The Nonprofit Advertising Guide: How to Use Nonprofit Ads to Secure More Funding Without High Costs 

Nonprofit advertising is becoming more lucrative than ever

Advertising can play a huge role in determining an organization’s trajectory, but many nonprofits don’t think they have the resources and ability to be successful marketers. With grants and inexpensive ads through social media and search networks, though, nonprofits are able to reach a large audience even when presented with a small budget! Today’s technology has made this the perfect time to be a nonprofit marketer. If you want to take your nonprofit to the next level, now is the time to take the leap into nonprofit ads! 

Some great nonprofit advertising examples

There’s no one right way to make compelling ads. Designing ads is all about being creative. Your ad needs to steal a users’ attention to make them stop scrolling, so make sure you put in the time and effort to produce captivating ads.

Example 1

This ad is great because it builds credibility for the organization. By stating how much money it’s raised, Thirst Project shows that it’s a legitimate and established organization. This ad also displays the impact Thirst Project has made in a clear and concise way by stating the number of people helped.

Example 2

This ad is great because it expresses the organization’s gratitude. Not all ads need to ask for donations to get donations. Ads that say “Thank You” are very effective at bringing in donations as well as helping people who donate feel appreciated and valued, which oftentimes turns them into repeat givers.

Example 3

This ad is great because it incorporates a video and a hashtag. Videos are great for capturing users’ attention and getting them to engage with your ad, while hashtags are effective at spreading your advertisement to users interested in that topic.

See More Examples of Nonprofit Ads

3 popular mediums for nonprofit advertising

A crucial aspect of nonprofit advertising is picking the right advertising medium to fit your campaign’s specific goals. Google ads may be the right approach for you if you have specific keywords that you want to be associated with, while Facebook and Instagram ads may be better if you have the desired audience you want to target.

1.  Google ads

2. Facebook ads

3. Instagram ads

3 strategies for writing compelling ad copy

Ad copy can make or break your advertisement, either driving the audience to click your call-to-action or turning users away from your organization, so it’s crucial that you nail this aspect of your advertisement. Writing captivating copy that converts is hard though, so we’ve compiled a few tips and tricks to help you crush your copy out of the park!

1. Answer a question

Don’t waste space repeating the user’s search terms — just answer their question.

Many nonprofits use their organization’s name or a generic headline of what they do to provide more detail. For example, say “Housing for Homeless Veterans” instead of “Homeless Charity.”

2. Include stats and numbers

Including numbers and statistics has been repeatedly proven to boost nonprofit advertising. Nonprofits have the capability to capture a user’s attention by sharing facts and information.

Valuable statistics can address why a user would want to get involved or how your organization is helping solve a problem. For example, say “30% of Laos is illiterate” or “Serving over 100 Veterans.” 

3. Have a call to action

You have 80 characters to provide details and generate a call to action. Don’t get bogged down in writing a script. Your call to action is more important than anything else — any extra space you have to add additional details about your organization is just a bonus.

Ready to put out your ad? Make sure you follow these best practices

There’s a lot that goes into digital advertising. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or confused, so we outlined some of the best practices and strategies for you to follow.

Keep it to the point

Keep your advertisement focused on your objective. Don’t stray all over the place and confuse your audience.

Include compelling visuals

Your visuals are the first thing a user will notice, so they need to be engaging enough to draw users’ attention away from their feed.

Let the audience know how they can help

If you want your audience to help, you need to tell them how! Don’t make your audience work hard to figure out how to get involved. Highlight and point out exactly what you want them to do in order to help.

Test many different target market variations

Always be testing! You never know which target audience or market variation is going to be the most successful, and sometimes your initial idea may be wrong, so test out different strategies to figure out what works best.

Look at what the competition is doing

Why completely reinvent the wheel? Your competitors are a great place to look for inspiration and learn from. Don’t be afraid to copy aspects of other advertisements that seem to be effective.

Hire an agency with experience

If you’re still struggling or just wanted someone experienced to handle your digital advertising, hire a professional agency such as Community Boost! At least, you can speak with one of our specialists to see if we could be a good fit!

Let’s Talk About Your Nonprofits Advertising 

Conclusion 

Digital advertising can be a daunting task, and you may be a bit intimidated by everything there is to do. Don’t worry! As long as you stick to our tips and tricks and have a structured process, you’re sure to have success!

Maria Sadusky