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The title of the post, “Board Member Engagement: Tips to Build Strong Connections”

Board Member Engagement: 5 Tips To Build Strong Connections

If you think about your nonprofit as a machine, your board of directors is the engine. Board members make key decisions, contribute to fundraising efforts, and forge connections in the community, all in the name of powering your organization’s purpose.

But what happens when such an integral component of your operations isn’t functioning at its best? Unfortunately, the nonprofit world is notoriously prone to burnout; recent studies have shown that over 95% of nonprofit leaders are concerned about burnout at the highest levels of governance.

To keep your engine firing on all cylinders, you must proactively fight burnout and ensure your board members are as engaged as possible. In this guide, we’ll review how to make the board member experience exciting and rewarding to drive your mission forward.

1. Set clear expectations.

Board members are passionate about your mission and dedicate significant time and money to ensuring your organization runs smoothly. The last thing you want is to blindside them about their roles and dampen their enthusiasm as a result.

Your nonprofit has to do everything in its power to set and adhere to expectations, particularly if your board members are volunteers (which is true for most boards), to ensure a positive experience for everyone. Get started by:

Answering questions before the voting process. The most important time to set expectations is before a prospective board member even decides to run. Set meetings with prospective board members to discuss standards and expectations so they can determine if participating will be feasible for them.
Providing helpful training and resources. When new board members start their terms, set them up for success by implementing an orientation. In training, Double the Donation suggests reviewing your organization’s strategic goals, bylaws, budget, and policies, as well as each board member’s responsibilities and expected time commitment.
Ask board members for feedback. Nobody understands board members’ needs like board members themselves! On a monthly or quarterly basis, ask them about their experience and whether it aligns with expectations.

Ensure you keep up with best practices for board member expectations by looking at other nonprofits for inspiration. Stay updated with emerging engagement techniques by reading credible blogs, watching relevant webinars, and attending conferences with other nonprofit leaders.

2. Foster open communication.

Communication practices and pathways can make or break your board’s success. After all, important stakeholders must be well-informed to bridge internal gaps and prevent external issues. However, your board members are likely busy with personal and professional commitments. Simplify connection by:

Establishing recurring check-ins. Full board meetings are standard, but meeting individually with board members offers a more personal setting. These check-ins allow your team to share sensitive updates and board members to discuss issues openly.
Sharing details with the board as they occur. If an urgent update arises, don’t wait until your next meeting to share the news. Communicate via preferred digital channels (such as text message or email) to keep everyone on the same page.
Establishing protocols for board meeting communication. Use a standard agenda and cadence when organizing full board meetings to ensure everyone has the chance to chime in. For instance, you might send the agenda a week in advance via a collaborative platform like Google Docs so members can add discussion items.

Ensure deliverability is a priority in your communication system. Teach your board members how to bypass the spam filter and only use channels that members regularly check.

3. Encourage relationship-building.

Board members must trust each other to collaborate well and build a better future for your nonprofit. Break out of the board meeting mold to cultivate connections that last and improve board member morale. For instance, you could host:

Fun team-building activities, such as escape rooms or an outdoor retreat
Casual social events, like coffee meetups or happy hours
Community engagement days where board members volunteer together, either with your nonprofit or in the community

Additionally, you can fortify relationships within the professional board setting by establishing a mentorship program in which established board members coach new board members. Match mentors and mentees based on shared interests, professional skills, or schedule availability.

To ensure all board members feel comfortable and eager to participate, ask for their opinions about which activities to offer. You can even appoint some board members to be part of a planning committee (if they express interest), giving them a more vested role in your success.

4. Offer ongoing education and development.

Your board members likely have connections in the community and are passionate about your mission, making them valuable strategic assets if you provide the right training. Investing funds into professional development materials can pay off in the long run, setting current board members up for success while enticing future supporters to join.

Whether you’re educating board members on how to collect planned gifts or make an executive budget, you can train them by:

Conducting courses and tracking progress using a Learning Management System (LMS)
Paying for board members to attend relevant conferences
Funding internal peer-led initiatives, like Lunch and Learns
Buying educational resources like books, workbooks, and publications

If you have extra room in your budget and big aspirations for board growth, you could outsource board training with the help of a nonprofit fundraising consultant. They’ll help you devise custom educational materials based on your needs and goals or even lead the training themselves.

Regardless of the training methods you decide on, ensure your board members actually find them helpful. Ask them for feedback and track their progress to see if the training has helped them advance in their study area.

5. Recognize board member contributions.

Board members are integral to your organization’s success. Express how important they are to you by celebrating their contributions.

eCardWidget’s guide to board member appreciation suggests trying these tactics:

Sending personalized thank-you cards signed by nonprofit staff members, other supporters, and beneficiaries
Gifting board members gift cards, branded merchandise, special experiences, and more
Creating thank-you videos explaining their impact with dynamic graphic elements
Hosting appreciation events, such as a formal dinner or a family-friendly barbecue cookout
Honoring their work with special awards, such as induction into a board member hall of fame or a lifetime achievement award
Building a “board member of the week” segment into your weekly meetings to praise a board member’s accomplishments

As you express gratitude for your board’s hard work, ensure it comes across as genuine. Personalize these communications and events whenever possible to add sincerity and highlight specific achievements. For example, you might ask your Director of Development to send handwritten thank-you cards to board members quarterly to recap their specific contributions to strategic initiatives.

Also, remember that you don’t always need a work-related occasion to say thanks! Keep track of board members’ birthdays, anniversaries, and other milestones and reach out to them during those occasions. This provides a natural opportunity to express your gratitude while brightening your board members’ days.

It’s one thing to commit to improving your board and another to actually implement these practices into your nonprofit. Start with small adjustments and work your way up to avoid overwhelming your board. As long as you communicate openly and center your mission, your board will run better than ever after a few “tune-ups!”

Multi-Channel Marketing: The Key to Reaching Supporters

Marketing research indicates that it can take up to 50 touchpoints to make a sale. A few factors influence the exact number of interactions needed, such as industry and where the individual is in their journey. Regardless, this fact points to one major takeaway: multi-channel marketing is essential for driving action.

This holds true in both the for- and nonprofit sectors, meaning your nonprofit needs to connect with supporters repeatedly to inspire support. Multi-channel marketing, the act of contacting supporters across multiple platforms, is often the key to acquiring new donors, volunteers, and advocates. It also spreads awareness of your services and programs to beneficiaries.

To strengthen and diversify your nonprofit’s outreach strategy, we’ll explore why multi-channel marketing works and how your team can use it.

What is multi-channel marketing?

Multi-channel marketing is a strategy that involves communicating with supporters across multiple platforms, such as email, direct mail, and social media. This approach ensures messages reach supporters where they are active and increases the number of times they see your communications.

For example, perhaps your nonprofit is promoting matching gifts. You start by creating a dedicated webpage explaining the program and its impact. To maximize reach, you repurpose that content into a compelling Facebook post, include a mention in a fundraising letter, and send a brief but impactful text message reminder.

For nonprofits, multi-channel marketing builds donor trust and cultivates stronger relationships by providing consistent messaging across various touchpoints. It leverages the strengths of different channels—such as the personal touch of direct mail, the immediacy of social media, and the storytelling power of email—to create a unified donor outreach strategy.

Omni-Channel vs. Multi-Channel Nonprofit Marketing

Multi-channel marketing is related to omni-channel marketing. With multi-channel marketing, you reformat the same message for multiple platforms. With nonprofit omni-channel marketing, each message builds on the one that came before it, integrating multiple channels to create consistent experiences for supporters.

Omni-channel marketing is a more personalized strategy designed to guide supporters through their giving journey. For example, your nonprofit might send a direct mail donation request, thank the donor with an emailed eCard, and then text the donor an invitation to follow you on social media.

Both strategies are valuable and should build upon one another to maximize impact. Start with multi-channel marketing to attract new supporters, learn the basics of communicating via multiple channels, and discover which tactics work best. Then, transition to an omni-channel approach to nurture relationships and encourage long-term giving.

Why does multi-channel marketing matter?

Your supporters don’t all engage with content the same way. Some prefer email, others scroll through social media, and some respond best to direct mail or phone calls. Multi-channel marketing helps you meet supporters on the platforms they actively use.

Instead of relying on a single outreach method, use multi-channel marketing to:

Expand your reach. The more platforms your nonprofit markets on, the more prospective supporters will see your content.
Build brand recognition. Repeated exposure builds familiarity. When supporters consider which nonprofits to give to, they’ll likely gravitate toward organizations they’ve already heard of. By getting your nonprofit’s name and mission in front of the same supporters repeatedly, they’ll come to know and trust your organization.
Improve conversion rates. Each touchpoint pushes supporters toward giving. A donor might ignore your first email, but a follow-up text or social media post can prompt them to give. Providing multiple touchpoints ensures supporters can respond in the most convenient way.

Whether you’re soliciting donations or looking for extra volunteers, diversifying your outreach will keep your cause top of mind for current and potential supporters. Consistency will ensure your message reaches the right people at the right time.

Essential Platforms for A Nonprofit Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

Your nonprofit will need to find a unique combination of platforms that drives results. Select your outreach methods based on what channels your audience uses and how confident your nonprofit is in its ability to maintain an active presence.

Let’s explore a few popular channels.

Email

Email is a powerful channel for driving donations, sharing project updates, and educating supporters about your mission. In 2023, nonprofits experienced a 7% growth in their email subscriber lists. This growth positions email as a reliable channel to deepen your nonprofit’s connection with its audience.

You can enhance your email strategy by:

Improving subject lines. Subject lines determine whether an email gets opened. Aim for 50 characters or fewer to avoid getting cut off. Use urgency, curiosity, or personalization to elicit an emotional response and boost your open rates (e.g., “You Can Change a Life Today”).
Issuing just one call to action (CTA). Emails that ask donors to take multiple actions, like donating, volunteering, and subscribing to your newsletter, may confuse recipients.
Varying the content you send. eCardWidget’s donor retention guide recommends sending donation appeals, personalized thank-yous, impact stories, and mission updates to keep donors engaged. Switch up the format by using letters, monthly newsletters, and digital greeting cards.

Even with these strategies, your emails will only be effective if delivered successfully. If your emails have a high bounce rate, your subscriber list is likely outdated. Use an email append service provider to fill in missing emails and correct defunct ones. In turn, supporters will receive your focused, inspiring emails.

Social Media

Many supporters likely use social media. Focus on the platforms where they’re most active. For inspiration, here’s how to incorporate social media into your nonprofit’s multi-channel marketing strategy:

Facebook. Facebook commands a massive audience. While advertising isn’t discounted for nonprofits, Facebook’s audience targeting tools allow you to direct ads to high-value prospects. For organic posts, focus on compelling storytelling, high-quality visuals, and mission-related news stories.
Instagram. An Instagram account can be impactful if your nonprofit’s mission lends itself to eye-catching photographs. For example, the animal shelter Perry’s Place went viral for its “Naughty & Nice Cat of the Week” marketing campaign.
X (Formerly Twitter). Share timely updates, post about relevant trending topics, and engage via replies and shares. Additionally, keep an eye out for upcoming competitors like Threads and Bluesky.
TikTok. Nonprofits have flocked to TikTok in the past few years. However, the future of TikTok in the United States is unclear due to recent legislation. If your nonprofit decides to pursue a TikTok strategy, consider signing up for TikTok for Good, which provides nonprofits with free marketing tools like donation stickers and fundraising livestreams.

When it comes to social media, only create accounts if you know your organization will be able to maintain them. Abandoned accounts can make supporters question your organization’s health.

Nonprofit Website

Your nonprofit’s website is an essential marketing tool. It serves as the central hub for information, tells your organization’s story, and enables supporters to donate or sign up for opportunities.

To create an inspiring website, follow these best practices:

Communicate your work. Feature an ‘About’ page, create individual program pages, post case studies, and write blog posts about your mission. Show the difference your nonprofit is making.
Feature compelling visuals. Use high-quality images and videos that showcase your nonprofit’s impact. Photos of beneficiaries and volunteers create emotional connections, infographics simplify data, and videos tell inspiring stories.
Include trust signals. Showcase impact metrics, testimonials, and reports to build credibility and reinforce donor confidence.
Make it easy to navigate. Feature important pages in your website’s navigation menu. Include strong CTAs across key pages to guide visitors toward donating, volunteering, and getting involved.

To improve your website’s discoverability, optimize its content for search engines. That means using relevant keywords in each page’s copy, meta description, and headings. An effective SEO strategy also involves ensuring your site loads quickly and is mobile-friendly. In turn, your site should show up to supporters and beneficiaries looking for nonprofits like yours.

Search Ads

Google processes more than 8.5 billion searches every day. This means the search engine has a massive audience that nonprofits can tap into with search ads. These ads appear at the top of search results for websites related to the user’s query.

For example, here’s a search ad for a nonprofit that explains the organization’s mission to combat adolescent depression. The ad promotes multiple landing pages for learning more and getting involved:

A screenshot of a search ad for the nonprofit Erika’s Lighthouse.

Paid advertisements can get expensive quickly, but fortunately, Google provides nonprofits with credits to spend on search ads. The Google Ad Grants program provides up to $10,000 in ad credits per month to approved charitable organizations. Participants can use their grant money to bid on mission-related keywords and promote specific pages on their websites through text-based ads.

Your nonprofit might promote its:

Donation page to encourage financial contributions to your mission
Volunteer opportunities to recruit people to help out
Fundraising events to encourage registrations
Educational content that shares valuable insights and mission updates
Program pages to inform people about your services

Essentially, your nonprofit can promote any content that will push its mission forward. If your organization complies with the program’s rules, the grant will renew each month.

Text Message

Text messages connect you with your audience almost immediately, making them effective for quick updates and urgent messages. While text messaging can be a powerful part of your multi-channel marketing strategy, it’s also easy to overuse.

Many people keep their phones within arm’s reach, meaning they will likely see your nonprofit’s messages quickly. While this is convenient for getting your message seen, it also means supporters will be aware of how often you message them. During busy times of the year for marketing, like the end of the year or during election season, it’s easy for supporters to get overwhelmed with text messages.

To retain donors, use text messages sparingly and only when an immediate alert to your audience is appropriate. You might use it to announce an upcoming event, send urgent appeals, remind volunteers about upcoming shifts, encourage donations throughout a campaign, or send donation receipts.

Key times to text supporters, which are written above.

Direct Mail

While much of modern nonprofit communication is digital, there’s still a place for direct mail. Receiving a letter in the mail can make recipients feel special and help your nonprofit stand out.

To build brand recognition, ensure your direct mail communication has the same branding as your online marketing materials. This creates a consistent experience across platforms and presents your nonprofit as a capable, professional organization.

Allegiance Group + Pursuant’s direct mail fundraising guide provides an excellent example of a direct mail insert donors can use to send donations to the Georgia Mountain Food Bank:

An insert donors can fill out and mail in to donate to a nonprofit.

Notice how it features the organization’s colors and an eye-catching image of a child, representing the families the food bank serves. The nonprofit makes it easy to select an amount and provide payment information with clearly labeled boxes. Alternatively, the nonprofit’s website URL is featured in a box, providing the option to give online.

To emulate their approach, start by creating a nonprofit style guide that includes guidelines for direct mail. This might include directions for font sizes, letterheads, and signatures.

Launch Your Nonprofit’s Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy.

By sharing your nonprofit’s messages on multiple channels, your organization can reach new supporters and reinforce your brand identity among current ones. Choose which channels you’ll expand to by assessing your audience’s interests, your nonprofit’s resources, and each platform’s outreach potential. In no time, you’ll strengthen your presence across both online and offline channels.

Nonprofits that Sell Products or Services: 4 Considerations

Sustainable nonprofits have diverse revenue streams, from donations to grants to sales. However, while nonprofits that sell products and services can make more than enough revenue to sustain themselves, undertaking commercial affairs comes with several considerations.

Nonprofits that rely heavily on product or service sales, like thrift stores, museums, and educational institutions, can experience the benefits of running a business and maintaining nonprofit status. To explain how, this guide will cover four considerations these types of nonprofits should keep in mind.

1. Audience Demand

A successful business sells the products and services its customers want. For many businesses, this involves assessing market needs and designing products or services they feel there is a demand for. However, many nonprofits already have a possible product or service and must find your audience.

To assess and capture an audience, be sure to:

Conduct market research. Before pushing a product to market, you need to understand who is most likely to buy it, how many people are likely to buy it, and at what price point they will buy it. Look for nonprofits with similar sales offerings and assess their business models. Research audience demographics, delivery methods, and value propositions.
Establish your value proposition. Getting Attention’s guide to nonprofit communications outlines three key aspects of a value proposition: audience needs, benefits received, and brand differentiators. In other words, to promote your nonprofit’s products or services, you must explain how they meet your audience’s needs, what the audience gets from a purchase, and how your offerings stand out from your competitors.
Craft relevant marketing materials. Marketing is the art of presenting the right message to the right audience in the right location. For a nonprofit with a brick-and-mortar location, like a thrift store, this might be a radio spot, posters, or mailed flyers. In contrast, a nonprofit specializing in online sales might focus on its web presence and social media outreach.

Expect to continually reconsider and reassess audience preferences. After launching your product or service offerings, gather data by surveying customers and requesting reviews. This will allow you to glean insights about your business model and audience.

2. Inventory Management

Once you know what products your audience wants, you must order, stock, and manage them. Many nonprofit stores follow the reuse model, where inventory comes from various sources, including donations. This means the exact items you have at any time may be unpredictable, if not outright chaotic.

You can counter this by employing robust inventory management tools. ThriftCart recommends looking for the following features in inventory management software:

Real-time inventory tracking. Ensure you always know what’s in stock and what’s out of stock with real-time inventory updates. That way, you’ll always know what items need to be restocked to meet customer needs.
Automated pickup and dropoff scheduling. If your nonprofit accepts donations to stock products, your inventory management tool can help supporters schedule delivery windows. This makes gathering stock simple for everyone.
Customer reward options. Along with managing your inventory, many point of sale (POS) platforms also provide features that incentivize growth, such as customer reward and loyalty tools. Track customer purchases to offer them perks, send personalized marketing messages, and create custom discounts for upcoming marketing campaigns.

Inventory and point of sale systems are often highly specialized, so they work with a platform that fits your nonprofit’s sales model. For instance, a thrift store would likely use a different inventory management tool than a museum gift shop.

3. Marketing

To earn sales, your nonprofit needs to inform prospective customers of your offerings. Previously, we touched on the main components of marketing: creating a message for a target audience and displaying it in locations they are likely to see. Let’s break down each of these aspects a bit further:

Audience. Who is your nonprofit targeting? The research you did when assessing audience demand for your offerings should be used here. Use your data to get as specific as possible regarding your ideal audience’s demographic information, location, values, buying habits, and communication preferences. For example, a used book store might have several audiences, including lower-income individuals looking for deals and book lovers looking for unique or vintage tomes.
Message. Based on the audiences you identify, what messages are likely to resonate with them? Consider your audience’s goals and values. Do they want convenience, a good deal, or unique offerings? Based on your prior analysis, create messages that align with your audience’s preferences.
Distribution. Ensure your marketing messages are in locations where your audience is likely to look. This is essential for certain marketing strategies, like search engine optimization (SEO) for nonprofits. SEO relies on understanding what types of keywords your audience is likely to search for and creating content that targets those keywords. Conversely, to court a local audience, you instead invest heavily in distributing your message through traditional channels, like newspaper and radio.

After any marketing push, track the results to assess whether it had the desired impact. You may even discover new insights about your audience, such as by attracting a demographic you weren’t specifically targeting or learning that one communication channel has a higher conversion rate than expected.

4. Financial Reporting

To sell products and maintain nonprofit status, charitable organizations must be extra conscious of their finances and reporting requirements. For U.S.-based nonprofits, you must follow a few guidelines:

Products must be related to your mission. All commercial ventures must be related to your nonprofit’s mission. For instance, an environmental nonprofit selling t-shirts that promote awareness of endangered species would be considered mission-related. If it’s determined your commercial offerings are not mission-related, your nonprofit will need to track Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT), and if you make over $1,000 in non-mission-related sales, file Form 990-T.
Donations are reported. Nonprofits that accept in-kind donations to fuel their inventory (like thrift or reuse stores) will need to report these contributions. This also applies to other types of in-kind donations, such as prizes you might solicit for a charity auction. And be sure to provide supporters with donation receipts for items that are valued at $250 or more to comply with IRS guidelines.
Revenue is invested back into the nonprofit. Nonprofits can and often do make a profit through sales of products or services. The key is that the extra revenue must be spent on mission-related activities. For instance, a thrift store might use its profits to buy items in bulk from wholesalers or restore vintage items.

If you need assistance properly managing your organization’s finances, consider working with an external accounting firm that specializes in nonprofits. These consultants will understand the unique challenges charitable organizations face and be able to help your nonprofit navigate potentially confusing reporting requirements.

Products and services bring in vital revenue for your nonprofit. Ensure you conduct your commercial ventures transparently, in an organized manner, and with an eye to your audience’s needs. To get started, consider your software needs and employ the right tools for managing the commerce side of your nonprofit.

This guide shares insights into the motivations behind why companies donate to nonprofits.

How and Why Do Today’s Companies Donate to Nonprofits?

Companies gave $29.48 billion to nonprofits last year, representing an incredible 3.4% increase. Nonprofits Source shared these impressive numbers in its corporate giving trends article, indicating that companies proactively seek causes like yours to support.

The benefits of corporate support for nonprofits are clear: more revenue, extra volunteer power, and greater brand exposure. But what’s in it for the businesses? It turns out quite a bit!

It’s about more than just looking good or getting a tax write-off. A lot is happening behind the scenes, and we’re excited to share a peek. First, we’ll explore common ways companies give back before diving into the corporate motivations behind these programs. That way, you can find the best opportunities for your cause and confidently interact with companies.

5 Ways Companies Donate to Nonprofits

From employee giving programs to direct donations, corporate giving looks different at every business, yet some programs are more popular than others. Let’s start with the most impactful one.

1. Matching Gifts

Corporate matching gifts help companies give back year-round. When a business offers this program, it promises to match employees’ donations to eligible nonprofits. The approach is straightforward:

A donor gives to your nonprofit.
The individual researches their employer’s program using a company search tool.
If eligible, they submit a matching gift request via paper form or their company’s employee giving portal.
After confirming the gift, the company donates to your nonprofit.

These programs empower your nonprofit to boost donations. When someone is on the fence, being match-eligible may be the push they need to give. In fact, 84% of donors are more likely to donate if they know their gift is match-eligible. In some cases, donors will actually give more — 1 in every 3 donors to be exact.

Knowing a match is on the line even gamifies the giving experience, especially when an employer sets an annual donation goal. There’s just one problem: a lack of awareness.

You need to educate donors about these programs. Our favorite option is to embed a search tool into your donation page:

An illustration of a matching gift search tool embedded in the Cat Rescue Club’s online donation form

This catches donors’ attention during the height of their engagement. Using the matching gift database, they can research their companies’ guidelines. Matching gift automation software can also follow up with donors based on eligibility. While a match-eligible donor may receive an email linking to their employer’s match-request form, a donor with unknown match eligibility may be prompted to research their eligibility.

Go further than that by featuring matching gifts on your Ways to Give page, a dedicated matching gifts page, fundraising appeals, and social media. Share testimonials from beneficiaries about how an increased donation helped them, and ask your corporate partners to promote the opportunity to employees.

2. Volunteer Grants

Corporate volunteers already lend a helping hand, but did you know some employers will donate to further volunteers’ impact?

Volunteer grants are financial donations companies make to nonprofits where their employees volunteer regularly. This monetizes the volunteer hours their workforce contributes. For example, a company might donate $25 per volunteer hour, with a minimum of 5 hours required.

This encourages employees to engage in community service, knowing additional financial backing will amplify their efforts. Your matching gift database may even house information on companies’ volunteer grant programs, helping you pinpoint these opportunities.

3. Direct Donations

Other common ways companies give back are direct donations, grants, and sponsorships. For instance, AP News reports that Yield Giving, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s foundation, announced it would give $640 million to 361 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications. The open call asked for community-led nonprofits with missions “to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means.” Eligibility was limited to nonprofits with annual budgets between $1-$5 million.

According to Renee Karibi-Whyte, the senior vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, open grant opportunities empower organizations without connections to specific funders. These opportunities surface organizations that wouldn’t otherwise have access to those offering major funding. Her company advises funders who run competitive grants and philanthropic prize competitions.

Companies often offer grants through their foundations. For example, 360MatchPro’s list of corporate philanthropy examples shares that the Coca-Cola Foundation awarded $94.8 million in grants to over 300 organizations in 2022.

4. In-Kind Gifts

Companies give in-kind donations of goods or services, enabling them to leverage their unique assets to support charity. Here are common examples of in-kind donations:

Pro bono services like designing nonprofit websites or offering legal advice
Products, such as how Chobani donates its food products to food banks, schools, and other organizations
Free equipment or technology, such as how Google offers Workspace to nonprofits and free advertising credits via the Google Ad Grant program

In-kind gifts can directly fulfill your nonprofit’s specific operational needs or project requirements, reducing expenses and allowing you to allocate your budget directly toward your programs.

5. Cause Marketing

When a company donates a percentage of its sales, it’s known as cause marketing. This approach supports and advertises your nonprofit while also increasing consumer loyalty by aligning the company’s products and services with social causes.

For example, Bombas is a popular retailer. For every item a customer buys, the company donates a pair of socks, a t-shirt, or underwear to a shelter, transitional living facility, or other relevant organization. Through its network of over 3,500 Giving Partners, Bombas has donated over 100 million items.

A summary of Bombas’ impact via in-kind donations, detailed above

4 Reasons Companies Donate to Nonprofits

If you’re a corporate partnerships manager at your nonprofit, understanding how companies give back is important, but you also need to understand why businesses engage in philanthropy. Then, you can align your communication strategy with each company’s goals and interests to secure financial support.

1. Communicate their values

Donating to nonprofits demonstrates a company’s commitment to specific social, environmental, or ethical issues, reinforcing its core values to consumers, employees, and stakeholders.

It’s about strengthening brand reputation, aligning the company’s image with stakeholders’ values, and using resources to influence the causes it supports.

To do this, companies often donate to causes aligned with their products and services. For example, The John Deere Foundation recently announced a three-year $3.9 million grant to the National FFA Organization. For context, John Deere manufactures agricultural machinery, lawn care equipment, and similar products. The unrestricted grant will enable the FFA to provide resources and educational programs to students interested in agricultural career pathways.

“This support truly helps us work toward our mission of preparing members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success,” said FFA President Molly Ball.

As you can imagine, that grant will go a long way in supporting one of John Deere’s core values: a love for agriculture. Consider how your mission aligns with different companies’ values.

2. Boost employee satisfaction

Employees seek companies that give back to charity. Our employee giving research found that 86% of employees want to participate in corporate giving. CSR programs are linked to increased employee engagement, improved productivity, and reduced turnover by up to 50%.

Corporate philanthropy gives employees a sense of purpose beyond daily business operations. In particular, workplace giving involves employees in philanthropy.

Matching gifts make employees actively involved in corporate philanthropy. Meanwhile, volunteer grants turn employees’ hands-on involvement into financial support that amplifies their impact. Then, in-kind gifts allow employees to leverage their professional skills or contribute goods to nonprofits.

Knowing this, your nonprofit can target corporate employees to direct their workplace giving contributions to your cause. You can also communicate this benefit to corporate partners to increase their likelihood of launching these programs.

3. Tax Deductions

While companies genuinely want to give back, charitable spending is also tax-deductible. This financial incentive makes philanthropy more economically feasible for businesses and encourages them to allocate more resources toward social causes.

Use this compelling point in fundraising pitches. By highlighting donations’ altruistic and fiscal advantages, your nonprofit can strengthen its case for support and show businesses how contributing can be financially prudent.

4. Market Expansion

When a company donates to your nonprofit, it can connect with your donors, volunteers, and other corporate sponsors. That means it can introduce its brand to new markets and demographics. Plus, these new audience members will already know that the company has a philanthropic mindset, positioning the brand favorably in their eyes.

The best part is that this benefit goes both ways! Your nonprofit can access new donors and volunteers from the business’s loyal customers and employees. Corporate giving isn’t limited to industry giants either; local businesses can also boost your reach, connecting you with community members invested in making a difference.

In conversations with businesses, propose marketing their brand as a trade-off for financial support. For instance, if companies sponsor your upcoming 5K, promise to display their logos on promotional materials and event signage, offering them valuable visibility in return for their backing.

Getting Started

Companies donate in various ways for various reasons. There’s a growing commitment among businesses to contribute beyond mere profit-making, but the main point is companies are more philanthropic than ever.

Your nonprofit needs to tap into these opportunities. When navigating this evolving terrain, understanding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of corporate giving is crucial for fostering beneficial partnerships.

Start by searching your CRM for matching gift and volunteer grant opportunities. Contact eligible supporters and explain the grant application process. When your nonprofit joins forces with philanthropic businesses like this, the potential for positive change is boundless.

Connect your nonprofit with local businesses.

4 Tips for Connecting Your Nonprofit With Local Businesses

Whether you’re seeking sponsorship, volunteer support, or joint marketing opportunities, establishing partnerships with businesses in your community is a powerful way to enhance your nonprofit’s impact. However, developing these partnerships can be challenging, time-consuming, and confusing without a strategic plan in place.

In this guide, we’ll explore four tips for connecting your nonprofit with local businesses. From identifying potential partners to creating win-win collaborations, these insights will help you build strong cross-sector relationships that support your mission and drive positive change in your communities.

1. Research and Identify Potential Partners

To identify potential partners in the community, a nonprofit can follow these steps:

Define your objectives. Nonprofits often seek partnerships when organizing a large-scale fundraising event, launching a community initiative, or implementing a specific program that requires additional financial resources and support.
Research local businesses. Conduct thorough research to identify businesses in the community. Utilize online directories, local business associations, chamber of commerce listings, and social media platforms to identify potential partners.
Ensure your values align. Evaluate the values, missions, and corporate social responsibility initiatives of the identified businesses. Look for businesses that have a natural connection or alignment with your cause or mission. For example, a dog daycare business would be an obvious match for an animal shelter since they have similar clients and services.

Reach out to the identified businesses to introduce your nonprofit and express interest in exploring a potential partnership. This can be done through phone calls, emails, or in-person meetings.

2. Establish Clear Benefits

As you connect with local businesses, introduce your mission and communicate the benefits of a partnership. These may include:

Community development: Partnering with a nonprofit allows businesses to contribute to community development and address social issues, which can have a direct impact on their growth.
Elevated brand reputation. Collaborating with a nonprofit allows businesses to align themselves with a mission or social good cause, which can enhance their brand reputation and perception among customers, employees, and influencers in the community.
Increased brand awareness. Add the business’s contact information and logo to marketing materials like fundraising flyers, event invitations, and partnership-related emails to increase their brand visibility. Or, create a personalized video about your sponsor and post it to your social media pages.
Employee morale and engagement. Most employees value working for a socially responsible company. Creating matching gift programs, introducing volunteer opportunities, and sponsoring local nonprofits can improve their satisfaction.
Tax benefits. Businesses may be eligible for tax benefits or incentives when they donate or support nonprofit organizations. These financial incentives can provide a tangible benefit to the business, helping to offset costs or improve the bottom line.

Customize these benefits to suit the specific goals, needs, and sectors of the businesses you’re approaching. For example, a pet rescue organization might ask a dog trainer to financially support their upcoming adoption event. In return, the pet rescue will use Gingr’s pet business software to promote the dog trainer’s services, potentially leading to an influx of new customers.

3. Create Tailored Partnership Opportunities

Develop opportunities that cater to different types and sizes of businesses. Offer a range of options, such as:

Sponsorship opportunities: Sponsorships come in the form of financial or in-kind contributions. To incentivize larger gifts, Double the Donation’s guide to corporate sponsorships recommends creating tiered benefit packages that correlate to the level of support given. For instance, when you receive a donation of $10,000 or more, you might mention the business in a speech and display its logo on partnership-related materials. Businesses that give less than this might receive a social media shoutout instead.
Auction item donations: Many businesses have relevant products or services that would be valuable items to auction off at your next event. For example, a local hotel could offer a weekend stay, or an airline headquartered in your city could offer round-trip tickets. No matter what the business has to offer make sure you’re thoughtful about how you make your auction item donation request.
Joint initiatives: A joint initiative is a collaboration between a nonprofit and a partner organization, in which both work to create a mutually beneficial event, program, or campaign. It involves pooling resources and networks to achieve a greater impact than either organization could achieve alone.
Employee engagement programs: Employee engagement programs focus on involving employees of a business or organization in volunteer activities, fundraising efforts, or other activities that support your nonprofit’s mission.
Research collaborations: Nonprofits and businesses might partner together to research studies or projects related to their missions. For example, an animal welfare organization might partner with a dog boarding business to research the safest, most effective accommodations.

After presenting a business with a partnership opportunity, gauge their interest and thank them for their consideration, regardless of their decision. That way, they will be left with a positive impression of your organization.

4. Demonstrate Impact

If a business agrees to be your partner, take notes throughout the partnership, making note of successes and areas of improvement.

Then, in your outreach, explain the impact that the partnership has made on your nonprofit and the community as a whole. Share success stories, testimonials, or data that highlight the tangible outcomes of your programs or initiatives. This builds credibility and instills confidence in other potential business partners, showing them how their involvement will make a difference.

Remember, connecting with local businesses requires building meaningful relationships based on shared values and mutual benefits. By taking a strategic and personalized approach, your nonprofit can form valuable partnerships that amplify your impact and strengthen the communities you serve.

4 Online Fundraising Campaign Ideas to Boost Your Reach

These days, almost everything has gone digital—even fundraising. Hosting your fundraising campaign online is beneficial not only for the existing donors in your community, but also for reaching new donors. An online campaign can expand your reach beyond your community, acting as an innovative way to engage supporters from across the country and even the world.

To get started, you’ll need a compelling fundraising campaign idea that aligns with your nonprofit’s goals and meets your unique audience’s interests and motivations. Not sure where to begin? Explore our roundup of the top online fundraising ideas guaranteed to spur donations and help you achieve your fundraising goals:

Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser
Matching Gift Campaign
Text-to-Give Campaign
Crowdfunding Campaign

Host a combination of these campaigns or use them as inspiration to plan a unique online fundraiser at any point of the year. Let’s dive in!

Peer-to-Peer Fundraiser

Peer-to-peer fundraising is a fun and engaging way to get your supporters directly involved in the fundraising process. During a peer-to-peer fundraiser, you’ll hand over the fundraising reins to your most loyal supporters, empowering them to create their own fundraising pages. By tapping their personal networks to help meet their fundraising goals, your supporters will effectively introduce you to brand new donors, boosting your donor acquisition rate.

To maximize the success of your online fundraising campaign, the OneCause guide to peer-to-peer fundraising best practices recommends leveraging these best practices:

Recruit supporters to help: Market your peer-to-peer campaign online using channels like your website, social media, and email to help promote this opportunity and pique your existing supporters’ interest. You can also reach out to well-connected supporters, like board members and major donors, to serve as ambassadors and lend a helping hand in fundraising.
Provide training and instructions: Consider hosting an online training session to go over peer-to-peer fundraising best practices and how to create a personal fundraising page. You can also consolidate these instructions in a digital guidebook that can be accessed at any time. Make sure you have a point-person to field any supporter questions and walk them through best practices if they need additional advice.
Pair your campaign with exciting events: Consider hosting your peer-to-peer fundraiser alongside an event to increase engagement, such as a walk-a-thon, an online silent auction, or a livestreamed panel with members of your team who can discuss your cause in detail.

Once your fundraiser concludes, remember to thank all of your peer-to-peer fundraisers who helped make it happen. A handwritten thank-you note or shout-out on social media can go a long way in helping your supporters feel appreciated and eager to champion your cause again in the future.

Matching Gift Campaign

According to 360MatchPro’s guide to corporate philanthropy, a matching gift campaign allows your nonprofit to double the impact of donors’ gifts with the help of corporate support. In a matching gift campaign, corporate donors will match gifts during a certain period of time. For example, if a donor gave $100 to your nonprofit, a corporate sponsor might match this at a 1:1 ratio, resulting in $200 for your nonprofit. 

To get started with matching gifts, follow these steps:

Research companies with similar values and interests: Research local businesses and ask your board members and staff for references of companies who may be interested. Even if they say no to providing a matching gift, they may be a valuable resource to tap into for future fundraisers, such as sponsorship opportunities or silent auction item procurement. 
Create a corporate sponsorship proposal: Create a letter that pitches a partnership, outlines what type of support you’re seeking (such as matching at a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio), and when you hope to host a matching gift campaign. You’ll also need to explain how the gift matching will help bring your nonprofit closer to reaching its goals and how your corporate partner will benefit from this arrangement. For instance, you might promote their company in your marketing materials to help expand their reach in exchange for financial support.
Follow up and express appreciation: At the end of your matching gift campaign, let your corporate partner know how much you raised and how the funds will be used to further your mission. Expressing gratitude can help you secure their support again in the future.

Make sure to promote your matching gift campaign widely and well in advance so supporters know when it’s happening and how they can get involved. 

Text-to-Give Campaign

A text-to-give campaign is one of the easiest ways to raise money online. It enables donors to give donations at any time on their own devices. Supporters simply submit donations right from their phones, making the donation process inherently convenient, simple, and rewarding. 

You can use text-to-give donation channels for everyday fundraising, not just during an event. Using it is easy—all your supporters need is a specific keyword and the short- or long-code that they’ll text (which should be provided by your text-to-give solution). This will automatically take mobile donors to your nonprofit’s donation page.

Be sure to find a good software solution that can support virtual transactions and customizations specific to your nonprofit. Specifically, look for a text-to-give solution that offers features like:

Gamification tools to inspire giving, including a scoreboard
Automated email receipts
Flexible payment options
Donor data collection and automated reports

On top of having the right fundraising technology, you also need to make sure you’re doing everything possible to build up your contact list. Promote your text-to-give campaign widely to encourage all your supporters to opt-in. A multichannel marketing plan can help you put your text-to-give campaign at the forefront of supporters’ minds, so consider generating content related to text-to-give on your social media, website, and email newsletters.

Crowdfunding Campaign

If you’re looking for a campaign that will make a big impact without asking your donors to empty their wallets, a crowdfunding campaign might be right for you. A crowdfunding campaign raises smaller amounts of revenue from a large pool of donors—think $5 per person. If you ask a group of 100 donors to give that much, you will walk away with a hefty donation, and your donors won’t feel fatigued.

Most crowdfunding campaigns happen online, so you’ll need to establish a strong digital presence for your fundraiser. Consider creating a fundraising microsite with the following elements:

Embedded donation form with a simple donation process and limited prompts
Your nonprofit’s branding
Storytelling that explains how the donations will be used, including emotionally compelling visuals
Social sharing features so supporters can promote your microsite among their personal networks

After your crowdfunding campaign wraps up, be sure to show your appreciation to all of your participating donors and share how the donations will be used. By cultivating relationships with these donors, you can increase the likelihood that they’ll continue to come back and donate to your organization again and again!

Wrapping Up

As you think through which fundraising idea makes the most sense for your organization, consider your audience and what will excite them the most to give. Then, channel that idea into a well-designed online campaign that will help you spread awareness and bring in more funds.

Before you dive into your new campaign, make sure you’re working with the best fundraising technology so you can run your online campaign seamlessly. An all-in-one fundraising platform will provide your nonprofit with everything you need to succeed, whether you’re hosting an in-person, online, or hybrid campaign. Happy fundraising!

The title of the article, which is “School Fundraisers That Get Your Students Outside,” next to an illustration of kids playing outside.

3 School Fundraisers That Get Your Students Outside

By the end of the school year, students are ready to get outside for summer vacation. But for many student organizations and sports teams, work doesn’t end when classes do.

If you’re a football coach or player’s parent, for example, you know that summer is when the team buckles down to train for the next fall season. You’re likely relying on last season’s leftover funds to cover the expenses your team incurs during this time (e.g., paying for new uniforms and equipment). You may consider starting a campaign to raise additional funding, but it can be difficult to compete with the excitement of summer break.

This year, why not be prepared for these costs by choosing an engaging fundraising idea for the summer season? Let’s explore a few important best practices for holding fundraising outdoors, along with some fun ideas to try out.

What are some best practices for outdoor fundraisers?

There are some unique elements of outdoor fundraisers to consider before starting your campaign. Factors like weather can impact how you plan the event as well as the fundraising methods you choose. To ensure your event is a success no matter what happens outside, here are some things to consider when planning:

Keep the weather and venue in mind. Outdoor events force you to surrender control of certain elements (like the temperature). Obviously, your team should avoid scheduling the event on days that are likely to be extremely hot or prone to storms. However, weather is not always predictable, especially during warmer months. In the event that temperatures exceed safe limits or rain is expected, be prepared with an alternative plan like having tents, a secondary location, or a backup date ready.
Choose age-appropriate activities. Children of different ages will be interested in different kinds of activities. For example, an elementary school student might enjoy a short scavenger hunt while a high schooler would prefer a challenging sports tournament. Plan a variety of kid-friendly fundraising ideas and tailor activities to different age groups to ensure everyone can participate.
Use a fundraising platform. When your team uses a fundraising platform, supporters can donate online before the event so they don’t need to wait in registration lines at the fundraiser. Additionally, your team won’t need to worry about collecting cash or checks during the event. This adds a layer of financial security as there is no risk of a cash donation blowing away or getting rained on.
Prioritize safety. When events take place outdoors, there are more variable factors at play to impact safety–particularly heat. If you are holding a physically demanding event like a sports tournament or race, make sure to have plenty of water, snacks, and shade available. If food will be present, adhere to proper food safety procedures during preparation and storage.

In addition to these special considerations, be sure to follow traditional fundraising best practices. To generate excitement and attract attendees, market the fundraiser ahead of time. And as always, thank and recognize your donors and volunteers with thank-you cards or emails.

3 Outdoor Fundraisers for School Groups

There are a myriad of fundraising event ideas to choose from, but outdoor school fundraisers have the potential for greater creativity. Choose a fundraising idea that your team will love and that your community will want to engage with. Keep in mind that as a school-affiliated organization, parents will make up the largest portion of your volunteer base. So, avoid choosing fundraisers that will require unreasonable amounts of time and effort.

1. Charity Race

A charity race, 5K, or marathon is one of the most traditional, classic outdoor fundraisers. Don’t shy away from these tried-and-true fundraisers—just because something is traditional doesn’t mean it isn’t engaging and effective.

The best part about holding a charity race is that they can easily be adapted to various age groups and fitness levels. Here are three different types of races your team can organize to appeal to distinct audiences:

Walk-a-thon. A walk-a-thon is similar to a traditional 5K, but instead of running, participants are encouraged to walk. Because it is stroller-friendly, this idea is great for younger children and families. To get the whole family involved, encourage them to bring leashed pets along, too.
Fun run. Double the Donation defines a fun run fundraiser as “a type of peer-to-peer fundraiser in which participants sign up to run, collect pledges, and earn donations for each mile (or other specified unit of distance) they run.” Your team will need to choose a route, date, and time as well as a fun theme. For example, you might choose a superhero theme and encourage runners to dress up in athletic attire inspired by their favorite heroes.
10K or half marathon. A longer, more intense race is best for experienced runners and older students (i.e., those in high school). To get more community involvement in your race, advertise it using posters or flyers inside local businesses. Additionally, your team could partner with nonprofits in your area to pool your supporter bases.

There are no hard and fast rules around who can participate in which type of race. For example, your high school cheerleading squad might prefer a walk-a-thon to a 10K. The most important thing to consider is whether your team members and supporters would enjoy and engage with the fundraiser.

2. Picnic or Barbecue

When you imagine the perfect summer evening, what comes to mind? For many, it’s backyard barbecues, ice cream, and lemonade. Your team can take advantage of the nostalgia and comfort of a picnic or barbecue for its next fundraiser.

When planning one of these events, follow these steps:

Choose a date, time, and venue (e.g., a local park, picnic pavilion, or school playground).
Determine how you will fundraise, either by charging for entry or per food item.
Decide how you’ll serve the food—for example, will you host a potluck-style or catered event?
Start marketing your event using digital channels as well as printed promotional materials like flyers.
Purchase plenty of supplies, like plates, cutlery, cups, tablecloths, blankets, and, of course, food.
Set up blankets and tables for all of your guests.
Host the event and have fun!

If your team decides to prepare food onsite or in advance, be sure to strictly follow all food safety guidelines. Make sure to have coolers and ice available to keep food at the proper temperatures, and ensure all foods are cooked thoroughly to keep your guests safe.

3. Sports-Themed Fundraisers

If your group is a sports team, you already have a built-in, cohesive theme to follow for your fundraisers. Your supporter base will already be familiar with the sport, and they’ve shown that they’re interested in supporting your team financially by purchasing merchandise or tickets to games.

For example, 99Pledges’ guide to sports fundraising ideas recommends organizing a sports camp in which team members can learn from professional athletes and practice new skills. If you coach a high school soccer team, this could be a great opportunity for your team to prepare for the upcoming season and bond with each other.

There are many other ways to incorporate the sports theme into your fundraiser, even if you don’t want to center the entire event around your sport. For example, if you hold an outdoor bake sale in tandem with a summer carnival, you could sell soccer-themed cookies and other treats. Your team’s sport can play as big or small a role in the fundraiser as you like, but it can serve as a helpful reminder to show donors what they’re supporting.

While choosing to hold your fundraiser outside can introduce new challenges, it will make for an engaging, unique experience that your supporters will remember for years to come. No matter which event you choose, remember to always have a backup plan, whether that’s a secondary location or an alternative date. And finally, make sure that your participants, donors, and volunteers know you appreciate them and their hard work.