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Creating An Effective Nonprofit Blog: A Mini Guide

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A guest post by Sarah Fargusson of Cornershop Creative

Picture this: you’re searching online for things you can do in your daily life to be more environmentally friendly and come across a blog post with a list of daily life changes that you can make to help the environment.

You find the post super helpful, take a few of the suggestions to heart, and then begin exploring the rest of the nonprofit’s website to see what else this organization can teach you and how you can support them in return.

This scenario is common for organizations with blogs. Blog posts help your nonprofit share relevant and meaningful information with your audience, engaging your current audience with fresh content and bringing in new supporters through the process.

Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Blog

As a marketing tactic, blogging is an oldie, but a goodie. While maintaining a blog isn’t possible for every organization, if you’re able to keep up with a consistent posting schedule, blogs are an excellent tool to connect supporters to your mission through relevant topics.

There are tons of benefits, including:

  • Establish your organization as a thought leader. Sharing your expertise on topics related to your mission in a public place like your site’s blog can help set you up as a thought leader in your space.
  • Share important updates/information/stories. Blog posts are a great place to share timely content with your audience, including news or organizational updates and stories from your community.
  • Engage with your nonprofit’s audience on a regular basis. Consistency is key when it comes to blogging, and regular, fresh content will have your audience visiting often to see what’s new.
  • Boost your visibility via SEO-driven content marketing. Potential supporters interested in your area of work, but unfamiliar with your organization, can find you through optimized blog posts on relevant topics.
  • Fuel your other marketing channels. Blog content can also be shared on social media, in email campaigns, and through other marketing channels you may use to stay connected and keep your organization top of mind for supporters.

With all of these great benefits, have we convinced you yet? Starting and maintaining a blog allows your organization to connect with your current supporters and attract new ones. It’s well worth the time and effort!

Blogging Tip #1: Tell Stories That Resonate With Your Readers

Who doesn’t love a good story? Sharing stories helps us connect with each other and drives home the impact of your nonprofit’s work in the lives of real people.

Like any good story, the stories that you share on your organization’s blog should have:

  • Characters that your audience can relate with
  • A familiar setting
  • A conflict that is resolved (ideally through your organization’s work)
  • Details that help readers connect to the characters and outcome

Share stories about beneficiaries who tapped into your services, volunteers who are passionate about your cause, or donors who made a big difference to your organization. Anyone who represents the impact that you’re able to make toward your mission is a good contender. The sky’s the limit!

 

Just be sure to get permission from the subject of your story before sharing their story on your blog.

Blogging Tip #2: Incorporate Compelling Visuals

Compelling visuals have the power to take your blog content to the next level. While text will likely be the meat and potatoes of the majority of your posts, visuals and great nonprofit website design helps keep things interesting and give readers a bit of visual relief and a different way to engage with the topic as they work through the text content.

Mix things up for your readers and incorporate a variety of different visuals into blog posts, taking into account the particular topic or post. You might include:

Compelling visuals stick with readers and drive your topic home. And, for all of the skimmers out there, solid visuals keep visitors’ attention, keeping them on the page and reading more of your post than they otherwise would have.

Blogging Tip #3: Post New Content Regularly

When it comes to blogging, consistency is key. Determine a posting schedule and stick to it. While there’s no need to schedule down to the minute and urgent to-dos will come up, posting content regularly helps to keep people visiting the blog.

It’s what brings all of those wonderful benefits listed above and shows your community that you’re actively working to keep them updated on important information.

To keep yourself on track, consider creating a content calendar, working ahead during quieter times, or pulling in other team members (or even a marketing partner) to help create blog content in a timely manner.

3 Strategies for Promoting Your Blog

In order to bring visitors to your blog and reap all of the benefits, you’ll need to promote your blog to your audience. Plus, getting more eyes on your blog more often will encourage blog readers to explore other parts of your nonprofit’s website, too.

These tips will drive more visitors to your new blog and keep them coming back:

  • Leverage on-page SEO best practices. Following SEO best practices will help your blog post rank for relevant keywords and bring the people searching for those keywords right to your site.
  • Collaborate with other bloggers in the nonprofit space. By partnering up with others in the nonprofit space, you can expand your audience even more by guest blogging and building backlinks.
  • Share blog posts on social media and in emails. Sharing your blog posts with your current audience through social media and email will engage your current audience and keep them coming back to your site.

While adding a blog to your nonprofit marketing toolkit does take time and effort, the benefits are well worth the work. A blog can help you continuously grow and engage with your audience, encouraging them to visit your website and take action for your cause on a regular basis. So what are you waiting for? Get blogging!

Sarah Fergusson digital mavenSarah Fargusson – Director of Digital Strategy at Cornershop Creative

Self-described as a “non-profit junkie,” Sarah has dedicated her career to serving the needs of the non-profit sector. Her project management experience spans a variety of non-profit management disciplines including strategic planning, community engagement, capacity building, fundraising and research. She has worked both in and for the non-profit sector at the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Sadie Nash Leadership Project, and the consulting firms The Lee Institute and The Curtis Group.

With her ever expanding non-profit tool belt, Sarah joined Cornershop Creative to tap into her techie, creative side, while developing meaningful partnerships with her clients to help them more effectively achieve their goals.

Fundraising Tuesday: 4 Tips for Getting Started with Virtual Product Fundraising

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A guest post by Debbie Salat of ABC Fundraising

As a nonprofit fundraiser, you likely host a variety of different fundraising events and campaigns each year. You can improve upon your current practices by finding fundraising ideas that are easier to implement, more accessible to donors, and more profitable. That’s where virtual product fundraising comes in.

According to Double the Donation, 63% of donors prefer donating online. Virtual product fundraisers allow donors to contribute to your organization in a way that caters to their needs. Additionally, they’re easy to set up, simple to participate in, and offer donors something in return for their donation.

To help you leverage this impactful fundraising method, we’ve created a list of four tips for how to get started with virtual product fundraising.

1. Determine your goals.

Provide focus to your virtual product fundraiser with clear goals. That way, your fundraising team has a complete understanding of the  purpose of the fundraising.

To develop a distinct fundraising goal, follow the SMART goal framework:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Timely

These guidelines allow you to set objectives that are easy to track and evaluate. For example, a goal of raising $10,000 over the next six months through a virtual product fundraiser to support people without access to healthcare is a more tangible goal than simply raising money in support of a good cause.

Additionally, sharing these goals with your supporters will provide greater transparency about what you’re raising money for. As a result, you can gain donors’ trust and build lasting relationships with them.

2. Select a product.

The goals you’ve set should drive your product selection. For example, if you’re trying to connect with donors during the holidays through your fundraising efforts, selling holiday decorations could help you achieve that goal.

Check out these examples of different product types you might consider for your fundraiser:

  • Food: Give your donors the chance to buy their favorite snacks and support your cause at the same time. ABC Fundraising recommends selling cookie dough in particular because you can earn up to an 80% profit.
  • Branded merchandise: Turn donors into brand advocates with branded merchandise. Selling t-shirts, hats, and travel mugs with your organization’s logo can help boost brand awareness.
  • Discount opportunities: Allow your donors to save on everyday purchases and give back to your cause by selling discount cards. You can even give back to the community by including local vendors in the discount offerings.

If you’re having trouble deciding which product to sell, think about your donors. What would they most like to purchase? Consider sending a survey to collect donor feedback and get them excited about your upcoming virtual product fundraiser.

3. Promote your fundraiser.

Let your supporters know about your fundraiser by promoting it effectively. You can spark interest in your fundraiser by showing some product sneak peeks beforehand. Then, you can share how to participate once the fundraiser is up and running.

Make sure to promote your fundraiser using a variety of communication channels, such as:

  • Email newsletter. Include a section about your virtual product fundraiser. Make sure to add pictures of the product you’re selling and the link to your online store.
  • Social media. Show off images of the products you’re selling. People will be more enticed to buy snacks and merchandise if they can get a good look at them before they make their purchase.
  • Website. Your website is the hub for updating your supporters about your organization. Create a new page to market your virtual product fundraiser.

To spread even more awareness of your fundraiser, lean on your supporters for help. Encourage them to share your online store link with friends and family. You can even turn it into a contest or giveaway, offering one entry per referral. Then, you can offer some of the products you’re selling as the grand prize.

4. Track your fundraiser’s progress.

One of the reasons why creating clear goals for your fundraiser is so important is that it allows you to measure your success.

One way to measure your success is through a fundraising thermometer. This visual allows you to track donations and provides an easy way for your supporters to monitor the fundraiser’s progress. A fundraising thermometer can also encourage supporters to contribute, especially if you’re close to reaching your goal.

Another way to measure your fundraiser’s success is through Google Analytics. Through the Google Ad Grants program, eligible nonprofits receive $10,000 in monthly ad credits they can use to promote important landing pages on their websites. If you’re part of the program, you can create goals in Google Analytics that align with your fundraising goals and promote your virtual product fundraising page.

While Google Analytics can’t necessarily track donations, you can measure the success of your marketing efforts and determine which are most effective. Then, you can make sure to keep up those methods for future campaigns.

It can be daunting to set up a new type of fundraiser for the first time, but these tips will set you on the right track for a successful virtual product fundraiser. For extra help, consider partnering with a virtual product fundraising provider that can assist you with setting up your online store and managing your fundraiser.

Debbie Salat head shotDebbie Salat 

Debbie Salat is the director of fundraising activities and product development at ABC Fundraising(r) – Debbie joined ABC Fundraising(r) in 2010 and is responsible for launching over 6500 fundraising campaigns for schools, churches, youth sports teams and non-profit organizations all across the USA.

With over 20 years of fundraising experience, Debbie knows the path to success for fundraisers which she shares with groups on a daily basis so they can achieve their fundraising goals.

Speaking Your Audience’s Language

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When your nonprofit speaks, do the people in your audience say, “They’re like us?” Or do they say, “That group doesn’t speak our language?”

Little turns of the phrase can make all the difference.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, where the carbonated stuff you buy in bottles was called “pop.” It had nothing to do with the performer Iggy Pop. It was just a drink.

To my surprise, when I moved to New England, people were calling it “soda,” a word I’d only ever heard after “baking,” or before “fountain.” And Coke was a brand name. Pepsi could not be Coke.

Obviously, I wasn’t from New England. Or the South!

Language differences are not just regional

Pop, soda, coke: all of these are English. All are proper English, somewhere in the U.S. But the U.S. is not the only place where people speak English. George Bernard Shaw is supposed to have said, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.” If you don’t believe him, ask a Brit and a Yank what a rubber is.

I read a lot of British murder mysteries, and I pride myself on understanding the King’s English. Recently, though, I finished an Inspector Rebus mystery set in Scotland, and I had to keep looking up words and phrases. How they say it in London and in Aberdeen may be two different things entirely! (Not to mention Melbourne or Lahore.)

Language differences are not just geography

Even people who live in the same geographical area may hear a phrase and react completely differently.

The actor Jamie Foxx didn’t mean anything wrong when he tweeted about #fakefriends and said, “They killed Jesus, what do you think they’ll do to you?” As an African American, he was just using a common phrase to express how untrustworthy people can be.

Unfortunately, white Jewish people and their allies heard that phrase with an entirely different inflection. Outside of the Black community, “They killed Jesus” has been used by Christians for centuries as an accusation against Jews. It has led to pogroms and slaughters.

When white Jews called Foxx out, many Black Christians could not understand how his phrase could ever be antisemitic. Many white Jews could not understand how it could be anything but. (And a lot of Black Jews were stuck in the middle, which happens way too often!)

That’s why you have to know your audience

Nonprofit organizations cannot say everything in a way that everyone will understand the same way–at least, you can’t and still say anything interesting! So, what’s nonprofit to do?

Know your audience.

You are not writing to everybody. There’s either one specific audience that’s interested in what you do, or there might be a few. In either case, you need to be able to picture the people you’re writing to, hear how they talk, and speak their language.

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