Working for nonprofit organizations comes along with many exciting things. It’s one of the few jobs that can keep you motivated especially because you’re making a difference in people’s lives. However, the job has its challenges as well, and one of them is reaching out to potential donors. 

Raising funds or getting potential donors’ attention can be one of the most exhausting or perhaps discouraging situations faced by many nonprofit marketers. This may be caused by lack of enough resources, budget, or time. 

While a large number of nonprofit organizations have turned to the online environment to seek help, a lot of them still encounter problems with communicating to their right audience. According to a study by Content Marketing Institute, about 92 percent of nonprofits use content marketing as means of communication, but the majority of them don’t believe in their effectiveness. 

If this describes your nonprofit, then keep reading because this article will show some ways that your nonprofit organization can use effective communication strategies to get more donors.

1. Build A Strong Social Media Community

As a non-profit marketer, building a social media platform with followers who believe and support your job is quite imperative. To do that, you need to keep your social media active by sharing compelling posts that your potential audience can believe. You also need to share real stories about your nonprofit’s efforts that will help you raise awareness. 

You may also promote the work of other people who have donated to your organization and how they helped your team. Share their stories and if possible accompany the stories with their photos. This will motivate others to support your cause. 

If you use Facebook, it helps a lot to include a “Donate Now” tab on your Facebook page to make it easier for people to donate. When the potential donors click the tab, they should be directed to the donation site. For Twitter, you may run a contest such as a person who likes a tweet first or retweet it would get a reward such as a t-shirt. This will increase your followers.

2. Use Compelling Images

Use of infographics is one good way which proves to be effective as well as entertaining in presenting the message you want to communicate. Use of great images will capture your audience's attention and may convince them to donate. 

If your audience believes that you are making a difference somewhere, they will support your cause and be willing to contribute.

3. Compelling Videos

Even in for-profit businesses, marketers have turned into video ads instead of images as they are more visual. By creating a video of your services, you can send a strong message to your audience. However, before recording your video, you need to set goals you want to accomplish with the video. 

Do you just want to raise awareness or increase the donation amount? This is one question you should ask yourself before hitting the record button. According to Think With Google, about 57 percent of people donate after watching a video of your nonprofit. While videos are a good marketing strategy, if not planned well they may be just a waste of your time so be sure you have the know-how, time, and resources to produce a great video. 

4. Responsive Website

Most people today use smartphones to browse the internet. This is why most businesses have designed mobile responsive websites to reach as many potential customers as possible. Nonprofit organizations are no different. They need to have a site that can fit in small screens of smartphones, and this requires a professional website development strategy. 

As mentioned above, your Facebook page should have a “Donate Now” tab which is linked to your donation site. If mobile users click this tab and your website fails to respond, they will be discouraged. So try as much as possible to design a mobile responsive site.

5. Be Transparent

It pays a lot to keep your donors informed of the donation process. You don’t want them to see you as a fraudster while you are not. Let your online and offline community know about the amount of money you’ve raised, how close you’re to reaching your target number, how you’ll spend the money, and how your previous donors or fundraisers made an impact to your organization.

A great digital marketing strategy will be built on great content, and that content needs to speak to your audience and persuade them to take action. 

Regardless of your budget and resources, these inexpensive digital marketing strategies can help you lot in reaching out to your potential donors. Do not let fundraising be a problem to your nonprofit organization, use these strategies today and you will see a huge difference.

Chris is a Digital Media Strategist in Orlando, FL and is an experience freelance copywriter, PPC management, and SEO strategy.  Chris is also passionate about startup marketing, environmental issues, and emerging technologies. 

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