Empowering Nonprofit Supporters Through Content Creation

As we know, nonprofits play a pivotal role in our society. Every nonprofit could be on the leading edge of change, from hunger and poverty to education and the environment. Although the missions of more than 1.8 million organizations may vary, a common challenge experienced within nonprofit teams is communicating purpose and impact. One way to empower and align with donors and gain more visibility is to create educational content to bridge the gap. 

As we all know, sustainability is critical. To drive home a key message about sustainability, here are five ideas for empowering and informing.

1. Storytelling: Unveiling the Heart of the Mission

As every marketer knows, a story is at the heart of every connection with volunteers and donors. That's why it's essential to build up and expand your storytelling library. There are many ways to share your nonprofit story. For instance, you can create content about the mission itself in broad terms. You could share content about the people and causes you serve with permission. And you could share lots of fun stuff about your team on social media.

However, here’s another fun idea: You could create a master class. Discuss a topic that supporters may want to learn about within your mission. Lay out what you want to teach and then build it. Next, think about how you want to share the content. For example, if you have a strong how-to master class, you can sell it and ask for a donation. You could place it on your site or a platform, such as Udemy, Skillshare, or Mighty Networks, for a paid community.

2. Concrete Statistics: Painting a Clear Picture of Impact

As discussed, storytelling is at the heart of engaging with donors, volunteers and the broader community. But to paint the picture of your nonprofit work, you need to back the storytelling with concrete data. The fact is that when people are learning something when you share statistics and quantitative facts, it becomes “sticky” in their minds. For instance, “98% of …” is much more powerful than stating “Many of …."

When sharing content, statistics is also a great way to highlight and showcase your work. Suppose your nonprofit runs an after-school tutoring program, and as a result of your work, 100% of your students get above a B+ in their classes with your support. Those statistics are a great way to demonstrate your work specific to education. In other words, it brings home the reality of your programs, and it's something that invites engagement from donors.

3. Historical Context: Tracing the Evolution of the Mission

When nonprofit donors decide to become part of your donor community, they rely on you to be the experts. What that means is that, for the most part, supporters need historical context about your mission. Suppose your nonprofit addresses issues related to climate change. The truth is that most, if not all, of your supporters will know about the problem since they probably hear it on the news. But most will know little about it, and that's where historical context matters.

As a result, when you share information through deeper content creation beyond blog posts and on the level of perhaps master classes, you want to share the issue's history. Consider how the issue has been historically through generations. How has the matter improved? What has your organization done since it opened its doors to improve matters? Examining how things have evolved provides a powerful story for donors to learn. 

4. Potential Solutions: Empowering Supporters to Be Part of Change

Donor fatigue is still real, and one of the reasons donors get tired of supporting an organization is that there's always a problem, and that problem may become too overwhelming. That's why talking about successes — not just sending donors urgent appeals for money — is essential. Donors have to realize and feel that progress is happening. And that’s where your solutions come into the picture. You’re providing the path.

When you discuss the broader solutions, including but not limited to your programmatic solutions, you're allowing donors to see that there's a better tomorrow. You're inviting them to become part of the story and become part of the change they want to see. Your nonprofit can go deep into the content to discuss the strategies that you're employing to make a proven impact. Solutions also involve community partnerships, advocacy and innovative programs.

5. Diverse Delivery of Content: Meeting Supporters Where They Are

Finally, you want to deliver the content differently and meet your supporters where they are. Some will love the idea of deeper content through master classes where they can dig deeper into issues that matter. That said, consider various ways to deliver content, which you should promote through your social media and direct response. Everyone's different and will want to digest information in varying ways. 

Consider webinars, ebooks, on-demand classes and livestreaming. A nice touch is creating an online digital community through a platform like Mighty Networks, where you cultivate a growing ecosystem of people committed to your work. By doing a multichannel approach, you'll ensure you reach out to your supporters in ways that matter to them. And by doing so, they'll learn more about your mission and deepen their relationship with you. 

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.