For any nonprofit organization to succeed in its cause, it’s essential that they have a strong, engaging online presence. Social media is one of the best platforms to spread your organization's message and get to achieve your goals.

To succeed in social media communication, you have to use a robust strategy and put significant efforts so that you can convince your target audience to support your organization. But how do you know if your social media strategy is working or if it’s time to rethink your strategy?

The best way to answer this question is to measure the impact of your social media campaign. But how do you do it? Read on to find out five crucial metrics that can help nonprofits measure the success of their online communication efforts. 

1. Sentiment

The first metric your nonprofit organization can use to gauge the success of your online communication is to take a holistic view of the sentiment that your audience has for your organization. Though it’s an intangible metric, sentiment can help…

The truth is, it's easy to attract people to a nonprofit fundraising campaign, however, ensuring that they're going donate a different story. This can be an issue, especially if they don't even know how to navigate your website. 

As a result, your nonprofit can put all your hard work to waste since interested donors are less likely to donate to your cause if your online donation process is inconvenient. That's the last thing you want, and to prevent that, you have to ensure that you'll avoid these common nonprofit donation mistakes.

Common Mistake #1: Asking for Too Much Information

Aside from making sure that your website is easy to use in a sense that your prospects would be able to find the donation form right away, it's also important that it's something that wouldn't make them have second thoughts, so your nonprofit needs to be sure that your online donation process follows the rule of keeping things simple. 

More often than not, donation pages ask people to create an account first and answer the form. Try to be in their shoes-- you wouldn't want to be welcomed by online forms where you are “required” to fill out a lot of information. 

This is one of the common reasons why donors end…

A nonprofit organization's communication team must be skilled communicators to achieve the broader goals and objectives of the nonprofit organization. Communication teams at nonprofits convey information to the public sector, private sector, the media, communities, organization’s staff, and other responders.

The primary goal of a nonprofit communication team is to raise awareness of the work of the nonprofit organization so that it can secure volunteers and funding to continue its mission. 

Nonprofit communication teams serve to empower their communities, governments, donors, and the public at large with information regarding the impact and influence of their organization’s work. This is necessary to ensure government authorization, active community engagement, and positive feedback from the media and society.

Communication teams are responsible for developing proposals and requests for funding for donors. This process occurs in collaboration with the management team to present a clear and concise plan of an organization's achievements and plans. Nonprofits rely on donor funding for their operations. Donors require concise plans and objectives for funding projects.

Let’s explore eight important goals that every nonprofit organization’s communication team should be invested in:…

Email marketing campaigns are just as effective for nonprofits as they are for any other business. So, nonprofits must utilize every opportunity to push their cause forward. Aside from sending out emails on behalf of your nonprofit, there are other things that can be worked on in order to see a greater level of success. 

DO use pictures of people

Captivate your readers with engaging pictures throughout your emails. Messages are never as interesting when they are just text. Add real photos of people you are helping, volunteers and more. Steer clear of stock images that do nothing to enhance the message. If you're building a community playground or other structure, include pictures of the progress or design drawings, so donors can feel included in the process. It is more impactful to show someone a picture of what is being done, not  just describe it. When others can see  real people and things their money is affecting, they get encouraged to continue donating. Putting a face and name to  donations is highly effective in connecting donors, which is why organizations like World Vision will send a photo and information about a specific child to their contributors. If you want an all-in-one design and email service, Mad Mimi can help with pre-made templates and easy to use email automation.

DO divide your list

When it comes time to send out  messages, have it…

The 46th Annual Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference was held Nov. 15-18 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The theme of the conference this year was “Strengthening Local Communities: The Role of Nonprofit and Philanthropic Organizations.” I was selected to go to this year’s ARNOVA conference as an Undergraduate Diversity Scholar, a new initiative to bring underrepresented students and undergraduates to a mostly graduate and research-based conference.

As a Chicana, studying Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Transborder Chican@/Latin@ Studies and Sustainability, I already felt out of place entering a conference like this. However, I knew I was chosen for a reason and I wanted to expand on my knowledge in the nonprofit field.

The first few days of the conference started with introduction to the other 15 scholars and to ARNOVA. I wanted to go to panels I knew I could benefit and learn new from, so I went to workshops surrounding the topics of: multi-sector collaboration, representation and diversity, managing volunteers, activist philanthropy, and social enterprises. During a poster presentation, I even had the opportunity to meet two groups of ASU graduate students showcasing their work!

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