If you’re one of those nonprofits, you’re likely on a tight budget so you can use the most funds possible to achieve your organization’s goals.

That means you might not have a full-time marketing person (or even a part-time one!) and a few goals to get your marketing strategy off the ground effectively.

Fortunately, the internet is full of marketing materials that you can download and customize to suit your organization’s needs. Welcome to the world of templates!

Whether you want to quickly create professional images or design an entire website, there’s a template for that. Keep reading to learn about four kinds of templates that can totally change your nonprofits’ marketing strategy.

1. Canva

Canva is a time-saving online design wizard with numerous templates. The basic signup is free, but if you use their images, you may have to pay a small fee of $1 for each. You can also use their templates and replace the image they’ve used with your own uploaded image.

Canva’s social media post templates are particularly helpful for marketers. There are templates for specific social media sites — such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest — as well as a general template. You can either use the template as-is or use for inspiration to create your own designs.

2. Buffer

Posting regularly on social media can gain you additional followers and help convert browsers into loyal fans. Buffer is a social scheduling app that allows you to schedule your posts ahead of time. They have a basic template that allows you to upload an image, add some text and choose which social media sites you want the post to appear on and when.

Buffer is a huge timesaver for those doing their own social media marketing. You can pre-schedule posts weeks in advance, so you never have to worry about falling behind and leaving social media silent.

The site also includes this helpful post on their blog with social media reporting and headline templates that you can use.

3. Google Docs

At first glance, you might overlook Google Docs as too simplistic, but the built-in brochure, project proposal and newsletter templates give you endless possibilities.

If you haven’t yet tried a cloud-based organizer, you’re going to love the flexibility of these templates, and how easy they are to share with other team members for editing.

Google’s “G Suite” includes Docs, which offers flyer and resume templates, and Sheets, which is similar to Excel for creating functional spreadsheets and forms.

Meanwhile, Slides offers templates for slideshows, and Forms is home to templates such as polls, pop quizzes and lists. All these free tools are available through Google Docs.

4. WordPress themes

WordPress is a popular website designing and content management system that can help you get blog posts going or just give you a simple Internet presence.

However, finding just the right theme that matches your overall vision for your brand can be quite a challenge. You can pay hundreds of dollars for someone to design a custom theme, but what if you aren’t yet ready to budget that much into your website costs?

WordPress.org offers free themes uploaded by the open-source community that you can use. Some of the themes have additional features you can add on later for a fee, but these themes at least give you a good template to start with and impress your visitors.

These tools give you a head start on your marketing work. Starting with a theme, then customizing it, saves you time and lets you work smarter, not harder.

When it comes to making the most of your marketing time for your nonprofit, templates allow you to keep your budget in check but still get some traction with the public.

The post 4 Resources to Transform Your Marketing Strategy appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Here are three important nonprofit conferences coming up this summer, along with some tips on how your organization can use them to stand out.

National Urban League Annual Conference

Location: The America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis

Dates: July 26-29

Details: The National Urban League Conference is the largest conference focusing on civil rights, with more than 20,000 attendees on an annual basis. The main purpose is to raise and address the issues and challenges facing African-Americans, including employment, health care, small business and housing. It’s a good opportunity for any nonprofit dealing with any of these issues.

Nonprofit HRCon

Location: Hebrew Union College in New York

Date: Aug. 3

Details: New York Nonprofit Media’s annual Nonprofit HRCon is a convention designed to help empower groups of all types. There are opportunities for networking, as well as sessions on how to create an innovative work environment and recruiting best practices. It also features an exhibit room and career fair where groups and potential recruits can meet and network.

Young Nonprofit Professional Network National Conference

Location: Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta

Dates: Aug. 11-14

Details: The annual National Conference of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network is exactly what it sounds like — a chance for young professionals in the nonprofit sector to meet, network and learn about the latest in their field. The conference includes Deep Dive sessions in which attendees spend half a day or a whole day learning about a leadership skill or topic. There are also innovation tours showcasing how other nonprofits go about their business.

How Your Group Can Stand Out

Here are three ways your group can stand out at these three nonprofit conferences, as well as other conventions and events that pop up throughout the year.

1. Embrace Social Media: Social media is a key component of the operations of most nonprofits these days, and that should be no different when it comes to conferences. Use the various social platforms to engage conference attendees, as well as to inform those who might not be on site. Most conferences use various tools such as Twitter hashtags to help stimulate the online conversation.

2. Don’t Overlook Signage: Trying to network with and meet potential recruits on the convention floor can be a tough proposition. Busy conventions can get hectic with all types of groups, organizations and companies competing to get the attention of attendees. One way to stand out is to utilize custom signage to draw attention to the fact that you’re there. Convention booths that look clean and professional tend to draw the most traffic.

3. Do Your Own Networking: Not only should you meet and network with as many attendees as possible, but you should also get yourself and your group in front of as many other nonprofits as you can. If you can position yourself as a leader and sound example in the nonprofit sector among your peers, that sentiment will no doubt trickle down to potential recruits and employees.

Conferences for nonprofits are great ways to both learn about the latest in your field, and also build support for your cause.

And, if you plan to attend any nonprofit conferences into 2018, don’t forget about Cause Camp! You can sign up here to stay in the loop as the event gets closer.

The post 3 Nonprofit Conferences You Don’t Want to Miss This Summer (and How to Stand Out From the Crowd) appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

In order to succeed in their missions, these nonprofits need to stand out, attract the right donors and sponsors, acquire grants and rally volunteers to their causes. How do you get noticed in a busy world with many growing and pressing concerns? Getting noticed in the public eye happens through action and taking steps to do good work.

But in order to educate the community and remain visible and vital, you need to keep these three simple truths in mind.

1. You Need a Professional Web Presence

If your nonprofit and its volunteers are out in the world doing good works, their actions will be noticed. Lives will be impacted by the time taken to care for and about others, yet a broader visibility is required to grow. In this technologically driven world, a professional web presence is vital to the sustainability of any nonprofit.

Your nonprofit needs its own web address to direct volunteers to areas of need and donors to pages about making a contribution. A website can be affordably built and maintained for upstart charities by using a website builder such as Wix or a WordPress template. Enough can’t be said for a professionally designed website. Consult with a local graphic designer to start planning your website.

Your professional web presence extends beyond the website. You’ll need social media channels in the areas where you will best reach your audience. As of 2014, 98 percent of nonprofits used Facebook to network, while Twitter followed at 70 percent. Different social channels could be used for different types of audiences, such as using YouTube to train volunteers through video.

Establish your social media presence by asking who your target audience is. Include age, location, socio-economic background and more.

2. Your Cause Needs to Be Relatable

How clear is your mission statement? How you present that mission statement will be different for each audience — perhaps more formally for corporate sponsors and less formally for volunteers you want to encourage.

Forget wordy and lengthy explanations and statistics for a moment and get back to basics with a relatable elevator pitch. Focus on why you cared enough to get involved. Why should they donate time or money to this cause?

Well thought-out goals and detailed plans should be simple to share. Relevant facts and calls to action in easily digestible bites of information rouse people to do their part. So — what is their part?
Break it down for them and be aware of your long-term and short-term goals. Maybe you know that over 21 million Americans have a substance addiction and only one in five individuals ever get help. If you’re looking to bridge the gap, detail how you know your nonprofit can help those four individuals who slip through the cracks — with the community’s help. Is that through navigating treatment programs and information and linking resources to the people? Is it by offering scholarships to younger individuals who successfully complete a program and apply to college?

If anyone has ever slipped through the cracks — missed out on education or had a relative addicted to a substance, for example — the cause will be relatable. Make it a conversation.

3. You Need to Outreach for Publicity

Outreach for publicity and network like you mean it, because you do mean it. Reach out to mentors and leaders in your community who have had an eye on your nonprofit. Ask them to make introductions to foundations — if not to sponsor then to collaborate on events for the greater good of the community.

Create an advocacy plan to amplify your nonprofit, distributed across relevant channels and filled with data and opportunities to act. Listen to the needs of others in the community and share resources. Contribute to supporters, too. Think of your experts as brand ambassadors who will communicate your cause in a relatable way, inspiring collaboration and action. When events and successes occur, announce them and get them covered!

Nonprofits serve their communities by getting resources to the people who need them and bridging gaps in opportunity. Visibility is vital to the nonprofit’s sustainability. But in order to grow, nonprofits need to get noticed — and that’s best done by developing a professional web presence, making sure your cause is relatable and outreaching for publicity.

By following these simple truths, your nonprofit will be noticed and you can focus on doing good works.

The post 3 Simple Truths About Getting Your Nonprofit Noticed appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

1. Take a Multi-Layered Approach

Many nonprofits make the mistake of using just one outreach technique, like email. Instead, personalize your approach based on what you know about the prospect and don’t be afraid to use several methods ranging from phone calls to snail mail.

2. Offer Obvious Signs of Approval From High-Profile Sources

If your nonprofit was written about favorably in a BBC news article last year or rated highly by Charity Navigator, mention those achievements prominently in your reports and on your website. Charity Navigator recently gave the Clinton Foundation the highest possible rating and that distinction is publicized on the charity’s website with a special badge in the footer. When company representatives see good indicators, they’ll be more eager to connect with you.

3. Identify Companies That Share Your Values

You’re more likely to experience positive results if you create partnerships with companies that have values similar or identical to your own. If your nonprofit works hard to reduce the effects of climate change, it’s probably not a good idea to approach a company that was mentioned in the newspaper last week because of its harmful environmental practices.

4. Describe How Your Nonprofit Directly Helps the Local Area

If you’ve secured an all-important meeting with a company leader, it’s in your best interests to highlight your worth. Consider sharing thorough details about how your nonprofit has a direct and positive impact in the local community, not just the world at large. That way, company representatives can easily visualize the good things that could potentially happen via a partnership with you.

Plus, the relationship they have with you ties into their corporate social responsibility plans. Reynolds Enterprises has a special section on its website about social responsibility. It’s a place where nonprofit partnerships are mentioned, including details about notable causes.

5. Reveal How a Company’s Employees Could Pitch In

When employers look for ways to optimize their relationships with nonprofits, they often need guidance about how to let individual employees contribute on top of any organization-wide initiatives. That’s why it’s smart to bring up specific ways people can volunteer at your nonprofit. Make sure to specify types of assistance needed and required time commitments.

6. Be Honest About Your Intentions

There’s so much emphasis put on relationship building during outreach that some people forget to be up front about the business side of things. Don’t waste time showering a company with compliments without ever stating what you need from them. The truth will come out even if you don’t disclose it, and you don’t want companies feeling manipulated because they thought you were being dishonest in your approach.

7. Come Up With Amazing, Relevant Subject Lines

When you rely on email to make contact, strengthen your outreach communication techniques by using subject lines that are personalized, intriguing and unique. Emails are easy to delete, so it’s especially important to make them as interesting as possible, starting with the subject lines.

8. Provide Reciprocal Support

Partnerships come in many forms, and some may begin when a prominent company simply follows your nonprofit on social media. No matter what route your partnership takes, always do what you can to support your supporters, even if the things you do to show appreciation are different than what they give to you.

9. Become Knowledgeable About Respective Industries

Before approaching a business about a potential partnership, do thorough research and determine the factors about your nonprofit that are most attractive to the company’s industry. For example, if your nonprofit’s clean water initiative reduced cases of illnesses caused by contaminated supplies by 20 percent, that accomplishment would probably be of particular interest to businesses in the health care sector.

10. Talk About Mutual Benefits

In most cases, business representatives know nonprofits have motives before even meeting with them, and that’s okay. You shouldn’t hide the fact you’re trying to get something from a business. Take time to also explain how a proposed partnership would help your nonprofit and benefit the company you’re approaching, too. Company representatives should find it’s easier to answer the “what’s in it for me?” question.

This list of tips will help you feel more equipped to start building worthwhile partnerships with businesses. Put them into practice soon, and remember it may take time to perfect your approach.

The post 10 Partnership Outreach Tips For Nonprofits appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Making donating fun encourages people to come back, and repeat donations are vital. Check out these ideas for tips on how to make donating to your organization more appealing:

Donate a Photo

This isn’t a competition or anything unless you’re looking for a way to let more people see your pictures. Johnson & Johnson’s Donate a Photo app is an easy way to browse other’s pictures and post your own, in a similar method to sharing pictures on Facebook or Instagram. This is a simple platform that only requires moderation to make sure inappropriate pictures don’t make the cut.

Those photos then become public, and others can share them on social media. Each picture donates $1 to the charity of your choice. There isn’t a game as far as being able to “win” something, but maybe the staff picks their favorite pictures. Those are then used to promote the charity, along with hashtags.

The takeaway: Letting people pick and choose which images matter to them not only encourages them to donate, but it also gives you a look at who they are and who you’re attracting.

Budge

Budge is a fun, competition-based app that allows you to play against your friends. You can challenge your friends to just about anything, and the loser pays for the donation.

The donation amounts are small, to encourage people to play more often — and you really can challenge your friends to anything, including a pizza eating contest, race or even a pie-baking contest. If you can think of it, you can make it for a good cause.

The takeaway: Combine individuals’ ingenuity with tiny donations and a competitive atmosphere, and you have a recipe for success. The more ideas you can put together to make a winning combination, the more likely you are to succeed.

Vaccines on the Go

This app, Vaccines on the Go created by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), is designed to give parents quick, accurate data regarding vaccines. With the influx of “alternative facts,” good, reliable information is becoming harder to distinguish from biased, cherry-picked, misleading data points.

This app seeks to cut though some of that noise, and it does it partially by including some vaccine-related games. Matching games and hangman are both popular options, where you can use your vaccine knowledge to win the game!

The takeaway: The idea that’s being used here is not gamification to make money, although it probably will eventually. Instead, it’s to spread awareness, along with developing and maintaining relationships with those involved in the sector. This civic outreach and external relationship management is sometimes overlooked at nonprofits, often to their own disservice.

Free Rice

Free Rice was one of the first truly free play-to-donate games. It’s not dissimilar to other time-waster games, but with an added benefit. Every correct answer you get donates 10 grains of rice. That’s not a lot, but if you get 1,000 right answers — which won’t take long — you’ll donate 10,000 grains of rice. That’s a bowl of food for someone in need.

It’s a learning-based platform, and it allows you to pick and choose the subjects you play. There are options about art, literature, math, anatomy and even SAT prep course questions. You can track your score, bring in your friends and even work in groups. They also partner with others to give out a prize to high scorers, with a matching donation to their own company.

The takeaway: Offer people who engage with your nonprofit both immediate and long-term rewards. In this case, Free Rice offers the immediate reward of knowing you helped feed someone in need, while also offering long-term rewards like prizes.

There are a huge variety of ways to work games into your nonprofit. These are just a few ideas, with leaderboard and group competitions, challenging your friends, civic outreach and even mimicking social media platforms all combining to help generate donors in different ways.

Finding what will work for your nonprofit takes work, ingenuity and tech savviness — but with a little effort, you might have even some luck crowdsourcing a brand new idea!

The post 4 Nonprofits That Gamified Their Funding (and Tips for You to Copy) appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

When traditional recruiting tactics start to return lackluster results, consider implementing these five creative and free approaches to attracting volunteers:

Mine Your Social Network

Maybe the volunteers you’re looking for have been right under your nose the whole time. Ask your friends and family if they or someone they know might want to volunteer. Ask your current volunteers and other staff members to do the same, and suddenly you have an army of recruiters working for you.

If every volunteer asks a friend who asks another friend, your reach will grow exponentially. Plus, a recommendation from a friend is worth much more than one from someone you don’t know.

Go Global

In today’s connected world, why limit yourself to your local area? If you have a job that doesn’t require someone to be on site, consider letting volunteers do it remotely.

Some possible remote volunteer jobs include writing newsletters, designing websites, consulting and even making small items that can be mailed in. You can find people to fill these positions on online job boards and sites like Craigslist and Reddit.

If you think a little bit outside the box, you can significantly expand your potential volunteer pool.

Post Information About Your Organization

Although being somewhere in person will draw more attention, you can still have a presence at local hotspots without physically spending your day there.

By printing out flyers or posters and putting them up on local bulletin boards, you can advertise your organization practically for free.

To make the process extra fun and to make your posters extra eye-catching, consider having a poster design contest. It’ll give local artists a chance to show off their skills, and you’ll get a striking advertisement.

Consider adding a QR code to the poster, too, so people can easily access your website, more information about the opportunity and a volunteer application. Make the application easy to download on mobile and desktop, so people can easily sign up.

Then, just have your current volunteers hang up the fliers in places they frequent or think might be popular with your future volunteers.

Have Some Fun

Volunteering shouldn’t be all work and no play. Hosting fun local events could help draw more volunteers to your organization.

As far as what those fun events could be, your imagination is the only limitation. You could have a potluck dinner and open it up to the public and have your staff and employees invite friends. Maybe you could host a meet-up at a local bar or restaurant. You could also plan a basketball tournament at the local park. Really, the possibilities are endless.

Contact Schools

College and high-school students are often in need of volunteer opportunities, and you’re in need of volunteers, so why not give them a call.

Students that participate in service organizations or other clubs often need volunteer hours to remain members of those clubs. Others may just be looking to beef up their resume.

Contact local schools and see what students and organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities. It’s a win-win for you and the students.

You don’t have to stick to the usual methods for recruiting volunteers. Getting creative with your strategies can help you stand out from the crowd, get your name out there and make people want to choose you to volunteer with.

The post 5 Creative (and Free!) Ways to Attract More Volunteers appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

It also helps that the cost to produce virtual reality content is dropping, making the prospect more feasible.

Some people think virtual reality could revolutionize the film industry in less than a decade. But virtual reality has played a role in changing other industries too, such as the nonprofit sector. Let’s look at how nonprofits have applied this technology already, and opportunities for nonprofits to use it in the future.

Highlight the Severity of a Problem

Sometimes words alone just can’t convey how worrisome a problem has become, especially gradual ones such as climate change. Many people are under the impression climate change won’t cause problems in their lifetimes, so they don’t feel compelled to take action to stop it.

In an effort to change perspectives and show how urgent this issue is, The Sierra Club created the first ever VR video about climate change, in partnership with the Environmental Media Association and RYOT, and got Academy Award-winning actor Jared Leto to narrate it. The footage puts viewers in the heart of the Arctic and takes them through immersive experiences that indicate how climate change has far-reaching effects that are already taking place.

The timing of this video’s release was strategic too. It came out last year just days before scheduled talks held to reach an international agreement on conquering climate change.

Make People More Empathetic

If people don’t feel connected to nonprofit organizations, they’re not likely to give their time or money to support them. After all, the primary goal of nonprofits is to build relationships. Creating such connections can be difficult though, especially if the individuals do not have firsthand experience with certain situations.

For example, nonprofits seeking to help cancer patients could use VR technology to help potential donors learn more about standard therapies for treating cancer or what it feels like to be diagnosed with such an illness.

In these ways, VR can be useful by creating experiences that put people in the shoes of those who have been through different situations. When individuals watch VR videos or play games that make the situations faced by others more real to them, they may be more likely to be empathetic and more willing to donate to a good cause that helps others.

Give Detailed Explanations of How Nonprofits Help Others

Spreadsheets, statistics and PowerPoint slides often just don’t resonate when nonprofits try to tell donors how their money is used. Recently, some organizations have relied on VR to fill the void. A nonprofit that works to help AIDS patients in Africa might produce a VR video that puts viewers in the position of one of the organization’s doctors and goes through a typical day in the doctor’s life, detailing how donations of certain amounts make specific things possible.

In 2015, former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea went to East Africa with their Clinton Global Initiative organization to provide aid for the people who live in the region. By itself, such a trip was not unique, but the interesting thing about this journey was that the activities were captured in VR and made into a video that’s been viewed over a million times.

Analysts in the media industry say this VR success story is one that can teach numerous lessons to organizations that follow the Clinton Global Initiative’s lead, particularly in the area of storytelling.

These are just three examples of how the nonprofit sector could use VR. Although it’s exciting when VR is used for purely entertaining purposes, its potential reach goes much further. It could explain why the work nonprofits do is so necessary and save lives.

The post 3 Ways Your Nonprofit Could Benefit From Virtual Reality Going Mainstream appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Sure, there are important national programs like United Way or massive online listings of nonprofits that give credibility and visibility for fundraisers. But it often is the local marketing that comes from trusted, known recommendations that can garner the most benefit.

So how can development directors and nonprofits combine the increased interest in online giving and the importance of a local connection? Here are three ways nonprofits can work local marketing into their fundraising strategies.

Edit Your Landing Page

All roads lead to home, and all clicks lead to your landing page. It is your home base for online traffic, which, as we know from the Benchmark Study, is on the rise. Solid fundraising landing pages should have clear, concise calls to action with evident ways to donate.

The Humane Society is a great example of a fundraising landing page. The visual image is strong, there are multiple places to donate, all clearly labeled, and the message is concise: “You’re here to help animals. So are we. Join us.”

On the international front, Catholic Relief Services has strong imagery and a simple message, “Help children and families around the world.” They also put a price tag on the attainable monthly donation: “Make a difference for as little as 40 cents a day.”

These examples are similar in that they let images tell the story, including real-life examples of donors as well those who benefit from services and a clear call to action. Potential donors almost don’t have to think — they instinctively gravitate towards the donate button.

Optimize Your Content for Your Location

Now that you’ve seen how national and international organizations use graphics and messaging to build a strong page, how can we apply that locally?

First of all, make sure your language is geared towards your city. For-profit businesses have gotten quite good at this, and it’s time nonprofits took note. For example, Merlin Communications optimized this page for the Philadelphia area. This strategy can be applied to nonprofits like those that may have multiple streams of donors, which can create multiple pages for fundraising or donation efforts in certain areas.

Including the hometown in your donor or client testimonials, featuring local events like your most recent 5K or using photos that include local landmarks are other ways to optimize your content based on your location.

Finally, make sure that your address and phone number are on every page, as well as in online business directories. Why? Search engines look for addresses and phone numbers for local optimization. So claim your listing on sites like Google My Business and Bing Places for Business to increase your visibility.

Invest in Crowdfunding

Not every nonprofit can create its own viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on crowdfunding. Brainstorm a project or drive that is social media friendly. For example, instead of debt-forgiveness, build a campaign for a tangible item like new ultrasound machines or expanded hours at the soup kitchen. While crowdfunding may not always make sense for nonprofits, there are those organizations who really rely on it. And for them, local communities are very important.

Also, think of ways to involve your supporters’ social networks. For example, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital hosts a “Dedicate My Birthday” program. It allows you to use the occasion of your birthday to send family and friends a message with a link to a personalized fundraising portal. Guiding you through the process, St. Jude allows users to personalize their pages with messages and photos, make their own donations and then share with family and friends to maximize donations. It gives these birthday boys and girls that ability to track their fundraising progress and also send thank yous through this portal.

This allows your supporters to do the local marketing for you. You will hold on to those leads, and they have used their credibility and relationships to bring more people into your sphere of influence.

Sometimes fundraisers can be so consumed with national or international leads that they forget the importance of investing time and money into local marketing. Add local marketing into your strategic plan today for optimal results.

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Kayla Matthews is a guest contributor for Nonprofit Hub. She is a writer and blogger with a passion for self-improvement and helping others. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter to read all of her latest posts.

The post Why Local Marketing Matters for Fundraising appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

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Take a look at any social media platform, and you’ll see it’s dominated by celebrities and big corporations. Social media is saturated with many users, which makes it difficult for nonprofits to be noticed.

Social media is a great tool for nonprofits and it’s essential in today’s connected culture. Nonprofits aren’t known for strong social media presences, which ultimately hurts their organizations.

Here are seven reasons nonprofits don’t try harder with social media.

1. They Aren’t Aware of Impact

Most nonprofits have been around much longer than social media. They rely on a marketing plan that has worked in the past and they’re set on sticking with that plan. They aren’t fully aware, however, of the significant impact social media can have.

A smart social media campaign can go viral and overwhelm your nonprofit with donations. A few years ago the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took over the Internet. The participants of the challenge ranged from your childhood friends to celebrities, athletes, politicians and business moguls. Not only was it fun to challenge your friends, it raised awareness for ALS and dramatically increased donations for research.

2. Nonprofits Think They’re Active

Many organizations believe they need a social media presence. Unfortunately, the term social media presence is often perceived as simply creating an account, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Making a social media account and not doing anything with it won’t benefit your nonprofit. You won’t magically receive more donations simply because you have a Facebook account. You have to use the account to engage with your audience and spark conversations about your cause.

3. They Annoy Their Followers

Once you decide to be more active on social media, the fear of annoying your followers kicks in. You start to think that promotional content asking for donations will be tiring or cause you to receive negative feedback.

To avoid annoying your followers, mix up your content. Some posts should engage your followers while others can be promotional. No one will get mad at you for posting promotional content as long as you also post content that will educate and engage.

4. They’re Short on Staff

Many nonprofits don’t try harder with social media because they’re short on staff. Employees might already handle many tasks and social media often becomes an afterthought. If you can, hire a social media marketer. If not, make an effort to have someone work on your social media accounts every day.

5. Nonprofits Don’t Know What They Want to Accomplish

Your nonprofit has a very specific goal for your organization. Your social media strategy shouldn’t be any different. Your organization should aim to accomplish something with your social media account. Do you want more donations? Do you want to raise awareness? Have a profound strategy and accomplish it.

6. They Don’t Know What to Post

The landscape of social media is both vast and intimidating. There are many different types of content posted every day, and it’s challenging to come up with new and original content on a daily basis.

Luckily, there are many strategies that’ll work for your nonprofit. For example, strategies called social selling can create content that engages your audience. You’re essentially selling the likability of your nonprofit’s brand. This will lead to loyal followers and more donations.

7. They Aren’t Seeing Immediate Results

You might post something to Facebook or Twitter and not receive much social traction. No likes or comments is always discouraging. Although immediate results would be nice, it takes time to gain a strong following. Don’t give up on your daily posts. Engagement won’t come overnight, so keep posting and the rest will follow.

Stay Active

If your nonprofit isn’t active on social media, now is the time to start posting content. The most important thing you can do is to stay active and listen to your followers.

A note from the editor:

Having run social media and various internet marketing efforts for nonprofits, I couldn’t agree more with these reasons for stagnancy on social media.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to utilize every form of social media just because it’s there and it’s free. If you’re not going to utilize it, it won’t help. In fact, it will take away from the time you have for other social media platforms that actually serve a purpose. It could even hurt your brand perception. When you do have a few different accounts active for your organization, make sure you’ve developed an overall voice for your brand and stick to it. The next step is to develop a voice for each platform and make sure everyone contributing knows the strategy.

The best way to keep your social media active is to get everyone involved. Someone should be actively and consistently engaged in social media and encourage the rest of the team to passively think about new ideas and creative posts. This will help decrease the chance of missing out on an awesome opportunity for growth, fundraising or engagement. If you don’t have someone solely in charge of running social media, schedule concrete time in your daily (or at least weekly) schedule to give your social media some love.

Keep in mind that there are high school and college students looking for experience wherever they can get it. You can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience without a job. Perfect. Use your connections to find someone who can get their feet wet in social media strategy by taking over your accounts. If they feel ownership in your organization and have trust and freedom to run your social media, they will crush it. The best part is, often they will do it for free or cheap because you’re giving them invaluable professional experience.

The post 7 Reasons Nonprofits Don’t Try Harder with Social Media appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

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Look around you. How much technology is in your general area?

We use technology every day of our lives, whether that be using our phones or surfing the Web. We use it so often because it makes our lives easier. Technology is also used to take in information and learn new things faster than any other generation has before.

Although technology improves our everyday lives, it can also be used to improve society. Many organizations develop apps and gadgets to help those in need. Your nonprofit can learn from this, and develop your own technology that helps people on a daily basis.

Here are five creative technologies that can help to inspire your nonprofit’s efforts.

iRecycle

This app helps the environment by encouraging recycling.

iRecycle is an app that tells you where you can find local recycling locations. It also informs you on what you should recycle and where you can recycle certain materials. You can connect on social media and get in touch with other recycling enthusiasts. This app is like Yelp for recycling, but it helps the environment.

The iRecycle app is an example of an organization making it easier for people to get involved with the message they’re trying to spread. They want people to recycle, and it’s easier to do that when you are fully informed on how and where to do it. Find ways to make it easier for people to be involved with the message of your nonprofit.

Vital Connect

Catch your medical problems before you end up in the emergency room.

Vital Connect is a Band-Aid sized product that tracks vitals such as steps, heart rate, breathing and skin temperature. This small gadget is placed right above your heart, and stays on all the time. It’ll know if something is wrong so you can get immediate medical treatment. It’ll also show doctors what your normal levels are so you can get out of the hospital faster.

This product follows the company’s goal to improve the lives of everyone. It’s similar to how technology saves lives every day.

Access Earth

Your nonprofit can connect and help people around the world.

Access Earth is essentially the Google Maps for people with disabilities. Not only does it accurately locate hotels that are handicapped accessible, but it also gives specific details that might impact different disabilities.

Access Earth is a great example of technology that can help people all over the world. Your nonprofit can help everyone by using the right technology.

Charity Miles

Perform a task and help others; this is the concept of Charity Miles.

This app tracks how much you run or walk, and money will be donated to the charity of your choice based on how much mileage you’ve exercised. Not only will you be inspired to exercise, you’ll also be helping charities at the same time.

Your nonprofit’s technology can help people feel better about themselves while they improve their lives. It’ll also inspire people to donate because they’re getting a lot out of it in comparison to a normal donation.

Reverse the Odds

Want to save peoples’ lives and help work toward a cure for cancer? Reverse the Odds is the game for you.

Reverse the Odds is an app where you look at pictures of real cancer cells of patients that have already been treated. The app is designed as a game, and you get points for accuracy. This game helps scientists spot signs they might have missed, and it ultimately advances cancer research.

Your nonprofit should consider developing an app similar to Reverse the Odds. Think about something that could help the cause of your nonprofit or create buzz around it, but in the form of an entertaining and informational game.

These organizations have created technology that aligns with their goals and help people every day. Define your nonprofit’s goals and create something that improves peoples’ lives.

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