about social media is that it is free (for the most part) and makes it easy for organizations to connect with their supporters and followers.

From showing the brand tone of your organization to sharing updates, a lot can be done with social media marketing. Here’s a quick list of how you can use social media marketing in your organization’s favor:

• Share the latest news about your organization’s cause.
• Hold fundraising events.
• Ask for donations.
• Recruit new volunteers.
• Find new employees.
• Recognize your donors and volunteers.
• Boost brand awareness.

Once again, staying consistent with the content you share on social media is important. The best way to do it is to create core messaging for the social media platforms.

And depending on the social platform you choose, also include a donate button as well. For example, Facebook allows nonprofit organizations to include a donate button on their pages.

In the start, you might have to rely on paid advertising on social media platforms to connect with people interested in your organization. But then again, there are cases when nonprofit organizations amassed thousands of followers by only posting great content!

So yeah, you need to consider both options, and it wouldn’t hurt to use both options consistently!

5. Website

If your nonprofit organization lacks a website, it is high time to make one! Considering how the bulk of the marketing efforts is focused on the online medium, it would hinder your nonprofit goals not to have a website!

A website serves as a medium where people can find information and connect with your organization. In addition, you can also include all the relevant information and important pages to create an all-in-one place for your donors/supporters.

A good nonprofit website should have the following pages:

• Donation page
• Resources
• Events information
• Videos
• Updates
• Blog

By just creating a website, you can provide a way for your supporters to donate, get updates, watch videos, or know about the latest updates!

A website will also provide you with a way to establish your online presence on a platform that you control. That can’t be said about the pages and profiles created on social media platforms!

6. Content marketing

Content marketing is a marketing technique in which helpful and informational content is added to websites. For example, an anti-climate change organization can create content like this: “20 ways to stop global warming.” The basic idea is to create educational content that users search for.

Creating content like this will also allow you to get traffic from the search engines such as Google. In case you don’t know, the traffic coming from search engines such as Google is called organic traffic. And the best way to increase the organic traffic coming to your site is to do content marketing.

This organic traffic can help you to improve brand recognition, raise donations, find volunteers, & get people to know about your cause.

The best part about content marketing is that you can create and distribute content on your website’s blog or any other website that accepts third-party content submissions.

In fact, posting valuable content on third-party websites will allow your organization to get exposed to new audiences & thus reap tons of benefits (more donations, brand awareness, volunteers, etc.)

A good example of a nonprofit organization utilizing content marketing is the WWF. On the WWF blog, helpful content revolving around the theme of wildlife protection and preservation is posted regularly.

7. Public speaking

Show the human face of your organization by speaking at a local, national, or international level. One of the best things about public speaking is that it allows the public to buy into your cause and become a supporter/donor.

If you think about it, public speaking offers one of the best ways to market your organization. On the one hand, it allows the public to know about the leadership and the human element of your organization. On the other hand, it allows you a valuable chance to spread the word about your organization and its cause.

It doesn’t even matter whether you do public speaking in front of 100 people or thousands of people; The basic idea is to tell a powerful story that compels the public to know more about your cause and organization.

A good example of using public speaking as a marketing tool is Scott Harrison, who is the founder of Charity: water. He spoke at Inbound and shared the story of his organization and how it has helped thousands of people around the globe.

By using this opportunity of public speaking, Scott Harrison managed to influence thousands of people at the event while also marketing his nonprofit organization’s cause!

8. Digital marketing

Nonprofit organizations can also use digital marketing to connect with people who are highly likely to support their cause by putting in their time and money.

In simple words, digital marketing is when a nonprofit organization pays to advertise on a different digital platform such as Google, Bing, and social platforms.

One of the key benefits of using digital marketing for nonprofit organizations is that it offers quick results. However, there is also a downside, as it costs money to get exposure and traffic! But, a properly optimized digital marketing campaign can easily help nonprofits to achieve a highly attractive ROI!

Here’s a quick example to understand how the advertising works:

If you search on Google for “donate money new york,” you will likely see several sponsored links beside the search results. Just like that, you can use Google to advertise based on keywords that are relevant to your cause!

The above example falls under the umbrella of search marketing. And Google is just one of the many search engines out there! You can use Bing, Yandex, Duck Duck Go, and several other search engines to connect with potential donors/supporters.

Similarly, all the popular social platforms can be used for advertising your nonprofit organization as well. Here’s a list of popular social platforms that can be used by a nonprofit organization for digital marketing:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Twitter

The use of social media platforms for the advertisement of nonprofit organizations falls under the umbrella of social media marketing.

Another branch of digital marketing is display marketing, in which advertisements about your nonprofit organization are shown on different websites across the web.

Being a nonprofit, you can enjoy free advertising credits and grants from all the popular digital marketing platforms. For starters, Google offers up to $10,000 in grants for nonprofits to advertise on its search platform. Similarly, other platforms such as YouTube, Bing, and LinkedIn also offer grants and free advertising credits for eligible nonprofits.

9. Point-of-sale marketing

Another type of marketing that’s commonly utilized by nonprofits is point-of-sale marketing. There’s a good chance that you also may have seen such type of marketing without even realizing it!

In this of marketing, individuals are asked to make a donation when shopping online or in person. The donation amount is added to the total amount of the purchase.

In most cases, the total amount is usually rounded up to the nearest dollar, which is then donated to a nonprofit organization. For example, a purchase of $9.50 can be rounded up to $10, which would give around $0.50 to the nonprofit.

One of the best things about this type of marketing is that it can be done on a local as well as national, and international level. And with the rise in online shopping, point-of-sale marketing can also be used with e-commerce websites as well!

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of moving pieces that go into marketing your nonprofit organization the right way! But despite the difficulties that come with marketing, there are also a lot of benefits to reap as well… From collecting more donations to finding new support to educating the public about your cause, all of these and many more goals can be achieved with a successful marketing campaign!

At Canadian Digital Consulting, we know the work you are doing for society is important! That’s why we are here to help you by offering stellar and unmatched branding, website development, and graphics design services.

If your nonprofit organization has no branding values or you are looking for rebranding, look no further! We have helped dozens of nonprofits with branding that truly reflects the values and the good work offered by them.

Just like that, we have also worked closely with many nonprofit organizations in need of a new website or a complete website redesign.

So if you also want to do more good and expand the reach of your nonprofit organization, contact us today to discuss how we can help!