How To Boost Nonprofit Fundraising Using Social Media?

Social media has become an indispensable part of our life—so much so that 4.62 billion people around the world actively use it. Because social media truly helps make a bigger impact today, businesses and organizations, including nonprofits, use it to their advantage. Nonprofits may expand their nonprofit organization to new heights even if they only reach 1% of all social media users.

Social media can help nonprofits maximize their efforts, attract donors and volunteers, raise more funds, and tell their stories. This blog will talk about the benefits of social media for your nonprofit and how to use it to boost your nonprofit fundraising.

Benefit Of Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit

According to NonProfits Source Stats, 55% of people who engage with nonprofits on social media take some action. This clearly states the importance of creating a strong social media presence for your nonprofit organization.

Let’s look at other benefits of using social media for your nonprofit.

1. Reach Wider Audiences

Any nonprofit organization’s primary goal is to raise funds. And to achieve this objective, nonprofits must communicate their mission and impact to more and more people. Making a social media presence is the most effective approach to doing this.

Using social media is vital to reaching a wider audience. It helps you become visible to people who don’t even follow you. When more people discover your nonprofit business and what it does, the higher the chances are that you can raise more funds.

For example, you can create content about your nonprofit business and share it on social media. When your current audience interacts with your content, their network learns about your nonprofit organization as well.

2. Keep Donors Engaged

Like how for-profit businesses have to keep their customers engaged to ensure repeat business, nonprofits need to keep their existing donors engaged. The average recurring donor will donate 42% more in a year than a one-time donor, according to donation data by Network for Good.

Another benefit of keeping existing donors engaged is that they become your brand advocates and ultimately might even encourage others to contribute. There are multiple ways in which you can use social media to engage with your existing donors:

• Post social media content regularly;
• Create visual content like videos to share your impact;
• Run social media contests;
• Go live and talk to your existing donors; and
• Post behind-the-scenes content on your stories.

3. Attract New Donors And Event Attendees

Not all existing contributors will choose to give again. As a result, nonprofits need to draw in new contributors. The most cost-effective way to do this is through social media.

You could always educate people about ongoing fundraising initiatives using your social media platforms. Make it a point to use social media to promote your organization and to share success stories, testimonials, and impact. Sharing the positive results of your nonprofit organization online inspires more people to support it, helping you gain more volunteers.

Running social media ads is another great way to get more people to learn about and support your nonprofit organization.

To attract new event attendees, share the details of your upcoming fundraising events on social media. It might grab the attention of people vested in the cause to attend the event.

4. Grow Your Network Of Partners and Volunteers

For nonprofits, growing their network of partners and volunteers has several benefits. When nonprofits partner with businesses, their funding increases, the donor base increases, and they build a community that’s bound to grow.

Using social media, you can look for businesses whose values align with your mission. Get in touch with founders and CEOs to explain how this partnership will benefit you and their business. 

Businesses are usually eager to partner with nonprofits because it helps them build a strong reputation among customers. Studies say that 85% of consumers have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a charity they care about.

5. Improve Credibility

Building credibility is important for your nonprofit organization. Why? Because it builds trust among donors and assures them that you will use their contributions for better purposes.

Often donors will look you up on social media to know more about your nonprofit business before donating. The impact of donations made in the past, testimonials, and audience engagement are all important factors in building credibility.

Here are a few ways to improve your credibility using social media:

• Share high-quality content;
• Encourage user-generated content;
• Share the impact of previous donations; and
• Get others to advocate for your brand. 

Strategies To Boost Your Nonprofit Fundraising Using Social Media

Ultimately, having a presence on social media is not enough. A proper strategy is also needed to get the best results.

So let’s look at some tried and tested strategies to boost social media efforts for your nonprofit business.

1. Find The Right Social Media Platform

The first and foremost step is to find the right social media platform for your nonprofit. You’ll be better able to reach your target audience using the right platform. This also helps to maximize your social efforts and boost your nonprofit fundraising.  

Nonprofits don’t need to worry as much about choosing the best social media platform as for-profit businesses do because they serve a specific market and audience. But it’s important to understand that each social media platform serves a specific purpose.

For instance, LinkedIn is a professional platform you can use to build “brand recognition.” While Instagram and Facebook can be used for storytelling, branding, raising awareness, and creating targeted ads.

The best way to find the right social media platform is to understand your donor base and choose a social media app popular among your demographic.

2. Add Donation Buttons

You should always make it simple for contributors to give, regardless of how successful your social media campaign is. Donation buttons can be used in this situation. These will act as a call to action leading donors to the donation page where they can easily contribute. 

You may add these contribution buttons to sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in addition to your website. It is not sufficient to simply add a donation button; you also need to customize it to increase its effectiveness.

Check out Donorbox if you’re searching for a quick and simple solution to install a “Donation Button. With Donorbox, you can do the following: 

• Link a “donate now” button to your secure donation page;
• Create a donate button for a popup modal form; and
• Create membership campaigns and use various membership tiers to collect monthly and yearly membership fees.

You could also add a “Donate Button” and make “Page Fundraisers” on Facebook for your organization. Similarly, you can use “Donation Stickers” on stories and a “Donation Button” on your profile to raise funds on Instagram. 

Take a look at this nonprofit’s Instagram profile, for instance, which includes a donation button.

3. Use Hashtags To Boost Your Reach

Using hashtags, you can increase your nonprofit visibility and promote your ongoing or upcoming events and campaigns. Hashtags also play an important role in expanding brand awareness.

Sometimes people don’t search for you intentionally, but they discover your nonprofit when they search specific hashtags.

For example, your audience might search for #nonprofitfundraising and discover your nonprofit posts as search results. They might contribute and follow if they like your work and the change you’re making. 

Similarly, using a hashtag is the best strategy to promote your fundraising campaign. Using hashtags, you can reach more people than your immediate followers. When your campaign gets greater visibility, you attract new donors who help you boost your nonprofit fundraising.

For example, Look at this animal welfare campaign the Virat Kohli Foundation launched on World Stray Animal Day. The organization decided to promote this campaign with the hashtag #AllLivesMatter.

4. Create A Social Media Plan

One of the common reasons most organizations fail to grow on social media is that they don’t have clear goals. When you have a plan, you know what to post and when. All this will help you to maximize your social media reach and boost your nonprofit fundraising.

Most importantly, having a social media plan lets you know what to expect and makes tracking KPIs like leads and conversions much easier.

5. Find Partners And Influencers

Did you know that the influencer marketing industry is projected to expand to a whopping $16.4 billion in 2022? Partnerships and collaborations will open new doors of opportunities for your nonprofit. 

By partnering with influencers on social media, you can increase your brand and cause awareness for your nonprofit. It also helps you build credibility and boost trust among the audience and new donors. 

Influencer marketing is a kind of word-of-mouth marketing but with a wider audience. Influencers on social media have a large following—and they’ve successfully established trust amongst their audiences when it comes to purchasing decisions.

Partner with influencers who, in your opinion, believe in the cause and will have a larger impact in spreading the word. When influencers promote your fundraising campaign or event, it’s likely that more people will show up. 

For example, the largest charity football game in the world, Soccer Aid for UNICEF, recently teamed up with former athletes and celebrities to raise money for kids all around the world, with all earnings going to UNICEF UK. Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2022 raised a record-breaking amount of £15,673,728.

6. Show Behind-The-Scenes Footage

The key to boosting your nonprofit fundraising is to keep your audience engaged. But keep in mind that audiences want to engage with humans, not robots. Hence, sharing behind the scenes of your nonprofit organization helps you show the human side of your company.

Using the “stories” feature on Instagram and Facebook is the best way to share the behind-the-scenes footage of your nonprofit. You can share stories showing efforts made by your team and volunteers. This gives your audience a deeper understanding of what your nonprofit organization does and its efforts to make a campaign successful.

The engagement and trust you build by showing your nonprofit’s authentic side will help boost your fundraising efforts.

For example, Alexander’s Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting organ donation and offering cardiac testing that can save lives, frequently shares behind-the-scenes videos of their fundraising events, board meetings, team activities, etc.

7. Educate with Valuable Content

Content marketing is on the rise. Hence, you should leverage the benefit of content to boost your nonprofit fundraising. Create content to educate the audience about the cause, industry news, and your mission. 

Creating content for your nonprofit can attract new visitors, leads, and donors. 84% of video marketers feel video content has been successful at generating leads, according to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing Survey. Hence you can use platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, Stories, etc., to create short-form video content of 15-60 seconds. 

Keep in mind that audiences don’’t engage much with self-promotional content. So make sure the content you create for your nonprofit isn’t purely self-promotional. Keep it 80% informative and entertaining while 20% self-promotional. 

Bonus Tip: Make storytelling an important part of your content strategy. Use it to engage your audience on an emotional level. As a result, your audience will be more likely to take action by donating money, volunteering their time, or spreading the word.

On its Instagram account, for instance, the Keep A Breast Foundation provides audience members with breast cancer prevention advice and raises awareness about the disease.

8. Share Your Impact

No matter how big or small, don’t forget to post about your nonprofit’s achievements on social media. This helps people know what your nonprofit can accomplish and also lets donors know how their contribution is being used to make a difference. 

Sharing the positive effects of your organization also promotes credibility and confidence with both potential and current donors—and it might just inspire them to keep supporting your cause. 

Celebrating achievements and expressing gratitude to contributors will help you create lasting relationships with them and attract more support down the line. Bringing in new donors and keeping existing ones engaged helps boost your nonprofit fundraising. 

Look at this post by EcoShip Chicago. This is the best example of sharing the impact of your nonprofit on social media and encouraging audiences to contribute.

Boost Your Nonprofit Fundraising Using Social Media

You can quickly raise awareness for your nonprofit by making use of social media. If you already employ one or both of the above tactics but aren’t seeing the desired results, it may be time to evaluate and revise your approach.

In addition to having a solid social media strategy for your organization, it’s essential to monitor and evaluate the outcomes. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; you must continuously experiment.

If you’re wondering how to take your social media strategy to the next level, look no further than The Influence Agency. As a leading digital marketing agency in North America, we make building awareness in social spaces easier than ever.

Connect with us to start making an impact.