The last few decades mark incredible growth, love, and acceptance of diversity, but not without challenges to feel seen and accepted. The social sector has stepped up in a big way to support this significant progress, moving away from prejudice and injustices that face lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, and transgender people across America.

At Classy, we stand beside the LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations making a significant impact. You’ll get to see some of the special initiatives happening this June to celebrate Pride Month and more ways to get involved year-round.

Celebrating LGBTQ+ Organizations During Pride Month

What is Pride Month?

LGBTQ+ Pride Month typically falls in June and serves as a time for celebrations, protections, and commemorations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, and transgender community.

In 1969, the Stonewall riots began as a series of gay liberation protests. The timing of Pride Month represents the anniversary of those events in a positive and future-looking light—although Pride celebrations now extend throughout the calendar to continue bringing light to the LGBTQ+ community.

What does the acronym LGBTQ+ stand for?

LGBTQ+ is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning, plus other sexual and gender minorities. While individuals may feel aligned and connected to various adjectives based on their unique experience, gender identity, and sexual orientation, the LGBTQ+ nomenclature is an inclusive way to reference, celebrate, and honor the greater community.

How to Celebrate Pride

Pride is a wonderful time to get involved with LGBTQ+ organizations to learn more. Here’s a quick list of ways to celebrate:

• Browse social media human rights campaigns that inspire you.
• Explore your local community for opportunities to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
• Research the history and accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ community.
• Learn about ongoing efforts led by the National LGBTQ Task Force.
• Make an impact with a donation to an LGBTQ+ organization.
• Fundraise on behalf of an LGBTQ+ organization.
• Attend events that help you learn and grow alongside LGBTQ+ people.

6 LGBTQ+ Organizations to Support This Pride Month

1. The Trevor Project

Mission: The Trevor Project’s mission is to end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning young people.

Check out some ways to celebrate Pride with The Trevor Project:

• Contribute to supporting LGBTQ young people and showing them that they matter
• Join your local Pride march to support LGBTQ+ youth, families, and allies to find joy in advocacy and self-expression in a safe, supportive environment. The Trevor Project will be in the New York City and Los Angeles parades!
• Join Trevor’s 52-Mile Pride Ride Challenge,  a virtual fundraising challenge encouraging people to commit to logging 52 miles in any way it feels best to move, all in an effort to support Trevor’s mission to end suicide among LGBTQ young people
• Explore Trevor’s resources, such as articles, resources, and guides to learn about preventing suicide, supporting LGBTQ young people, and more

2. Radiant Health Centers

Mission: Radiant Health Centers’ mission is to provide compassionate and comprehensive health services to all underserved individuals in Orange County, with a special focus on the LGBTQ+ community and those living with and affected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Radiant Health Centers will host several events supporting more individuals to regain their independence through comprehensive care throughout the month of June.

A thoughtful array of fundraising and awareness campaigns include:

• An annual LGBTQA+ makers market to explore LGBTQA+ makers, artists, crafters and vendors and make purchases that benefit Radiant Health Centers
• A Pride kickoff happy hour to get ready for Pride weekend with cocktails and appetizers among friends
• The Midsummer Night’s Dream Gala happens June 3 at an outdoor venue that feels like a Shakespearean forest to raise money for improving LGBTQA+ health care equity and HIV care in the community

3. The LGBT Community Center of the Desert

Mission: The LGBT Community Center of the Desert’s mission is to provide an open and welcoming environment for all members of the LGBTQ family. Through individual lived experiences and collective power, the nonprofit hosts community events, assistance programs, and various other forms of support in its efforts to create a loving community where everyone belongs.

The LGBT Community Center of the Desert offers a space where everyone belongs and can be unconditionally themselves. The team lives their values of integrity, equity, and joy through events and resources throughout the year, extending into Pride Month for anyone who feels called to learn more and get involved.

This June, The LGBT Community Center of the Desert will offer:

• Yoga groups
• Community food bank distributions
• Book clubs 
• Support groups for parents of gender-expansive youth
• Women’s and men’s chats
• Caregivers support groups
• Music and art events for community members
• LGBTQ+ hangouts for young people

4. SAGE

Mission:SAGE is the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ older people.

In partnership with its constituents and allies, SAGE works to achieve a high quality of life for LGBTQ+ older people, supports and advocates for their rights, fosters a greater understanding of aging in all communities, and promotes positive images of LGBTQ+ life in later years. This Pride Month, SAGE will host several community events to invite more passionate advocates to get involved.

Pride Month community events will include:

• 31st Annual Fire Island Pines Celebration on June 3, 2023. Celebrating SAGE in the Pines and honoring Joe Conforti, Colin Joyner, Ryan Espinoza & Iman Le Caire
• Sage & Friends will follow on June 10, 2023 with an open bar, passed hors d’oeuvres, and fabulous company to keep the celebrations going

5. Family Equality Council

Mission: The Family Equality Council’s mission is to ensure everyone is free to find, form, and sustain their families by advancing equality for the LGBTQ+ community.

Family Equality Council gives LGBTQ+ families the public education and support they need to become a strong voice through outreach and legislative actions. Pride Month will be an extension of the help it offers throughout the year.

This June, a virtual hub for LGBTQ+ families will feature:

• Trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming parent meetups
• A blog and newsletter for families to get new information
• Alerts to take action in Congress and legislation for equal rights

6. Gay Men’s Health Crisis

Mission: The Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) mission is to be the world’s first HIV/AIDS service organization, working to end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected.

GMHC is determined to end AIDS and enable more individuals to live life fully. This Pride Month, the organization will open its doors to supporters everywhere to fuel its efforts toward its mission.

Pride Month activities and events will include:

• The Latex Ball is a free event open to the community that offers HIV and sexually transmitted infection testing while enjoying a celebration of different music genres and musical artists
• Advocacy opportunities include supporting the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which allows safety-net providers, such as community health centers, to purchase deeply discounted drugs and provide essential financial support services to low-income individuals

Expanding Impact on Classy

LGBTQ+ organizations do the work that brings communities together. With Classy’s comprehensive fundraising platform, these organizations can connect with supporters who believe in and will support them for the long term.

On Classy, LGBTQ+ organizations can build supporter relationships that result in more funding and impact through:

• Fundraising events to engage supporters live and online
• Peer-to-peer fundraising to give voice to more passionate people
• Crowdfunding solutions that bring communities together
• Website donations to encourage fundraising all year
• Recurring giving options that spark a chain reaction of lasting impact

Article Sources

“50 Quotes From the LGBTQ+ Community to Help You Celebrate Pride,” Woman’s Day, accessed May 17, 2023, https://www.womansday.com/life/g32858887/lgbtq-pride-quotes/.

Similarly, nonprofits can use brand strategy to foster a community of supporters. A strong brand identity tells a compelling story about your work, whether on a donation website or through email marketing. In other words, your brand invites donors to join your nonprofit’s mission.

By extension, brand guidelines ensure you tell a consistent story that guides supporters toward your cause. Below, we’ll cover what brand guidelines are, why they’re important, key elements to include in your brand book, and tips for getting started.

What Are Brand Guidelines?

Brand guidelines detail how you present your nonprofit to the world. These function best when compiled into a well-organized brand book that your team can reference whenever they have questions.

Often, brand guidelines include visual elements, like your brand logo files, color palette, and typography, as well as notes on tone of voice for your messaging. Brand guidelines can also include links to on-brand photo folders, marketing templates, and other brand assets.

Typically, organizations will have two brand books: internal and external.

Internal vs. External Brand Guidelines

Internal brand guidelines cover all the details of your brand’s style, including program names, use of high-quality imagery, and proper formatting. This style guide ensures every staff member can help keep your communications consistent.

For example, a volunteer coordinator may use your brand guidelines when creating promotional flyers for an event. Or a major gifts officer might reference them to ensure their message to a donor strikes the right tone. They also come in handy when sharing internal announcements with your team or conducting a staff-wide presentation.

External brand guidelines are a condensed version of your internal brand book. These give a quick overview of your mission, values, website, logo, and CMYK colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black)—commonly used for designing print communications.

Additionally, external brand guidelines are useful for collaborating with vendors or community partners. For example, a color palette could help an interior designer set up your event space. Or your organizational highlights may help a city official speak about your cause during an awareness month.

3 Reasons Your Nonprofit Needs Brand Guidelines

While there are many reasons to invest in your own brand, the best brand guidelines always support three key outcomes.

1. Create a Cohesive Narrative

Brand consistency helps tell a compelling story about your nonprofit’s work. This is critical, as storytelling is the catalyst for conversions. A strong brand ensures supporters don’t get lost in muddled or contradicting narratives. By sticking to a style guide, you ensure your story is clear and easy to follow. As a result, donors can see directly how their gifts lead to impact.

2. Encourage Donor Trust

The narrative you establish through a consistent brand message can also increase donor trust. When you use cohesive, professional formats, donors are more likely to perceive your brand as modern and sophisticated. Your consistent look and feel become something they can rely on, helping them trust that you’ll use their gifts effectively. That certainty promotes lasting relationships with donors.

3. Support Your Staff, Volunteers, and Partners

Your staff, volunteers, and partners all want to see you succeed, but they may not know how to represent you. Brand guidelines provide a useful rule book for your team to better understand appropriate brand uses. Having your color schemes, logo guidelines, and messaging goals in one place helps your team assist in creating cohesive marketing materials and other external communications.

What Are the Key Elements of Brand Guidelines?

Brand identity guidelines should include design elements and messaging considerations that create a comprehensive view of your nonprofit. There are five key brand elements to include.

1. Mission

Brand guidelines should always start with your nonprofit’s mission statement. You can also include notes on your nonprofit’s vision and values. These elements guide everything you do. Having this information upfront in your brand book reminds your team and partners why you exist and the impact you have. All other elements of your brand should tie back to this.

2. Tone

A brand personality is a set of human characteristics that you want people to associate with your nonprofit. These guide your brand voice, helping set your tone and word choices in internal and external communications.

As a team, brainstorm around three to six words that you want your donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, and community partners to feel when they think of you. For example, your brand personality could be:

• Interactive
• Innovative
• Thoughtful
• Compassionate
• Fun
• Accessible

3. Visuals

This section of your brand book includes everything related to your visual identity. A main piece of this is your brand logos. Include details on how to resize or crop logos and where to find high-resolution versions of them. You’ll also want to include any secondary logos and note approved uses, such as a smaller logo to use as a favicon (browser tab icon) for your nonprofit website.

Your visual brand also includes your brand colors. Include information on RGB color codes (red, blue, and green) or hex codes staff can use in graphic design.

Refer to your brand personality to ensure your visuals and iconography match the tone you want to set. Then, note any inconsistencies you may need to correct. For example, if your brand voice has a minimalist approach, flashy colors and complex logos won’t convey that tone.

4. Typography

The typeface is another way to communicate your brand. Fonts can express boldness, elegance, playfulness, and other characteristics your nonprofit may want to embody. Note in your brand guidelines which fonts staff should use. Include font sizes and styling, consider the different headers you may use, and note any preferences for white space between text.

5. Communications

The communications section of your brand book should outline verbal and written messaging guidelines for your nonprofit. This helps align everything from your social media posts and press releases to your tagline and logo usage.

This section may include instructions on:

• Program names: Ensure everyone knows the full, proper names for your programs, how and when to capitalize them, and any approved acronyms.
• Word choice: Note any rules on sensitive words. For example, a homeless shelter may refer to its guests as “people experiencing homelessness” rather than “the homeless.”
• Email and voicemail: Share how staff should format their email signatures and record voicemail messages.
• Press releases: Offer approved press release templates and stock language.

Your communications should always tie back to the tone outlined in your brand guide.

How Do You Set Up Brand Guidelines?

Starting with a mood board is a great first step for developing brand guidelines, whether conducting a nonprofit rebrand or establishing a new brand. A mood board is a visual arrangement of images, textures, colors, and text that speak to a specific concept or style.

Once you have a few words that evoke the tone you want to convey, look through magazines, websites, and other materials for anything that resonates with them. The collage you make from these images can then give you ideas for your logo design and other elements to include in your brand style guide.

As you get started, review brand guidelines examples for inspiration. You can ask other nonprofit teams to see theirs or work with a graphic designer who may have templates to use. Overall, consider the functionality of your style guide and how it helps visually tell your brand story.

Use a Brand Style Guide to Tell Your Nonprofit’s Story and Connect With Donors

Defining and elevating your brand is an opportunity to motivate support and boost donations to your cause. Classy’s comprehensive fundraising platform keeps your brand front and center, making it easy to weave your unique story across all donor touchpoints.

When thoughtfully designed, a brand style guide supports your digital storytelling needs across donation websites, fundraising events, recurring giving campaigns, peer-to-peer campaign pages, mobile bidding, and more.

Discover how you can transform transactions into relationships with Classy’s unified donation platform. Request a demo today to see how it works.

In your fundraising and marketing communications, visuals are crucial for helping cement an idea or a narrative into the mind of your audience. Statistics alone may make for a convincing argument, but visual narratives establish emotional connections that incite people to take action.

Below, we’ll discuss more on why storytelling is critical for nonprofits. We’ll also highlight six visual storytelling techniques your nonprofit can employ to improve its fundraising metrics—including an example of each strategy in action from real nonprofits.

Why Is Storytelling Important for Nonprofits?

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, with images processed 60,000 times faster than text.² Given the ease with which people absorb visual media, nonprofits can benefit from the power of visual storytelling greatly.

You can use visual storytelling to turn your messages—even those that might seem nonvisual in nature, like numerical data—into narratives that engage and compel supporters to act. When forming your nonprofit’s content marketing strategy, remember that storytelling is the catalyst to conversions and strong donor retention.

Using a comprehensive product suite like Classy helps keep storytelling at the forefront of your digital marketing. You can embed imagery into your donation websites, email marketing, and virtual fundraising events easily to help drive donations and foster lasting relationships with your supporters.

6 Tips for Impactful Visual Storytelling (With Examples)

To inspire your visual storytelling, we’ve rounded up six examples of visual storytelling from real-world nonprofits. Each demonstrates a powerful way to use storytelling techniques to forge connections with your audience.

1. Center Your Visual Stories Around Timely Events

Using real-time national events can capture your audience’s attention since people are likely tuned in to what’s happening. Philly PAWS, a nonprofit saving homeless and at-risk pets in the Philadelphia area, employs this storytelling strategy during Super Bowl Sunday.

The nonprofit shares photos and videos of its animals on Instagram and through tweets to tell their stories and encourage supporters to donate or adopt a pet in need. Using a timely event like the Super Bowl helps advance the visual messaging.

During Super Bowl season, Philly PAWS highlights perfect “game day buddies,” like a series of senior dogs currently at its shelter. This approach gives an adorable image to its brand story, helping donors envision tangible ways they can help while reaping some cute benefits.

2. Use Visuals to Connect Supporters to Actionable Insights

Every day, supporters scroll through their timelines on social media apps, only to be inundated with content. To make yours stand out, think of ways your visuals can provide relatable, useful, and applicable material on your subject matter. This will encourage followers to pause and connect with your mission.

To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) is a nonprofit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. The nonprofit uses various visuals on its social media platforms to share information about these complex topics with its target audience.

TWLOHA’s posts show that you don’t need professional photography to create compelling graphics. In an Instagram post about alcohol awareness, it uses a colorful background with simple text to create a series of slides that educate supporters on the effects of alcohol. The quick visuals leave followers with actionable takeaways for pursuing a sober life or creating safe sober spaces for friends.

In another example, TWLOHA highlights the power of self-care practices with a series of images showing where on your calendar you can fit in time for yourself. This helps tell the story of the nonprofit’s Show Up For Yourself campaign.

3. Elevate a Beneficiary’s Story on Your Campaign Page

An effective way to tell your nonprofit’s story is through the eyes of someone who has benefited from your services. Doing so through videos or photo essays creates a visual narrative that prompts an emotional response from your audience.

The Helen Woodward Animal Center is a San Diego nonprofit animal shelter committed to people helping animals and animals helping people. Through creative web design, it walks donors through visual stories of animals in need of support.

With the help of Classy, the nonprofit hosted its Hope for Omid campaign to design a compelling story about why and how supporters could help Omid, a rescue dog who suffered an alleged acid attack before being rescued and arriving at the shelter.

The campaign’s photos show Omid’s life before the nonprofit’s help and after he happily settled into life in San Diego. A video also tells the puppy’s story. By focusing on the story of one dog, the Helen Woodward Animal Center creates a visual of the overall impact of its work.

4. Personalize Your Campaign’s Impact Blocks

Your donation form is a step-by-step system for processing donor gifts. But it’s also an opportunity to continue to tell your nonprofit’s story using visual elements.

The Philadelphia Zoo incorporated a visual medium into its Zoo-a-Thon campaign to drive supporters toward suggested donation amounts. Using selected impact blocks for $25, $50, $100, and $250 donations, the nonprofit featured a photo of an animal at the zoo along with text on how that gift level would support that animal.

These creative impact blocks tell the zoo’s visual story while improving the user experience. It’s easy to click one of the levels and—with the help of pass-through parameters—complete a gift transaction quickly.

5. Be Creative Yet Cohesive With Your Visuals

There are many ways to tell your visual story. While photos and videos may be the first types of visual storytelling to come to mind, nonprofits can also leverage data visualizations, like graphs and infographics, or even memes and GIFs. As you add variety to your storytelling template, remember to keep your nonprofit branding cohesive throughout via color palettes, fonts, and tone.

Tap Cancer Out is a jiu-jitsu-based nonprofit raising awareness and funds for cancer-fighting organizations. On its Global Grappling Day campaign page, the nonprofit uses high-quality images, concise but descriptive content, videos, and infographics to stimulate supporter interest—all from donors and those looking to start a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.

The various visual elements the nonprofit uses in its campaign holds its audience’s focus, not allowing for boredom or distraction. At the same time, the site’s color scheme, logos, and other branding elements provide a consolidated message that carries supporters through the full visual story.

6. Incorporate Headers and Footers Into Emails With a Call to Action

Email newsletters provide a great opportunity to embed visual content. An easy way to do this is to design eye-catching headers and footers that include your call to action. In between these, you can write a more in-depth message with additional information.

Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization that strives for a world free from poverty, fear, and oppression. In its emails, the nonprofit uses personalized headers and footers to create a sense of urgency to give. By framing its message with these visual elements, it captures supporters’ attention to tell a story that supports its strong appeal.

Use Visual Storytelling to Connect With Your Audience

Whether through campaign pages, emails, social media platforms, or other communication methods, visual storytelling helps connect your supporters to your cause. With a strengthened relationship, you encourage lifelong giving as donors identify more easily with your message.

Make visual storytelling simpler by letting Classy’s personalization features help drive your message. You can incorporate multiple visual elements, from video to creative impact blocks, all while keeping your brand front and center.

Article Sources

1. “In the Blink of an Eye,” MIT News, last modified January 14, 2014, https://news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116.

2. “Visual Learning: 6 Reasons Why Visuals Are the Most Powerful Aspect of eLearning,” eLearning Industry, last modified December 8, 2017, https://elearningindustry.com/visual-learning-6-reasons-visuals-powerful-aspect-elearning.

Your brand is what people think about when they think of your organization. This impacts your public image, your engagement, and your fundraising efforts. Brand management is the work you do to influence and shape the way your organization is perceived.

Nonprofits have a different purpose than for-profits, but there are many brand strategies that apply to both sides. The following brand strategies can help you forge new relationships and strengthen the ones you already have. You may even be employing one or more already.

1. Differentiate Yourself

Why should someone give to your organization instead of another?

That’s the question that drives differentiation.

Creating a strong brand strategy is essential to any successful nonprofit organization. It’s an effective way to stand out in the crowd and set your organization apart from others that share similar missions. 

A great brand strategy tells a story that resonates with your audience, helping to generate recurring donations, engage more volunteers, and strengthen relationships with current supporters. Differentiating your nonprofit brand means creating a clear, authentic voice and conveying it across all aspects of the organization, including how your employees represent themselves and how the organization appears to its stakeholders. 

With a strong, differentiated brand, you’ll have the opportunity to bring people together, have an impact, and really make a difference in the community.

Consider the following steps to discover what differentiates your nonprofit from the competition:

1. Conduct extensive research to gain a deep understanding of your organization’s values, mission, and core activities
2. Develop a unique brand identity for your nonprofit by creating a distinctive visual language and establishing a consistent voice across all media outlets
3. Engage potential supporters by producing captivating, memorable content and stories that resonate with your audience
4. Connect with your target audience through different social media channels, and focus on developing relationships across platforms 
5. Focus on creating long-term relationships with supporters and emphasize transparency, communication, and accountability among other core values to increase brand recognition
6. Broadcast volunteer opportunities, fundraising events, and other ways for people to get involved with your organization
7. Regularly review your marketing initiatives, fine-tune your fundraising approach, and embrace iteration to optimize your social impact

Additional areas of opportunity to assess when determining how exactly to set your nonprofit apart include:

• Where you work: Are you the only nonprofit working in a particular region?
• Your method: Is your approach to problem-solving different from other organizations?
• Your goal: Do you have a specific goal for your work that others are not pursuing?

For example, Bright Pink, a breast and ovarian health awareness organization, uniquely offers an assessment quiz to help individuals understand their personal cancer risk. 

In this space, they are one of the only organizations specifically focused on early detection, and the ability to quickly assess risk online through a quiz helps visitors remember them as a helpful resource.

2. Personalize Your Organization

Personalization has become a central brand strategy for many businesses and organizations. In fact, creating a personalized branding strategy for your nonprofit organization gives you the opportunity to highlight your values. 

Once you have determined what makes your nonprofit brand unique among others, the next step is to solidify who your target audience is and what their core interests are. Think about the message you want to share with new and existing supporters. Moreover, how can you leverage your current donor base to help spread brand awareness and elevate your fundraising initiatives?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is perhaps the clearest example of the rise of personalization. Supporters can create their own donation page, add their own picture, tell their own story, and appeal to their own friends and family. 

While personalization through peer-to-peer fundraising is an excellent way for your current donor base to spread brand awareness, make sure that you as a nonprofit have designed visuals that reflect your mission and brand—whether it’s a unique logo, illustrations, or slogans—and help to distinguish your nonprofit’s visual identity from others.

 Finally, ensure that your branding efforts reach the right audiences, either through digital marketing or through offline strategies such as direct mail or printed marketing materials. 

If you’re looking to add more personal touchpoints for supporters, you might also consider your communications strategy. Do you design content tracks for specific groups of supporters? Create donor personas and build custom communications to help each individual feel like the information you provide is tailored to their interests and previous behavior.

3. Be Relatable

Being able to relate to another person is essential to forming a connection and it’s just as important that your supporters can relate to each other and the people you help.

By creating a relatable nonprofit brand, you are more equipped to create genuine connections with people who share interest in your cause. When people can relate to your brand, they are more likely to want to support it, which means that you have to do the work of making sure your brand leaves a lasting first impression and resonates with your audience following the first point of interaction. 

Invest time and resources in getting to know your target audience, crafting messages that show why your cause matters, and finding creative ways to make your nonprofit mission and fundraising initiatives resonate. 

Once you’ve built a strong brand that has stickiness, you’ll be rewarded with more volunteers, more donations, and a larger community that is engaged in what you’re doing for the greater good.

Leverage your website, nonprofit blog, and social media as a way to highlight individuals supporting your cause. Feature donors, volunteers, and fundraisers to demonstrate that anyone can advance your mission. It is definitely advisable to recognize big donors, but it’s also important to show how anyone else can make an impact on your cause. 

If someone takes interest in your cause, they might go to your website’s “how you can help” page. If they only see pictures and details of major donors and celebrities, they might (consciously or subconsciously) think, “Oh. They don’t need help from me. I don’t have a ton of money or clout.”

Relatability also comes into play when you talk about the people your programs help. A potential donor might not think they have much in common with a man staying in your homeless shelter until you explain that he is a father who lost his job during the recession. Details like these help people relate to your constituents.

4. Appeal to the Emotional

Tapping into the emotions that drive your supporters can go a long way toward breaking through stagnation and apathy. 

As a nonprofit, it’s important to recognize that many people are motivated to take action when an emotional appeal is involved. Make a meaningful emotional connection with your audience by speaking to people’s hearts as much as you do their minds. 

This may include sharing stories or testimonials that showcase the lives your organization is transforming, making people laugh through entertaining videos, or finding unique ways to celebrate the individuals and communities who have helped support your cause along the way. 

Ultimately, when your organization speaks to people’s emotions, you will make a greater impact and truly show the power of your work.

5. Be a Thought Leader

Finally, positioning your organization as a forward-thinking and innovative nonprofit can be an effective brand strategy. While there are people who prefer to stick with historic or more traditional charities, adopting new technologies and strategies can attract people who may not have been interested in the cause before. This can be done without sacrificing brand consistency.

All it takes is the willingness to get involved, to make an impact, and to put your voice and ideas out there. If thought leadership is a key component of your nonprofit branding strategy, consider what steps you might take to elevate your voice and ensure your audience views you as a leader in your space. 

To help get you on your way to becoming a leader in the nonprofit sector, explore opportunities to:

• Get connected with people and organizations in the nonprofit sector to develop your understanding and learn more 
• Reach out to fellow thought leaders, find nonprofit conferences and webinars to attend, and explore blogs and articles 
• Engage with the conversations, offer insights, and be sure to follow up with those that could be a helpful source of information in an effort to further evolve your brand identity and positioning 
• Challenge traditional thought processes, start initiatives that make a difference, and always aim to collaborate

Empower Your Nonprofit Brand With Classy

Whether you’ve been consciously cultivating it or not, your organization has a brand. The associations and ideas people have about your nonprofit can impact your fundraising, engagement, and credibility. Consider how you can adopt some of these brand strategies for nonprofits to influence the way your organization is perceived by the public.

By using a comprehensive fundraising platform like Classy, nonprofits can take their brand to the next level. Through an efficient donation processing system, engaging live-event capabilities, and a diverse portfolio of easy-to-use fundraising tools, nonprofits have access to the latest technologies that enable them to effectively tell their story and inspire more support from their audience. 

Get started today and learn how Classy can help you meet and exceed your fundraising goals more quickly and efficiently.

Get ready to learn more about nonprofit event production, project management, and planning best practices from an organization still experiencing the positive impact of its virtual event success.

Learning From Years of Virtual Event Planning

From the initial growing pains of pivoting to virtual events during the COVID-19 pandemic to the way organizations now flawlessly integrate virtual elements into nearly all event experiences, it’s clear that the sector sees value in an online format.

We saw over 92% of virtual fundraising event attendees say they’re likely to donate in addition to any registration or participation costs. With that in mind, virtual events are a great way to host impactful sessions and experiences with supporters, like networking events or a virtual conference, while increasing donors’ likelihood of returning to give again.

Break out of on-site limitations, introduce gamification, play around with live streaming, and bring various types of events to life in a re-imagined format.

How will your organization go beyond a Zoom event to create a memorable virtual experience? We turned to the team at the HEADstrong Foundation for insider lessons to share today.

How a Virtual Format Raised Over $120,000

We reached out to Jeff Baxter, Director of Community Engagement at the HEADstrong Foundation, to find out how his team of event planners pivoted to an entirely virtual 5K, “The Last Shift,” and raised over $120,000 to benefit lives affected by cancer.

Below, we’ll walk you through how the team came up with the idea and activated a massive audience. Plus, get a sneak peek at the internal operations and the online event logistics.

Lesson 1: Know Your Audience, Intimately

When the HEADstrong Foundation team decided to mobilize its community by hosting a fully virtual 5K, they chose an event strategy based on the preferences of their unique audience: athletes and sports enthusiasts. They chose April 6, which also happened to be National Student-Athlete Day.

This underscores the importance of knowing your audience and personalizing your offerings. Whether running a 5K, hosting a gala, or orchestrating another event, you have to play to their preferences, lifestyles, and unique perspective.

Lesson 2: Fully Activate Your Audience

Knowing your audience is one thing, but getting them to participate in your event is another. For the HEADstrong Foundation, the secret to successful activation was targeting a hyper-defined audience segment with thoughtful event promotions.

The founder of the HEADstrong Foundation was a college lacrosse player, so the team decided to reach out to college lacrosse players before promoting the event to anyone else. They also agreed to use influencer marketing, targeting the nation’s top-three senior college lacrosse players (pictured above).

Leaning on Instagram to Reach a Target Audience

As part of the event marketing strategy, each player received a direct message from the HEADstrong Foundation Instagram account asking if they wanted to run in the virtual 5K and help spread the message to other athletes. From there, event organizers began targeting other lacrosse players across the country to take part in the team-building event experience.

Start small before branching out to larger segments of your audience, much like you would with a soft launch for a fundraising campaign. Within that segment, you may even consider reaching out to specific influencers who can act as spokespeople for your event.

Additionally, your nonprofit will want to identify which platforms your target segments will most likely see your message and craft your outreach accordingly.

Make It Easy to Register

Another pre-event tactic that helped the HEADstrong Foundation was simplifying the registration process for influencers. The team made it a flat $20 to register and only asked for influencers’ names, emails, and Instagram handles.

As a result of their influencer outreach, teams began signing up left and right. Ultimately, 2,000 people registered for “The Last Shift.”

At Classy, we designed our virtual event platform for nonprofits to make registration as simple as possible. That’s true whether an event is entirely online or a hybrid event with a virtual component.

Lesson 3: Maintain Clear and Consistent Communication

As they moved through the event planning process, the HEADstrong Foundation team used various tools to stay aligned and ensure nothing slipped through the cracks. Every week, they held a virtual meeting over Google Hangouts to review updates and assignments from the previous week before tasking out new roles. Having a simple and quick way to organize conferencing with your event coordinators is key as you get closer to launch.

At the same time, they tracked all progress and responsibilities in a spreadsheet. This was helpful for items like the email marketing calendar and nailing down deliverables for each send. In one email, they included a pre-recorded video message from the president of the HEADstrong Foundation:

Then, another email that went out one week before the event featured a set of training tips, fundraising challenges, and ways for virtual participants to get others involved:

Finally, an email went out the day before “The Last Shift” kicked off, detailing what to do during the run and what to do once the run finished:

Learn how to craft expert virtual event emails with these helpful fundraising email templates.

Adding a Personal Touch to Your Virtual Event

When planning your virtual event, messaging is critical. People must understand all the details about how they can participate. They also need to feel like the message is personalized and comes from a human.

Send a few well-crafted emails to your registrants with any crucial information or asks. Nonprofit videos are also a great tool to humanize your organization and pump everyone up for the event.

Lesson 4: Get Crafty and Creative

This was a mantra that Jeff and the rest of the team lived by during “The Last Shift.” Every idea received consideration simply because it was new, which gave rise to some powerhouse results.

Bringing Modern Donation Methods Into the Mix

First, the team encouraged all runners to invite their friends to donate to their personal fundraising page or through a “virtual high five.” With this virtual high five, people would use Venmo to send $5 directly to the HEADstrong Venmo account with the runner’s name in the transaction’s comments.

The HEADstrong Foundation team took all these Venmo transactions and entered them as offline donations into Classy. At the end of the event, they had collected an additional $4,000 from this tactic alone. Today, Classy customers can include Venmo as a payment option directly on their donation websites to make it even simpler for donors to make an impact.

Incentivizing Participants Online

Next, the HEADstrong Foundation team had to brainstorm virtual incentives for participants. They decided to offer everyone a discount code for the HEADstrong Foundation online merchandise store through a personal letter from the executive director. That way, people could buy something they wanted, and all purchases contributed to a higher overall revenue and improved metrics for the event.

Last, event stakeholders worked hard to activate their supporters’ networks by spreading the word of the 5K through personal outreach. For example, one of the event influencers reached out to his former head coach, who decided to get his entire high school team involved in “The Last Shift.”

Nonprofit social media is yet another extremely powerful tool for organizations to reach wider audiences without sacrificing their budget. For the HEADstrong Foundation team, social media was the cornerstone engagement piece across all efforts. They asked participants to tag their posts with a custom hashtag, whether promoting registration or submitting a picture of their GPS route after running.

This was crucial to creating a sense of community, which is a fundamental pillar to successful virtual events. All attendees participate separately, but your nonprofit’s needs bring everyone together.

Lesson 5: Start Year-Round DIY Fundraising

Once the event is over, DIY fundraising can be the perfect way to follow up with your community and nurture all your new supporters to become lifelong members.

Moving forward, the HEADstrong Foundation team will build an endurance athlete fundraising program for people to run a 5K, triathlon, or Ironman or participate in another major athletic event and use it for fundraising on behalf of the organization.

For example, if someone loves golf, they can pledge their next game. If they go for a run every day, those runs can help fundraise on behalf of the HEADstrong Foundation.

Turn their entry point to your organization through a virtual event into a way they can easily continue to fundraise for you on their terms and bring those experiences face-to-face with their communities.

Bring Your Virtual Event to Life on Classy

With some creativity and the right tools, you can grow your fundraising event revenue to reach new heights. Use the HEADstrong Foundation as inspiration for ways your nonprofit can adapt quickly, activate your audience, and drive support for any virtual event you imagine.

If you’re interested to hear how Classy’s virtual event technology can help you take your strategy from pre-event planning to post-event engagement with real-time interaction and intuitive apps, explore Classy Live today.

Whether you’re a regular Canva user or haven’t tried it yet, these eight simple design ideas will help you share your visual story and attract more donors to your cause.

The Power of Visual Designs for Your Nonprofit

Modern marketing is often visual, as platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube set new expectations for viewing a brand’s content.

At one point, a nonprofit’s marketing materials called for an eye-catching logo, branded email signature, and a few design elements used across event signage. Today, marketers need to think about visuals that align with each new fundraising campaign and produce fresh visuals for every post and donor communication they share.

Social media platforms understand this, building engagement algorithms that favor original visuals and video content posted at least several times a week. Each platform additionally asks users to adapt graphic design to different specifications and sizes to fit optimally in their feeds.

Taking a page from social media platforms, nonprofit organizations can get more creative about the visual storytelling by incorporating this element into campaign pages and associating promotions across various channels as design tools become more accessible.

What Is Canva for Nonprofits?

The Canva for Nonprofits program gives social impact organizations free access to premium features and design tools through its interactive platform. Canva’s platform delivers thousands of templates, design tutorials, and premade designs to make your own. However, you must complete an application to qualify.

Registered nonprofit users can then team up on designs and turn their creations into any size visuals they need across fundraising campaigns, social media channels, and various communication channels.

Setting Up Your Brand Kit in Canva

The biggest benefit of using Canva is that you can easily carry out your unique nonprofit branding across designs using its brand kit feature. It keeps your teammates thinking about your core brand values and visual elements as they put a unique spin on existing templates.

You can use the Canva brand kit to store your preferred:

• Main and supporting logos for various campaigns or initiatives
• Color palettes with specific hex codes
• Fonts that match your campaigns and website

8 Simple Designs to Create With Canva Pro for Nonprofits

1. Post Frequently With Social Media Post Templates

Social media platforms help you engage your audience, specifically through stories outside of the more formal posts that live on your feed. Planning story posts can also enhance interactions around your prescheduled content calendar.

However, developing new ideas for social posts that look consistent across platforms can be challenging. Social media graphic templates can help. Create them once, then modify versions for each platform you use with Canva’s Magic Resize tool.

Social Media Post Template Examples:

• Share polls to get your audience thinking
• Announce new campaigns and events
• Offer real-time updates on the progress of your fundraising goals

2. Engage New Donors With a Website Landing Page

Canva now supports web design for quick landing pages outside your existing domains. So with no development knowledge, you can turn a template design into a web landing page using Canva.

It works the same way as creating other templates with simple navigation and access to design elements. You can also link to your donation page or other campaign pages from the landing page designs you create.

Website Landing Page Template Examples:

• Host a splash page to share new projects
• Share a simple newsletter sign-up page
• Build a dedicated page to showcase your recurring donation community

3. Educate Supporters With Video and Animation

Canva’s nonprofit account gives you access to video tools to help you create content that educates people about your organization.

Consider making a founding story video for your nonprofit that appeals to a donor’s emotions. Talk about your organization’s roots, showcase your growth, and help people envision the impact of their support. You can even create videos with your footage or Canva’s library of GIFs and other motion-design elements.

With the animation tools available, you don’t need a B-roll to make something engaging.

Video and Animation Template Examples:

• Develop a fun video message to donors that thanks them, acknowledges them, or keeps them up to date with what you’re doing with their contributions
• Create a teaser video to promote a new campaign you’re launching

4. Stand Apart With Visual Fundraising Campaign Pages

Your fundraising campaigns are essential to convert donors, and visuals create the first impression that welcomes them to your giving experience. Stand out by taking the time to include a compelling campaign header, graphic elements, and logo.

Design can help guide donors to the most impactful step in supporting your mission. So remember, each campaign can (and should) have on-brand visuals and take on its own visual identity unique to that campaign.

Campaign Visual Template Examples:

• Represent your campaign’s goal and those it supports with unique visuals
• Build templates for annual campaigns such as Giving Tuesday fundraisers
• Design powerful hero image templates to use for the top of each campaign page, which Classy recommends sizing to 1280×720 px

5. Build Relationships With Fresh Event Branding

Events are a time to present donors and potential supporters with an unforgettable experience. That has a lot to do with the visual experience they associate with the process, from the point of registration through the live event itself. So unite your online and in-person experiences with consistent branding.

Event Branding Template Examples:

• Design a QR code flyer on napkins, business cards, and posters that links back to your donation page
• Create a distinguished visual identity for your event to use on your registration page and all associated emails

6. Empower Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers

Create the branding you want to showcase on your peer-to-peer campaign page and bring that into each fundraising page to set individuals up for success as they raise money for your cause. Consistent branding and a professional look will help build trust and credibility as new donors learn about your organization.

You want to create visuals your donors want to share on their personal social media and company communication platforms.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Template Examples:

• Design custom images that match your campaign page headers for supporters to share with their communities
• Develop a fundraiser toolkit with social-sharing images you’ve created to match the look and feel of the campaign

7. Showcase Your Work With Infographics

You can tell your supporters about the results you’re achieving with their gifts or show them. Visuals can be a great way to demonstrate your work in numbers and graphs. So create an infographic that you can replicate your impact in an exciting way across any platform you’d like to share with your community.

Infographic Template Examples:

• Turn your annual report into a fun infographic
• Showcase impact with results from specific campaigns
• Develop a year in review to send to donors

8. Keep in Touch With Email Templates

When you think about how many emails come through your donors’ inboxes each day, you can see the importance of making yours memorable. Visuals can connect to a reader and enhance your email communications to drive donors to take action.

Design email templates to keep people excited about your mission and continue the experience after a donation, switching things up for various use cases throughout the year.

Email Template Examples:

• Create a special welcome visual to send to new donors
• Level up your thank you letters to major donors and corporate sponsors
• Build excitement around your weekly newsletter

Bring Your Ideas to Life With Free Canva for Nonprofits

We hope your creativity is flowing with all the possibilities at your fingertips with Canva. You already have an incredible founding story and mission. Now, you can bring that to life to attract even more supporters to raise more. And with consistent branding to reflect your nonprofit’s personality, you’re sure to pull them in.

Get ready to create something amazing.

What Are the Benefits of Virtual Fundraising?

Virtual events helps your nonprofit reach entirely new audiences with a next level fundraising strategy. They also allow for on-demand events that open the likelihood of supporters attending and viewing your content than a time-bound event. You can appeal to your donor’s schedules, and reach more potential donors using the recordings of your event. Imagine hosting your event once, and keeping registration to access the content on-demand all year to continue building relationships and support raising funds.

A Modern Take on Virtual Fundraising Software

As you start to think about virtual fundraising efforts, consider the way technology sets you up for success. Engaging event platforms let you bring physical, virtual, and hybrid events to life with tech enhancements that exceed modern donor expectations.

22 Creative Virtual Fundraising Ideas

Across almost all virtual fundraising events, your nonprofit organization will likely want to livestream content to your audience. You can also embed your Zoom recording, YouTube or Twitch livestream directly into your Classy virtual fundraising campaign or Classy Live event.

In-Person Event Pivots to Virtual or Hybrid

1. Online Gala Dinner

Many nonprofits were forced to pivot their in-person galas to virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck during the height of gala season. However, nonprofits have seen great success hosting their galas virtually. There’s no longer a geographic restraint so anyone can attend, you can emulate table fundraising with online peer-to-peer fundraising and team captains, and you may actually net higher fundraising totals with an expanded attendance and less overhead costs.

Upaya Social Ventures successfully pivoted their in-person gala to a virtual gala in a few weeks and ended up raising over $300,000, 50% more than their initial fundraising goal. They used their Classy campaign page as a central hub to post messages from leadership, share engaging videos, and even host an auction.

2. Online Auctions

Similar to galas, an online auction or silent auction can increase your audience of potential donors and bidders. The key to a successful virtual auction is twofold. On one hand, your nonprofit must take stock of your items, clearly define the rules for participants, set competitive bids, and promote the auction items in emails and on social media.

On the other hand, you can also use this as an opportunity to ask for donations throughout the event that are separate from the price of every auction item. This way, you can keep people engaged at times when they might drop off. For example, if someone is outbid on an item, you can suggest they donate the amount they would have paid to your organization directly.

3. Online Telethons

You can also turn an online raffle or auction into a telethon event. A telethon can be an opportunity to livestream with a special host or group of engaging community members. You can use the time to share items for auction or raffle of fun prizes in exchange for donations. Mobile bidding can enhance the experience as you tie your event to an online campaign or donation page.

Get creative about a theme that resonates with the time of year or your current projects. You can translate that theme to your host’s appearance, the set of your telethon, and any supporting marketing materials.

Food and Drink Virtual Fundraising Ideas

4. Cooking or Mixology Virtual Classes

Whether you’re making homemade pasta or mixing up a nice old fashioned, cooking and mixology virtual classes cater perfectly to a virtual audience. Your nonprofit can partner with a local chef or mixologist, or even famous culinary influencers if you have the connections, and stream the virtual cooking class fundraising event live.

You can charge admission with a ticketed event fundraising page, or in the form of a donation. The key is to set tiers of gifts. For example, $100 can guarantee a supporter gets a seat in the class, but $250 or more will allow that supporter to participate in a live virtual happy hour or webinar with the cook or mixologist after the class is concluded. Additionally, you can make calls to donate to your nonprofit throughout the livestream fundraising event.

5. Group Dining Events

It may not be feasible to gather your community of supporters together around a good meal, but there are ways to transition a feeling of togetherness into a virtual fundraising idea. When Miry’s List hosted their 2020 World Refugee Day Awards Campaign, they offered a takeout picnic that supporters could pick up curbside and enjoy at home while they watched the virtual awards ceremony.

6.Virtual Alcohol Tasting

Whiskey, wine, mezcal, or otherwise, alcohol tastings are never dull events. Your nonprofit can create a virtual fundraising event where the price of registration includes the cost of the alcohol and shipping. Your supporters can then receive their drinks in time for the live event, where a professional teaches them about the alcohol.

There are some rules and restrictions by which you must abide in order to ensure the legality of your event, but Hope for Haiti is a great example of a nonprofit who has done this with Haitian crema. You can use their model to get started, like clearly calling out which states are eligible to receive alcohol shipments, but always consult with your legal team to ensure you’re in compliance with state and federal laws.

Athletic Virtual Fundraising Ideas

7. Yoga Class

Reach out to your local yoga studio and invite them to lead a class, or series of classes, in partnership with your nonprofit over zoom. You can also ask your supporters if any of them are yoga teachers, or know someone, who would want to guide the classes. Either way, you can sell tickets to your community, as well as the community that regularly supports the yoga studio. The best part of this virtual fundraiser is that there’s no limit to the number of people who can join.

8. Bootcamp

For your supporters who want more of a hardcore workout over a relaxing yoga class, bootcamp is the perfect option. Collaborate with a local trainer to develop a regimen and have them lead the virtual workout. You can also design it so no extra equipment is required, supporters can do it on their own time, and they can share results on social media after.

Consider pre-recording the initial workout with the trainer so you can keep the virtual bootcamp up in a more evergreen capacity. Each time someone pays the registration fee, you can email them the video.

9. Virtual Walks and Runs

Many nonprofits who host regular endurance events—like the Cleveland Clinic VeloSano event, a walk-a-thon, a stair climb, or a 5K—often incorporate a virtual fundraising component into their event even when they’re hosting it in-person. The formula is simple: you charge registration through an online donation form and then the athlete completes the distance on their own.

If you’re going fully virtual, it’s crucial that you create engagement opportunities throughout the campaign. Have riders or racers start peer-to-peer fundraising pages to solicit their networks for support, ask them to share photos on social media with a hashtag, and send them branded gear that promotes your nonprofit while they race.

Community Engagement Virtual Fundraising Ideas

10. Virtual Crowdfunding Pet Events

This virtual fundraising idea capitalizes on people’s love of showing off their furry friends. An event like this can be a great way to get people involved with your organization, especially in a virtual environment. Often, all that’s needed is for them to snap a picture of their pet and post it to social media with a specific event hashtag. You could run a crowdfunding campaign that coincides with the awareness to give people a place to take action.

For example, if you’re hosting a virtual pet parade, they can dress their animals up in costumes and post photos. The virtual component also expands the potential audience since people with birds, turtles, rabbits, and lizards might not normally be able to attend an in-person event with their pets—pets they might not be comfortable taking outdoors. Everyone can participate.

The Boulder Humane Society pivoted their annual Doggie Dash event into a fully virtual fundraising event. They drove engagement across their social media channels powered by user-generated content, and raised 101% of their fundraising goal.

11. Community Talks

Virtual community talks offer an opportunity for your nonprofit to offer supporters something of value, as well as solicit donations for your mission at the same time. Tap your board members, executive leadership, or prominent members of your community and have them speak about topics related to your mission. You can also bring in outside speakers to discuss relevant or timely topics.

For example, if your nonprofit is involved in the fight for social justice, you can have a respected diversity coach lead an open discussion for your supporters. Whatever topic you choose, you can engage your audience with Q&A sessions, educational hand-outs, and interactive conversations throughout.

12. Book Clubs

Virtual book clubs are a great way to get your supporters to donate. Charge a small fee for supporter to get admitted. You can make this a club that recurringly meets and give the attendees an opportunity to donate each time. Book clubs allow for discussion and adds a personal touch to getting connected with supporters.

13. Behind-the-Scenes Tours

What goes on at your organization that the average, everyday supporter never gets to witness? Host a virtual fundraising event that takes your supporters on a behind-the-scenes virtual tour of your operations. There are countless options for what you can show your supporters, regardless of your cause category. The key is to provide them with a value equal to the amount they donate to participate.

This tactic worked well for the Joffrey Ballet in their campaign, “Pulling Back the Curtain: The Nutcracker.” They invited people to get a first glimpse of the play with footage, interviews with artists, the art team, and secret delights along the tour. What’s more, they created their page so that people were sponsoring the virtual event versus just making a donation. This language makes it feel tangible for supporters and gives them a sense of ownership over the actual event when it takes place.

14. Virtual Tailgate

Tailgating for a major sports event is one of the most fun parts of watching the game. You can make your tailgate avirtual celebration. Have your supporters purchase a tailgate package, which can be picked up and taken back home before the big game.

The Palmer Home for Children decided to host a virtual tailgate like this for the Mississippi State football team, and supporters a cooler filled with tailgate foods and treats. They creatively sold sponsorship packages as well, and anyone who purchased a sponsorship had their organization included inside the tailgate cooler on special promotions. Anyone who was unable to grab a tailgate cooler could make a one-time donation and celebrate with a virtual cocktail.

Arts and Entertainment Virtual Fundraising Ideas

15. Game/ Trivia Night

Nothing beats an engaging game night to spark donations to your fundraiser. There are endless virtual game night opportunities with trivia being a stand-out when it comes to captivating the attention of the attendees. You can even tailor the trivia questions to your company or charity to get attendees to learn more about the cause.

16. Virtual Movie Night

Movie nights are an easy way to solicit donations. Simply charge a fee to enter the virtual screening of a popular movie. At the end or beginning of the movie, you can further explain your cause and communicate your mission to your supporters.

17. Script Readings

Hosting a virtual movie night is a good idea, but it can be difficult to convince someone to donate and watch a movie at their house when they could simply watch it on their own. One way to level up this virtual fundraising idea is to invite actors to join your organization on a livestream and read the script to a famous movie together.

To be clear, you don’t need to be an arts organization to do this, any nonprofit can. The key is to get the right people to participate in the script reading. If you don’t have connections to influential actors, you can tap into the local businesses, performance arts centers, schools, or even your direct audience of supporters to participate.

18. Tour an Art Gallery

In the world of virtual fundraising ideas and events, no geographic territory is off-limits. Your organization might be located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give your supporters a tour of MOMA in New York City. It boils down to securing partnerships with the right people and orchestrating a virtual fundraising event.

You might not be able to secure access to major venues, but there are thousands of smaller artists around the United States who would likely be willing to showcase their galleries to your supporters. You can build this as a ticketed event and maybe even throw in an online fundraising auction for the artist’s various creations.

19. Virtual Concerts

You might not be able to go to an in-person venue to watch your favorite band play, but that doesn’t mean concerts are off the table. Reach out to bands and invite them to perform for your audience in a closed venue. Sell tickets for the virtual fundraising event idea, solicit donations during the virtual concert, and livestream all the excitement to everyone who bought a ticket.

20. Virtual Pageant

Similar to a concert, you can host a pageant and livestream it for your attendees who bought tickets. Unlike a concert, you can use this opportunity to shine a light on your beneficiaries.

Arc Broward hosted the Virtual Miss Arc Broward Pageant, which empowers their beneficiaries who actually participate in the pageant. They sold tickets to save a virtual seat for the livestreamed event and added upgrade options to enhance the viewing experience with a hot chocolate bomb, a make-your-own pizza experience, or charcuterie board for two. Each enhancement was designed to be a curbside pickup that you take home and enjoy while watching.

21. Comedy Events

Comedians can find opportunities to perform for wider audiences online. Your nonprofit can secure comedy talent from local improv venues all the way up to nationally recognized names, and everything in between. This virtual talent show fundraising event can be more than just a ticket purchase. It can be part of a larger giving day.

The Scleroderma Research Foundation hosts an annual comedy event called Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine. When they pivoted to a fully virtual event, they moved all of their performers into the virtual space to deliver their performances as well. However, they enhanced the experience by folding in an online auction and gourmet food and wine boxes for purchase.

22. Virtual Fashion Show

A fashion show can be a great virtual fundraising idea for schools, clubs, or communities looking to raise money. You can get creative and partner with local boutiques or stores that would love to have their clothing promoted for a good cause. You could livestream the event or pre-record the fashion show and sell tickets to view it when it’s finalized. You could even lean into a peer-to-peer fundraising model by having each participant or model raise money from their friends, families, and social networks.

African Community Education (ACE) transformed their annual gala into a flexible hybrid event that welcomed virtual guests. During the 2021 giving season, ACE has students walk in a fashion show that was streamed to a virtual audience to immerse them in the experience. The result was a 3X increase in revenue from their 2019 in-person gala.

Which Creative Virtual Fundraising Idea Will You Use?

One benefit to hosting virtual fundraising events is that you can get wildly creative with the ideas and concepts. You don’t only have to stick to ideas that seem to fit exactly in your cause category either; almost any event can be adapted to fit your mission, work, and impact.

Use this list of virtual fundraising ideas to inspire your next great virtual fundraising event, and feel free to tweak them to fit your specific goals. Don’t forget to download our virtual fundraising events toolkit to ensure you nail your next event.

As you build out your nonprofit’s annual strategy, use these virtual fundraising ideas to create engaging experiences for your donors, grow your audience of supporters, and raise more money. Don’t forget to download our Virtual Events Toolkit to help.

Why America Gives 2022 found that a top benefit of donating is when loyal donors feel gratitude for the work a nonprofit is doing. Loyal donors are 1.5X as likely to donate because they feel admiration or gratitude for the work an organization does, compared to passive donors. As you’re thinking about retaining donors and their desire to fund your mission, it’s worth noting the value of loyal donors. Surveyed loyal donors show a strong pattern of repeat donations to the same causes or organizations over the last five years.

So, how can your nonprofit tap into the feeling of gratitude within your donor base this holiday season? Fuel your next fundraising campaign with creative ways to showcase donor appreciation and foster donor stewardship. Keep reading to spark your next creative idea.

How Gratitude Builds Deeper Donor Connections

Gratitude is a genuine emotion you can’t force. When nonprofit organizations have donors who feel gratitude for their work, they’re humanizing themselves to build stronger connections. Most donors will feel good in the moment of a donation. Organizations that continue to tap into that emotion to build trust and pride see first-time donors return again.

Gratitude strengthens relationships and has a ripple effect

Harvard shares various studies that look at the relationship between gratitude and relationship building. They state one study of couples found individuals who took time to express gratitude for their partner increased the positivity they felt toward the other person. They also became more comfortable expressing their feelings about their relationships.

They also show another study where researchers at the University of Pennsylvania compared a group of university fundraisers who solicited donations as they always had to those who received a pep talk before they made their calls expressing gratitude for their work from the director of annual giving. The second group made 50% more fundraising calls than those who weren’t shown gratitude.

Your relationship with donors is similar to the relationships referenced above, where people find it easier to build trust and connection when they feel appreciated. Below, you’ll see ways to unlock that gratitude in donors, and show your gratitude right back for a strong long-term partnership.

Why Gratitude Matters More Than Ever Before

Gratitude from donors comes from knowing an organization is doing great work. It grows when they feel connected to employees dedicating their time to make it all happen, beneficiaries receiving support and the reason the organization came to be.

As modern donors have more opportunities to give, gaining their gratitude can help you stand out. Understanding their internal drivers may be key to unlocking their attention.

Today, we’ll talk about how you can increase donors’ gratitude for your organization with creative campaigns. We’ll also show you ways to reciprocate that gratitude right back.

How to Practice Gratitude Fundraising With 6 New Ideas

Showcase a Mission to Be Thankful for

Gratitude can play a large role in donor acquisition. Donors may already feel an emotional connection to your work, even if they have never heard about your nonprofit. That’s where you can build lasting relationships that tap into their passions and attract support to your campaigns.

The key is to send a message that doesn’t just ask directly for a generous gift. Instead, focus on building an internal appreciation that naturally leads to generosity.

1. Idea: Showcase bold ways to live out values

Brands that take unexpected and bold actions are the same names you’ll see going viral on social media. People remember what surprises them, and appreciate when the message resonates.

Your nonprofit can gain inspiration from brands who make not-so-subtle stances to live their values in a big way. Start thinking about bringing your mission to life to showcase what donors appreciate most.

An example to inspire you

Inspiration: In 2015, REI closed its doors on Black Friday despite losing out on the profits the biggest shopping day of the year could have brought in. Why? Well, the company prides itself on helping people enjoy the outdoors and knows that its loyal customers share that value. So, they enabled their employees and customers to #optoutside to lead by example.

Turn inspiration into action

Could you have your founder lean on public transportation to lend a vehicle to volunteers to get more done in a heightened moment of need?

Could you have employees donate their pantries to support the hungry?

Maybe you host a competition to see which employee can dedicate the most volunteer time outside of their paid hours to making a difference on the ground.

Making a bold statement comes from the organization’s comfort to identify how to show donors that values will always overshadow income. Use your specific timeframe, mission, and budget to create something that’s unexpected to your audience.

2. Idea: Reach Grateful Donors Through a Corporate Partnership

Your nonprofit is already doing the work that many donors appreciate and connect to. A wider supporter community could simply be a matter of nonprofit awareness.

Even the most passionate donors can only take action if they know about your organization or ways they can offer support. One way to change that is by identifying a corporate partner that these donors already interact.  Build awareness and invite donors to a clear call to action.

An example to inspire you

Make-A-Wish has been teaming up with Macy’s since 2008 on a creative letter-writing campaign built to create hope and spark joy for children during the holiday season. Make-A-Wish is dedicated to helping children fight critical illnesses and their donors are already connected to that. When they paired up with Macy’s, they expanded their reach to entirely new audiences drawn in by the idea of helping children.

Turn inspiration into action

Which businesses can you partner with to reach supporters who already share an appreciation for your work but may not know about your organization?

Does a certain celebrity or public figure regularly advocate for your cause category?

Take the opportunity to have these entities introduce your work to their communities and welcome supporters who come ready with the desire to make an impact aligned with your mission.

3. Idea: Create a powerful visual aid to tap into emotions

The fastest way to resonate with donors is to showcase what they’re most grateful for visually. Consider crafting a video that brings your nonprofit’s beneficiaries and other donors to the spotlight. Highlight voices who can talk directly to other donors about the way your work is making a true difference. A more intimate platform can broaden the connections your message forms with donors.

An example to inspire you

Peloton put out a video campaign titled, “It’s You. That Makes Us.” The video showcases the similarities between Peloton users as they come together as a community, and the brand’s impact on everyone interacting with it daily as part of their lives.

Turn inspiration into action

Imagine a short two-to-five-minute video featuring individuals whose lives were changed by your work. Their personal stories and testimonials can greet each new visitor to your website and instantly pull on their heartstrings.

You could also gather your loyal donors to speak directly to others in a video format. Have them share why they feel grateful to be a part of your mission. That can spark the same emotion in others as you use the footage across various social media platforms and emails.

A single video can establish an appreciation for your nonprofit’s mission and the desire to be a part of it.

How to Show Gratitude to Donors

By showing gratitude to your donors, you express your appreciation and drive donor relationships. Once you have a loyal donor, your ongoing relationship building through gratitude can keep them loyal. Thanking donors also serves as a constant reminder that they mean just as much to your organization as it means to them.

4. Idea: Surprise donors with a personalized touch

Seeing someone’s handwriting on a letter you receive in your mailbox went from typical to novelty. People know your organization is busy, especially at the end of the year. That’s what makes a hand-written letter of appreciation that much more impactful.

An example to inspire you

A popular fitness apparel brands, Sweat Betty, takes up the art of hand-written notes to recognize it’s most loyal customers. They add the elements of personalized details as well as a discount the customer can take action on to continue engaging.

While simple in nature, the notes stood out to customers who are used to digital communications from many of Sweaty Betty’s competitors.

Turn inspiration into action

Consider writing thank you donor communications based on how they’ve interacted with your organization at milestones throughout the year such as:

• Thank your Giving Tuesday donors: Send a hand-written letter thanking Giving Tuesday donors for their support in January, when the giving season passed and the gesture can reignite their spark to get involved

• Acknowledge volunteers: Write a hand-written thank you note showing your appreciation to any volunteer who’s helped bring your work to life in the last year, including details like the exact events or opportunities these volunteers contributed to, the results, and the value of the specific projects they worked on

It’ll be important to note that you know they’re busy, and their time and commitment to donate stand out. If you don’t have the time to handwrite letters, you can also consider sending a short video. The visual messages of gratitude can appeal particularly to younger donors who enjoy connecting on video-based platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

5. Idea: Create an appreciation event

Making people feel special can show your appreciation in a big way. What if you held an online virtual event for your nationwide supporters who’ve contributed to your goals this year? It can also reduce the cost.

An example to inspire you

Dunkin is one of many coffee brands that celebrates its customers with free coffee on National Coffee Day as a widespread event. They take the awareness day and turn it into a way to appreciate the people who make its business successful with thoughtful graphics.

Turn inspiration into action

The virtual format can bring together a large group of people around a value for them and build community through one another’s gratitude.

Here are some ideas to get your started:

• Partner with a local artist to perform a livestream concert

• Ask beneficiaries to share their stories directly to your donors who made their solutions possible

• Have donors volunteer to share the stories that connect them to your cause based on a special invitation

You could also take this idea to an in-person format by hosting satellite gatherings in large cities where your donors are located to get together for dinner or coffee and cover a portion of their bill. As you put your creative spin on these nonprofit fundraising event ideas, you’ll simultaneously expose new donors to the values that keep people connected to your organization.

6. Idea: Celebrate loyalty

Recognition is an incredible way to show gratitude, especially when it’s personalized.

An example to inspire you

Starbucks mastered a loyalty program that makes each and every customer feel rewarded for their purchases, and experience real-time recognition for their engagement with the brand.

Turn inspiration into action

What if you could engage your recurring donor community with a loyalty program that they enter into as they sign up for an automated gift? You can bring the mentality of rewarding their contributions by regularly showcasing their progress throughout the year via email.

Emails that recognize milestones in a recurring donor’s journey such as “$100 contributed for good” or “5-time donation superstar” can build the excitement that Starbucks star rewards program does. You could also offer swag or event registration discounts to donors who achieve certain milestones to keep it gamified.

You can get creative to introduce badges donors can show off on social media to build desire around joining the community to others too. After all, 77% of donors are most likely to learn about new causes by word-of-mouth through their friends and family.

Drive Donor Retention Through Donor Gratitude

Why America Gives 2022 showcases the importance of gratitude to motivate donor loyalty, as well as how donors who show a strong pattern of returning to give again to the same organizations expect to give through 2023.

As you learn more about what drives your donors internally to take action, you can establish an engagement strategy that stands apart and leads to better acquisition, conversion, and retention rates.

An Overview of Fundraising Campaign Types

We’ll take a look at five different campaign types at your disposal when you use a modern fundraising platform like Classy. These include:

• Donation Pages /Donation Websites
• Crowdfunding
• Peer-to-Peer
• Ticketed Events
• Registration with Fundraising Events

Choosing the right campaign type is vital to your fundraising success. Your decision affects the entire marketing and communications strategy that you’ll use to rally and engage supporters.

For example, the call to action you’d include on a donation form would be along the lines of “make a one-time donation.” For a peer-to-peer campaign, you’d change that to something like “sign up to fundraise on our behalf.” If you want to lean heavily on storytelling through photos and narrative text, or explain the power of different gift amounts through impact blocks, you might lean toward a crowdfunding campaign where people can come to donate.

Below, we’ll explore the different use cases and nuances of each campaign type and provide actual Classy campaigns examples. First, let’s go over how you can determine your nonprofit’s primary focus to help decide which type is right for your first campaign.

The Value of Using Multiple Campaign Types

It’s important to state that it can be highly effective for nonprofits to use multiple campaign types throughout the year to capture new donors and audiences according to how they’d like to give. Our annual report, The State of Modern Philanthropy, outlines how valuable a multi-campaign approach can be to a well-rounded fundraising strategy. 

As you go through the list of campaign type options, think about which combination can help you reach your target donors and raise the funds you need at various milestones throughout the year. You’ll see proof points and sentiment from Classy customers to help you envision your organization’s next successful campaign.

What’s Your Campaign Focus?

To ensure you choose the right Classy campaign type, determine your organization’s focus or top priority. This isn’t the end-all-be-all of your fundraising strategy but rather something to guide your first campaign.

Start by exploring the most immediate need that brought you to use Classy in the first place. For example, you might want to establish your main donation button on your website and build a landing page that serves as a place for someone to donate.

Define specific goals and desired outcomes

Your goal will help you choose the best-fit campaign to get you there. The key is to be as specific as possible. It could also be a good idea to envision the end of the campaign and your desired outcomes. Get clear about the donation volume you’d consider a success, how many donors would participate, the ideal length of your campaign, and how many supporters you want to build relationships with throughout the process for future campaigns.

Once your team agrees on its focus, it becomes much easier to create cohesive messaging that helps supporters understand how they can contribute to your work. Each section below begins with a sample focus statement before exploring the different campaign types and examples from real nonprofits.

Donation Page

“Our nonprofit simply needs to gather donations and build a supporter base.”

A donation page can stand as your landing page. Supporters can arrive, read a short section on your work, and complete their donations. Your nonprofit can link to your donation page from your main website through a donation button. 

From there you can take the following action to get donors to your donation page:

• Include it in your monthly email appeal for donations
• Add a promotion within your newsletters
• Create online ads 
• Develop social media posts
• Write timely blogs
• Include the URL on pieces of direct mail

Flexibility of Donation Pages

With a donation page, you can collect either one-time or recurring donations. You can offer the frequency and the donation amounts listed on the form. Further, you can use pass-through parameters to have a pre-selected donation amount automatically populated when someone lands on the form. 

Offer more choices on your donation pages with modern payment options like Venmo, PayPal, cryptocurrency, digital wallets, and ACH bank transfers. Classy also offers an embedded checkout experience with a pop-up modal that can be placed on your website to simplify the experience for your donors. 

Many Hopes brought an embedded checkout experience to their donation website to see a year-over-year donation volume increase of 56% and a $975 average gift size specifically through the PayPal option.

For example, look at how Casa Central built its donation page to be engaging enough to draw someone in yet still strong enough to stand on its own.

Donation Page Classy Campaign Example

The ROI of Donation Pages

Donation pages powered by the Classy fundraising platform bring in the most average recurring revenue of all campaign types from automated repeat donations. They also have the least amount of canceled recurring contributions in the first year from the original recurring donation compared to all other campaign types.

Crowdfunding

“Our nonprofit needs to gather donations, build a supporter base, and tell our organization’s compelling story in the process.”

A crowdfunding campaign is built for storytelling. With this campaign type, you can inspire support for your cause with a robust narrative that ultimately drives people to donate.

Crowdfunding campaigns are the landing page before someone gets to your donation page. It’s meant to draw people in, teach them about your nonprofit, show the impact their gift will make, and steward them to complete a donation. Nonprofits often use video, rich imagery, and well-written copy to accomplish this.

Crowdfunding’s Value for Community-Based Campaigns

While a crowdfunding campaign works well for story-driven appeals, it’s also ideal for time-bound appeals that fundraise against an optional, public-facing goal. You can’t do this on a donation page. In addition, when you run a crowdfunding campaign that’s bound to a set duration of time, it can create a sense of urgency to donate.

Additionally, when someone donates, you can thank and encourage them in real time on the comment wall of the campaign page. This public-facing engagement opportunity shows supporters that you and your team are grateful for the support.

It also lends an element of social proof to the campaign. With a donation page, you cannot see who’s donated, how many have donated, or gauge any sense of momentum. Here’s a campaign by Water4 that puts all of these best practices to use.

Crowdfunding Classy Campaign Example

Crowdfunding for Recurring Giving

Donation pages can effectively include a recurring giving option, but you can also use a crowdfunding campaign to build a dedicated recurring giving program. The only things that change are the call to action, which shifts the focus from a one-time donation to a monthly recurring donation, and the timeline. Recurring giving programs are often evergreen. Operation Broken Silence built a recurring giving program in this fashion.

Recurring Giving Crowdfunding Classy Campaign Example

The ROI of Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding campaigns have the highest percentage of donors on mobile devices who are visiting from social media platforms. We also see that crowdfunding campaigns are the second most common way a donor returns to give a second donation. 

Peer-to-Peer

“We want to empower people to fundraise on our behalf.”

A peer-to-peer fundraising campaign page may look similar to a crowdfunding campaign, but it has a different call to action. Instead of asking someone to donate, a peer-to-peer campaign instead asks them to sign up to fundraise on your behalf.

Some peer-to-peer campaigns will offer both options and invite supporters to donate or sign up to fundraise. That way, people can still give to your cause even if they don’t want to build a personal fundraising page.

Create a Central Hub for Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Your main campaign page serves as a central hub from which supporters build their personal fundraising pages. Fundraisers will then send out their personal pages to their networks, asking people to donate.

All donations to personal fundraising pages link back to your main campaign page and increase your fundraising progress toward the goal. The true value here lies in that network effect.

As individuals reach out to their friends, families, and coworkers to share their fundraising pages, your nonprofit gets exposed to new audiences that may not have heard about your mission before. Peer-to-peer fundraising can also net your organization higher overall fundraising totals.

That’s because someone who starts a personal fundraising page can often raise more from their network than they can donate out of pocket. Not everyone can donate $100 at once, but many people have 10 friends who can each donate $10. Look at how Volunteers of America built their page.

Peer-to-Peer Classy Campaign Example

Year-Round Peer-to-Peer Campaigns

While most peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are time-bound, like most crowdfunding campaigns, you always have the option to leave it on year-round. In these cases, you would call it a year-round peer-to-peer campaign.

Beyond that, you can build your peer-to-peer campaign as a DIY fundraising campaign, which lets supporters fundraise on their own terms and time, like Room to Grow did. Someone can donate their birthday, wedding, athletic event, or another major life milestone.

DIY Peer-to-Peer Classy Campaign Example

The ROI of Peer-to-Peer

An individual’s fundraising page brings in 20 donors on average, so your campaign could potentially reach 100 donors if even five people participated. We also saw that the average amount raised by each participant’s fundraising page in 2021 increased by 34% on average from 2020.

Events

“I want to hold an event that activates my entire community of supporters.”

Classy offers two different ways your nonprofit can tap into the power of events. First, you can choose a ticketed event, which allows you to sell tickets to your event—our online ticket sales for nonprofits feature makes this easier than ever. Second, you can choose registration with fundraising, which combines the peer-to-peer fundraising campaign with a ticketed event campaign. With the addition of Classy Live, these events can now be run virtually or enhanced in-person with mobile features.

Ticketed Event

A ticketed event is what you’ll want to choose for any event that you want to sell admission tickets for, like a gala. You can control the total number of tickets you want to sell, as well as the types of tickets you offer supporters.

You can also create special promo codes to pass out and attract additional attendees. Last, you can include a “Donate” call to action so that anyone who can’t attend your event can still make a donation to support like the High Fives Foundation did.

Ticketed Event Classy Campaign Example

Registration with fundraising is similar to the ticketed events campaign type, but it mixes in an element of peer-to-peer fundraising. Often, nonprofits will use this campaign type for endurance events like 5Ks, marathons, and run/walks.

Participants can still pay for admission to the event, but there’s an option for them to create a personal or team fundraising page as well. Some will also use this peer-to-peer functionality as a gate to entry for the event.

Someone must fundraise a certain dollar amount to guarantee their registration in the event. You can use this example from the Sacramento SPCA to inspire your own campaign.

Registration With Fundraising Classy Campaign Example

The ROI of Events

Not only are events seeing tremendous year-over-year donation volume growth after the pandemic years of 2020 through 2021, but registration with fundraising events converted at the highest rate of all campaign types. We also see ticketed events bringing in the highest percentage of donations over $1,000.

What Classy Campaign Type Will You Choose?

No matter which Classy campaign type you choose, it’s helpful to view your campaign as an iterative work-in-progress that can always be improved. One of the biggest keys to success is to have a defined focus before you start that drives a strong first version that can be improved upon later.

When you understand the call to action and are confident in the campaign type you need, you’ve done the hard part. That way, you won’t spend hours designing a page only to realize you’ve chosen the wrong type.

For more ROI related to specific campaign types on Classy, visit The State of Modern Philanthropy report. If you’re interested in learning more about how Classy can power your online fundraising efforts, please reach out to us. Good luck!

Today, we’re bringing you the expert advice of Katie Stotts, strategist at the Knight Eady creative agency. She dedicates her career to determining when a rebrand is beneficial for foundations and how to achieve their vision strategically.

The Value of Rebranding Your Nonprofit or Foundation

When you take a step back to envision how your brand identity connects with the outside world, you can make intelligent decisions that impact:

• Your ability to connect with new networks of donors
• How easy it is for someone to understand the impact of each donation on your cause
• Your competitive stance in the growing social sector
• The first impression you make on corporate sponsors, partners, and board members
• Your potential for fundraising revenue
• The connection people feel between timely societal challenges and your solutions

Meet Creative Strategist, Katie Stotts

Katie sits on the strategy team at Knight Eady, which offers full-service marketing and event management. She spends her days helping nonprofit organizations, like the Blocking Hunger Foundation founded by NFL center Travis Frederick, achieve their creative visions for fundraising. 

We recently highlighted Katie’s work with the Blocking Hunger Foundation in a customer case study.

Today, we’re thrilled to give you the inside scoop on how to successfully execute a nonprofit rebrand. Here are Katie’s top four tips.

4 Expert Tips to Rebrand Your Nonprofit

1. Know When a Rebrand Will Be Most Beneficial

Before we dive into the heart of strategic branding, let’s first figure out if a rebrand is a good idea for your organization at this time. 

Here are a few factors that could signal a rebranding opportunity:

• An updated mission statement
• Launched or retired programs
• Changes in leadership 
• Shift in target audience
• New partnerships
• New groups of beneficiaries or people served

Most importantly, an organization should consider rebranding when its identity no longer reflects who they are or what they stand for. The best way to ensure that never happens is to constantly evaluate and evolve your brand. Remember, not every rebrand needs to be a complete overhaul. Sometimes minor tweaks are best to ensure your visuals and messaging are still relevant, but that will depend on how often things shift within your organization.

2. Inform Your Strategy with Audience Research

Like all successful marketing efforts, it’s critical to consider your audience when it comes to your messaging and visuals. Think of your rebrand as an opportunity to reintroduce yourself to stakeholders in a way that feels relevant to today’s social landscape and the current events shaping it.

Outline donor personas to better understand the audience you’re looking to reach with your rebrand. Knowing your audience will help you identify the attributes that influence each donor segment so you can make more informed decisions about how to target them.

Consider these approaches to audience research:

• Secondary research compiled by third parties, such as a report on generational donor behaviors, location-based donation patterns, targeted donor behaviors specific to events or recurring donations, or overall donor trends within your cause sector
• Surveys to your existing donors or email lists asking about preferences, age, location, motivations, and passions regarding how they connect to your brand today 
• Interviews with your most loyal donors about why they’ve stayed with you for so long, what exactly about your organization makes them feel proud to support it, and what they would suggest for a rebrand to help you grow

Once you’ve done your research, you’re in the best position to embody those missions and goals without fear of rejection.

3.  Tell Your Story With Purpose

Your messaging serves as the core of your brand. It informs all visuals that help bring your story to life. 

You can technically execute a rebrand simply by altering a logo, but a thoughtful rebrand involves evaluating and updating the story that ties it all together.

Start by breaking down your organization’s true purpose at this moment by drafting a new mission and vision statement. This exercise will help you understand who you are and where you want to go. It also serves as a guide for all other messaging, ensuring it’s clear, consistent, and aligned.

Consider building a brand messaging kit inclusive of:

• Your voice and tone
• A purpose statement 
• Your brand’s personality
• Your founding story
• Messaging per audience
• A company description in varying lengths (one sentence, one paragraph, long form)
• Sample calls to action for campaigns, emails, and social channels

Sample social media messaging per platform

4. Establish a Memorable Visual Brand Identity

Once you’re feeling good about your message, see how small shifts in your visual identity can bring it to life for your audience. Look at how your current visuals will serve your organization for years—not just based on what’s trending right now.

You’ll want to regularly review your visuals and illustrations to see how well they represent your brand across all platforms. 

Consider creating brand guidelines for any third-party support you get along the way, including:

• Typography
• Logo placement 
• A color palette 
• Approved photography library
• Illustrations and symbols
• Templates for social media, slide decks, documentation
• Email headers and signatures

For nonprofits, visuals should create an emotional link between your cause and your donors to bring them into your story. If no one reads the words on your website and just looks at the videos or imagery, would they understand what you do and how they can help? 

At the end of the day, your brand identity is the first chance you have to make an impression on new donors. If executed properly, this initial point of contact can be the start of a long-lasting relationship with a supporter who fuels your fundraising efforts.

Showcase Your Refreshed Brand to the World

Once you’ve created your ideal brand, bring it to life across various marketing channels.

Ideas to market your rebrand:

• Drive donors to campaign pages that feature your new branding
• Leverage hashtags and visuals on social media to introduce your fresh look
• Engage influencers with rebranded swag in exchange for shared posts
• Write up a LinkedIn article explaining the “why” to potential corporate sponsors
• Lean into the earned, paid, and owned media model to cover your bases

Check out how Katie worked with Travis Frederick to bring his Blocking Hunger Foundation to life and get inspired to do the same for yours. If you’re interested in doing similar marketing or branding work with the help of an expert like Katie, check out Knight Eady.

He’ll share some tips on the importance of brand consistency in design, how to make your content more visually appealing, and ways to simplify the creative process if you’re strapped for time or resources.

Storytelling Through Visual Design: Learning From First-Hand Experience

Like Justin, many of our employees share a passion for supporting organizations like yours because they’ve walked in your shoes. Their takeaways from working at nonprofits give them a robust view of how to help elevate your mission. That’s why we’re bringing their first-hand experience to the Classy blog.

Now, just how important is visual design for your nonprofit? Well, studies show that if a person hears information without seeing any accompanying visual elements, they only remember about 10% of it after three days. However, if it’s paired with a photo or graphic, they’ll recall around 65% of the information. Compelling design can leave a lasting impression by reminding your audience why your cause matters and why they want to be involved.

Additionally, visual design can drastically increase engagement levels. Facebook posts that include images get 2.3 times more likes, comments, and shares than those without them, and Twitter posts with images see 150% more retweets than text-only updates.

From establishing a recognizable brand to increasing your number of recurring donors, storytelling through visual design is worth the investment. So, today, Justin brings his learnings as a designer and former member of a nonprofit team to demonstrate why and how to make this a focus.

Meet Justin Bascos

Before joining Classy as a Junior Visual Designer, Justin worked at nonprofits within the performing arts and cinema spaces. He has worked across multiple brand touchpoints, including social media assets, guides, and slide decks, and is currently involved in designing Classy’s blog and web presence.

Justin will share how your design work can establish a consistent brand identity and what elements are most important to creating a strong impression.

Showcasing a Consistent Brand Through Design Work

Q: How can design get donors excited about an organization’s mission and vision? In what ways did you see this play out in your past role?

A: Design is all about telling a story. If you can communicate a compelling narrative that moves your supporters, you give them something to connect with. This connection allows you to boost engagement, conversion, and retention.

One thing that I’m a strong advocate for is making sure your story is visually consistent across all of your brand touchpoints—whether it be web, social media, or email.

In the past, I worked for arts organizations that highlighted artists of color. Even though I don’t come from a similar background as a lot of them, I based my design decisions on how to most accurately represent their experiences. By establishing a cohesive brand to consistently elevate their stories across all of the organizations’ materials, we were able to craft a compelling narrative and demonstrate our commitment to the cause.

Q: What are some of the main design elements nonprofits should consider when creating their materials, and why these ones in particular?

A: I would definitely advocate for the use of photography to strengthen a human connection. Having a unique illustration style is another strategy that can differentiate your brand. Use clear and succinct calls to action (CTAs) that don’t pose too much of a cognitive burden on users, and establish defined brand guidelines to serve as the foundation for all ideas and decisions.

Q: If a nonprofit is unable to hire a professional designer or marketer, what are some tips, tricks, and resources that can help their team create inspiring materials?

A: The first step is recognizing that marketing and design are completely different disciplines with unique goals and strategies. You can educate yourself on YouTube, take some courses on Coursera, or audit a class to gain some knowledge on design and marketing best practices.

Further, contact your local university and see if you can develop an internship program that rewards course credits for up-and-coming undergraduate graphic designers, UX/UI designers, communications students, or others in similar fields.

This is a win-win situation for both. Students can add case studies to their portfolios and get course credit for their work, while you get well-thought-out assets. I also advocate for paying these students for their time, if that fits within your organization’s budget.

If you need a free platform to create graphics, I’ve found Figma to be the most intuitive platform for creating custom assets.

Use Visual Design to Tell Your Story and Captivate Your Audience

Classy supports nonprofits by allowing them to easily integrate their brand elements across campaign pages and other marketing materials. Your team can also leverage a variety of free design tools, such as:

• Pexels and Pixabay for stock images that bring your campaign narrative to life
• ColorHunt to establish the perfect color palette for your brand
• Icons8 for finding icons, photos, and illustrations for your materials
• Canva or Figma for basic photo editing, text image creation, social media posts, and other design tools
• Google Slides for presentations and creating text images for your campaign hero block

Pro Tip: Through Classy, you can access our built-in library of high-resolution Pixababy stock images on your campaign and donation pages.

With a focus on visual design, your nonprofit can better connect with your audience and encourage greater engagement.

Did you know the top reason donors reconsider making a gift is that they do not clearly understand its impact?

Your annual report is your opportunity to tie donor contributions to your accomplishments. Grab everything you need below to package your year into a simple and compelling resource for your donors, board members, and the general public to reference when reflecting on the milestones you’ve achieved.

What Is a Nonprofit Annual Report?

Nonprofit annual reports give a thorough account of what you’ve accomplished in one year’s time with the support of your donors. The reports typically include visuals that bring data, stories, and milestones to life in a way that’s appealing and digestible to read.

Unlike a Form 990, which is required for any tax-exempt organization as an annual information return or notice with the IRS, an annual report is an optional resource nonprofits can create and share with their community to remain fully transparent, celebrate their successes, and express gratitude for their supporters.

Purposes of a Nonprofit Annual Report

• Emphasize your organization’s mission statement
• Express gratitude for your supporters and partners
• Showcase your organization’s most successful initiatives
• Deliver financial transparency with detailed reports
• Demonstrate a clear impact
• Look ahead to the coming year

What Should a Nonprofit Annual Report Include?

Nonprofit annual reports should serve as a high-level overview of relevant information for your donors and the larger community to reference at the end of each year.

Modern nonprofits often opt for a less-is-more approach to avoid overwhelming their readers, while still delivering concrete data and qualitative insights that leave a memorable impression.

Contents of a Nonprofit Annual Report

• Financial data
• Accomplishments
• Impact stories
• Mission statements
• Donor spotlights (e.g. major donors, recurring donors, etc.)

Get creative about engaging donors with your annual report. Don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start. Below we’ve outlined a template you can use to create something you’re proud of.

Simple Steps to Create Your Nonprofit Annual Report Template

Step 1: Choose the Right Format for Your Nonprofit Annual Report

The format of your report will depend on your organization’s size and bandwidth. It may be a straightforward PDF one-sheeter of essential information that donors can download and print. You could also bring it to life as an interactive page on your website that you update throughout the year.

Digital formats increase the likelihood that supporters will discover and engage with your content. If you have donors who prefer direct mailers, consider sending them a postcard with a QR code to the full online report.

Explore the benefits below of offering both options to appease all supporters.

Benefits of a One-Page PDF Annual Report

• Deliver through email or social media with ease
• Can be printed and referred back to
• Convert into an image for social sharing in minutes
• Link to in-depth web pages that support your data

Benefits of an Annual Report Website

• Provide an easily-accessible live experience
• Tell a story with engaging visuals
• Download with ease as a PDF from the site
• Represent your brand with a cohesive, streamlined design

Step 2: Include the Right Content

Get started with your nonprofit annual report by including these top 10 elements. Use these as a guide as you build a template for the first time or enhance your existing template to delight donors.

1. Your mission, goals, philosophies, and beliefs
2. An executive summary of annual accomplishments
3. A letter from your nonprofit board, directors, or leadership
4. Strong numbers to show your programmatic impact
5. Impactful imagery and video
6. Statement of financials & activities
7. A list of major donors, advocates, partners, or sponsors
8. A special thank you to donors and supporters
9. Awards, grants, loans, and donations received
10. Future outlook, long-term goals, and what’s ahead

Nonprofit Annual Report Examples We Love

Girls Who Code: 2020 Annual Report

This interactive site highlights a memorable year for Girls Who Code. Enticing call-to-action visuals invite you to scroll down the page. Animations in a snapshot view reveal more information as you hover over certain elements with your mouse. The concise format allows readers to visit what interests them, and grasp the full picture of how donations translate to results.

RAICES: 2020 Annual Report

RAICES takes the PDF approach in this standout work of art. Right from the start, the report invites you in. Simple colors and compelling imagery clearly communicate the impact of RAICES and its donors. Supporters can learn exactly how they move the RAICES mission forward, with the information broken out by specific programs and campaigns held during the year. It’s hard not to walk away with a new level of connection to their work.

The San Diego Foundation: 2021 Annual Report 

The San Diego Foundation took its 2021 annual report to the next level. Their web page uses powerful imagery to tell the stories of the people affected by their work.  Animations help readers follow along on the journey and their links to relevant videos help visitors learn about any topic of interest.

Readers see a donate button up top at all times while moving through the report. Whether it’s the first time that person is hearing about the San Diego Foundation’s work or they’ve been supporting it for years, there’s a clear connection to why donations matter and how contributions will continue to impact lives in the future.

Ready to Get Started on Your Nonprofit Annual Report?

Take advantage of the opportunity to get your impact in front of potential donors, corporate partners, and any others interested in your nonprofit. Remember, you spent all year doing the hard work. Now, it’s about how to showcase that to the masses and build momentum for another impactful year ahead.

If you’re looking for design resources, check out Canva’s free annual report templates available to your nonprofit as part of a free Canva Pro account.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out Classy’s first annual Impact Report.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Classy’s nonprofit customers for over three years. While each nonprofit can be vastly different and our product has created innovative new features over the years, I always come back to the same 10 pieces of advice.

See Classy’s top 50 fundraising organizations and campaign examples for inspiration.

Online fundraising combines your standard relationship-building with digital mediums. The capabilities of your online fundraising platform have a massive impact on your overall success, and platforms like Classy can help you connect with your supporters effectively and efficiently online. Follow these 10 tactics that range from broader best practices to detailed product tips.

1. Your organization’s branding should be front and center.

When your supporters go through the donation process, you want them to have a seamless checkout experience that they trust and are thus more likely to complete. Part of what makes checking out seamless is having an organization’s brand front and center, so the donor feels assured they are in the right place. Donation pages that are customized with an organization’s branding perform six times better than those that are not personalized.

We always advise nonprofits to customize their donation pages to include their own logo, brand colors, and their domain name in the URL link. This can all apply to your email receipts as well. You can even update the browser icon to match your website. At the end of the day, your donation forms should look beautiful, match your branding, and streamline the giving process to be as simple and trustworthy as possible.

2. Harness the power of setting campaign goals.

Setting goals for a fundraising campaign is an important step to ensure you are staying on track and seeing year-over-year growth. However, it can have so much more impact than just for your internal tracking purposes. Your goal can also be a motivating tool to encourage more donations quickly.

Most Classy campaign types come with a progress bar or circle showing the thermometer bubble up as more donations come in. Supporters love to see their donation move the progress bar, and they’re more inclined to give if they know their donation is not just a drop in a bucket, but actually making a difference in reaching the goal.

A pro tip is to hide your progress metrics at first and do a soft launch where you share the campaign with a small pool of loyal supporters whom you feel will likely make gifts. Then, turn on the progress metrics for your hard launch to your wider network. Nobody likes to be the first to give, so by launching your campaign with about 5 to 10% of your goal fulfilled, you’ll be able to hit the ground running.

Don’t forget to continuously communicate with your supporters around your goals. For example, let people know when you’re halfway to your goal, or that you’re so close that you only need 10 more donors to give $100. Breaking it down like this makes giving less intimidating and helps donors feel like their gift really does matter.

3. Offer innovative ways to give and that also improve your conversion rates.

Keeping up with modern payment methods is critical to attract the modern donor and accommodate how they like to give. Classy provides innovative payment options via our processor, Classy Pay powered by Stripe.

Aside from regular credit card transactions, Classy Pay also provides digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Microsoft Pay. When a donor is checking out on their phone, the corresponding payment option will appear. Because donors are already using digital wallets for everyday transactions, it’s much easier for them to click one button and complete the donation process.

When digital wallets are enabled, conversions from mobile devices increase by 11%. The digital wallet already has the credit card information saved, so the donor does not have to fish out their actual wallet and enter in the number.

On top of digital wallets, Classy Pay also offers ACH payments via Classy Pay. This allows donors to enter in their bank information and initiate an automatic bank transfer rather than entering in credit card details. ACH is a great option for monthly recurring plans as expiration dates are not an issue with bank transfers.

We always recommend nonprofits opt for Classy Pay powered by Stripe as their payment processor and highly encourage our customers to enable digital wallets and ACH payment options, which is as easy as clicking a box.

4. Take advantage of matching gifts.

A matching gift for a campaign is a powerful strategy to increase your number of donations. Many donors will choose to give, or give more when there is an associated match because they know their gift will have double the impact.

A common myth is that donation matching is just for Giving Tuesday and end-of-year campaigns. They are powerful to use year-round. If your organization has corporate or major sponsors that are interested in donating a matching gift for a certain time period and/or up to a certain dollar value, it’s easy to add this in on Classy’s backend. You can also always repurpose an existing gift as a match, or combine several smaller donations as one larger match within a campaign.

5. Enable Classy Mode to allow donors to cover a portion of your transaction fees.

Classy provides a feature called Classy Mode that allows donors to cover some of your processing fees. Most donors are happy to add on a bit extra to their gift so that more of the donation can truly go to your programs. I also recommend organizations turn this feature on and set it as the default to promote further engagement.

6. Customize your donation amounts to align with donor behavior.

On Classy donation pages, you can enter four suggested donation amounts. Rather than keeping the templated amounts, take a look at your online donor base to understand their current behavior. Use your average and median donation values to help guide what the suggested donation amounts should be. For example, if your donors typically give $100, use that as a middle value so that you can encourage larger gifts.

You can also set a default donation amount so that a particular amount is bubbled in when a donor lands on your donation page. Having a preset default amount helps nudge donors to give that amount, or consider something close. We recommend defaulting the second-to-highest value on your page to encourage a higher amount, but still remain humble by not selecting the highest amount.

7. Comment on your activity wall to personally steward donors.

When you first log into your Classy account, you’ll land on your activity wall that will highlight all supporter activity on your campaigns. You can comment on any donations, registrations, or fundraising page creations. Your comment will then be directly emailed to the supporter.

This extra step is a great way to quickly thank your donors without spending too much time. Not only will they get an automatic notification when you comment to them on the feed, but it’s also very personal and feels like you’re communicating with a friend or family member, rather than receiving just the official email receipt.

8. Remove and edit any templated language on campaigns and emails.

Within Classy’s campaign templates, we include templated language as placeholders. While it may seem obvious to update the language to your own, there are a couple key areas that people often miss:

• On Landing Pages, edit “About the Campaign.” “Campaign” is an internal fundraising word and doesn’t always resonate with donors. Take every opportunity to evoke an emotional response from your potential donors. We recommend changing this to a powerful quote or statistic.
• Within peer-to-peer and registration with fundraising campaigns, you have the option to create a template page for fundraisers. Many organizations assume that their fundraisers will update their individual page to make it personal to them. While we highly encourage fundraisers to do this, we also recommend giving them a head start.They don’t live and breathe your programs, so help them out by writing out some text on the template in their voice that provides information about your nonprofit and the impact you have on the world. Don’t be shy to include a photo or video as well. They can always come back and update their own personal story, but you’re helping them get started. Plus, if they don’t make any changes, you still have a good first impression with any new potential donors who may see the page.
• Don’t forget to update the language in your donation receipts (both for one-time and recurring monthly gifts). These will automatically get sent to donors, so make sure to make it more personal to your organization.

9. Utilize year-round campaigns to create sustainable revenue and diversify your fundraising strategy.

Many fundraising appeals have a start and end date, such as Giving Tuesday and year-end asks. However, you can create some campaigns to permanently live on your website year-round.

It’s always smart to provide multiple ways for people to engage with your nonprofit. Not to mention, when you are not promoting a big time-sensitive appeal or event, you can default to promoting one of these and the pages will always be ready to go.

1. Main donate button: You should have a clear donate button that immediately takes supporters to the checkout form. Ideally this is branded and follows donation page best practices.
2. Recurring giving option: We always recommend having a monthly giving program linked to your website. Definitely keep monthly giving as an option on your main donation form, but you’ll probably find that most people opt to give one-time on that page. Typically for monthly gifts, donors require more information to truly understand the impact a monthly gift can have. Recurring gifts are a commitment for supporters, but recurring donors are over five times as valuable to your nonprofit. Take the time to create a crowdfunding campaign dedicated to this program.
3. DIY peer-to-peer campaign: All nonprofit websites should include a fundraising option in case a supporter wants to fundraise on behalf of your organization throughout the year. You can set up a peer-to-peer campaign that utilizes the impact blocks to highlight different ways someone may want to fundraise, such as by hosting a birthday campaign or setting an athletic milestone. This is an excellent way to promote engagement in different ways from your existing supporters, acquire new donors through their fundraising pages, and dip your toe into the peer-to-peer fundraising world.

10. Donor communication is an essential piece of your fundraising strategy.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in building campaigns and planning logistics of appeals, but donor communication is crucial to the success of your fundraising strategy. Here are several main practices you should be following:

• Segment your email marketing lists. The more specific and personal you can make your emails, the better engagement you’ll have. Even if you use 99% of the same message in all emails, it can make the world of a difference if you simply acknowledge their relationship with your organization in the first sentence. For example, recognize your monthly donors and thank them for their existing contributions; then dive into your regular appeal.Segmentation can also help if you are concerned about over-communicating with donors; not everyone needs to receive every appeal message.
• Send at least five emails per campaign appeal and post frequently on social media during the campaign’s lifetime. Announce the launch of the campaign, keep people updated on its progress, end with a final push, and don’t forget your thank yous. Limited communication often results in campaigns that don’t hit their goals.
• For peer-to-peer campaigns, create fundraising toolkits that include instructions for fundraising, tips for how to be successful, and sample email and social media templates fundraisers can use.
• Take donor stewardship to the next level by using Classy’s Campaign Messages. You can send an email to all donors, attendees, or fundraisers and thank them. Send a thank you immediately at the end of the campaign, but also a month or even more out to update them with the results on their dollars. So often it feels like donations fall into a black hole and donors don’t understand the true impact they had. This is an easy way to prove that you haven’t forgotten about their gift and it really did make a difference.
• On the topic of stewardship, handwritten thank you cards and phone calls really go the extra mile.

Make sure to follow these 10 online fundraising tips to take advantage of low-hanging fruit and improve your campaign results.

Summary of 10 Tips:

1. Your organization’s branding should be front and center.
2. Harness the power of setting campaign goals.
3. Offer innovative ways to give and that also improve your conversion rates.
4. Take advantage of matching gifts.
5. Enable Classy Mode to allow donors to cover a portion of your transaction fees.
6. Customize your donation amounts to align with donor behavior.
7. Comment on your activity wall to personally steward donors.
8. Remove and edit any templated language on campaigns and emails.
9. Utilize year-round campaigns to create sustainable revenue and diversify your fundraising strategy.
10. Donor communication is an essential piece of your fundraising strategy.

Over the course of their involvement with your nonprofit, recurring monthly donors provide five times greater value than one-time donors, giving 42% more overall. Recurring donors are also 75% more likely than one-time donors to make an additional one-time gift on top of their monthly contribution. Recurring giving serves as a critical revenue stream especially as nonprofits scale. Nonprofits that raise over $50 million in total revenue secure 26% of their online revenue through Classy from recurring donations.

Your organization needs to prioritize strong visual and written storytelling to drive recurring donations. Through these emotional anchors, you can steward potential donors through your communications, campaign page, and, ultimately, the checkout process where they select the option to become a recurring donor.

Below, we share four examples of nonprofits effectively structuring their stories to drive monthly recurring giving. You can use their experiences to craft your own compelling narrative.

1. Make Your Recurring Donors Feel Like Part of the Family

Many Hopes is a nonprofit that “rescues children from poverty and abuse and raises them with an imagination for justice and the tools to act on it.” Many Hopes created its recurring giving program by expanding from its mission to center around the idea of family.

The Many Hopes recurring giving campaign starts with a banner image reading, “Join the family. Give the gift of a loving home.” It then describes “the family,” which is the organization’s term for its recurring donors. The description shares how, through their monthly subscriptions, family members are part of a “community of givers” committed to helping a girl in need over the course of a full year. It explains that 100% of monthly donations go toward direct services supporting the program’s children.

To join as a recurring donor, supporters click a red donation button that reads, “Click Here to Join the Family,” further emphasizing the value the organization places on monthly giving.

Many Hopes creates a story around its recurring giving campaign on Classy that gives supporters a positive identity to associate with their involvement. When marketing your recurring campaign, consider how you can make supporters feel like they’re part of a special, meaningful community that’s contributing to your important work. Weave that in throughout your copy and even your calls to action.

2. Use Donation Levels to Describe Long-Term Impact

Milagro House is a nonprofit working to eradicate unequal treatment and systemic bias that keep people in poverty. Similar to how its mission is focused on systems-level change, its recurring giving campaign crafts a narrative on how monthly giving is about making a difference rather than simply making a donation.

The campaign uses the impact blocks on their Classy campaign to showcase how various monthly amounts make an impact over the course of a year. For example, its monthly gift option of $30 reads: “A monthly gift of $30 increases your impact over one year to $360. Your generosity supports life-skills programming focusing on basic financial knowledge, effective parenting, nutrition, healthy development in children, counseling and self-care.”

The campaign page continues with the theme of long-term sustainability by describing how monthly donations give the nonprofit a “way to responsibly budget and plan our programs around more predictable revenue; a plus as we navigate challenging times during an unpredictable pandemic.”

Help your supporters see the larger impact of their recurring donation by:

• Totaling how much their gift will amount to by the year’s end
• Emphasizing your long-term goals
• Highlighting the importance of financial stability during uncertain times

3. Share the Perks of Being a Monthly Donor

Operation Broken Silence is a nonprofit focused on empowering Sudanese people through innovative programs. Its recurring giving campaign page incorporates video, simple infographics, and written narrative to build the story of the nonprofit and express its current needs.

Following its ask, the nonprofit shares the perks of becoming a monthly donor, calling its group of monthly donors “The Renewal.” Members of The Renewal receive a membership pin and exclusive, early looks at the nonprofit’s new stories and campaigns. Gifts of $35 or more per month also receive free tickets to the nonprofit’s two annual events, the Soirée For Sudan and Eden’s Run 5K.

Think of ways your nonprofit can add incentives for becoming a monthly donor, such as early access to campaigns or initiatives, exclusive stories of your work on the ground or with beneficiaries, or even swag. Incentives that further connect donors to your nonprofit, such as tickets to your annual event, are particularly helpful for continued stewardship.

4. Incorporate a Video Highlighting the Value of Monthly Giving

BlinkNow is a nonprofit focused on empowering youth in Nepal. The nonprofit brands its monthly recurring giving program as “Roots,” where recurring donors support the growth of the children the nonprofit serves, or, as BlinkNow describes, “you nurture our little buds!”

BlinkNow’s main storytelling for its recurring giving campaign comes in the form of a short video. The video message uses mission-driven, emotional imagery to build its case for support. It weaves in the “roots” theme by explaining, “Our greatest need is to simply keep all of our programs running.” The speaker continues by sharing how monthly giving provides them with stability and recurring donors truly become the “roots” of the organization, helping the most vulnerable kids in the area they serve.

Quick storytelling videos are powerful and gaining popularity. Capture the attention of prospective monthly donors by incorporating a short video that shares the essence of your brand, power of your mission, and gratitude for recurring gifts.

Cultivate Recurring Donor Relationships Through Storytelling

Monthly giving provides a reliable revenue stream for nonprofits during uncertain times. Recurring gifts are also a sign of donor loyalty and reflect that your audience has trust in your brand. Encourage growth in your monthly gifts through creative campaigns with rich storytelling and positive associations for donors.

Learn more about recurring giving strategies that keep the most successful nonprofits resilient against economic shifts at the Collaborative: Virtual Sessions.

For example, event participants are fanatical about browsing and sharing nonprofit event photos, which can help increase your nonprofit’s exposure in their personal networks and beyond. For this reason, photos from your events such as golf tournaments, galas, 5Ks, youth sports, school performances, and camps can become valuable tools to market your organization.

Below, we’ll show you how to create, organize, and promote your nonprofit event photos—past in-person events as well as present virtual events—to help create deep community touch points, unlock new marketing opportunities, and increase fundraising revenue.

1. Create and Promote a Central, Photo Home

Nonprofits regularly rely on multiple sources for nonprofit event photos, including hired photographers, internal staff, and community volunteers. When these different photographers store these photos in different locations, it becomes difficult for your nonprofit to quickly access the content for internal marketing use.

This can be especially challenging if you have supporters who want to easily search for, and obtain, these photos for their use in campaign pages, social promotions, or other marketing efforts. To help solve these issues:

• Create a central, preferably cloud-based, destination that makes it easy for your staff to quickly access photos for internal or social marketing use.
• Make it easy for photographers to upload photos to this destination and be sure to thank them for their efforts.
• Encourage your supporters, event attendees, board members, and others to visit the public, branded destination to view and download all event photo content.

When it comes to promoting your central photo location, you can create additional marketing opportunities for your cause by:

• Maintaining a dedicated photo destination link on your organization’s website
• Keeping regular links in weekly e-mails and print communications sent to your community
• Providing physical banners and signage at events and in other, dedicated physical space, equipped with URLs and QR codes for users to easily access the central photo destination via mobile phone
• Including links on event programs and tickets, providing gallery links and QR codes

2. Market Photo Galleries Across All Channels

Many are familiar with posting photo galleries to social media. However, given the latest social network algorithms, it’s likely that fewer fans will see your social media posts. Average organic Facebook business page post reach has dipped to 5.2%, meaning that only about one fan out of every 19 sees your post unless you pay to promote it.

In other words, your photo gallery posts on social networks may earn some likes, but the level of exposure your post receives may be limited. One way to create more social media marketing value is to post only a single photo and direct users to a gallery link. For Instagram, you can make use of bio link tools, like lnk.bio, to drive users to your photo galleries.

You should also add gallery links to your other marketing channels to maximize your gallery’s exposure, including:

• Email lists
• Your website, including specific gallery links
• Chat app groups on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, TeamSnap, and others
• Pre- and post-event press releases

These tactics can increase engagement with your nonprofit event photos that, in turn, can drive awareness for your virtual events and tap into audiences of potential new supporters.

3. Ask Attendees to Submit Photo Content

Professional and amateur photographers aren’t the only ones who take photos at your events. Your event attendees are also likely capturing photos and videos while they attend, even at virtual events. The key is to open avenues for them to easily submit their photos to you, which you can then upload to your central photo storage.

With virtual events, making an ask for this user-generated content can double as a fun way to drive engagement during the event and keep your nonprofit top-of-mind when the event is over. In order to capitalize on user-generated photo content during and after COVID, your organization can:

• Ask attendees to capture photos
• Provide an easy way for users to upload photos to specific galleries
• Confirm that you have the rights to reuse the photos in you marketing collateral
• Give public shoutouts or incentives when you request and receive user-submitted content

4. Create New Engagement and Revenue Opportunities

A key benefit of a central photo destination is the traffic it can drive to your website, fundraising campaigns, or donation forms. This is especially important when pivoting to virtual events, since they sometimes offer fewer touch points with your nonprofit than an in-person event might.

The following tactics can help your nonprofits increase engagement with your photos, which can lead to higher traffic to your website.

Immediate Promotion

Make photos available post-event as fast as possible to allow your community to tell their stories and share with their personal networks.

Fundraising

When posting new galleries and allowing your community to download photos, ask for donations to support your cause. We regularly see Snapphound-powered gallery users, if prompted, making impulse micro-donations to support a specified cause, sometimes totaling more than $250 per gallery.

Marketing and Sponsorship

Many national and regional sponsors struggle to effectively promote themselves at the grassroots level, so creating brand sponsorships within your high-engagement galleries can bring completely new, photo-related revenue streams.

Resurface Old Content

Consider creating ongoing Year Ago Today, Anniversary, and other throwback galleries to bring even more engagement to archived content.

Contests

Photo and video contests can generate ongoing interest in your brand and can even create viral marketing exposure if a specific initiative catches on, like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

Incentives

Offering physical goods and cool gear is a fun way to generate additional engagement. For example, you can create an offer or sweepstakes that awards prizes for the most downloads on a specific photo, or the highest amount of in-gallery donations.

Make Good Use of Your Nonprofit Event Photos

These unpredictable times call for flexibility and creativity to maintain community relationships. Giving people a way to engage with your nonprofit through photos is especially important at a time when in-person events are pivoting to virtual events.

Whether you’re building a photo marketing strategy from scratch, or looking to improve an existing one, now is the time to implement or improve. Then, when in-person events come back, you’ll be well ahead of the curve to create new engagement and marketing opportunities.

Mike Zarilli is the founder of Snapphound, a photo management and marketing platform for community organizations and brands. Check them out for more information on how to create more value from your nonprofit’s photo moments.

In previous years, Classy’s Why America Gives report has focused on consumer giving trends, what motivates donors to give, and their plans for Giving Tuesday and year-end giving. In our third-annual edition of Why America Gives, the 2020 report measures these year-over-year changes in giving sentiments and behaviors; in addition, it also analyzes how current events—specifically the COVID-19 pandemic and the social justice movement—have altered giving trends.

Most importantly, we wanted to pose the questions:

• How have the events of this year affected donor behavior?
• Will supporters be giving more or less than last year?
• Have COVID-19 and the fight against social injustice changed the causes or organizations donors will give to?

We sent out a survey in September 2020 to poll 1,000 individuals across the United States, all of whom were age 18 or older, to find out.

Based on the results of our survey, we’re optimistic about what the giving season holds for nonprofits. Below, we explore some of the major key findings from the report, but make sure you download your free copy of Why America Gives now to get all the insights.

The Outlook for the 2020 Giving Season Is Positive

The Giving Tuesday movement has grown to the point where over half of Americans have an awareness and understanding of the giving day. In 2020, 67% of our survey respondents who are familiar with Giving Tuesday donated last year, compared to 53% in 2019 and 57% in 2018.

Further, our survey results show that Americans still plan to give the same amount, or more, than they did in 2019. Among those who plan to give more, 33% say it’s because the societal need seems greater this year. Despite the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, people still feel compelled to give, so don’t pass up an opportunity to engage your supporters with an ask.

COVID-19 Fuels Charitable Giving

Despite the financial challenges many Americans are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 39% of our survey respondents said they definitely or probably will give more to nonprofits in 2020 than they did in 2019. The main driving factor behind this is that many see a greater societal need in 2020 than in previous years.

When asked which causes Americans were most like to support, respondents chose healthcare as the top cause category ahead of disaster relief, the environment, and education. Still, whether your nonprofit is health-related or not, you can be confident that prospective donors are looking for ways to support relief efforts alleviating various challenges presented by the pandemic.

The Social Justice Movement Creates an Influx of New Donors 

Our survey results show that many Americans are actively looking for ways to support causes fighting for racial equality. In fact, 42% of respondents either donated, or planned to donate, to social justice causes in 2020.

Interestingly, 58% of these donors claim this was their first gift ever made to the social justice cause sector, and 43% said this donation was made in addition to other contributions. This shows us that current events play a major role in creating new donors, but for nearly half of all people, it doesn’t replace their regular giving.

Virtual Fundraising Events Generate Attention and Donations

Countless nonprofits were forced to pivot their in-person events to virtual events after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but donors weren’t driven away by this change. Our survey results show that nearly 30% of respondents have supported or participated in a virtual fundraising event since the beginning of the pandemic.

Of that 30%, the majority claim they have donated more in the virtual environment than they did at in-person events. This aligns with how many nonprofits have seen comparable or higher fundraising revenue generated from virtual events as well. Moving forward, the social sector will likely continue to host virtual events, even when in-person events make a return.

Download Why America Gives 2020 for More Insights

These insights are only the tip of the iceberg for this year’s edition of Why America Gives. Download the full report now and explore:

• Which causes Americans favor most
• The role politics plays in giving
• How donors prefer to give
• Insights around Giving Tuesday and year-end

Although marketing efforts should start as early as the beginning of November, there’s a lot you can do in the week before Giving Tuesday to get people’s attention and mobilize your donors. Use this seven-day plan to make sure that every day leading up to the global day of giving reminds your audience of the campaign and brings new potential supporters to your cause.

With well-timed emails, website promotion, and engaging social media content, you can spark interest and incite action from your community before the giving day officially starts. Make sure your donation pages are up and running far in advance so supporters can donate at any time.

Keep in mind your organization’s financial and secondary goals as you adapt this Giving Tuesday marketing plan to your nonprofit’s needs. To guide your communication efforts, we’ve broken down what each day’s main message and action items should be. Don’t be afraid to tweak these ideas and get creative.

Tuesday (One Week Out)

Message: Heads up—we are participating in Giving Tuesday.

Website: Feature Giving Tuesday messaging and logos on your homepage and include calls to action that prompt potential supporters to learn more or donate. Anyone who visits your site should know you are participating in the giving day.

Email: Send an email to your community to announce that you will be fundraising next week and need their support. Tell them about your campaign goals and the impact you plan to make. You can even give donors the option to give now.

Social Media: Change your profile and/or header images to promote Giving Tuesday. Followers new and old will be clued into your campaign. Add a link to your campaign page in your about section. Post on each platform you use to reach your entire audience.

Wednesday

Message: Save the date.

Social Media: Post fresh content to your platforms. Visuals and Giving Tuesday graphics are eye-catching and easy to share which makes them great for engagement. Heifer International shared this infographic to encourage their audience to get involved in Giving Tuesday.

Pro Tip: If you have time, send out a Giving Tuesday save the date postcard to keep your organization top of mind when supporters are disconnected from social media. When your message shows up in a supporter’s mailbox instead of their inbox, your organization stands out from the pack.

Thursday (Thanksgiving)

Message: Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to give back on Tuesday.

Social Media: Post a fun holiday message or Giving Tuesday graphic to draw the connection to Giving Tuesday. This is also a great time to send out a stewardship email saying thank you to your supporters. Download these email templates for nonprofit annual communications to save tons of time crafting your emails:

(Black) Friday

Message: Use your Black Friday savings to make a real impact.

Email: Send a quick reminder email to your supporters telling them Giving Tuesday is coming up.

Social Media: Consider counting down the days to Giving Tuesday. Create a new graphic each day or offer a new reason to give. Use hashtags related to Black Friday to reach more people.

Saturday

Message: Giving Tuesday is getting close! Get excited!

Social Media: Continue to count down the days or post new Giving Tuesday content. Heartwarming images from the field help foster an emotional connection with your audience.

Sunday

Message: Giving Tuesday is your chance to make a difference. Help us reach our goal for this important cause.

Social Media: Continue to count down the days or post new Giving Tuesday content. Try introducing or profiling a specific program to show supporters where their donations go and the impact they make.

Monday

Message: Giving Tuesday is tomorrow. Don’t forget to give!

Email: Send an email reminding supporters to donate and share the campaign with friends and family.

Social Media: Continue to count down the days or post new Giving Tuesday content, like a graphic illustrating the impact your fundraising goal will make.

Giving Tuesday

Message: It’s Giving Tuesday! Act now!

Email: Since Giving Tuesday is only one day, your email series must be concentrated. MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, who have previously raised over $50,000 in the 24 hours of Giving Tuesday, sends three emails throughout the day.

The first is sent around 5 a.m., asking supporters to donate. They send another email in the afternoon updating readers on the campaign’s progress toward its goals and asking them to give. In the evening, MAZON sends a final email letting donors know that their time to help is running out. Contacts who have already donated are removed from the later emails.

By sending multiple emails, you show the campaign’s progress and can catch donors’ attention at all times of the day.

Social Media: Nonprofit organizations should be updating and monitoring their social media platforms all day on Giving Tuesday. Along with sharing appeals, though, you should also share and respond to posts by supporters. Social media is a great way to call out Giving Tuesday donors and encourage others to join in. Remember to use hashtags, so you show up in conversations about the giving day.

The marketing and promotion you do the week before can make a big impact on the success of your Giving Tuesday campaign. By updating your website and social media accounts to highlight the campaign, and by proactively reaching out on email and social media, you can make sure everyone knows how to help.

As you plan and implement your Giving Tuesday campaign, keep in mind that your communications shouldn’t stop when the giving day ends. Prepare thoughtful thank you messages and be ready to update supporters on the campaign results and the impact it will create.

Use the following free email templates to plan out your year-end email strategy to give donors a seamless transition from Giving Tuesday to year-end:

The holiday season dramatically increases how many emails your supporters receive, though. Black Friday totals nearly 120 million sent, making it the year’s single-highest day for email volume. But with about 34% of donations made in the last three months of the year and email accounting for around a quarter of holiday revenue, this is a time to lean into this marketing channel.

Nonprofits shouldn’t hold back on email out of fear of overwhelming their supporters. Doing so can cause you to miss critical fundraising and stewardship opportunities. Rather, you must design Giving Tuesday emails that inspire someone to act.

Below, we cover six Giving Tuesday emails that convert in order to spark engagement, encourage action, and drive donations for your nonprofit. Each tactic is paired with a real-world example, where we’ll highlight what elements made it successfully convert.

1. Build Momentum With a Soft Launch

You’ve established your fundraising goal, set up your Giving Tuesday campaign page, and prepared your messaging cadence. Before officially launching to the full public, you should consider starting with a soft launch. This tactic allows you to test the efficacy of your plans in a safe environment where you can make small adjustments or tweaks as needed and start raising those dollars.

For a soft launch, you’ll want to reach out to your most devoted supporters about 2 to 3 weeks before Giving Tuesday. These supporters can include your recurring and long-time donors, volunteers, board members, and past Giving Tuesday participants. They have an established relationship with your nonprofit, which makes them more likely to commit early donations and be open to any feedback.

That, in turn, generates early momentum for your campaign. When you officially launch, potential donors will be more likely to give when they see you’ve already made significant progress toward your goal.

This is due in part to the goal proximity effect. It states that contributions toward a campaign are markedly higher when your nonprofit is 33% to 66% toward meeting its goal and even higher once it is 66% or closer.

In addition to alerting your audience about the soft launch, this email can help strengthen donor relationships. Receiving personal, early notice of your campaign makes supporters feel valued and appreciated, and the opportunity to take part in a special launch is a huge delight.

Example: Operation Warm

In the email below, Operation Warm announces that its Giving Tuesday event is just three weeks away.

It reminds the recipient of last year’s campaign success by speaking directly and personally to the supporter: “You helped the Firefighters for Operation Warm raise over $60,000.” This language makes the recipient feel like they played a part in your success last year and can do so again this year.

The email ends with a clear call to action through buttons supporters can use to add the Giving Tuesday event reminder to their calendars.

2. Make a Clear Ask

After you’ve built momentum through your soft launch and received feedback on your campaign, you’ll need to have your main donation appeal email ready to send.

Use an eye-catching subject line to grab the recipient’s attention. As a general rule of thumb, you want to keep your subject line under 50 characters, and ideally under 30, to be mobile-friendly. Front-load your cause’s message and follow with action. For example: Keep Kids Warm, Help Us Today.

The body of your email should include a brief introduction to the campaign using an emotional hook, a clearly stated fundraising goal with explanations on how donations make an impact, and linked text and buttons that stand out and lead to your donation page.

Example: The Trevor Project

In the example below, The Trevor Project clearly states its $100,000 fundraising goal in the email’s header and highlights it brightly. It uses a personalized salutation to help the recipient feel connected to the message.

The email uses just enough text so the supporter can quickly scan it to understand the impact of their support. It further guides the reader’s eye by strategically highlighting three instances of linked text to its donation page. It also includes a bright “donate” button midway through the email.

3. Highlight the Impact of a Matching Gift

The average donation amount for matched campaigns is 51% greater than those without a match, and the response rate to your appeals increases by 71%. Plus, a match can make supporters feel like their donation counts even more. If they give $25, it’s really $50. If they give $100, it’s really $200. They like to know they are doubling their impact.

In addition, it can be powerful to put a time restriction on your match. If you tell your supporters the match is only offered for a few hours during the campaign, that creates a sense of urgency that drives action toward meeting your goal. It also offers the opportunity for additional touchpoints through subsequent emails counting down the time, with subject lines like:

• Match Begins Now! Double Your Impact This Hour.
• Match 50% Over—Help Us Raise An Additional $10,000
• Time’s Running Out, But Still Time to Match Your Donation
• Match Complete, But There’s Still Time to Donate!

Example: Feeding San Diego

In this example of a time-limited matching campaign, Feed San Diego uses specific numbers to add an authentic element to the match. Rather than a perfectly rounded number, the email announces that Price Philanthropies will match every dollar up to $28,010.

It then clearly translates what that doubling of a supporter’s donation provides. Every $1 now provides eight meals instead of four. Give $50 to provide 400 meals, $250 to provide 2,000.

Finally, it adds a sense of urgency by including a countdown banner at the top of the email to show how much time is left to be part of the match’s impact.

4. Personalize Appeals to Recurring Donors

You may think a recurring donor won’t give on top of their existing donation amount, but the data show otherwise.

Classy’s report The State of Modern Philanthropy 2020: Deconstructing the Online Donor Journey, found that recurring donors engage with multiple campaign types at higher rates than non-recurring donors. They are 75% more likely than one-time donors to make an additional one-time gift on top of their recurring subscription. In addition, their average one-time donation is higher at $150 versus $113 for non-recurring donors.

By personalizing your Giving Tuesday appeals for your recurring donor segment, you can both thank them for their continued support and leverage the potential of an additional gift.

Example: Blink Now

In this example from Blink Now to one of its recurring donors, the nonprofit includes multiple acknowledgments of “your monthly support” right up front. This helps the supporter see that the nonprofit recognizes and appreciates their ongoing help. By referring to the monthly donation as “incredible” and “so important,” the email communicates the supporter’s special status with the nonprofit.

The email includes an embedded video as a bonus gift for the recurring donor. This media demonstrates the impact the donor has already helped make possible.

The message ends with a clear thank you coupled with an ask for an additional gift.

5. Send Progress Updates

Throughout the day, your nonprofit will share updates on social media, but it also helps to send a few well-timed updates via email, including one halfway through your campaign and another a few hours before it ends. People are more likely to give if they see you’re close to your goal, so updates allow supporters to tell that their support could really tip the scales.

Example: Operation Broken Silence

In the email below, Operation Broken Silence uses specific numbers to show they are just over $100 away from reaching their goal. That amount is within range for one donor to make the key difference, which can encourage several to give.

The email uses the language “you’ve given” to express where the nonprofit is currently at in terms of reaching its goal. Even if the recipient of the email hasn’t donated yet, that phrasing can make them feel like they’re a part of this effort and more drawn to give.

Below a bold, clear donation button that highlights the generosity of taking action to give, the email encourages the recipient to “help us cross the finish line early.” This communicates to donors that they can not only reach the goal but overachieve this Giving Tuesday.

6. Remember to Say Thank You

Your supporters will want to know what impact your Giving Tuesday campaign had and the role they played in that. Send a follow-up thank you afterward that summarizes how much you raised and thanks the supporter for helping you reach your goal. Showcase specifically what activities your nonprofit will be able to pursue as a result of Giving Tuesday contributions.

You’ll want to send a thank you email that welcomes any first-time donors to your community. You should also send a personal thanks to recurring donors who participated to continue to affirm that relationship. Finally, you can say thank you more broadly through your social media channels, newsletter, or blog.

Example: Outreach International

The example below from Outreach International features a fun photo relevant to their fundraising goal of purchasing buffalo in the Philippines. It mentions the campaign’s $3,000 goal but highlights that incredible generosity raised over $10,000.

The email reiterates the nonprofit’s mission and how the funding will support it. It also contains links for supporters to learn more, encouraging continued engagement with the cause.

Strengthen Your Year-End Giving Strategy at the Leading Nonprofit Conference

Elevate Your Giving Tuesday Success With Thoughtful Emails That Convert

Following on the heels of Giving Tuesday is likely your year-end campaign. Once Giving Tuesday is over, you’ll want to highlight your campaign’s results in a series of intentional emails to demonstrate past success and build momentum for additional year-end giving. You can steward them to your next campaign by staying connected with everyone who donated.

One person who does it very well is Colin Ryan, a financial comedic speaker who joined us at the 2019 Collaborative to discuss how to leverage humor with a serious subject. His 2019 talk was such a hit that we invited him back to speak at the Collaborative: Virtual Sessions, where he led our audience through the session How to Nail Your Nonprofit’s Story and Drive Action.

It builds off the tips he shared in 2019 on infusing humor into storytelling and focuses on how storytelling can help nonprofits tackle the various challenges they face. His session explains how nonprofit professionals can create humorous, story-driven content and develop dynamic presentation skills that will help further their mission.

You can watch the session recording below or keep reading for the lessons and actionable tips he shares.

Decide on Your Desired Outcome

The core of being a professional speaker is strategic storytelling. The first aspect of that is to design your story with the outcome in mind. Or to put it in other words, speak with intention.

Strategic storytelling means creating a design for a desired outcome. Whether that’s to earn donations or to simply evoke emotion that will create a bond between your audience and your mission, you as the storyteller must decide what that outcome is. Colin shares tips on a few of the most popular outcomes for strategic storytelling for nonprofits.

1. Evoke Emotion

Think about the desired emotion you want people to feel as you write your story. For example, if you want your audience to feel excited about the progress your nonprofit has made on your cause, then focus your story on the incredible work and results and then close by showing them how much more needs to be done.

If you’re speaking or presenting your story to an audience, embody that same emotion you want to convey. Show that you’re excited about your work and the beneficiaries and allow your nonverbal cues to reflect the emotion that is your desired outcome.

2. Take Action

In the video of his session, Colin urges the audience to remember that the first action should be so small and convenient that they can’t not take it. For example, if you work for a human rights organization and you’re writing an email relaying the details of a recently passed law that infringes on women’s reproductive rights, there may be several calls-to-action you can share.

However, think about how a new supporter might feel if your email asks to sign up as a fundraiser, share their campaign, and make a donation. That’s a big ask for a supporter who just joined your community. Make sure to include a simple action that someone can take along with your higher commitment asks, so everyone can get involved at a level they feel comfortable with.

3. Make a Donation

If the number one desired outcome after reading or listening to your story is for someone to donate, you need to lead them down that path. Create trust, empathy, and send a message of positive momentum by saying something like, “Join us to help with the amazing work we’re already doing.” Often, this is a more encouraging message than putting the pressure on the supporter to make a difference on their own.

How to Tackle Common Challenges That Nonprofits Face

1. Everyone says “tell stories”—but how do we do that quickly and effectively?

The strategic story concept focuses on the three elements that make up a story:

• • Hook: The most engaging first sentence. Either start writing the story, or you can pull people in with a rhetorical question that is easy for people to respond to. For example: “Have you ever just needed a win?”
  • Scene: Focus on a moment. Describe a photo and not a video. This is helpful because it’ll shorten your story time and help you cut tangents.
  • Point: This is the thing you want to say in the beginning. “Support our cause”, “our work is meaningful because of X,” this is the bottom line.

If you use a hook and a scene to bring people in before getting to the point, it’s going to stick with people longer than if you just shared a statement or an ask.

2. Where do we get new content ideas?

Colin shared a story about working with Roxanne Avant, executive director of Urban Surf 4 Kids. Roxanne enjoys speaking in-person, but felt more apprehensive about digital storytelling.

A few of the takeaways that make this an effective story:

• • Dialogue can be a story
  • Leverage the identifiable victim effect
  • Connect your cause to current events (in a respectful way)
  • Practice

To hear Roxanne’s story and more details on the specific lessons Colin shares using this example, view the recording now.

3. What if our message is challenging?

There are many variations of this challenge, like:

• • What if the message itself is challenging?
  • What if the story is emotionally heavy that if you tell the story it can become depressing?
  • What if your message doesn’t feel serious enough?
  • What if your message doesn’t feel unique enough?”

Many organizations face this struggle, so know that you aren’t alone. If your mission isn’t straightforward, or your results include a lot of data, or if you have a heavy message that is difficult to speak about, there are still ways for you to leverage storytelling.

To discuss this challenge, Colin worked with Thaís Marques from RAICES. To hear her story and more details on the takeaways that come from this story, watch the session.

A few of the takeaways that make this an effective storytelling example:

• • Strong opening line and scene
  • Invoke nostalgia and talk about something that pulls us back to our own part of our timeline because that automatically creates a positive feeling
  • Maintain 80% of the story being positive aspects with 20% negative
  • Speak with confidence and conviction to make it a positive story

The number one takeaway is that you make your message unique.

Nonprofits often think they are only supposed to talk about the work they do and share statistics, but sharing why you do the work is possibly the most convincing argument you can make for why other people should care. You can share your motivation to help get others excited about your mission and want to take part.

More Storytelling Tips

To learn more about nonprofit storytelling, check out Colin’s entire presentation by accessing the extended sessions library on the Collaborative site. In the extended sessions library you’ll also find the following fundraising and marketing recordings to further your knowledge:

• The Best Video and Social Media Tools to Use and When
• Standout Virtual Events to Inspire You
• Understanding the Modern Donor: How to Design Systems That Build Lasting Donor Relationships at Scale
• Retaining Crisis Donors 101

Since everyone in the industry is strapped for time during the precious moments leading up to the global giving, Classy’s talented design team created a Giving Tuesday postcard template that your organization can customize, print, and mail out in no time.

Why Print a Postcard When You Can Post on Social Media?

Social media is a permanent fixture in the way that we find and disseminate information. This itch to share is great for nonprofits since 21.2 percent of peer-to-peer fundraising dollars are a click-through from a social media post.

But when it comes to a single day where close to 4 billion individual donations are at stake, your nonprofit has to stand out from the pack.

With our customized “save the date” Giving Tuesday postcard, you can:

1. Engage supporters on a new channel. A thoughtfully-designed piece of snail mail is unexpected, particularly if your organization normally reaches out online. This will help your nonprofit stand out during this busy time of year.
2. Send a soft touchpoint. Since the postcard simply includes an ask to join your cause on Giving Tuesday, the message feels more like a community-building moment rather than an explicit ask for donations.
3. Share important information. While the message of the postcard is softer, you’re still sharing your organization’s name, logo, and campaign URL without being as straightforward as a direct mail campaign.
4. Reach new donors. Encourage your staff and volunteers to share the “save the date” postcard with their networks and allow word-of-mouth to work for you.
5. Stay top of mind. Rather than fight for attention on social media, your postcard will be on the kitchen table or fridge where your supporters will see it every day.
6. Capitalize on our resources. Since we’ve already designed a professional, aesthetically pleasing asset, all your team has to do is plug in your information, print, and distribute.
7. Be flexible. In addition to your emails, use this postcard as a handout that your staff members distribute around town, pass out to family and friends, and leave in local businesses to share the word on your behalf.

A Few Reminders for the Road

The file you download will include in-depth instructions on how to use the template, but here are a few tips:

• Use a URL-shortening site like Bitly to create a share-friendly URL for your Giving Tuesday campaign. This will not only make your postcard more visually pleasing, but it’ll also be easier for your supporter to remember, share, and type into their internet browser.
• Have a horizontal version of your logo ready for easiest placement. Our recommended dimensions are 433px by 209px.
• If you’re purchasing cardstock to print the postcard, the size of the postcard is 4 inches x 6 inches.

Share your Giving Tuesday campaigns with us on Twitter and Facebook and we might highlight your campaign this year!

Learn to build a social media strategy, fire up your content marketing engine, or learn to use Google’s free tools. No matter what facet of your marketing role you decide to improve, online courses are typically broken up into digestible segments so you can learn at your own pace and on your own time.

In the spirit of Classy’s core value to “Always Be Learning,” we rounded up six resources, courses, and certifications below that can help you become a better nonprofit marketer. Be sure to download our Digital Marketing Checklist as well to level up your current marketing strategy as you implement all your shiny new skills.

1. Udemy

Udemy is an online learning platform that has over 150,000 online course offerings and 295 million students engaging with the content across a wide range of topics like business, design, web development, and so much more. For marketing-specific courses, they offer a whopping 744 options that are free of charge.

Learning a new skill, such as how to optimize your website for search engines, is not only an investment in yourself, but also in your organization and its cause. SEO has the power to help your organization reach new audiences. You work hard at your design and content generation, so why not invest time in helping search engines discover your hard work? Courses such as these can help you understand the best practices needed to successfully optimize your pages and expand your reach.

For example, nonprofits who are focused on email marketing over social media can sign up for a special one-hour starter course: MailChip for Beginners. It details how MailChimp works, but more importantly it shows how you can leverage it for cost-effective, successful, and measurable email marketing campaigns. It’s particularly beneficial for those who need to build an email strategy from scratch, as it covers almost everything you’d need to know to get up and running with your first campaign in an hour.

Once you’ve mastered MailChimp, you decide it’s time to learn perfect your copy that goes inside the emails, so you sign up for Content Marketing 101: A Free Guide for Beginners or Pros. This course was built specifically to provide a lesson plan that teaches how to research keywords, create content, and promote your work to grow organic traffic to your pages.

These are only a few of the options Udemy offers, and they’re a great place to source beginner to intermediate level tips. If you want to drill down further with any specific topic, you can consider one of their paid options: for marketing alone there are an additional 6,993 courses available.

2. Google Certifications and Courses

Google’s product portfolio has truly modernized the workplace with user-focused tools designed to be both intuitive and informative. Their library of resources can help you make data-informed decisions about your online marketing strategies, what’s working, and where you need to pivot.

• Google Analytics: Tracks and reports website traffic, where that traffic is coming from, how much time people spend on your pages, if people stay on your site pages, and much more.
• Google Adwords: Assists marketers in expanding their reach through advertisements and tells you what words people are using to search for your content online.

If getting set up on these platforms is the first step, the second step is mastering all that they have to offer. To help, Google has built their Skillshop to teach users how to unlock the full potential of each tool with detailed lesson plans from prominent instructors. There’s even a special section of the site dedicated to nonprofits with Google for Nonprofits where you can access special courses catered directly to nonprofit professionals.

3. Hootsuite and Buffer

It’s imperative your nonprofit be active on social media. You don’t have to have to use every channel available, but you should absolutely identify some of your top prospects that can drive healthy engagement metrics on your published content like impact stories, news updates, annual reports, and more.

There are countless online social media courses available that will help you master your strategy, from partnering with influencer marketers to creative ideas for content. However, you shouldn’t just pick any random course, as many likely won’t be worth your time. In this case, it could be beneficial to choose a course built by a company that’s directly embedded in social media every day, like Hootsuite or Buffer.

Both companies offer social media management tools that help schedule and publish your content across different channels from one platform. As experts in the social media space, they offer free online courses. The Hootsuite Academy was built to help you master social media through the use of their own platform. The introductory level is free, which is a great place to start, but you’ll have to pay for higher tiers and certification.

Buffer hosts multiple free courses on the platform Skill Share, and we recommend taking their Introduction to Social Media Strategy and Introduction to Social Media Advertising.

4. Internet Marketing for Smart People

Copyblogger is an online resource for free information on content marketing, and they have multiple classes that can give you everting you need to build a strong content marketing engine. For example, Copywriting 101 and How to Create Content That Converts are just a few of the many free resources offered if you register.

As a MyCopyblogger member you’ll also be enrolled in the course, Internet Marketing for Smart People. It consists of four major pillars that will help lead you to online marketing success: relationships, direct response copywriting, content marketing, and have something worth selling.

They take their own advice to heart as well: the course is a 20-part offering that delivers the lessons directly to your inbox and operates on the best practices you’ll learn. It’s an intuitive course that will help you understand how important online marketing concepts work together.

5. HubSpot Academy

HubSpot is an online software platform that helps your organization grow by providing marketing, sales, and CRM tools. They also built the HubSpot Academy to help dedicated marketing professionals grow their career by offering multiple free certifications.

There are options to polish your skills using their native software, like the 16-lesson course about using the full HubSpot Marketing Software suite or the Inbound Marketing offering which teaches techniques like nurturing and converting leads. There are also certification courses that focus on general skill sets like Content Marketing and Social Media.

No matter what you choose, you’ll receive a special, industry-recognized badge that you can add to your LinkedIn profile once you’re officially HubSpot certified in a specific area.

6. Nonprofit Ready

Nonprofit Ready has hundreds of courses specifically catered to nonprofit professionals. Their marketing and communications courses aim to help your organization raise awareness and grow. Their “Strategy Marketing Plans,” course, for example, offers registrants a 30-minute session on how to create your operational plan and goals to stay on task the entire year.

With resources specifically catered to your work in the nonprofit sector, these courses will take the extra step for you and connect the lessons to the things you encounter on a daily basis. These courses will also help you stay in touch with current trends in the nonprofit sector and leverage marketing best practices specific to communicating with donors.

When you take the opportunity to enroll in an online course or certificate program, you’re making the decision to strengthen your skills as a nonprofit professional and propel your organization to new heights. It’s also a great way to make progress on your personal development goals and ensure you’re always growing in your role. Let us know how your experience with these free online courses goes in the comments below, and download our Digital Marketing Checklist below to take your marketing skills even further.

The key is to either validate, or disprove, your idea before it’s implemented on a permanent scale. That’s where A/B testing can help. It lets you compare two iterations of the same asset you’re testing an idea on, like an email with two different subject lines.

Version A is your original, also known as the control, and Version B is your variant, or what you’re testing. After running the test, you calculate which version performs better, check that it’s statistically significant, and run another test.

If you’re scratching your head over the finer points of A/B testing and what statistical significance is, that’s OK. Below, we’ll thoroughly explore the protocol before giving you six creative A/B test ideas that can help improve your marketing efforts.

Why A/B Test?

Everything about A/B testing is small, from the small changes we make to the small impact they have on marketing metrics. But those small gains, accumulated over months and years of testing, result in massive payoffs.

To help illustrate, let’s run with a hypothetical example. You get 50,000 monthly site visitors with a 2% conversion rate on your donate button. That means you’re getting 1,000 conversions each month. Then, you run an A/B test on your donate button which increases that conversion rate to 2.5%.

It’s a small increase, but you’re now getting 1,250 conversions each month. In the next year, that means you’ll get an additional 3,000 conversions—just think how much that increase in conversions contributes to your fundraising revenue.

While an A/B test won’t improve your metrics overnight, it is a way for your organization to measure how changes to your marketing strategy can affect your goals.

It also reveals areas of your marketing strategy that may not be performing, or it can confirm hypotheses about ways you can improve. The key here is your hypothesis, which needs to be highly targeted.

In-line with our earlier example, the hypothesis could be: “If we change the size of our donate button, then it will be more visible to our audience and drive more conversions.”

Your A/B test could also revolve around the color of the button, copy on the button, or its physical location on the page. In order for this to be a true A/B test though, you can only test one of these elements at a time. And you always have to calculate the statistical significance of your results.

Statistical Sig-What?

Statistical significance is how you prove the results from your test are reliable. It shows that the changes you want to make will have a positive impact on the specific metrics you’re tracking, and that they’re not attributed to chance.

For example, say you run an A/B test with that has a statistical significance of 94%. That means you can be 94% confident that your results are accurate. Of course, it means there’s also a 6% chance that you could be wrong, so the higher your statistical significance, the more confident you can be in your results.

To determine statistically significant results, you need to maintain a truly random sample demographic. If your traffic isn’t evenly split, or the sampling isn’t random, it introduces errors into the test due to behavioral variance among those sampled.

Case in point: if 50% of your sample group, only men, is shown Version A of your test and 50%, only women, are shown Version B, the results are null. That’s because, while the traffic might be split evenly, the homogenized demographic split introduces variations to the data.

Always make sure you have the biggest possible sample size, ensure it’s an even split, sent to a purely random demographic, and run for a long enough period of time. To ensure adherence to A/B testing protocol, there are many tools you can use like Google Optimize.

6 A/B Test Ideas to Improve Your Marketing Metrics

Now that you understand the protocol and philosophy for testing, we’ll explore some creative A/B test ideas you can start using immediately. You’ll likely find that, once completed, each test opens the doors to a new subset of testing options that build off the initial one.

For each A/B test you run, you must form a highly targeted hypothesis about how you think your effort will increase a specific metric. To help, craft your hypotheses as if, then statements.

1. Placement of Donate Button on Your Website

If you have a donate button embedded on your website, you want people to click it and make a donation to your nonprofit. It’s an actionable conversion point, but it needs to be highly visible, so a potential A/B test could revolve around the location of your donate button on your site.

Would it be more effective in the center of the page? Does it drive more conversions if it’s subtly included in the navigation tab?

These are both valid A/B tests you can run, but you have to start with one before building further. For this, a potential hypothesis could read:

“If we place our donate button in the center of the top of the page, then we’ll increase our conversion rates on the button.”

Opportunities for further testing:

• Place your donate button in the site navigation
• Add a second donation button at the bottom of your site
• Increase or decrease the size of your donate button

2. Donation Button Color

We have a lot of assumptions about color. Red is energetic, green represents growth, and purple equates to extravagance—or do they? Further, do specific colors encourage or discourage people from clicking your donate button?

This can be tricky because it’s important to maintain branding across design elements, but there’s a very real possibility that your colors could discourage people from clicking. Or maybe those colors are the main reason you are getting so many clicks.

The only way to find out is to run an A/B test. Your hypothesis here could read:

“Changing the color of our donate button from black to red will encourage more people to click, which will improve conversion rates.”

Opportunities for further testing:

• Change the color of the copy on your button
• Make the button match, or heavily contrast, the colors on your site
• Use a different color from your brand on the button

3. Email Subject Lines

The subject line is what grabs someone’s attention and encourages them to open your email. A/B testing different subject lines is a great way to increase your email open rates. Start by examining how your current subject lines are written.

If they’re simple and straightforward, try making them creative. If they’re overly flowery, try making them direct and to-the-point. Then, once you’re finished with your test, think of the ways you can modify your subject line even more.

An example of your hypothesis could be:

“If we make our subject lines more creative, then we’ll grab attention and encourage more people to open the email and increase open rates.”

Opportunities for further testing:

• Incorporate emoji into your copy
• Personalize the subject line to your recipient
• Tease the content inside the send with your subject line

4. Email Call to Action Copy

Once you know how to get people to open your emails, you’ve got to figure out how to get them to engage with your content and click through. One of the primary ways is to drive clicks is with your CTA copy on anchor text in the email.

There are many ways you can adjust the CTA copy, but the key to success is to narrow down to one idea that you think can have the highest potential impact. Save the other variations for follow-up tests, and then form your hypothesis for this iteration:

“If we keep our CTAs in the email to five words or less, then the direct nature of the copy will drive people to click through to our content.”

Opportunities for further testing:

• Increase or decreasing the length of your copy
• Use a minimum of one power word per CTA
• Infuse creative and storytelling focused language in your CTAs

5. Submission Form Location

Finding the perfect place to put your submission form can be a tough nut to crack. To start, look where your current form is and find out how many submissions you’re getting.

If your numbers are already high, don’t immediately assume that everything is perfect about your form. There’s always some small tweak you can make that might take those numbers even higher. The physical location of the form on the page is great place to start, and your hypothesis could read:

“If we move our submission form from the bottom of our page right after a strong value proposition for supporting our nonprofit, then we will see an increase in the number of total submissions.”

Opportunities for further testing:

• Add to or reduce the number of questions on the form
• Increase or reduce the amount of space the form takes up
• Create a dedicated landing page just for the form

6. Modal Pop-Up

Each modal pop-up has a different style, feel, and character. However, at its core, the pop-up typically presents an offer to the audience after a set duration of time spent on the page.

For example, if you’re reading a blog post a modal might pop up after 15 seconds asking you to subscribe to the blog newsletter. It’s a strong marketing strategy, but you have to find the perfect way to engage your audience with it.

Start by narrowing down a goal you want to achieve with the pop-up. In this scenario, we’ll stick with the blog newsletter signup goal and determine what you’ll be testing, like time. Then, turn it into a hypothesis for your test:

“If we have the modal appear after five seconds on the page, then we will increase the number of subscriptions to our blog newsletter.”

Opportunities for further testing:

• Build a pop-up that’s only text, one that’s only images, or a hybrid combination
• Make your modal cover large portions of a user’s screen, small parts, or anything in between
• Change the color scheme of the pop-up to make it stand out from the rest of the page

You should cultivate an “always be testing” mindset at your nonprofit in order to find the winning combination, and the six A/B test ideas here are a great place to start. No A/B test is too small to run, and it will always provide an interesting learning for you to apply to your marketing strategy.

If you want even more tactics to level up your marketing, make sure to download our Digital Marketing Checklist for free. Now, get out there and run some tests!

A mission statement often guides the brand, programmatic offerings, strategic long-term decisions, and even funding opportunities for an organization. Something so brief can be such a powerful driver of action because it ties almost everything back to your “why,” surfacing and conveying your organization’s core values. Then, it’s vindicated by the actions you take to live these words.

The same is true for a personal mission statement, sometimes referred to as a purpose statement. A personal mission statement can help you better infuse your core values into the nonprofit work you do, and stay inspired to deliver your best work every day.

Below, we dig into what a personal mission statement might look like and why it’s important. Then, we’ll walk you through a detailed exercise for how you can create one today.

What Does a Personal Mission Statement Look Like?

A mission statement is action-oriented, describes why an organization exists, and who the organization exists to serve. This 1 to 2-sentence summary is held by almost all organizations, from Fortune 500 Companies like Walmart and Apple to nonprofit organizations and government municipalities.

However, your personal mission statement isn’t always set in stone and should evolve over time to stay relevant. For example, Facebook’s mission statement has been tweaked at least nine times since the company was founded in 2004. Here are just a few versions:

The initial 2004 mission statement was for Harvard use only:

In 2009, and several versions of the platform later, Facebook provided news coverage, games, and many more features beyond just a social platform:

The company’s current mission statement was released in 2017, as founder Mark Zuckerburg states, to actively seek to make positive contributions to society.

In the spirit of embracing evolution of self and values, a personal mission statement should likewise change as you learn and grow as a person. However, instead of answering existential questions like “Why do I exist?” and “What is my purpose?” a personal mission statement is more directly focused on your values and how they show up in the work with which you engage.

In many ways, the reasons an organization has a mission statement are the same for why people do. This statement has the power to hold you accountable and check that you’re doing work that aligns with your values and goals.

The statement becomes your front-line talking point and elevator pitch, making it easier for you to quickly convey your message and connect with others. It can live in your head, on your LinkedIn bio, or at the top of a resume. Finally, it should seek to answer the following questions:

Why Are You Here?

In this context, “here” refers to the sector you work in, the organization you’re applying for, or another specific space you show up in. The statement should illustrate your passions and how your life or work experiences brought you to the work you’re doing. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning? What problems in the world are you committed to working against?

Who Do You Serve?

Try to define the specific customer or community you work with. This is especially critical for mission statements of both nonprofit organizations and their employees because it helps to prioritize resources for beneficiaries who need them the most.

For example, the mission of Southern Poverty Law Center—a litigation, education, and advocacy nonprofit—is to “. . . fight hate and bigotry and to seek justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.”

An example of a personal mission statement is Amanda Steinberg’s, founder of a financial media platform for women. Her purpose is to “. . . use my gifts of intelligence, charisma, and serial optimism to cultivate the self-worth and net-worth of women around the world.”

These examples explicitly call out the community that the organization or person seeks to serve. By doing so, it becomes clear to stakeholders where resources are going, and it makes it easier for the organization or person to stay aligned with their mission.

How Do You Serve Them?

An answer to this question must be kept concise in order to be memorable and repeatable. Further, it’s important for people from all walks of nonprofit life to be able to remember what you do and join you in the fight.

Answering these questions requires deep self-reflection and assessment, and helps inform how you show up at work and stay motivated. This is particularly essential when you work at a nonprofit and you may have too much work on your plate or your work requires emotional labor.

How a Personal Statement Helps Your Organization

The nonprofit sector can be just as challenging as it can be rewarding, and it’s possible that you sometimes feel defeated or hopeless in your work—especially if it doesn’t align with your core values or the community you’re interested in serving. Having a clear idea of your personal mission allows you to make informed decisions about the work you get involved with. This clarity and control of self fuel your motivation to persevere, and can benefit the nonprofit you work for.

Alignment between your personal mission and your nonprofit’s creates deeper individual buy-in and commitment to see a task through. This, in turn, can lead to higher morale and can lead to higher morale and lower rate of employee turnover, strengthening the organization overall.

Create Your Personal Statement

In the fellowship program at Future Leaders in Action (FLIA), we’ve tested and iterated a workshop we call What Do You Stand For?, where we walk participants through the reflection and discovery process of crafting a personal mission statement. Due to its success, we’re making it an interactive virtual training offered to the public. Get on the waitlist for that session now.

However, if you’re ready to craft your personal mission statement today, try this exercise:

Materials Needed

• Sticky notes or loose leaf paper
• An extensive list of words that represent values
• A block of uninterrupted time (30 minutes to 1 hour)

Steps

1. To begin, take stock of your personal values. First, build your own list or find an existing list of 200 to 400 values. These values can be words like justice, happiness, equality, or achievement. Every word on the list is not meant to apply to you as you’ll narrow yours down later. Further, it’s best to have these alphabetized for your own sanity during the activity, but not required. Our list has over 350 values and we’re constantly adding new words as participants point out ones that feel left out to them.

2. Now spend 5 to 10 minutes marking all possible values on the page(s) that you personally identify with. There’s no limit here.

3. Use the next five minutes to narrow the selection down to your top five core values.

4. Write down each value at the top of a sticky note or piece of paper. One word per paper means you’ll use five separate sticky notes. Write your own definition of each value underneath the word on your page. Consider:

• What does this word look like in your life?
• How does it show up in the work you do?
• How might your definition differ from the conventional meaning?

5. Spread out the five pieces of paper in front of you. Take inventory of each self-defined value and consider how they show up individually and in alignment. Using the five values you identified, write a 1 to 2-sentence mission statement and plug in each of the values as sort of puzzle pieces.

For example, here’s what a values-driven statement that has come out of our workshop looks like:

As an alternative to plugging in each value directly, you can just use them as guiding points to form your statement.

With a personal mission statement, you’re more equipped to let your core values drive the work you do, spread your message more succinctly, and stay inspired to show up for the critical work you do each day.

Now you’re ready to share your mission statement with others. If you have more than one passion project or work focus in life, try creating a statement to guide each one. Be sure to share your statement or how the process felt in the comments section below.

Nonprofits exist to do good in the world. However, sometimes when a program is created, it might not properly take into account the needs of the community being served.

This can lead to unintended consequences like further inequality, misplaced power dynamics, or simply an inability to fulfill the nonprofit’s mission. To prevent this from happening, you can use principles of equity-centered community design to ensure your impact is as strong as possible, and truly help the people in your community.

One approach used across many industries to find solutions to complex problems is the concept of technical design thinking. The broad, four-phase process leverages creative problem-solving techniques, empathy, and community feedback to:

1. Gather inspiration
2. Generate ideas
3. Make ideas tangible
4. Share your story

However, activists and designers are calling out shortcomings of the technical design thinking process and leveraging it to create new approaches for improved community design. For example, Creative Reaction Lab (CRXLAB) and its founder, Antionette Carroll, crafted an alternative approach called equity-centered community design in the wake of the deadly police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.

CRXLAB uses a process that incorporates similar steps to technical design thinking, but they also prioritize humility, inclusion, and addressing power dynamics to organize and make change on an issue.

These additional mindsets are critical for nonprofits to embrace in order to create meaningful and equitable impact. This post examines the intersection of design thinking and equity-centered community design and considers ways you can use these approaches to promote equity within your nonprofit.

Build Humility

Understanding the experiences and opinions of your program participants is critical to create meaningful programs. Humility, or the process of constantly checking your own position, perspective, and biases in the work you engage with, is at the core of design for equity.

Humility requires moving past the notion of always being “the expert.” When you present yourself as the sole expert on a specific issue in a marginalized community, and the community merely as a recipient of your services, you begin a cycle of othering.

This can separate your important work from the community in an “us versus them” dynamic and create barriers for authentic engagement. The true experts are the people you serve.

CRXLAB refers to beneficiaries as “the living experts.” The most effective partnerships position nonprofit workers and “living experts” side by side to share knowledge and design together.

Your nonprofit can actively practice humility-building at work by admitting that you might not know all of the answers. Be comfortable in the fact that you’re not the only expert on a topic, and seek to gain as much insight and understanding as possible.

Co-Create With the Community

Another mindset CRXLAB points out as being critical to equity-centered design is co-creation. One of the major critiques of design thinking is that it relies on collecting feedback from a community, rather than directly involving them in the process of creating.

The community being designed for would, in that case, be left out or excluded from where actual power lies—the design process. According to Antoinette Carol:

One way to accomplish this is to employ people directly from the community your organization serves. By provided access to leadership opportunities within your organization, you ensure accurate representation and a deeper connection to the cause.

Your organization could also invite community members to be apart of the board of directors. After all, they are living experts on the issues your organization works in and should be at the core of driving new programs.

Co-creation happens best during the second and third phase of design thinking–generating ideas and making those ideas tangible.Come up with your own ways to co-create by using asset-mapping techniques that identify specific strengths, skills, and abilities within the community you serve.

For example, when you’re writing program curriculum or planning your organization’s next event, invite your beneficiaries into the planning process. Designing a program or event together, or co-creating in this way, can increase participant buy-in and create a stronger impact.

Address Power Dynamics

Who leads your organization? How are resources distributed? Who gets funding for projects and who doesn’t? In order to promote equity at your nonprofit, it’s necessary to understand where the power lies.

To do so, explore power-mapping techniques and identify how decisions are typically made at your organization. If your nonprofit operates like many institutions in the United States, it may practice a top-down approach where lower-level staff or program participants have little decision-making power.

If this is the case and you are a lower-level staff with limited power, identify the power you do hold and challenge yourself to share that power through co-creation. Write programs, be transparent, and advocate for change with your living experts to ensure their voices are heard–not just by you, but by everyone that needs to hear them.

Practicing this can put your nonprofit on a path towards dignity, empowerment, and mission-fulfillment. And as you move forward, remember this snippet from the CRXLAB Equity-Centered Community Design Field Guide:

These three approaches are fluid, and without an end-date. They require constant learning, attention, and work. But commitment to equity-centered community design is the key to co-creating systemic change and scalable impact. When in doubt, map it out.

1. Streamlined Donation Page

While website visitors may end up clicking through to your donation page, fully intending to make a gift, your donation page itself can still influence whether they make it or not. Make sure that your donation page or donation site doesn’t have any links that would distract and direct people off the page before they make their gift. The overall page should be short and sweet, capturing only the most important information necessary. If your donation page includes images, make sure they’re high-quality.

2. Social Media Links

Include links to your organization’s social media accounts in your website’s sidebar or footer. Don’t forget to list them in your newsletters and email signatures too.

As you create blog content—an effective way of building trust with your supporters and prospective donors, demonstrating the value of your work, and building up your SEO rankings—make sure your social media links are also visible.

You also want to give visitors the option to share your content on other social media platforms. You can use tools such as Share This so that readers can share material that resonates with them most.

3. Individual Staff Pages

Show site visitors the faces behind your cause. Showcasing your staff members’ values, career histories, and ties to the organization injects authenticity and humanizes your brand. Staff pages also accentuate the fact that your nonprofit is comprised of truly passionate and hard-working individuals.

You can also use these pages to share staff members’ social media accounts and personal websites, which can allow visitors to further connect with them. The beauty of social media is that it fosters organic personal connection and promotes the accessibility of your organization—not to mention that people tend to gravitate to individuals. Lastly, individual pages can potentially benefit your site’s overall SEO by ranking them alongside your staff members.

4. Responsive Design

Responsive design allows your website to adjust to fit any screen size, which allows for comfortable viewing on any device. Without it, it makes it painful—if not impossible—for mobile viewers to navigate and view your website and its content. In other words, it’s a great way to scare away potential donors and volunteers.

Being mobile-friendly is so prevalent and important that Google’s search algorithm prioritizes websites that are responsive for users searching on a mobile device.

You should ensure that each and every page on your site is mobile-responsive as the majority of people predominantly rely on their mobile devices to use the internet.

5. Financial Transparency

Donors want to know their money is going. Provide clear insight into your organization’s financials to foster trust with your existing and potential supporters. Some key information that you can include are your annual reports, Form 990, and 501(c)(3) documentation. It’s also a good idea to have visuals on your website that outline the impact of donations of different sizes. Connect the dots for visitors between their gifts and the difference they can make.

Although this is far from being a complete list, these key elements are a solid foundation for your nonprofit website. Remember that your website—from its content, to its navigability, to even its color scheme—is your biggest vehicle to attract online donations and in turn, drive the overall success of your nonprofit.

Reuben Yonatan is the founder and CEO of GetVoIP and GetCRM, trusted VoIP and CRM comparison resources that help companies understand and choose a business communication solution for their specific needs. With a 10-year track record in building, growing, and strategically shaping operational functionality in all his ventures, Reuben helps small business owners align strategy with culture and improve overall company infrastructure.

The common thread between these powerful images is the story they tell about a cause. Images offer a simple, cost-effective way to grab people’s attention and show them why they should care. This is why nonprofits have so much to gain from visual storytelling.

Visuals are especially effective on social media. Instagram, for instance, is a platform driven entirely by visuals. On Twitter, tweets with images receive 150 percent more retweets than those without. Facebook posts with images receive 162 percent more interactions than the average post.

But not all images will create an emotional connection with your audience. There are several basic principles of visual storytelling that you should use to guide which images you choose and how you use them.

1. Create Context

To appreciate the impact of your work, people need a look at the bigger picture. Whether you are protecting a lake from pollution, rescuing abandoned animals, or building homes, people will attach greater emotional value to images that show why your actions matter.

In 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) collaborated with the IKEA Foundation and Better Shelter to construct shelters for Iraqi refugees. The images shared by Better Shelter don’t just tell a story of how they built the shelters. They tell a story of hope and how, because of these homes, life has a chance of returning to normal for the refugees.

This series of images immerses the viewer in the story. Together they tell an overarching narrative of hope that viewers can experience for themselves. And that is what great stories do—connect with the audience by immersing them in emotional experiences.

2. Offer a Fresh Perspective

There are more than 1 million registered nonprofits in the U.S. and many of them advocate for similar causes. Stand out from the crowd by offering a new perspective or presentation of the problem.

The fight against deep sea oil drilling is a cause backed by many organizations all over the world. But some campaigns stand out because they told the story in a unique way. Greenpeace ruffled more than a few feathers with their “Oil On Canvas” campaign, which featured oil prints on canvas made with birds killed by the Rena oil spill.

This was not the first or largest oil spill in the world, but Greenpeace’s macabre presentation of the consequences was able to get their audience’s attention. People grow accustomed to the familiar and tend to overlook it. But a unique angle to the story can suddenly interest or captivate them.

3. Get Personal

We feel connected to the story when we can empathize on an individual level with its characters. Portrait images are ideal for framing these connections between your nonprofit and its supporters. Given that our minds are wired to care more about individuals than for larger groups, your supporters are more likely to appreciate your impact when they see how it affects specific people.

UNICEF provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children across the world. The organization has thousands of stories of how they’ve changed lives, and each of them are told through its main characters. The story of Syrian refugees is not told with tales of devastation and struggle. It is told through the story of girls like six-year-old Huda who wishes for her own bed and chair, and boys like 13-year-old Khaled who wants to learn how to swim.

4. Reveal the Conflict

Do you remember watching the movie about the man who lived happily with his wife and kids and the biggest struggle he faced was deciding what to have for dinner? Probably not. You may have been bored just reading that sentence. Conflict is the force that drives a story. Stories of people who have defied the odds gets viewers rooting for the character, and in turn, rooting for your cause.

Through images, you can demonstrate how a certain social problem affects various aspects of an individual’s life. Operation Smile, for example, shows how the inability to smile—the conflict—affects the children they serve, and how these children have overcome the odds to smile again.

They tell Joseph’s story, for instance, through a sequence of images that start with a boy with a cleft lip in an impoverished neighborhood in San Remigio, Philippines, and ends with him with a big smile sitting inside a classroom. Viewers are presented with the struggle, taken through the journey and finally presented with the big win.

5. Pull Back the Curtain

Movie blooper reels are so fun to watch because they give the audience a look behind the scenes. You feel connected to a character while watching a movie, but the bloopers allow you to connect with the actor behind a character.

Use visuals to tell the story of what goes on behind the scenes at your nonprofit. The staff who plant trees or the volunteers who build homes show the audience the humans behind your brand, making it seem more real and trustworthy.

Habitat for Humanity regularly features visuals of their volunteers building houses. The images themselves aren’t always extraordinary, but they create trust and connection through authenticity.

6. Be Consistent

Consistent visuals help nurture familiarity and trust with your nonprofit while inconsistency can cause disconnect between viewers and your visuals. When you apply specific branding elements to your images, you make it easier for people to identify your messaging and recognize it. Make sure that the style of your images, specific brand colors, and font are consistent across your images.

The UNICEF Instagram page is a good example of consistent storytelling through visuals. The organization tells the vast majority of its stories through portrait images and individuals. For a supporter, the style is immediately recognizable and associable with the overall cause behind the organization.

If you have trouble sourcing images to post, take a note from the Facebook feed of One Campaign and create your own digital art. Just make sure to keep your messaging and branding elements consistent.

Visual storytelling is powerful because it evokes emotions that help people connect with your nonprofit and motivate them to act. Use these six tips to ensure your images make that emotional impact and resonate with prospective supporters.

Augustus Franklin is founder and CEO of CallHub, a California-based Voice and SMS service company bridging the communication gap for political campaigns, advocacy groups, and nonprofits. When he is not working, he is either making toys with his kids or training for a marathon. Find him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

In fact, a recent Google study has found that 57 percent of people who watch a video go on to make a donation. Yes, you read that right—over half!

You’ve likely even noticed that your video content tends to outperform other types of posts on social media. People love video content for its digestibility, especially when it’s accessed from a mobile device. In their Mobile Video: Exposed study, the Streaming Video Alliance found that 25 percent of smartphone users watch more than two hours of video on their smartphone each week.

To help you create a regular cadence of video content for donors and potential supporters, here are five practical tips. With these things in mind, you can create video that builds your relationships and helps you to raise even more funding.

1. Tell Inspiring Stories

It’s not hard to understand why storytelling is so popular—it’s how we communicate as humans! Research studies have found that personal stories and gossip make up 65 percent of our daily conversations. When coupled with the viral and attention-getting potential of video, storytelling remains the most compelling and engaging type of online content out there for nonprofits.

Nothing can compete online with a well-told story in video format. The statistics don’t lie: four times as many people would rather watch a video about a product or service than read about it. Video is the most engaging form of online content across all social media channels. Online Americans are exposed to more than 100,000 digital words daily—and 92 percent of these consumers would prefer to consume those words in storytelling form. Moreover, social video storytelling was the most popular brand content in 2016 and remains poised to top the list again in 2017.

Nonprofits that do well in this department often share a mix of long-form, professionally shot and edited videos and in-the-moment snapshots about their work in the field.

To collect stories on video, it can help to think like a news journalist. Consider all of the events and happenings on your community’s radar (including your own) and determine what video clips you can capture to augment the story for your larger audience.

An excellent example of a long-form storytelling video that inspires donations comes from the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund‘s “Meet Bobbie and Ia.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQr_nn0f8lw

In this video, we hear the inspiring story of Bobbie, a homeless woman helped by the Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund to become more empowered and hopeful. Viewers also meet Ia, a person who does not have a lot of money but still gives to the cause, and she tells us why. The women are both real people, sharing their actual heartaches, struggles, and victories in a very relatable way that makes the viewer want to watch until the end—and get involved!

2. Grab Attention

After creating your video, be sure to directly upload the video to each individual social media platform. Based on my own experience consulting with several dozen nonprofits on social media best practices, and managing dozens of Facebook Pages, this tactic is considerably more effective than posting an outside link to the video. When you directly upload a video and share it to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, your video will automatically start playing when it comes up in the newsfeed or update stream.

Because videos play automatically but silently until the viewer clicks on them, you need to grab attention visually in that first frame. Consider what you can do to entice people to click on the sound button and watch the full video. Need some ideas for fantastic nonprofit videos that catch the eye and make you watch until the end? Check out the DoGooder Awards on YouTube. Classy also has a fabulous free resource, The Guide to Nonprofit Storytelling.

3. Bring People “Into the Kitchen”

Once, my husband and I went out to a very nice dinner. When the owner of the restaurant came over to our table to ask us how we liked the food we gave a raving review. Thrilled by our commentary, he offered to introduce us to the chef. After giving our thanks, the chef gave us a brief tour of the kitchen. There, we saw how things actually worked, and appreciated it all even more. Needless to say, we’re now lifelong customers of that particular restaurant.

How can your organization bring people into your “kitchen” using video? How can you make them feel special and more connected to your organization? The answer: showcase your organization’s personality.

Post brief, behind-the-scenes videos of your organization at work. Don’t worry if it’s not professionally produced. All you need is a smartphone and a steady hand. An example of this is an Instagram video from UNICEF in which the staff assemble Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF boxes. This video has the added bonus of asking us to “stay tuned” to find out who its celebrity ambassador will be at the event.

A post shared by UNICEF USA (@unicefusa) on Jun 24, 2013 at 8:45am PDT

Nonprofits of all sizes can post videos of the small things they do every day like answering questions from visitors or people on the phone, planting a tree, giving away toys, or helping with homework. Events happening right outside the office doors or in the community are also fodder for short, in-the-moment videos. Human Rights Campaign uses Instagram to highlight anti-LGBT and other protests that go on every day in front of their headquarters.

Another example is an eye-catching, beautifully shot behind-the-scenes video created by National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita.

What’s in Michael Yamashita’s #FlipsideSport? @yamashitaphoto @loweprobags @thephotosociety #videogram #cameragear #stopmotion #lowepro

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Jun 25, 2013 at 8:46am PDT

Using a series of still photos, the viewer sees shots of the equipment used on a typical National Geographic shoot, giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the people who create the beautiful photographs for the magazine.

4. Show Impact

Your donors made the decision to give money to your organization. This imparts a responsibility on your nonprofit to use the money wisely and responsibly and to communicate the results you achieve. Storytelling with video provides an intimate way to communicate impact and show potential donors and supporters that your organization is a good steward of funds.

For example, The Greater Boston Food Bank shares videos on its Facebook page about the people that they serve and the hardships they are struggling to overcome. Dan’s Story shares one family’s experience with the Food Bank, using emotional storytelling and vivid imagery to draw in the viewer.

When you use video to showcase real stories from real people who have benefited from your work, it helps supporters connect with your cause. The organization Denver Rescue Mission regularly posts interesting, unique videos on social media of real people sharing their stories. New Life Program participant Matt shares the story of his transformation on the DRM Facebook Page.

Along with showcasing impact, you can use video to thank and acknowledge donors and supporters in a more personal way. Whether they donate to a particular campaign, help you reach a fundraising goal, attend an event, or even just follow you on Facebook, consider how video can help deliver thanks in a way that delights.

For example, Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation created a video called, “Thank You for Supporting Kids Like Me.”

Posted on YouTube, it features several children who received treatment at the hospital. The children express their sincere thanks to the doctors, staff, and people who give to the hospital. I dare you to watch these children share their stories and genuine appreciation for the hospital staff with a dry eye!

5. Use a Mix of Amateur and Professional

There are two main categories of nonprofit video: amateur and professional.

Professional videos are generally longer in length and formally staged and shot. These videos involve significant preparation and are created by a professional videographer or filmmaking studio, usually incorporating smooth edits, transitions, voice-overs, music, and more. Professional, longer-form videos are best used at gala fundraising events, on your YouTube channel, in your major gift solicitation materials, and on the donate page of your website.

Amateur videos are created by staff members, volunteers, clients, and other stakeholders—people without formal experience or training. These videos work best on social media channels where short (thirty seconds or less), spontaneous videos rule.

With the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, handheld video cameras, and micro-video apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, we all have the capability to be mini filmmakers. No matter your budget, your staff capacity, or your technical knowledge, your nonprofit can use this tool to share and connect.

Whether professional or amateur videos will be more effective for your nonprofit will depend on your marketing goals, budget, and audience. In my experience, on social media, people will not watch a long, five-minute video on the history of your organization. They often will not even watch a thirty-second video all the way through (Facebook counts a full video view as someone who watches a video for just 3 seconds).

It is certainly true that in the digital space, people gravitate toward authentic, emotional stories from real people in a shorter, more informal format. However, I do advise incorporating some long-form video with your short, in-the-moment video content. Long-form video is best used on YouTube and Vimeo, where users are accustomed to watching longer videos, and they often stay to watch multiple videos at a time. Your nonprofit could also use long-form video content on your blog and during your events, to tell a more complete story and give a clear picture of your impact and your work.

Julia Campbell is the author of “Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits,” now available for order. Sign up at her website to get your free chapter, and more nonprofit storytelling and social media resources.

Yet, as websites continue to heighten the standard for great design, consumers’ expectations are raised as well. Today, it’s essential for your campaign design to not only meet this standard, but to truly “wow” your supporters.

But this goal begs the question, what does “good design” look like? Heidi Pun, owner and operator of Design for Founders, encourages organizations to view design as more than just visual aesthetics.

This is easily adapted to your nonprofit. You want your fundraising campaign’s design to attract new supporters, elicit more donations, and encourage action from your community.

To help you create a campaign that visually delights and prompts your community to act, we’ve compiled 5 design tips that will take you to the next level.

Structure Dictates Everything

All great movies follow a structure designed to take the audience on a journey from start to finish. Along this path they’re given the information needed to understand what’s happening on screen, forge emotional connections with the characters, and find closure in the resolution of the film.

When juxtaposed next to a movie, your fundraising campaign isn’t that different. Design your page so that it takes your supporters on a journey where they learn the background of your nonprofit, the people involved, and the impact they stand to make through a donation.

Also like a good movie, you have to structure your campaign so people don’t get lost or confused. Most designers support the idea of building a hierarchy that guides the audiences’ eye from top to bottom, hitting everything in between.

Classy’s new Fundraising Suite has this concept of hierarchy built in, but this is the standard approach:

• A company logo in the header
• A large hero image
• A call to action to “donate now” on a button, paired with a fundraising progress bar
• Relevant information about the organization and the campaign
• Impact blocks that explain how donations specifically help
• Additional background information about the organization
• Fundraising campaign activity, such as recent donations
• A footer with contact information and branding

As Terry advises, you want your fundraising campaign to be memorable and shareable—like great movie lines. However, without a structure, your campaign becomes garbled, hard to remember, and not shareable.

When the design hierarchy is built in, you can spend your design efforts executing other parts of your page like font, color schemes, visual effects, and images.

Three Fonts is All You Need

Many designers claim that typography is 95 percent of all design. As such, the font you choose could potentially influence 95 percent of your entire campaign aesthetic. The decision to select the right font can seem overwhelming, though, when you have so many options.

The difficulty isn’t in choosing between Times New Roman or Calibri. Rather, it’s choosing a font that aesthetically lines up with your brand logo, colors, and fundraising campaign message.

For example, you likely wouldn’t want to use the font Impact if your fundraising campaign revolved around finding homes for abandoned animals. It’s hard, bold, and comes at you full force.

In this example, you might consider a font with more breathing room around the letters, like Verdana, which has a much lighter feel to it.

Heidi Pun recommends two fonts for your page, but you can get away with three. Just remember, the more fonts you use, the more disjointed and confusing your page can appear. Use a different font for:

• The hero block
• The headlines
• The body copy

It provides your text with a cleaner design that helps the flow of your campaign hierarchy from top to bottom. Currently, the Classy platform has seven fonts to choose from for a consistent page.

Cap your selection at three to ensure your audience has a smooth and positive reading experience. Whatever you select, the font you choose will influence the emotional feel of the story you tell, as will your campaign colors.

Choose Complementary Colors

Colors convey specific emotions. Similar to fonts, you want to make sure you’re strategic with your selection and limit the number you use. To avoid overwhelming or confusing a visitor on your campaign page, use two to three colors for your site, and five at maximum.

To identify which colors to use, it’s important to consider color schemes that work well together. For example, lime green, mustard yellow, and neon pink on the same page isn’t likely to please the eye.

There are ways to ensure your colors make sense when put together and contribute to the overall theme of your campaign. Consider how the colors you select might tie back to your organization, and turn to a color scheme generator, like Coolors.co or Adobe Color CC, to find sets of complementary colors.

No matter what color scheme generator you use, there will be a hex color code attached to each color.

With the new Fundraising Suite, you can copy and paste the hex color code identifier to quickly incorporate it into your page.

Paint your campaign to match the emotional feelings you’re going for. This helps you tell your story more effectively and drive more engagement from your supporters.

Effects Need to be Subtle

As you design your fundraising page and tweak the colors and effects, the word you want to keep in the forefront of your mind is subtlety. The subtler the effect, the cleaner your design aesthetic.

Remember, your fundraising page needs to take your audience on a journey that’s direct and to the point. Like colors and fonts, you want to air on the side of simplicity with visual effects so your main message doesn’t fade into the background.

Given recent trends in design, Classy’s new Fundraising Suite incorporates three popular visual effects of image opacity, blur, and background color. We recommend sampling one or two of these effects to make certain parts of your campaign standout over others.

Another design trend that the Classy platform capitalizes on is the fixed and cover effect, which you’ll notice on most websites. It keeps the background image fixed in place while the foreground color blocks and text scroll over it, or cover it.

Also, don’t forget about negative space, or white space. This is the use of empty space as a design tool to draw the eye’s focus to certain elements of your campaign page, like specific images.

Your Images Define You

Just as important as any font, color, or visual effect, are the images you populate your page with. Never build a page without high quality images that embody your nonprofit’s message.

Classy has integrated Pixabay, a library of free and licensed to use photos, into the new Fundraising Suite to help you find images that align with your mission.

Further, any image you have in your personal library can be uploaded directly to either the header or hero image slots, and directly into body text blocks. And for a little extra spice, you can also upload GIFs in any place you can upload normal images—they even work with the fixed and cover scrolling.

To bring it back to the film metaphor, consider your images as the leading role in the movie. These are what draw people in at first glance to commit the time, energy, and effort to pay attention to what you’ve produced.

From structure all the way through fonts, color, visual effects, and images, every design element on your page works in unison for the benefit of your audience. Regardless of your end goal, these design tips will help drive your constituents to take action.

The new Fundraising Suite gives you the creative control to design your movement from top to bottom. Interested in learning more? Sign up for a free Classy account today and try it out for yourself.

Your nonprofit’s logo is a key visual representation of your brand. It should not only be memorable and aesthetically pleasing, but also clearly communicate your organization’s purpose and mission. When this visual identity is well-designed and reminds supporters of what you stand for, people are more likely to identify with your brand and its values and support the cause.

Whether you’re drafting your brand’s visual identity for the first time, or completely revamping it, you can find inspiration and guidance from the best. Feast your eyes on the following nonprofit logos and learn what makes them stand out from the crowd.

1. WWF

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) boasts one of the most recognizable and memorable identities in the nonprofit space. Not only does the panda illustration speak to the organization’s mission to conserve wildlife, but it also uses negative space brilliantly. The positive space (black) gives just enough definition to the panda, so that a viewer’s eye can complete the lines of the head and body on their own.

Because the nonprofit logo uses a single color, it’s very adaptive to different mediums. You can easily manipulate single-colored logos to work on any type of background color or image. You can also translate them into stickers, screenprinting, and embroidery.

The sans-serif typeface also gives a modern look to a brand that’s over 50 years old. Unlike serif fonts (think Times New Roman) that are more classic, elegant, and formal, a sans-serif type is most commonly associated with feeling modern, friendly, direct, clean, and minimal.

2. Voices of Youth

Voices of Youth, an organization launched by UNICEF to help young people around the world exchange ideas and opinions, uses a clever typographic solution that conveys their mission. Bold and striking, this nonprofit logo manages to use the speech bubble in a refreshing way that still creates balance across the large letter “V.” The “V” is also so visually strong that it can represent the brand with or without the text.

The shapes and bright colors make this logo youthful and memorable.

3. Goodwill

Designed in 1968 by Joseph Selame, this is a great example of how a well-designed logo can stand the test of time. Goodwill uses the lowercase “g” in its name to shape a smiling face, a symbol of the organization’s values to help people reach their full potential. The face illustration, crafted by the black outlines and shapes, is another great use case of negative space.

With the face aligned to the left and the blank space to the right, the nonprofit logo also gives off a unique, off-centered look.

4. The Water Trust

Unsurprisingly, many water-related nonprofits use a water drop illustration in their logo as an easy way to convey their mission. Here, The Water Trust puts a unique spin on this traditional shape in order to stand out from the crowd. By stacking words to create the droplet, as well as using bright colors to draw the eye, this logo is a refreshing example of how you can leverage letters to design shapes.

5. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

This contemporary wordmark, or text-only logo, from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) balances a hip and modern feel while emanating honor, gratitude, and pride. It just looks and feels military, like a badge on the sleeve or chest. One cool thing to note is that it reads IAVA in both positive (black) and negative (white) space.

6. Mind

Mind is an organization that empowers people experiencing mental health issues. Their scribbled and handwritten logotype is a beautiful example of strong symbolism through simplicity. The abstract shape evokes initial chaos and confusion and then transitions nicely into a balanced cursive type. The handwriting also comes across as very human and approachable. This logo is simple, but not basic. It’s playful, but not childish.

7. Natural Resources Defense Council

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental advocacy organization, evokes strength and progress through their logo with the bear illustration. The movement in the bear’s pose suggests action and curiosity. The typeface is wonderfully done, with a nice modern sans-serif and a rounded shape that mimics the shape of the blue crest.

As a key representation of your organization, your nonprofit logo deserves attention throughout the years. It is a tool to connect with new generations and supporters. Even the most established brands recognize that they must adapt and make small iterations to their logo to stay relevant and timely. As you explore the endless ways to depict your brand through color, shapes, and typography, just remember to keep things simple, think of your audience, and always focus on communicating your mission.

This often seems like the best philosophy for nonprofits with limited resources and time. But when it comes to the constantly evolving facets of web design, “good enough” just isn’t good enough.

Many people are on the internet every single day, encountering new sites, the latest designs, and application updates. The world of web design is constantly moving and no organization can afford to stand still.

Younger generations especially have little patience for slow or poorly maintained websites. One survey found that millennials’ top pet peeves on nonprofit websites are interfaces that are not mobile-friendly, those with missing information, and the inability to find the information they want quickly and easily. This means potential donors, volunteers, and advocates are walking away when you could be luring them in.

The Window to the Soul

Too often, nonprofits think of their website as simply a box to check. They know they need one, but they see it more as their listing in the yellow pages than what it can be: a window to the soul of your organization.

Okay, maybe nonprofit organizations don’t have souls, but their website is one of the most important ways that the public interacts with them.

Your website…

• Explains your mission and programs to potential supporters
• Offers more information to your community about upcoming events and fundraising campaigns
• Solicits donations and recruits peer-to-peer fundraisers
• Refers people to your social media profiles and generates followers
• Portrays your organization as a change-maker in the space to journalists and corporate social responsibility programs

When you start thinking of your website as a potential generator of revenue, PR, and partnerships, the importance of keeping your site updated and user-friendly becomes apparent. If you have a mediocre website with mediocre content, you will get a mediocre response from visitors. But if you have a website that illuminates your cause, conveys your impact, and touches visitors, you will have a powerful recruiting and fundraising tool available 24 hours a day.

Design for Your Audience

In both websites and other forms of design, there is a growing emphasis on the user experience. Simply put, you should always be evaluating your site from your audience’s point of view. For social impact organizations, that includes donors, funders, fundraisers, casual supporters, people interested in the cause, and media outlets.

To help identify where your site is lacking, consider the following user experiences and how you can optimize them.

• Donor/Fundraiser – How easy is it to make a gift or create a donation page? How many webpages must they navigate through to complete a form? Can they reach a donation or campaign creation page from your homepage? How long is the form?
• Funders and Others Interested in the Cause – Can you tell from the homepage what your organization does? Do you have an “about” page that gives your history and core values? Do you have more in-depth information on your programs on their respective webpages? How do you show your impact? Can you access annual reports from your website?
• Media Outlets – Does your website offer up-to-date contact information? Do you list your leadership team and PR contact? Do you add news about your programs and cause?

Design for Engagement

Like a successful social impact organization, a successful website doesn’t just get people to look at it, it gets people involved. With the right features, your organization’s website can be a portal through which people learn about, engage with, and support your cause.

The most obvious way to get people to take action is to make the option to donate readily available. Nearly every page on your site should have a donate button. It doesn’t have to be the focus of the page, but devoting a little space to this button means that whenever a donor feels moved to help, they can act immediately.

Blood: Water’s “donate” button is in the top right corner, whether you are on their homepage, solutions page, or “about us” page.

You can do the same with a button to start a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.

Another important part of making your website engaging is to add social sharing links and invite people to follow and share your content. On this page announcing their selection as a top nonprofit, Heifer International lets donors know they can share the post to their Twitter or Facebook accounts.

Visitors who scroll to the end of the page learn that they can get cool updates like these in their inbox by subscribing to Heifer’s email list.

Your website can also present visitors with the option to register for events, participate in polls, or use interactive tools. The goal is to get potential supporters engaging with and participating in your work. Creating these opportunities on your website is one of the most important pillars of nonprofit web design.

Design to Do Good

Although redesigning or revamping your nonprofit’s website can be a daunting task, if you approach it with clear objectives and priorities, it can also be extremely rewarding. In many cases, your website is your first chance to really introduce yourself and explain your mission. If you can do that effectively and create clear pathways for action, your organization will attract more supporters and revenue online.