Complete Nonprofit Marketing Guide for 2024: What to Know
Nonprofit marketing is crucial to raising funds, awareness, and lasting support for your organization’s mission.
Marketing is the best way to acquire new donors and raise awareness for your nonprofit’s mission. But with more than 1.8 million nonprofits operating in the US alone, it can be difficult to make your organization stand out in a competitive landscape.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the foundation of nonprofit marketing along with expert tips to help your organization garner the attention it needs to thrive. Learn how to leverage marketing for improved donor relations, mission expansion, and fundraising by exploring these topics:
Let’s jump in with a brief overview of nonprofit marketing.
What is Nonprofit Marketing?
Nonprofit marketing encompasses the strategy and methods nonprofits use to spread awareness of their cause, raise money, and attract new supporters. Nonprofits may base their marketing on quarterly or yearly goals, such as upselling recurring donations, boosting visibility for a particular project, or increasing volunteer engagement.
Inbound vs. Outbound Nonprofit Marketing
As you explore the world of nonprofit marketing, you may come across the terms inbound and outbound. These terms refer to two types of marketing for nonprofits, differentiated by how you attract donors to your cause:
Inbound marketing involves creating marketing content (such as social media posts, blog posts, or search ads) designed to draw new supporters in and help them discover your nonprofit on their own.
Outbound marketing is when you create traditional marketing collateral like direct mail, emails, and other appeals and send them out to potential donors to make them aware of your organization.
Many nonprofits use a mix of inbound and outbound marketing to cast the widest net and appeal to all kinds of prospective donors.
Benefits of Strategic Marketing for Nonprofits
Marketing helps nonprofits show their personality, passion, and hard work to potential donors and volunteers. From social media advertisements to direct mail campaigns, nonprofit marketing allows you to communicate why your mission is important and why donors should rally together to support you.
Marketing for nonprofits comes with several substantial benefits—in particular, it helps you:
Raise Cause Awareness
Whether your organization is local or nationwide, marketing helps you reach new individuals and share your mission with them. In turn, you can tap into their personal networks to discover more potential supporters and spread awareness of your cause even further.
Increase Fundraising Revenue
By developing awareness campaigns and carefully fostering donor relationships, your organization will quickly see an increase in revenue. If you effectively market your fundraising campaigns, achievements, and most urgent needs, you’ll influence existing and potential donors alike to give more to your cause.
Strengthen Donor Relationships
Informational marketing doesn’t just target potential donors to educate them about how they can help your cause. Through strong stewardship campaigns focused on current donors, you can also make them feel like a central part of your nonprofit's efforts and encourage them to continue giving.
Recruit New Volunteers
Marketing your cause effectively will draw in all kinds of supporters, including those willing to donate their time to your nonprofit’s mission. Whether you run a dedicated volunteer recruitment campaign or just spread awareness of your programs, the right outreach will help you recruit and engage plenty of passionate volunteers.
Promote Your Services and Programs
If your nonprofit offers services or programs for the public, you need to market them in order to find participants. Even if you aren’t actively looking for new program participants or clients, promoting your work will help establish your nonprofit as trustworthy and impactful to donors and the wider public.
How to Market a Nonprofit Successfully
Before diving into a marketing campaign, create a detailed action plan that includes the different channels, goals, resources, and other elements that will make up your marketing strategies. To create your own, use our sample nonprofit marketing plan template and follow the steps below.
Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template
Using this template as a guide for your nonprofit marketing efforts will help you stay organized and on track as you work toward your goals. Let’s break down each step you should take to fill out and utilize our template.
1. Audit Your Marketing Performance
Start by analyzing your current and previous marketing strategies to see where your organization stands. Explore past marketing campaigns and materials and conduct a basic audit of their performance.
As you analyze your data, focus on key metrics like the cost to acquire donors and the lifetime value (LTV) of the donors you acquired through nonprofit marketing. These metrics will help you determine your return on investment (ROI) and how successful your campaigns were.
Based on this data, ask yourself the following questions:
What were your past marketing campaigns’ biggest successes?
What have historically been your greatest challenges?
Where is there room for improvement?
Which channels brought in the most valuable donors?
Take note of these opportunities for improvement and use them to guide your decision-making in the future. For instance, maybe you spent a large chunk of your budget on email marketing materials that didn’t draw in high-value donors, resulting in a low ROI. For your next campaign, you might focus more on direct mail marketing and target prospects with the potential for a higher LTV.
2. Define Your Marketing Goals
Next, consider the specific goals you’re trying to meet with your nonprofit marketing plan. These might include increasing brand awareness, boosting recurring donations, recruiting volunteers, or finding new donors.
Here are just a few key goals around which to structure your nonprofit marketing plan:
Donor stewardship: Keep donors invested in your cause by staying in contact and offering them new ways to get involved. To plan these interactions, a stewardship matrix made by nonprofit marketing agencies can help your organization engage with donor segments in ways that will make them feel appreciated.
Donor acquisition: Spread awareness of your cause to the right audiences in compelling ways, and you’ll reach more prospective donors and grow your base of support.
Event success: Whether it’s event planning and partnership outreach, or promoting the event itself via direct mail, an effective marketing strategy can streamline the event process and increase ROI.
Additionally, you might consider goals like increasing membership, volunteer engagement, or advocacy actions. If you don’t know where to start, a nonprofit marketing agency like Meyer Partners can help you determine worthwhile goals and set you on the path to reaching them.
3. Understand Your Target Audience
From your goals, determine your target audience. This could be existing donors at all or specific giving levels, a new demographic you want to reach, or prospective major donors or volunteers.
Then, take a look at your data. Analyzing data on donor engagement, giving histories, and motivations will help you put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and learn more about how to best engage them. Supplement this information from your donor database with feedback surveys and supporter testimonials, then use these combined insights to inform your strategy.
For example, if you find that your most engaged, high-LTV donors discovered your nonprofit through direct mail and give most around the holidays, you’ll know that you should likely prioritize traditional marketing channels and year-end appeals to reach similar donors.
4. Outline a Core Message
A strong nonprofit marketing plan starts with educating potential supporters about your cause, continues with donor stewardship, and finally shows donors how you’re using their funding for good. However, to connect with donors on an emotional level, it’s important to center your campaign around a single core message.
Your core message should be a straightforward statement grounded in your overall mission. For an environmental organization, this might look like:
“TN Wildlife Preserve works alongside local communities and conservationists to protect the wildlife that has sustained Tennesseans for generations.”
From this message, you can develop nonprofit marketing materials that center your mission and priorities. Keep this message at the forefront of all communications to inspire donors’ confidence and increase giving.
5. Choose Nonprofit Marketing Strategies
Next, choose marketing channels based on your target audience, resources, and goals. We’ll discuss a few common nonprofit marketing channels later in this guide to help you weigh the benefits of each core channel and choose a variety to focus your efforts on.
However, we strongly recommend starting with direct mail. 69% of marketers agree that including direct mail in their multichannel campaigns increases response rates, helping you boost visibility and action from donors across all channels. Combine direct mail with one or more of these nonprofit marketing strategies for a well-rounded approach:
Email
Phone calls
Social media
Video
Search ads
By leveraging multiple communications channels and keeping your messaging consistent across each one, you’ll create a powerful multichannel marketing strategy that appeals to many donors with diverse and engaging content.
6. Measure Your Success
Data should always drive your strategy, so make sure to frequently analyze your marketing performance throughout your campaign. In particular, pay attention to nonprofit marketing performance metrics such as:
Cost to acquire new donors: If donor acquisition was one of your nonprofit marketing goals, divide the net cost of your marketing efforts by the number of donors you ultimately acquired. This tells you the average cost to acquire one new donor, helping you understand if you used your marketing budget effectively.
Lifetime value (LTV) of the donors you acquired: Zero in on the new and returning donors you engaged with your marketing campaign—how much are they likely to contribute throughout their full journeys with your nonprofit? Use this formula to find out: [average donor expectancy] x [average donation amount] x [average donor frequency] = LTV. Ideally, your marketing campaigns should focus on engaging the donors who will stay with your organization long-term and continue contributing impactfully.
Marketing campaign ROI: Evaluate the total fundraising revenue your campaign brought in compared to your budget and how much you ultimately spent on nonprofit marketing. Factor in the LTV of new donors as well to forecast long-term ROI. A high ROI means your spending and marketing efforts were worthwhile and that your audience segmentation strategy was successful.
Consider all of these metrics together to determine how successful your nonprofit marketing plan was at increasing donor acquisition, retention, and your other goals. Then, update your marketing plan based on insights from your data to improve future campaigns.
If you need help analyzing your data, reach out to a nonprofit marketing agency like Meyer Partners. Our experts know the best ways to glean actionable insights from your data, and we have a range of services that can see you through your entire marketing journey, including developing communication materials to build your donor relationships.
Key Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits
The best way to sustain donor relationships and spread awareness for your cause is to use a multichannel nonprofit marketing strategy. But what channels should you use to keep your donors up-to-date on your nonprofit’s efforts?
Start with the most important marketing channels to acquire, steward, and retain donors:
Direct Mail Nonprofit Marketing
Direct mail is one of the most reliable, time-tested marketing strategies for nonprofits. Direct mail marketing can yield up to 90% open rates, meaning donors are more likely to read direct mail than emails and other outreach. Plus, direct mail is personal, versatile, and highly profitable—making it the ideal way to connect with existing donors and market your organization to new ones.
Build direct mail into your nonprofit marketing plan by using it to address a variety of communication needs and goals. You might include:
Direct mail fundraising appeals filled with rich storytelling, standout visuals, and compelling calls to action.
Personalized acknowledgment letters and thank-you cards that help you build and sustain donor relationships.
Impact updates that show current, lapsed, and prospective donors the work that their donations have supported.
To see how powerful direct mail can be for attracting donors to your cause and holding their attention, take a look at this example appeal our team at Meyer Partners created for MAP International, a nonprofit working to provide health supplies to people in developing nations:
This direct mail appeal emphasizes donors’ impact on beneficiaries by telling the story of Chantal, a child in Rwanda who MAP International provided with life-saving medical supplies. It also establishes the nonprofit’s credibility, appeals to donors’ emotions, and suggests giving amounts that will make a difference. With this appeal, MAP International was able to grow its donor base by 9,000 donors—an 85% increase in active donors.
Nonprofit Email Marketing
While direct mail often performs better, incorporating email into your nonprofit marketing plan is still critical for reaching donors online. Emails are particularly effective for sharing updates on fundraising campaigns, reminding donors of urgent appeals for donations, and timely thank-you messages that help you strengthen donor relationships quickly.
As you build out an email strategy, make sure to create a variety of donor segments so that your emails are as tailored and relevant to each group as they can be. Divide donors by giving level, charitable interests, and other relevant factors that will help you increase the personalization of your email marketing campaigns.
Phone Calls
For mid-level and major donors, phone calls are a must to show your appreciation for their time and generous donations.
Acknowledging these key donors is vital for retaining them, and phone calls allow you to let them know how their contributions impact your cause in a personal way. Phone calls from your leadership can make a long-lasting impression that gets donor relationships off on the right foot. Plus, this nonprofit marketing channel helps you get to know donors one-on-one and fits seamlessly into a multichannel strategy.
Social Media
Keep donors in the loop by posting regularly on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok. These channels make daily engagement easy and are great places to start conversations about your cause. Especially if you have a lot of younger or tech-savvy donors, using the right social media platforms can make a big difference in engagement levels.
As you craft social media posts, keep the audience and strengths of each platform in mind. Some platforms are more suited to visual content, while others allow you to mix images, video, and text to get your message across.
For instance, take a look at this example Facebook post from UNICEF which combines text, photography, and data to encourage action from donors:
Nonprofit Video Marketing
Video is a unique medium for holding prospective donors’ attention and evoking emotion due to its combination of dialogue, sound, and visuals. Creating videos as part of your multichannel nonprofit marketing plan can help you inspire viewers to learn more about your nonprofit and donate. Plus, short-form videos are easy to share across channels and easier for supporters to engage with than long social media text posts.
Search Marketing
Search engines like Google are valuable tools for getting your organization in front of brand-new prospects who may be interested in your work. By creating website content designed to show up for specific search terms or using programs like the Google Ad Grant to put your pages at the top of search results, you can boost website traffic and attract new donors (often for free!).
Check out this example of a Google search ad from the Boys & Girls Club to see what you can do with search marketing:
In this example, the nonprofit promotes five different core website pages to encourage traffic and various actions. With one advertisement, they encourage users to donate, learn about their cause, purchase branded merchandise, and read about their impact.
5 Nonprofit Marketing Tips From Experts
Now that you know the basics, explore tips from nonprofit marketing specialists to streamline your marketing efforts and get the best results.
1. Understand Your Donor Data
Using data analytics to inform your nonprofit marketing campaigns is essential for success. Of course, while this is an important step in strategic marketing, it can be overwhelming for nonprofits to do by themselves.
Start by collecting donor data from all your communication channels to identify trends within your donor communications. Look for patterns like increased giving periods around holidays, times of day with higher email open rates, or the longevity of an annual donor’s membership. To gain even more insights from your data, partner with a marketing agency that is well-versed in data analytics.
2. Focus on Storytelling
According to Stanford researchers, people remember stories up to 22 times more than facts alone.
To pique the interest of potential, new, and longtime donors, storytelling should be at the heart of your communications and marketing efforts. Stand out from other nonprofits by humanizing your organization and making sure your supporters know that you’re passionate about fulfilling the mission and values you've set for yourselves.
See what this looks like in practice by taking a look at how Meyer Partners used storytelling to connect the Chicago “Loop” area with the nonprofit Children’s Home & Aid. We created a story-based multichannel marketing plan by taking the following steps:
We used our nonprofit expertise to recognize the growth potential in marketing the Children’s Home & Aid’s annual Champions for Children Luncheon toward individual donors because it was already well known to local leaders and elected officials.
We crafted the message “This is what thriving looks like!” and paired it with smiling children’s faces to hone in on the human aspect of the organization’s work and appeal to everyday people.
We used a variety of channels, including outdoor banners, digital campaigns, and radio station advertisements to share Children’s Home & Aid’s story with the public.
Without our prior knowledge of the nonprofit sector, we wouldn’t have been able to create such an effective and adaptable plan tailored to the Children’s Home & Aid’s needs. Dive into more of our success stories to learn how we can use our expertise in nonprofit storytelling, donor cultivation, and multichannel marketing to boost your donor relations.
3. Emphasize Your Impact
Current and prospective donors alike want to see tangible proof of your nonprofit’s impact before they commit to supporting your cause long-term. By incorporating impact metrics, beneficiary testimonials, and other quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrates the effectiveness of your nonprofit’s work, you’ll create more compelling nonprofit marketing materials that inspire action.
One easy way to do this within your fundraising appeals is to pair suggested giving amounts with tangible outcomes. Use your data to determine what impacts donations of different sizes can make, then present the information directly to potential donors.
We did exactly that with the direct mail appeals we created for the Meals of Wheels Foundation of Northern Illinois:
This appeal clearly shows donors how much impact they could personally make with a $35, $70, or $112 donation. And this nonprofit marketing strategy worked—the organization increased its average gift size by 20% with this campaign.
4. Personalize Marketing Content
Nonprofit marketing tactics that focus on donor relationships will ultimately grow your organization’s support network, increase funding, and aid your various projects and programs. The best way to highlight and build relationships with your marketing materials is to personalize content.
Personalization goes beyond starting with “Dear [Donor’s preferred name].” It also means including their previous donation amounts, suggesting campaigns that resonate with their personal values, and more. Use the data in your database to discover unique insights about donors and embed them into your marketing materials.
5. Partner With a Nonprofit Marketing Agency
To effectively articulate your brand identity and mission goals, consider seeking out the help of marketing consultants.
Nonprofit marketing consultants like those at Meyer Partners are experts at conveying complex information in a striking and engaging way because they know how nonprofits work. As a result, they are well-equipped to convey your story, message, and goals to the world, amplifying your mission to touch the hearts and minds of people who didn’t know they would ever be supporters of your organization.
They also know how different types of donors respond to nonprofit messaging and how to best reach them. Additionally, they know what questions to ask: What are your core values? How do you use donations? What do you want people to know most about your mission? Who is your ideal donor? All of these qualities will help you acquire more donors and do more good.
Our experts have seen several common roadblocks to successful nonprofit marketing, and we know how to help organizations surpass them. Reach out to a nonprofit marketing agency like Meyer Partners to set tailored goals for your success, design compelling marketing materials that accurately represent your brand, and ultimately boost both donor acquisition and retention.
Final Thoughts on Nonprofit Marketing
Whether you market your own organization or seek outside help, be sure to fully commit to completing a goal once your plan is in motion. Trust your team, return to your goals often, and communicate frequently to get the best results.
For more information on nonprofit marketing, communication, and fundraising best practices, explore some of our other valuable resources:
Donor Acquisition Guide: 10 Strategies to Attract New Donors. Enhance your nonprofit marketing plan with a detailed explanation of the top donor acquisition strategies to expand your support base.
A Nonprofit Direct Mail Fundraising Guide: How to Succeed. Direct mail is a crucial strategy for effective fundraising and donor engagement. Learn how to improve your direct mail efforts in this guide.
Donor Stewardship: How to Create & Use a Stewardship Matrix. Learn more about using your nonprofit marketing strategies to engage and retain current donors. Explore how to build your own stewardship matrix and integrate strategic marketing activities.
