The Nonprofit Content Marketing Guide

Content marketing for nonprofits goes beyond just spreading awareness about your organization. It’s about crafting messages that resonate deeply with supporters, volunteers and donors.

Understanding and using content marketing can help boost donations, increase awareness or recruit new members. This strategic approach will enable you to reach your goals more effectively.

We’ll share how to build a strategy and practical tips for improving your organization’s outreach and engagement through nonprofit content marketing.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and, ultimately, drive profitable customer action.

Content marketing for nonprofits means crafting content that informs, inspires and organizes people to support a cause. Unlike traditional marketing, which often pushes products or services through direct advertising, content marketing pulls interest by aligning with the audience’s values and interests.

Traditional marketing relies heavily on advertising and direct promotions, often with a broad, somewhat impersonal approach. In contrast, nonprofit content marketing is inherently personal and mission-driven.

For example, while a typical marketing campaign might measure success by sales or revenue increases, you can evaluate a nonprofit campaign’s success by the depth of engagement and community support it generates.

This difference shifts the focus from monetary metrics to meaningful impact metrics. Such an approach aligns with your organization’s mission-driven goals of fostering community involvement and support. Content marketing can drive substantial impact even with a limited budget.

Crucial components of nonprofit content marketing resonate with potential donors, volunteers and advocates. For example:

• Storytelling: Sharing success stories of how donations have impacted real lives.
• Educational content: Blog posts about the issues your nonprofit is solving.
• Engagement-driven media: Like videos that showcase your nonprofit’s work and its benefits.

Why Nonprofits Need a Content Marketing Strategy

Nonprofits face unique challenges and opportunities that require a distinct approach to content marketing. Unlike commercial entities, nonprofits must capture hearts and minds, not just wallets, to build support and engagement that result in long-term success.

Nonprofit organizations are constantly under pressure to prove their worth to donors, volunteers and their communities. This involves raising funds and maintaining transparency and trust.

The opportunity here lies in the deep, emotional connections you can create through compelling storytelling, highlighting the real-world impacts of donations and involvement.

Nonprofit content marketing is a powerful tool for communicating your stories and missions. You can navigate the challenges of limited budgets and varied audiences by using content to educate, engage and inspire. This approach will help you turn each piece of content into an opportunity to showcase your value and deepen relationships.

Benefits of a Content Marketing Strategy

Some benefits of implementing a content strategy to support your nonprofit goals include the following:

Drives Donations

Securing donations is crucial for sustaining your nonprofit’s activities and expanding your impact.

Effective digital marketing for nonprofits taps into the emotions of potential donors by vividly demonstrating the direct benefits of their contributions through stories and case studies. You can promote trust and encourage more generous giving by articulating how each donation makes a tangible difference.

Strategic content like impact reports, donor testimonials and funding announcements can significantly enhance fundraising efforts.

Raises Awareness

Awareness is the first step in engaging the community and gaining support for a cause. Content marketing is vital in educating the public about your nonprofit’s mission and the issues it addresses.

You can effectively broaden your reach and inform a larger audience by distributing well-crafted articles, infographics and videos across various platforms. A content marketing strategy helps you educate and build a more extensive base of informed supporters who can advocate for and support your nonprofit’s cause.

Promotes Your Cause

Promoting your cause is about making your nonprofit’s work relevant and resonant with your target audience and potential supporters.

When people resonate with your cause, they are more likely for people to endorse, support and share your cause with others. Getting more supporters drives community engagement and support.

A content marketing strategy can make your cause more relevant to your audience by highlighting its uniqueness, community impact and success stories. Engaging content such as social media posts, blog entries and promotional videos can help amplify your message.

Recruit Members and Volunteers

Volunteers and members are the backbone of nonprofit organizations. They provide the necessary workforce and advocacy to drive initiatives.

A strong content marketing strategy can attract these vital resources by highlighting the rewarding experiences of current volunteers and the positive changes they help bring about. Implement content like volunteer spotlights, interviews and day-in-the-life videos to paint a compelling picture of the community and the personal benefits of getting involved. The result inspires more people to take active roles in your organization.

How To Build a Nonprofit Content Marketing Strategy

Building a strategic nonprofit content marketing plan tailored to your organization’s unique needs and goals is essential to effectively engage supporters and achieve your mission.

Make SMART goals

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework helps ensure that each goal is well-defined and trackable and aligns marketing efforts with the broader objectives of your organization.

To set SMART goals, specify what you want to achieve. For example, your aim can be to increase monthly blog traffic by 30% within six months.

Make sure that this goal is:

• Measurable with specific metrics.
• Achievable with your resources.
• Relevant to your mission.
• Tied to a clear deadline.

Here’s another example. Suppose your nonprofit aims to raise awareness about a new program. In that case, a SMART goal might be: “Increase the number of subscribers to our newsletter by 20% in three months by promoting the subscription link through monthly educational webinars.”

Use nonprofit SWOT analysis to refine your strategy by identifying your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This approach helps streamline your efforts and significantly boosts your ability to evaluate success and make necessary adjustments.

Determine your audience

Understanding your audience involves identifying demographic details like age, location, interests and the issues they care about. This knowledge allows you to tailor your content to resonate deeply with those who can have the most impact as donors, volunteers or advocates. In other words, ensure your messages reach the right people most likely to support your cause.

You can determine your audience by:

• Conducting surveys
• Analyzing social media interactions
• Reviewing engagement metrics on existing content

For example, suppose you run a social media campaign and notice higher engagement rates from a particular age group or region. Utilize these insights to guide you and focus more on these demographics.

After determining your audience, update their profile regularly so your content remains relevant and engaging. This way, you can maximize its effectiveness in promoting your nonprofit’s goals.

Choose Your Promotional Channels

Choosing the right promotional channels involves selecting platforms where your target audience is most active, whether it’s social media, email newsletters, blogs or traditional media outlets. It can boost your nonprofit’s message and increase your content’s reach.

To select appropriate channels, first review where past successful engagements occurred—did your audience interact more on Instagram, or were they more responsive to email campaigns?

For instance, platforms like Instagram and TikTok might be most effective if you’re targeting a younger demographic. Schedule regular posts and updates when your audience is most active to increase visibility and engagement. Adapt your strategy based on engagement metrics and feedback to sustain relevance and effectiveness in your communications.

Craft Your Messaging for Your Mission

Crafting your messaging to align with your mission ensures consistency and clarity in how people perceive and understand your nonprofit. This step involves creating content that communicates your goals, values and the impact of your work—using language that resonates with your audience.

Start by defining your mission statement and key objectives. Use these as a foundation for all your nonprofit’s content, and ensure that each piece reinforces your core message.

For example, if your nonprofit wants to improve literacy, your messages could highlight stories of individuals who benefit from your programs.

Use emotive language to connect on a personal level. Instead of simply stating, “Our program helped 100 children learn to read,” you might say, “Thanks to your support, 100 bright young minds now have the joy of exploring new worlds through reading every day.”

This approach draws the audience into the narrative and makes them feel part of something meaningful and impactful. It highlights the outcomes and the beneficiaries’ emotional and transformative experiences.

Analyze Content Performance and Engagement

Analyzing content performance and engagement involves measuring how your audience interacts with your content. Such analysis includes metrics like views, shares, comments and conversion rates. Understanding the effectiveness of your nonprofit’s content marketing strategy is crucial.

To conduct this analysis, use tools like Google Analytics for web content or analytic features built into your social media platforms. Review these metrics regularly (monthly or quarterly) to identify trends.

For example, if a particular blog post about volunteer stories receives many shares, this indicates that stories of impact resonate with your audience. Use these insights to refine your content strategy. Focus more on what works and adjust or discontinue what doesn’t.

Types of Content for Nonprofits to Create

To effectively engage and expand their audience, you should diversify your content creation across several impactful formats. Each of these formats is tailored to specific goals and audience interactions. Implement them in your content marketing strategy based on your goals and prospective supporters.

Blogs

Blogs help you share deeper insights, stories and updates about your nonprofit’s work and mission. This format allows for longer-form written content that can explore topics in detail. It provides a platform for demonstrating thought leadership, education and community engagement.

You can create a blog on your website and post regularly—perhaps weekly or bi-weekly—to keep content fresh and audiences engaged.

For example, the Charity: Water blog effectively uses this medium to share stories from the field, project updates and personal stories about how donations are used. Such implementation helps to connect donors directly with the impact of their contributions.

Infographics

Infographics simplify complex information into digestible, visually engaging content that can quickly convey key messages and data. This format is effective for illustrating statistics, showing the impact of donations or explaining the scope of a problem and your nonprofit’s efforts to address it.

To reach a broad audience, you can create infographics using tools like Canva or Adobe Illustrator and share them across social media platforms, websites, and email newsletters. For instance, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) often uses infographics to communicate the importance of conservation efforts, displaying data on endangered species and habitat loss in an impactful way. Here’s an example of an infographic illustrating climate change and its impact on multiple generations.

Case Studies

Case studies provide tangible evidence of your nonprofit organization’s impact through detailed stories of individual beneficiaries or successful projects. This content type helps build credibility and trust by showcasing real-world examples of your nonprofit’s work making a difference.

You can create case studies by selecting compelling examples highlighting your achievements and documenting them through interviews, data analysis and before-and-after scenarios. Share these case studies on your organization’s website, through newsletters and in presentations to donors.

For instance, Doctors Without Borders often shares case studies that detail their medical interventions in crisis zones, showing the direct benefits of donor contributions and the expertise of their teams. These narratives are robust fundraising and volunteer recruitment tools, vividly illustrating the organization’s effectiveness and the urgent need for continued support.

Videos

Videos offer a dynamic way to tell stories, showcase the impact of their work, and connect emotionally with audiences. This content type can bring the reality of a nonprofit’s mission to life, making it more relatable and compelling.

You can create videos ranging from detailed documentaries about your work to quick updates or heartfelt thank-you messages from beneficiaries.

Here’s how you can distribute your videos to reach a diverse audience.:

• Share these videos across social media platforms
• Include them in email campaigns
• Embed them in website pages

A great example is Charity: Water’s YouTube channel, which effectively uses videos to demonstrate the impact of clean water projects on communities. The videos often feature personal stories from the field, providing a transparent view of project outcomes and the tangible difference donations make.

On-demand webinars and training

On-demand webinars and training help educate and engage a broad audience about your cause, operations or specific issues that your nonprofit addresses. This format allows supporters and the public to learn at their convenience, which increases accessibility and participation.

Create these resources by recording live sessions or producing pre-recorded modules that your audience can access through their website or a dedicated learning platform.

The Alzheimer’s Association offers a good example. It provides a range of on-demand webinars and training sessions that help families, caregivers and the general public understand Alzheimer’s disease, care strategies and the latest research. These resources are vital for spreading knowledge and effectively supporting their community.

Newsletters

Newsletters provide a direct and consistent line of communication with supporters, allowing your nonprofit to inform your audience about news, updates and opportunities for involvement. This tool helps maintain engagement and fosters a strong community around the cause.

Using newsletters is one of the best practices in nonprofit email marketing. You can set up a regular schedule for their newsletters, such as monthly or quarterly, and distribute them via email to their subscriber list. Content can include project updates, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and impact stories.

A notable example is the American Red Cross, which uses newsletters to update donors and volunteers about ongoing relief efforts, blood drives and training sessions.

Best Practices for Successful Content Marketing for Nonprofits

Apply these best practices to maximize the impact and efficiency of your content marketing.

Segment your audience

Segmenting your audience means dividing them into smaller groups based on characteristics such as demographics, interests or past interactions with your organization. This approach allows for more targeted and relevant communication, and you can tailor your messaging to resonate better with each segment.

Implement this practice using data from your association CRM or event marketing software. You can track and categorize supporters by engagement levels, donation history or event participation.

For example, you might send different emails to one-time donors than recurring donors or customize content for young volunteers rather than older supporters.

Make Storytelling a Focus

Storytelling helps your nonprofit to build an emotional connection with the audience by making your cause relatable and the impact tangible. This practice involves sharing real-life examples of how your organization has made a difference. Weave facts with personal stories to engage and inspire action.

Implement nonprofit storytelling by collecting stories from people your work affects, volunteers and staff. Share these narratives through various channels such as your website, social media, and newsletters.

For instance, a nonprofit like Make-A-Wish might share a detailed story of a child’s wish being fulfilled, including the planning, the emotional impact on the family and the joy the child experienced.

Be Consistent

Consistency in content marketing for nonprofits promotes and maintains trust with your audience. Being consistent means regularly producing and sharing content that aligns with your nonprofit’s voice, style and mission. It reassures your audience about your reliability and commitment.

Establishing a content calendar and sticking to a regular publishing schedule—whether weekly blog posts, bi-weekly newsletters or daily social media updates—can build consistency.

For example, the World Food Programme maintains consistency by sharing regular updates and stories across their social platforms, highlighting their ongoing efforts and the impact of their work. This keeps the audience informed and the nonprofit at the forefront of the mind to increase engagement and support.

Use SEO

SEO for nonprofits can boost the visibility of their online content and make it easier for potential supporters to find you through search engines. SEO involves optimizing website content, including keywords, meta descriptions and backlinks, to rank higher in search results.

You can optimize your online content for SEO by researching relevant keywords related to your mission. Then, incorporate them into your website content, blog posts, and social media descriptions.

For example, a nonprofit focused on environmental conservation might use keywords like “conservation tips,” “protect endangered species” or “sustainable practices.”

Advertising and Promotion

Advertising and promotion involve using targeted ads on social media, search engines, and other digital platforms to promote events, campaigns, or general awareness about the organization.

You can practice this strategy by setting up campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Google Ads or Instagram, targeting specific demographics that align with their mission. For instance, a nonprofit focused on youth education could run targeted ads during back-to-school seasons. These ads can feature compelling calls to action encouraging donations or volunteer sign-ups.

Google Ad Grant

The Google Ad Grant is an opportunity that offers up to $10,000 per month in free advertising on Google for nonprofits. You can use this grant to run ads that appear in search results, helping to drive traffic to your website and attract more donations without additional cost. Use this grant to run search ads targeting users seeking ways to support community initiatives.

Track Your Progress and Pivot When Needed

This agile approach allows you to optimize your content strategy and make necessary adjustments to maximize impact and resource efficiency. It involves regularly assessing the performance of marketing activities against set objectives, using metrics such as:

• Website traffic
• Engagement rates
• Fundraising totals

You can review these metrics through tools like Google Analytics and social media insights. For example, if a particular type of content consistently underperforms, you might pivot to focus more on content formats that have proven more successful. If you discover that video content generates more engagement than text posts, you can allocate more resources to video production.

Launch Your Nonprofit Content Marketing Strategy

As you implement or refine your content marketing strategy, consider that the key to success lies in consistently applying the above best practices and evaluating your plan regularly.

Use tools to track your progress, and be ready to adapt your approach based on the data. This dynamic method ensures that your content marketing efforts remain fresh and continually resonate with your supporters.

WildApricot is a nonprofit management software that offers top-rated solutions explicitly tailored for nonprofit organizations. This platform helps you achieve your goals and simplifies your daily operations by providing a comprehensive suite of tools for handling everything from member management to event planning.

Activate your 60-day free trial and see how WildApricot improves your connection with your audience, promotes your mission and expands your impact.