The need for strategic and effective outreach has never been more critical. Driven by your mission to make a positive impact on society, your organization must harness every tool available. Paid nonprofit advertising is one such tool, offering a dynamic and effective way to amplify your reach, raise awareness, and drive success. Paid ads can help your organization exceed the limitations of organic outreach and engage a broader and more targeted audience. However, many nonprofits underutilize paid ads.
Budget constraints, resource allocation, and impact assessment all influence the underutilization of paid nonprofit advertising. While these are all valid reasons to be cautious, it’s essential to consider the benefits of paid advertising efforts.
What is Paid Nonprofit Advertising?
Nonprofits use paid advertisements to amplify digital content related to services and fundraising initiatives. Your organization can display ads on various platforms, including paid search ads and social media promotion. Of course, there are also traditional advertising avenues such as community radio, print media, and billboards. For this article, we’ll be focusing on advertising in the digital space.
It is critical to keep in mind that nonprofit advertising is just a tiny part of your overall marketing strategy. While effective at enhancing your outreach efforts, a successful marketing strategy is well-rounded.
Investing in Nonprofit Advertising
By strategically allocating a portion of your budget to paid advertising, your organization can tap into a new donor pool, expand your reach, and convey your message and mission to a broader demographic. Typically, you pay for ads per-click (Pay-Per-Click) or per-impression (Cost-Per-Thousand) basis. When used thoughtfully (in conjunction with other marketing strategies), paid advertising can play a vital role in advancing the missions of nonprofits.
Why You Should Use Paid Advertising
Nonprofit fundraisers often need more resources, and tight budgets make investing in paid advertising daunting. However, there are some compelling reasons why your organization should consider incorporating paid advertising into your fundraising strategy.
First and foremost, paid advertising can significantly expand your reach, putting your organization’s mission in front of a broader audience. Some additional benefits of paid advertising include:
- Target specific audiences: Reach audiences more likely to convert into donors or volunteers through meticulously targeted audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
- Have an immediate impact: Quickly mobilize support by creating instant visibility for your organization.
- Measure results: Monitor key metrics like click-through rates, conversions, and return on ad spend to help optimize your campaigns, allocate resources efficiently, and ensure your budget is well spent.
- Adapt to trends: Quickly adapt to your changing needs through paid ads by harnessing the interest around events and issues. For example, if a natural disaster strikes and your organization provides relief, you can launch targeted ad campaigns to generate immediate support for your efforts.
While cost-effective strategies are essential for nonprofits, judicious use of paid advertising can be a powerful tool to help you achieve your goals. In addition to limited resources and budgetary restraints, there are a handful of other challenges your organization should be aware of. These challenges include ad fatigue, donor trust, content sensitivity, and platform complexity. Consider carefully planning your ad campaigns and seeking professional assistance or partnerships.
The Most Effective Platforms for Nonprofit Advertising
Whether you’re aiming to raise awareness or attract new donors, it’s essential to choose the right platform(s) to maximize your impact.
Facebook is a powerful platform for nonprofit advertising with an active user base of 2.8 billion folks. Its diverse targeting options allow you to reach a particular audience, ensuring you get in front of folks interested in your cause. According to one survey, ⅓ of nonprofit organizations consider Facebook the most effective social media platform for advertising efforts.
A subsidiary of Facebook, Instagram is a platform that allows your organization to tap into a visually-centric and highly engaged audience. Its paid advertising features can be incredibly impactful, especially if you lean into sharing compelling stories through video. 59% of Instagram users said they became more interested in supporting a nonprofit after seeing their content on the platform. Organic reach on Instagram can be challenging, so paid promotion can help maximize your organization’s presence.
Google Ads
Google Ads provides your organization with the opportunity to reach potential donors at the exact moment they search for related information or causes. The Google Ad Grants program offers eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 in monthly advertising credits, empowering smaller nonprofits to gain visibility. By leveraging Google Ads, your organization can boost your website traffic and conversions. The click-through rates for nonprofits were 47% higher than the industry average.
YouTube
Recently usurped by TikTok, YouTube is the second most popular video-sharing platform and the third largest search engine in the world (behind TikTok and Google). Managed through Google Ads (though not eligible for the Google Ad Grant credits), YouTube allows your organization to display videos to audiences watching specific content. There are several ways your nonprofit can advertise on YouTube, including:
- Skippable Video Ads: These play before or after a video and are skippable after five seconds.
- Non-Skippable Video Ads: This is a 15-second ad that plays before or after a video and cannot be skipped by a viewer.
- Discovery Ads: Like some paid ads in Google Search, discovery ads appear with organic YouTube search results.
- Display Ads: These ads include an image, text, and a CTA on the right-hand sidebar.
- Overlay Ads: Appearing on monetized YouTube channels, these opaque ads appear at the bottom of a video.
Often associated with professional networking, LinkedIn can be a valuable platform for nonprofits to reach potential partners, sponsors, volunteers, and donors. LinkedIn provides various ways to advertise on its platform, including sponsored content, sponsored messaging, text ads, and dynamic ads.
Additionally, LinkedIn has an expansive resource hub, guiding you through how to use LinkedIn to hire great people, develop your employees, fundraise effectively, and market your nonprofit. LinkedIn also offers discounted products to small or medium-sized nonprofits.
The success of your nonprofit advertising largely depends on using the right platform. Each platform has advantages and opportunities to connect with your audience and achieve your goals. The most effective platform for your organization will vary depending on your specific objectives, so it’s important to tailor your approach to align with your mission and your audience’s preferences. By leveraging platforms strategically and staying informed, you can raise awareness, attract donors, and continually optimize your nonprofit advertising efforts to drive meaningful change and support for your cause.
Strategic Planning for Paid Advertising
Paid advertising harnesses the capabilities of online platforms to help you amplify your message and campaign. As with any marketing campaign, the success of your nonprofit advertising hinges on your ability to be strategic and thoughtful in your approach.
Defining Your Goals
The most crucial part of planning is understanding and defining your goals. It is essential to set clear goals and KPIs as this helps your organization track and assess the impact of your ad campaign. Specific goals will vary depending on what your organization is trying to accomplish. Some common goals for nonprofit advertising campaigns include:
- Fundraising
- Awareness
- Advocacy or Public Policy
- Volunteer Recruitment
- Issue-Specific Campaigns
- Reach New Demographics
- Engagement
Your goals should align with your organization’s mission and vision. Are you striving to direct traffic to your site? Secure donations? Raise awareness? Either way, you must create an achievable and measurable framework to ensure your goals are well-defined and trackable.
Considering Your Target Audience
To help define your target audience, you’ll want to ensure you complete the following:
- Market Research: Start by analyzing your existing donor and supporter data to identify common demographics, interests, and behaviors. While this can help you target new donors who fit your current audience, it can also help you identify gaps to diversify your donor base.
- Segment Your Audience: Once you’ve completed your market research, you should segment your audience based on shared characteristics. Some segments include age, location, income, education, interests, past engagements with your nonprofit, etc.
- Identify Motivations: What motivates each segment to give is important for crafting effective ad campaigns. Some folks may be motivated to give because of their religious or cultural beliefs, while others may be motivated by their connection to the cause. It’s important to note that motivations for giving can be complex and may involve many factors.
- Tailor Messaging: Crafting messages and content that is relevant to each segment is arguably the most important part of considering your target audience. Without carefully crafted messages, all the research and definition you’ve done is wasted. Each campaign’s message should target your audience’s interests and motivations.
- Choose the Right Channels: Your organization does not need to be on every platform – you only need to be where your audience is. Some may be more responsive to social media, while others prefer search engine ads.
By tailoring your ad message, choosing the right channels, and optimizing your strategy, your organization can engage with the individuals who are more likely to support your cause. The nonprofit and digital advertising spaces continually evolve, so ongoing research and adaptation are essential for sustained success.
Budget Allocation
Unfortunately, the answer to this is a resounding “it depends.” The rule of thumb for nonprofits is that they should allocate somewhere between 5-15% of their marketing budget for paid ads. However, there are plenty of caveats for ad spend that are dependent on your type of organization, your revenue sources, and what your organization realistically has available to allocate toward advertising.
Creative for Nonprofit Advertising
Donors don’t give to institutions – you can see that in the data. Donors give to causes they care about and to people they believe in. Creating engaging ad campaigns is critical to your paid advertising strategy. Your organization must create ads that communicate your cause and inspire people to take action. Visuals should be compelling and spark an emotional response in the viewer.
Here are some examples of compelling ads curated by Canva.
The ACLU Dash Button
The ACLU created this video in response to the debut of Amazon’s dash buttons, which allowed folks to donate $5 to the ACLU with one push of a button. Though the Dash buttons no longer exist, this campaign is an example of being innovative and forward-thinking and jumping on current news and trends to capture the attention of your audience.
#38PercentCounts
LeanIn.org partnered with global businesses to launch the #38PercentCounts campaign on Black Women Equal Pay Day, which was August 7th. Why was August 7th designated as Black Women Equal Pay Day? Good question. Black women had to work all of 2017 until August 7th, 2018, to earn the same amount as men in 2017 alone.
One example was in partnership with Lyft, challenging riders to imagine how they would feel if their ride ended, but they still had 38% of their trip left.
Unicef Tap Water Campaign
Did you know that 26% of the world’s population does have access to safe drinking water? Yet many of us in the United States can turn on our tap and have clean, safe, drinkable water. Additionally, nearly every restaurant provides glasses of water for free.
The UNICEF tap water campaign challenged folks to think about something they take for granted regularly – free tap water – challenging them to make a small donation for something they usually get for free.
Measuring the Success of Your Nonprofit Advertising
Navigating nonprofit advertising requires more than a passive approach. To maximize the return on investment, your organization must take a proactive stance, including tracking and monitoring.
Regarding all marketing efforts, performance metrics help you stay on course. Metrics can provide you with essential information that can help your organization pivot and optimize your paid strategy.
Most platforms have built-in analytics tools to help you determine the success of your current efforts. Some of the key performance indicators you can measure include:
Impressions: This number tells you how many times your ad was displayed, offering insights into the reach of your message.
Click-through rate: A higher CTR suggests that your ad is more engaging and relevant as it measures the ratio of clicks to impressions.
Conversion rate: A higher conversion rate usually indicates greater success as it measures how many people complete a desired action, such as registering for an event or donating.
Donor acquisition cost: This is the ad spend required to acquire a new donor and is crucial for optimizing your budget and resources.
By diligently tracking and analyzing performance metrics, you can ensure that every dollar spent is being allocated effectively.
The Power of Nonprofit Advertising
When advancing your organization’s mission, the power of nonprofit advertising cannot be understated. While it is not for every organization, there are many compelling reasons to consider incorporating paid advertising into your fundraising strategy. By leveraging platforms like Facebook or Google Ads, your can expand your reach, diversify your donor pool, engage with specific audiences, and effectively market your nonprofit to potential donors.
Join us for a Give LIVE! on Nonprofit Advertising with Drew Griswold
To learn how to make the most of your advertising investment, join me and GiveWP for an upcoming live stream. We’ll provide valuable insights and practical tips for those looking to harness the potential of paid advertising. We’ll discuss strategic planning, budgeting wisely, creating compelling visuals, and more. As always, there will be time at the end for questions.
Don’t miss this opportunity to take your nonprofit advertising to the next level. Join us Wednesday, November 15th at 11 a.m. PST/ 2 p.m. EST!
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