Blog
Non-profit branding: The right way and the wrong way to change the name of your NPO
The name of your non-profit should convey your message. It should quickly and easily share your meaning. Your purpose. Your impact. Your name is often the first thing donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders see when they become aware of your organization. For this...
How to Know When It’s Time to Update Your Nonprofit’s Branding
Like many nonprofits, Living Stones Church had different staff members doing different parts of their marketing. “Nothing was consistent. It didn’t even look like it was all from the same place,” said Marianne Ennis, the director of communication. Does that sound familiar?
7 steps to creating nonprofit awareness campaigns that actually raise awareness (virtual or in real life!)
Whether virtual or in real life (IRL), awareness campaigns or fundraising campaigns for nonprofits take a lot of work. In fact, it’s often a full-time job for at least one to three months prior to the event.
5 Simple Steps to Create a Memorable, Lasting Nonprofit Brand Using Instagram in 2020 and Beyond
When you think about Instagram, you’d be forgiven if you immediately called to mind images of people who just want to share photos from their family vacations and of delicious meals with the world… and little else.
How Nonprofits Can Use Instagram Stories to Raise Awareness For Their Cause
If you’re looking for a powerful and effective way to get your organization’s message in front of the widest possible audience, look no farther than Instagram.
Forget 2020 – Think Bigger
Happy New Year! Goodbye 2019; we’re now in the roaring 20s! Of course, with a new year comes a slew of new year’s resolutions, goals, and big ideas for your non-profit (along with a ton of new pressure to make this the BEST YEAR EVER). This year… You WILL find new...
What Greta Thunberg can teach us about branding
If you want to build a brand for your non-profit, you need to offend people. You can’t please everyone. You can’t even please most people. And that’s OK. In fact, we’re here to help you realize that pleasing everyone is exactly what you don’t want to do. If you’re...
A five-step checklist to successfully pitch your nonprofit
I’ve been working with nonprofit leaders for over 10 years, and I always say that nonprofits need a vision, a roadmap, and funding to be successful.
Social media for nonprofits in 2019: Why defining your key messages is the first step
At first glance, posting on social media seems so easy. Come up with something witty or inspirational to say. Find a relevant photo. Post. Repeat. Bask in the success of your posts!
Social Media Nonprofit Best Practices: 5-Pillar Framework to Take Your Strategy to the Next Level
It’s Thursday morning. You’re going through your daily tasks, busy as ever. You’re creating a slide deck. Practicing your presentation for a new parenting class you will be facilitating. Writing emails. And trying to squeeze in some time for all-important coffee...
The Small Nonprofit Podcast: Put an end to your marketing frustrations with Kerstin Heuer
Ever look at other organizations’ strategies, get tempted to copy it but end up with less success? In this episode, Kerstin Heuer, a nonprofit marketing consultant and founder of Nonprofit Today, teaches us…
5 Surefire Ways to Connect With Millennials Using Digital Marketing
Millennials: that group born between 1980 and 2000 who have challenged (and perhaps re-defined) the way people have been living, buying, working, and giving for generations. Raised during a technological revolution, they’re informed, interconnected, and interested in using the resources they have to make a positive impact.
DIY Dilemma: 3 Golden Rules for Successfully Building a Nonprofit Website
You are a small nonprofit. Your website feels outdated. Cluttered. Not reflecting who you are. Something needs to be done.But here is the dilemma. You don’t have a big budget to hire someone. So, what do you do? It shouldn’t be that hard. Right? You can create a free...
How to implement your nonprofit branding plan
There you are. After months of hard work, focus groups, and interviews with key stakeholders and your branding agency, the work is finally completed. The executive team of your nonprofit organization is excited.
Three essential steps to create an epic brand for your nonprofit
Google “How to Create a Great Brand” and you will end up with 1,210,000,000 hits. Add that to the books and articles available and you end up with an overwhelming amount information.
What branding is and why your nonprofit needs it
Imagine this: You have sat down to a spaghetti dinner with your family. You wind the noodles around your fork, lift a bite toward your lips, and are interrupted by the doorbell. You sigh, place the fork on your plate, and make your way toward the door.
When Marketing for your Non-Profit is a Waste of Time and Money
Here’s the reality: Many non profit organizations work HARD on their marketing and still don’t get the traction they want (and need). They feel frustrated and confused because their meticulous posting, sharing, and mail out schedules aren’t bringing in results. Their...
5 Tips on Building an Excellent Annual Report for your Non Profit
It’s that time of the year again. Annual Reports are due. Yikes. But there’s good news here too...Your annual reports are obviously important for your funders BUT they are also an ESSENTIAL opportunity to present your accomplishments to supporters and the...
3 Ways Your Non Profit Can Reach Millennials
Did you know that you’re probably carrying around the single biggest disrupter of charitable giving in your pocket right now? Your smartphone. Since their launch roughly a decade ago, smartphones have revolutionized the way that people find out about...
How What You Really Do Affects Your Day-To-Day Communication
As non-profits, your work already matters - you aren’t just selling another gadget. Building consistency between every objective and plan right down to how you acknowledge (or don’t acknowledge) people is how you make your brand matter. And all that starts with your...
How to help people really understand what your non-profit does
Here’s the truth: “most companies have bland mission and vision statements that are vague, inflated and indistinguishable from one another.” Those words are from a wise man, Alan Siegel, and he’s absolutely right. While blandness is bad enough, it gets...
How to use Facebook Live for Non-Profits
If you're a non-profit you probably have a lot on your plate, but it's important to check in with your donors regularly and let them know what is going on in your organization. One of the best ways to do this is through social media! More specifically Facebook Live!...
11 Handy Marketing Tools for Non-Profit Marketers
We know there are a lot of free tools out there and it can be hard choosing ones that you utilize every day. Here are 11 of our favourite marketing tools we use every day at Non-Profit Today! 1. Feedly Online Blog Post Archive Feedly is an online blog post...
Are Micro-Donations the Way of the Future?
We live in a world where we want instant. Instant coffee, instant recognition, instant…..donations? When nptechforgood.com asked this question in their 2017 trends report: “… Which new fundraising concept [would] donors be most Likely to use?” Donors...
How to Keep Your Donors Coming Back.
How do you keep your donors in the loop and give them relevant information that will keep them coming back? Email Marketing is one of the greatest tools for nurturing leads and maintaining a relationship with your donors. Did you know that Email is the channel...
How to Jump-Start your Year-End Campaign
A lot of work goes into creating a year-end campaign that inspires new and old donors to give generously. We know it’s a busy time for non-profits, after all, 61% of donors are inspired to give during the holiday season (Givingreport.ngo) So, what can you do to create...
SMBRD #54: Social Media for Non-Profits
Becky Murray writes for the Social Media Breakfast Red Deer blog and recaps the monthly speakers. We invited Becky to share the points taken from our presentation to our blog as well. We hope you enjoy the post! Original blog post found here October’s SMBRD was...
65 Best Non-Profit Logos
We've put together a list of our favorite non-profit logos out there. A logo is the first thing someone sees when they come across your organization and it's important to make a great first impression. Colour, design, and wording all come into consideration so it is...
How to Welcome Your Supporters for the Giving Season
Someone subscribed to your email list! This new subscriber is obviously interested in your organization and it would be a shame not to capitalize on the one email that typically gets 60% more open rates than other promotional emails!
9 Things Donors Want From Your Non-Profit
Do you send out thank-you cards hoping that that gesture shows enough gratitude to someone who had donated their hard-earned dollars? Donors want more from the non-profits they support. If you are not going above and beyond you’re not standing out… and trust...