Content marketing for non-profits: 4 ways to boost your fundraising efforts

Great content marketing can support your non-profit to do even more good (and boost your fundraising efforts in the process). Here’s why:

Content marketing can help your non-profit raise awareness. Your NFP is a brand, and marketing is an important way to spread the word about what your organisation does. By doing so, you’ll reach a larger audience—and the more people who know about your work, the more potential donors you’ll have access to.

Plus, if it’s applicable to your non-profit, you can also use your marketing channels to build your donor membership base, encourage recurring donations or attract volunteers.

Read on for our non-profit marketing tips.

1. Tell your story

Your non-profit does good in the community, so why not shout it from the rooftops?

Telling stories is an impactful way of building awareness around your brand and engaging your audience. Try profiling your NFP’s history, your recent projects or the work of your dedicated volunteers. Doing so will let a potential donor know exactly what their financial contribution is supporting.

Take our friends at 350.org Australia as an example. They use their website, specifically an ‘About’ page, to detail their mission, vision and history, among other things. It’s clear, concise and compelling, and sure to encourage their audience to make a donation.

2. Refresh your website

Your website is an important digital asset. It promotes your organisation and includes important information—such as your cause, how to donate and your contact details—to help your audience understand how they can get involved. It may also be a content hub that includes a blog and links to your social media profiles.

But, if your website was developed quickly or is out of date, it may not clearly demonstrate your NFP as the worthy cause it is. If this is the case, refreshing your website can promote your work and represent what you do in a way that encourages engagement.

You might even use this opportunity to build on your offerings and do keyword research, taking advantage of tools like SEO to leverage organic search results. So, when a person uses a search engine to look up a term that aligns with your non-profit, it’ll likely appear in the search results.

Recently, Avion’s very own Jacinta and Rhys worked with the Heart Foundation to redevelop their website. Using their editing, copywriting and SEO skills, they optimised the entire website (over 130 pages!) to improve its accessibility and user-experience.

3. Understand your go-to marketing channels

One important way to boost your fundraising efforts is to ensure your marketing channels are reaching a wider audience. There’s no point investing your resources in Facebook, for example, if you know that potential donors don’t use it.

Do some research to understand which marketing channels your potential donors engage with the most. Once you’ve worked this out, you can develop a content strategy and plan to build your online presence. You may even find that your content overlaps. For instance, you might use an email or social media post to promote a blog.

For more info, check out our guide to writing for non-profits.

4. Give video a try

According to the Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018-2023) White Paper, video content will account for more than 80% of internet traffic by 2022. So, if you’re not already using video marketing, it may be worth considering!

Video content is popular because it’s engaging for a range of audiences and it can improve your website’s SEO ranking. Plus, raising awareness of your NFP’s work in this way can also support your fundraising efforts.

Not sure where to start? Check out our tips to improve your video marketing content.

Need a helping hand?

At Avion, we’re big fans of NFPs and we love working with them even more!

We have experience across a range of projects that have supported the content marketing needs of non-profits in Australia and the United States, such as 350.org Australia, the Heart Foundation and Plastic Free July. Find out more about our work. Whether you’re starting from scratch or need guidance to refresh your website, our expert content creators can help. Get in touch today.