Building a legacy giving program comes down to marketing

While we might like to think that a donor with 10+ years of giving history already has our nonprofit in their will, they may need to learn that leaving a gift is an option. That’s where legacy giving marketing comes in.

Through marketing communications, nonprofits can educate donors about the opportunities to leave a legacy gift and the tax benefits for their loved ones. But unlike making an ask for a one-time annual gift, getting the gift takes more than one ask and a few follow ups. It also takes more than passive marketing efforts.

Nonprofits who are succeeding in building large legacy giving programs are proactively marketing legacy giving to donors. Through face-to-face conversations, direct mail pieces, and email, nonprofits who approach legacy giving as a long-term, multi-channel effort are getting more traction.

But wait! Aren’t legacy giving donors direct mail donors?

To that I say, but who are your legacy donor prospects? It’s not just Boomers. In fact, most people tend to write a Will during a big life change such as marriage or having a child — life changes that often take place in people’s 30s and 40s. Conversations about gift and estate planning may need to happen with people younger than you think.

Indeed, the legacy gifts that your organization may receive in the next 20 years might be from Boomer direct mail donors. However direct mail donors (even those over 65) have email addresses and are often on a nonprofit’s email list, and not all of them are legacy donors yet.

4 steps to integrate legacy giving marketing into your email program

Email is a scalable and highly effective way to get legacy giving marketing materials in front of your donors. If your nonprofit is ready to up your legacy giving game, here are four steps to get started integrating legacy giving into your email program.

Step 1: Identify your segment(s)

Have an open mind when it comes to your legacy giving data. Your best legacy giving prospects are your most loyal donors, regardless of the dollar amount they give. Loyalty can look like making annual gifts for years, volunteering, being a board member, or being a monthly donor.

To keep things simple, you might start with one segment of legacy giving prospects. Over time, as you see who is most engaged with your legacy giving content (see Step 4), you may develop other segment strategies for those donors who are more engaged.

Wealth screening can also impact your segmentation choices. Specifically, someone’s net worth can indicate whether they may be a prospect for a Charitable Remainder Trust or a Charitable Gift Annuity.

You can also find some great insights on segmenting legacy prospects by generation in this webinar.

Step 2: Build a plan to consistently roll out legacy giving messaging in email

Once you know who you want to target through your legacy giving marketing, you need a plan to consistently get legacy giving messaging in front of the audience. Consistency is often the biggest challenge nonprofits face with legacy giving. It’s easy to send a one-off mailing but it can feel like a heavier lift to be consistent. The balance here is committing to a cadence you know you can execute.

If you’re just getting started, my recommendation is once per quarter. If you have been working on a legacy giving program for a while or have more capacity, aim for once a month.

In these regular email marketing pieces about legacy giving, the goals are to 1) educate donors about legacy giving opportunities and 2) help donors see that people just like them leave legacy gifts.

We often see news stories about mega-transformational legacy gifts so it’s easy for someone to feel like their gift of $5,000 or $25,000 may not make a difference. That’s where storytelling can be a powerful ally for legacy giving. Stories offer social proof and when organizations pick diverse donor stories, they can be more effective at reaching different cross-sections of the donor audience.

If you’d like to see some examples of legacy donor stories, take a look at these examples from BC Women’s Hospital Foundation and these legacy donor stories from the Canadian Red Cross.

With any legacy giving email you send, giving subscribers content to click on is key. Your email could be a teaser of a story or a link to a legacy giving story video. The reason we want people to click on content is so that over time we can see who is most engaged with legacy giving content. Either within the content or in the email, be sure to link to your legacy giving informational page. Again, this will be valuable information about your prospects.

Step 3: Strategically use surveys

One of the best tools we have to get legacy giving prospects to raise their hands is surveys. With our clients, we typically run an annual prospecting survey to update the donor file. It’s a short email with just one question that gets to the most important information for the fundraising team: Is someone planning to or considering a legacy gift?

Here’s an example of one of these survey emails.

These kinds of emails are extremely effective because of the ability to answer the survey quickly and easily track responses. Over time, they will help you build a better legacy giving portfolio.

Step 4: Leverage your email user data to take things multi channel

The fuel for your legacy giving marketing is your data. With email, you have an incredible wealth of engagement data that will allow your team to do things like:

• Personally follow up with subscribers who are highly engaged with legacy content
• Send targeted direct mailings
• Curate better event invite lists legacy giving events

Email has long been an incredible tool for fundraising and there are so many possibilities for legacy giving marketing. With time and consistency, your nonprofit will begin to build a legacy giving program that can provide sustainability for its future.

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1. Personalize email content to boost engagement

Personalization makes your audience feel valued. The AI Content Assistant can help you by suggesting personalized greetings and content based on the recipient’s preferences. Tailoring emails to include the recipient’s name, past interactions, or interests can significantly increase engagement rates.

2. Optimize subject lines for higher open rates

A captivating subject line is crucial as it determines whether recipients will open or ignore your email. Use the AI Content Assistant to generate multiple subject line options and choose the one that best captures attention. The tool can help you craft subject lines that are both intriguing and relevant to your audience.

3. Craft clear and concise content that will resonate

Emails should be clear and concise. The AI Content Assistant can help you refine your message by summarizing lengthy paragraphs and removing unnecessary jargon. This makes your emails easy to read and understand, increasing the likelihood of your message being well-received.

4. Enhance calls-to-action (CTAs) to get the results you want

Effective CTAs are essential for driving conversions. The AI Content Assistant can suggest powerful CTAs based on your email content and desired outcomes. Whether you want recipients to sign up for a webinar, download a resource, or make a purchase, a well-crafted CTA can make all the difference.

5. Proofread for perfection

Typos and grammatical errors can damage your credibility. Use the AI Content Assistant to spell-check and grammar-check your emails before sending them out. This ensures your emails are polished and professional, reflecting positively on your brand.

6. Choose the right tone for the right audience

Different tones of voice resonate with different audiences. The AI Content Assistant can help you adjust the tone of your emails to match your audience’s preferences. Whether you need a friendly, formal, or persuasive tone, the AI can transform your content accordingly, making it more appealing to your readers.

7. Translate content for speakers of other languages

If your business operates internationally, language barriers can be a challenge. The AI Content Assistant can translate your email content into multiple languages, enabling you to effectively communicate with a global audience. This ensures your message is clear and culturally appropriate for all recipients.

8. A/B Testing for the Win

Take the guesswork out of content creation! Use the AI Content Assistant to generate variations of your content and test which ones resonate best with your audience.

Conclusion

Using the Bloomerang AI Content Assistant can transform your fundraising. It offers a fast path to personal messages, optimal subject lines, and clear content while enhancing CTAs, proofreading, adjusting tones, and translating content. Now, you can craft compelling email campaigns that drive engagement and conversions. Embrace the power of AI to take your email marketing to the next level.

What are some ways our new AI Content Assistant will help you craft compelling emails? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

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No more staring at a blank page!

The AI Content Assistant is like having a helpful writing companion by your side. Whether you need a nudge in the right direction, a complete content overhaul, or just a quick grammar check, the Assistant is here to lend a hand.

Here’s what you can do with the AI Content Assistant:

• Get a jumpstart on your email: Feeling stuck? Ask the Assistant to suggest email copy based on a particular theme or desired call to action.
• Refine your writing: Let the Assistant improve your content by checking spelling, summarizing lengthy text, or even changing the tone and style.
• Proofread with confidence: Ensure flawless grammar and punctuation with the Assistant’s spell-checking and editing features.
• Personalize your message: Tailor your email for maximum impact. The Assistant can help personalize content and adjust the level of formality.
• Translate with ease: Overcome language barriers by translating your email content directly in the editor.

How it works

You’ll find the AI Content Assistant within the email editor. Simply click the Write with AI button to open a chat window. There, you can ask your questions and receive real-time guidance. The Assistant will even “remember” your conversation, enabling you to refine topics and ask follow-up questions.

Peace of mind with your data

We understand the importance of data security. Rest assured, the AI Content Assistant operates independently and does not access any Bloomerang user data beyond what you enter directly into the chat window. And, the Assistant does not retain user-entered information after your chat session ends.

Getting started with the AI Content Assistant

The AI Content Assistant is available to all Bloomerang users with access to the email editor. There are no additional costs or limitations—it’s included in your Bloomerang subscription!

A few things to keep in mind

• Think of the AI Content Assistant as a valuable collaborator, not a replacement for your own creativity. While the Assistant can offer fantastic suggestions and improvements, it’s always a good idea to review its recommendations and ensure they align with your message and brand voice.
• The information the Assistant provides is based on its training data, which is current as of September 2021. It doesn’t access real-time information from the internet.
• There’s no option to disable the AI Content Assistant entirely. However, you can choose not to interact with it by avoiding the Write with AI button.

We’re confident that the AI Content Assistant will become an indispensable tool in your email marketing arsenal. Stay tuned for upcoming resources designed to help you harness the power of AI content creation for even more impactful email campaigns!

What questions do YOU have about our new AI Content Assistant? Share them with us in the comments below!

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Dear Charity Clairity,

I’ve been hearing a lot about storytelling and want to be sure I avoid common pitfalls. My boss wants to be sure we incorporate the story of our history, plus awards we’ve recently won, into our narrative. I’m not so sure that’s compelling to donors. What mistakes have you seen nonprofits make when it comes to storytelling and engagement? 

— Seeking Enlightenment

Dear Seeking Enlightenment,

One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits make is filling their communications with cold hard data rather than emotional stories. For more information about how to avoid falling into this trap, read this on why you want to appeal to emotion rather than reason. Especially in a fundraising appeal!

But let’s take it back a few steps. Before you get to the point of crafting compelling stories, you must understand (1) what a story is/is not, and (2) what’s engaging/not engaging.

So, today, I’d like to talk about three other ways nonprofits fail to put their best foot forward when talking with prospective supporters about the problems they address, the solutions they seek, and how the donor can help make a positive impact.

1. A story is not a category

Don’t lead with your service category! When asked what you do, don’t tell me you’re an arts organization, social services agency, university, hospital foundation, school, international aid organization, animal rescue mission, environmental nonprofit, mutual aid society, civil rights group, or any other category of service. These are just empty structures.

Instead, tell me something specific and meaningful that calls you to this mission. Get to the root of why you feel you’re engaged in tackling one of the world’s — or your community’s — most pressing problems. Talk about the single most important thing you’re dealing with — or care about — right now.

• You’re creating opportunities for struggling artists to bring beauty to the world.
• You’re healing sick people, who will otherwise suffer.
• You’re giving tomorrow’s leaders the knowledge and skills they’ll need to become productive members of society.
• You’re engaging in life-changing research, without which suffering will result.
• You’re helping youth develop healthy, successful lives.
• You’re providing rescue and relief where otherwise people would be unable to thrive.
• You’re saving abused animals from cruelty and suffering.
• You’re saving a dying ocean, without which our planet will not survive.
• You’re fighting against injustice to give everyone equal rights and ensure democracy survives.

You exist because of stories—stories of problems you’re working to solve. Tell stories of those you’re helping, and what role the donor can play in this work. The best stories are experiential journeys of understanding and empathy. Told well, the listener/reader sees what the character sees and feels what they feel. On some level, they relate to them.

TIP: Keep in mind different stories resonate with different people, So, you’ll want to collect a variety. Some ways to find and disseminate stories include:

1. Bring clients to present at board, committee, and staff meetings. 
2. Get board members out in the field to visit programs. 
3. Send board members and targeted donors a “story of the week”/ “month.”
4. Ask board members and staff to share field stories at meetings. 
5. Write stories down, and share them with everyone after the meetings (so those who were present remember them, and those who were not can hear them).

2. Eschew the weeds and focus on the change

Don’t get lost in the depth/breadth of what your organization does. People are interested in what they can do to create positive change. Sure, sometimes you’ll want to talk to major donor prospects about details. But, as a general rule, you don’t want to come at a prospective donor like a firehose.

Your history and awards are not about change. They’re about the past. And your ego. Donors care about the future. And their own egos. They’re looking to co-create a better future with you. They’re not interested in hearing you brag about your accomplishments.

Be sure to incorporate into your narrative what change the donor’s gift will bring about. Simple black and white results. “You’ll restore hope” is not something a donor can visualize. Tell a simple, short story. Show them what they can do to give that story a happy ending:

• If they give, something clearly good happens.
• If they don’t, something clearly bad happens.

TIP: Complexity kills fundraising. The truth is donors don’t care about all of the ways in which you work — numbers served, geographic reach, number of staff and volunteers, years in existence, range of programs, awards won. Giving is triggered by the social-emotional part of the brain. Donors get a jolt of pleasurable dopamine and a warm glow merely contemplating a philanthropic gift. But, as soon as complexity (numbers, data, facts, figures) enters the picture, a more analytical part of the brain is triggered. This part of the brain thinks and deliberates, stopping your would-be donor dead in their tracks. It may motivate contemplation; it won’t motivate giving. What donors really care about is results – yearned for and made possible. The best fundraising is simple.

3. Include all 3 key story elements

What all good stories have in common is a protagonist, problem, and solution. If you miss any of these ingredients, you’ll fail to engage your reader/listener.

1. A protagonist is a single individual, not a group. The struggling artist, cancer survivor, student with a learning challenge, parent of an autistic child, trans youth, hungry child, abused animal, dying ocean, prisoner unjustly incarcerated. The story hinges on the person and how they think, feel and encounter the world.
2. A problem begs to be overcome. Without one, you’ve perhaps got a narrative (an account of events). But, not a story that will draw people in enough to make them want to act.
3. A solution is an outcome that creates change, giving the donor a pivotal role. There’s got to be a pay-off. In fundraising appeals, this is generally the call to action. It might be an ask for a charitable gift. Or it might simply be asking people to share the story with their networks.

TIP: Don’t make the mistake of crafting your story until you’ve first outlined each of these three key elements. Sometimes protagonists are easy to come by, other times you have to really think. For example, if you’re a marine conservation center you may think the protagonist is the facility. Or a program for which you’re trying to raise funds. Dig deeper. Perhaps the real protagonist is the ocean or the coral reefs. The problem is they’re starving or dying. The solution? What do you really need – right now – to move the needle and create positive change?

Hope this helps enlighten you so you can move forward in crafting compelling stories that really draw people in!

— Charity Clairity (Please use a pseudonym if you prefer to be anonymous when you submit your own question, like “Seeking Enlightenment” did.)

Have you seen success with crafting compelling stories? Let us know in the comments. 

The post [ASK AN EXPERT] What Are Some Storytelling Pitfalls To Avoid? appeared first on Bloomerang.

Bloomerang features the industry’s friendliest tools, unlocking valuable time savings. This powerful combination of new features and functionalities will pack a time-saving punch for organizations of all sizes—regardless of resource constraints or creative capabilities.

Bloomerang email builder updates you’ll love include:

• A fresh library of ready-to-customize templates: Maximize donor engagement with professionally designed templates that use donor psychology principles and best practices. These templates include sample content to kickstart fundraising campaigns you can easily brand with your organization’s colors and logo. Built for accessibility, they’ll ensure an enjoyable and engaging experience for users of all abilities. Plus, they’re optimized for mobile for a flawless display on any device.
• A rich, expanded design toolbox: Quickly create branded emails with intuitive drag-and-drop content blocks and a library of web-safe fonts and color palettes. Our growing library of pre-built templates, complete with starter copy, will have you on your way to creating emails in record time that resonate with your audience and inspire them to give generously.
• An industry-first AI-powered writing assistant: Don’t let writer’s block slow you down. Get a time-saving boost with the industry-first AI Content Assistant from Bloomerang. Think of it as your helpful writing assistant that’s always on hand and ready to suggest headlines, body copy, and calls to action that resonate with donors. You can even use it to create different messages to test and improve your fundraising outcomes. This marks the beginning of AI-powered innovations coming to our market-leading giving platform.

This trifecta of user-friendly interfaces, customizable templates, and AI-powered writing will be ready to use on July 18.

Visit Bloomerang Academy to see an in-depth overview of this new feature!

P.S. By sharing this story with your colleagues, you’ll help them learn about ways Bloomerang can help tell their stories and save valuable time.

The post Introducing Powerful Email Builder Updates Featuring AI Writing Assistance appeared first on Bloomerang.

Struggling to tell your nonprofit’s story with limited time and resources? Bloomerang’s got your back! In this Academy session we unveil new features that will help you save time and create captivating email content in seconds.

The post Introducing innovative new tools to our email builder! appeared first on Bloomerang.

Need to hire a team member but constrained by budget and timing? Is your team feeling the burn from being short staffed? Introducing AI as a team member can help. In this webinar, learn how AI can temporarily fill these gaps, acting as a virtual team member to support your human workforce whether in fundraising, marketing or admin.

We’ll discuss how to integrate AI into your organizational chart, assign human oversight, and use AI to bridge and build capacity in places where humans should be. This presentation also covers the ethical considerations of human vs AI staff focusing on maintaining a balance between AI and human employees to enhance rather than replace human talent.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how AI can serve as a virtual team member in the nonprofit organizational chart, particularly in roles where human resources are lacking or turnover is high
• Explore the strategic integration of AI across various departments to enhance capacity
• Discover how to knowledge on train AI with specific job functions to fill gaps in workflow
• Explore the ethical considerations in using AI within nonprofits as virtual team members

View this webinar’s slides here.

The post Building Nonprofit Capacity: Strategic Staffing with AI appeared first on Bloomerang.

Proving impact is hard.

Most nonprofits can’t do in-deptth program evaluations. They know the work they do is making a difference, but can find it difficult to prove with traditional metrics.

Luckily, there are many ways you can tell the story of your organization’s progress with these 18 creative (and true) metrics.

One of the most powerful tools to secure funding year after year is demonstrating momentum…that what you are doing is working. This training will show you creative ways to explain to donors, funders, stakeholders, and your board that the work of your organization is important and impactful.

During this training, you will learn:

• How to use feedback from your community.
• How to focus on areas of success you may have been missing.
• How to think differently about what constitutes “impact”.
• How to look across multiple dimensions of your organizations for success stories.
• How to stop devaluing some of the incredibly unique work you are doing for the field.
• Surprising things that count as assets in the eyes of donors.
• How to have more confidence in your body of work!

View this session’s slides here.

The post 18 Creative Ways to Show Your 2024 Impact appeared first on Bloomerang.

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful approach for nonprofits to engage meaningfully with their audiences. Imagine a youth-service organization that needs community support for its programs. They may have fantastic volunteers who support their programs and the kids. Those supporters, volunteers, and donors can become powerful advocates when they share UGC with their followers on social media or when they, say, write a blog post about their support for an email blast.

Understanding user-generated content

For starters, let’s understand the meaning of user-generated content. This type of content can be anything from blog posts to social media images and videos. They are essential for nonprofits because supporters, not the nonprofits, create them. UGC content is powerful because it’s not developed by a paid marketing team. Instead, it’s content by supporters, which allows others who could support the organization to ‘see’ themselves doing the same thing.

UGC is provided by happy volunteers and donors who want to share their stories of social good. In turn, savvy nonprofits can repurpose those unique stories, videos, and images and create other content. Nonprofits can choose to embed some of the stories in email blasts, or they might send out heartfelt thanks on social media. Thanking donors and volunteers is always a great way to keep people engaged with the organization for giving their time and resources.

Key benefits of user-generated content for nonprofits

As we know, social media is all about authenticity and relationships. Nonprofits can benefit greatly from encouraging user-generated content to help spread the word about their organizations. Some of those approaches include the following.

1. Enhances authenticity and trust

Nonprofit teams are great, but as noted, they’re paid employees. UGC carries more heft and weight because someone is volunteering to do it, and supporters don’t have to do it. In turn, that resonates with current and potential donors and volunteers, helping to build trust for the nonprofit. The more others see ‘people like them’ supporting a cause, the more they want to support the cause if they have that same passion for the work.

2. Boosts engagement and community building

Another wonderful thing about UGC is that it encourages the community to get involved. So, when donors and supporters share their content, the chances increase that someone else will do the same. That increased engagement builds a stronger community while amplifying the cause.

3. Cost-effective content creation

As we know, most nonprofits operate with tight budgets. That’s another excellent reason why nonprofits should encourage their supporters to create user-generated content for the cause. Shared donor and volunteer stories and experiences are a great way to build a library of content that brings the cause front and center.

4. Provides diverse perspectives

Another fantastic benefit for nonprofits to encourage UGC is that it offers organizations more voices and perspectives. In other words, it’s a great opportunity to showcase the broad perspectives and impact of the cause. In turn, it’s an excellent way to draw in a wider audience of potential supporters.

5. Increases reach, awareness, and fundraising

Every piece of UGC a person shares reaches their network and helps nonprofits expand their visibility and build awareness beyond their current audience. It’s an organic way to increase the views and knowledge of the mission, and it will likely encourage new supporters and donors to take action.

Implementing a UGC strategy for nonprofits

So, now that you know the benefits of user-generated content, the next thing to know is how to implement it. Worry not. These tips and strategies will help any nonprofit to grow UGC to benefit their organization.

A. Encourage participation

First and foremost, it’s super important to make UGC sharing simple. So, provide guidelines to supporters and incentives for sharing stories. For example, you can have a volunteer appreciation day and ask people to share their experiences on social media. In turn, you can boost their posts and give shout-outs on your social platforms.

B. Create hashtags and campaigns

Something any nonprofit should do is to create branded hashtags for their social media and campaigns. Doing so allows the marketing team to streamline its collection of UGC to amplify and share. Moreover, campaign hashtags create an identity that helps users identify and rally behind it.

C. Utilize multiple platforms

Here’s another critical thing about user-generated content—don’t limit it to only one platform. So, don’t just share the content on social media. Instead, nonprofits should share it across multiple channels. For example, thread the stories and images through blogs, ads, and other resources.

D. Moderate and curate content

Make it a point to curate user-generated content to align with the mission and, more importantly, the organization’s values. By doing so, it helps to ensure appropriate content. As we know, it’s vital to ensure that any brand is protected from trolls and people looking to do it harm for no reason.

E. Acknowledge and reward contributors

Finally, and this goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway, thank contributors. The fact is that no one has to do or share UGC, and they’re doing it as a gift to a cause they support. Recognizing people who take the time to do this encourages contributors to become or remain long-term supporters.

Building community with UGC

In reality, user-generated content for nonprofits isn’t about marketing. It’s about deepening relations and creating a thriving community. When that happens, nonprofits get much more committed supporters who want to do things together and work as teams to lead events and fundraising efforts or even serve on boards or advisory committees. In short, UGC is an excellent approach that allows any organization to create deep relationships for lasting change.

The post Leveraging User-Generated Content For Nonprofits appeared first on Bloomerang.

The best SEO strategies for nonprofits provide the highest impact for the lowest investment. These include:

1. Targeting lower difficulty keywords before high difficulty ones
2. Optimizing your content to ensure it follows basic SEO best practices
3. Focusing on local SEO to be found easier on Google
4. Including E-E-A-T information in their content
5. Sourcing free backlinks through press releases and natural links

Read on to find out more about nonprofit SEO and more information about our top five SEO strategies for nonprofits organizations.

What is nonprofit SEO?

Nonprofit SEO involves optimizing the website both on and off page, to allow the site to rank higher on search engines and ultimately get found by more people. The reason this differs for many charities and nonprofits is because these organizations will often have less manpower, time, and budget to assign to their SEO efforts. On top of this, many larger organizations that are competing for rankings will have an SEO agency, so prioritizing the highest gain tasks will be most beneficial.

Do nonprofits need SEO?

SEO is essential for nonprofits because it allows them to be found by new donors and fundraisers. It will also allow more people to find and use your services. Not only will this allow you to help more people but you can also use this information to gain further funding and spread your brand and mission.

Looking for information about other nonprofit marketing techniques? Why not try our guide on Nonprofit Email Marketing in 2024?

The top 5 SEO strategies for nonprofits

We’ve pulled together our top five strategies specifically for nonprofits to help you grow your organization, get more donations and fundraising, and ultimately help more people!

1. Keyword targeting

For nonprofits that likely don’t have a large amount of time or money to invest into SEO, it’s important to target the right keywords. This ensures that you’re not committing all your efforts into difficult keywords and falling short.

It’s important to target the high volume, high difficulty keywords as a long-term goal. However, you’ll need to understand that these won’t be achieved quickly and you may need to improve your entire SEO strategy for these. One of the best ways to do this is to target low-difficulty keywords initially to start ranking and gaining traffic. Not only will this help with traffic and fundraising, but it’ll assist your SEO through natural backlinks and a gain in domain authority.

2. On-page SEO

As with any business, the easiest and possibly the most important way to start ranking for your chosen keywords is the simplest. Quality, human-centered content. This will always play a key role in nonprofit SEO and it can be the biggest return on investment that you could make for low cost or no cost if you choose to do it yourself.

You should do some research into each of these SEO content writing points:

• Header Structure/Hierarchy
• Title Tags & Meta Descriptions Best Practices
• Call To Actions

To target your keywords, try to use them naturally throughout your content, particularly in the title tag and headers. Make sure that this doesn’t affect the quality of the content and isn’t used so much that it’s unnatural. The overall goal is still to provide helpful content to your users.

3. Local SEO

If you’re a nonprofit with a physical location or a charity that provides services in a specific area, you should consider focusing on local SEO to target people in your region.

Start by creating a Google Business Profile to show your business on Google Maps and local searches. The more detailed your profile is, the better, so don’t just set up the bare minimum. Flesh out the profile with images of your location, the work you do, a detailed description of your organization, and any further details such as opening times and accessibility options.

On top of this, you should create a page on your website with details of your location and the services you offer there. Ensure that all of the details match the Google Business Profile across your site to make sure there’s no mismatch.

Finally, you can add LocalBusiness schema to your site, and add your organization on local listing websites.

4. Show your E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authority, and trust. This is a key factor in Google’s ranking algorithm, which wants to see why your content should be trusted. This is particularly important for YMYL (your money, your life) niches, which cover many areas of nonprofits such as homelessness, health, and financial assistance.

Here are a few key ways that you can show your E-E-A-T:

• Discuss your history
• Discuss your experience
• Create a ‘Meet The Team’ page detailing everyone’s experience
• Include information about any awards you’ve won
• Talk about your previous work, such as collaborators, notable accomplishments, and events
• Create an in-depth ‘About Us’ page to include a lot of this information, but filter it throughout your other content too
• Include any notable accreditations or memberships

5. Find free backlinks

Backlinks are an important part of SEO that are often overlooked. For a charity or nonprofit, this could be key as you’ll often be competing against much larger organizations with bigger budgets.

A backlink acts as a stamp of approval from another site to yours. It happens when they link to your site from a page on their site. Gaining high-quality backlinks will improve your site’s domain authority, which in turn will allow you to rank higher for keywords. As a nonprofit, there are a few key tactics that you can use to gain more backlinks.

If you have the budget, you can also hire a PR company to do this on your behalf. Many PR companies specialize in charity & nonprofit PR, so they’ll know exactly how to help with this. While this obviously costs more money than doing it yourself, it will save your organization time and most likely provide better results.

Press releases

Press releases are the perfect way for a nonprofit organization to gain backlinks. It involves reaching out to journalists to let them know about a recent success, event, or change to your organization. Because charities will often hold fundraisers, sponsor runners in events, and conduct community projects, you’ll most likely already have something that journalists would be interested in writing an article about.

Just be sure to send this out to the right type of people. For example, if you’re holding a local fundraiser in your town, it’s unlikely that a national journalist will be interested. Instead, you can focus on a local newspaper that might actually post an article about it.

For more information about press releases for nonprofits, read our guide, 5 Ways to Get Your Nonprofit Press Release to Stand Out.

Guest posts

Another way to gain backlinks is through guest posts. Guest posts are blog posts that you write for another site that isn’t your own. In return, you can place a link to your own website in the blog so that you’ll get a backlink. These can often be time consuming, so it might not be the number one priority for nonprofits with low manpower.

This involves contacting related blogs to ask if they would be interested in receiving a guest post. Send over a couple of ideas for blog topics, and if they’re interested, they’ll let you know which one they choose and you can send it over.

Just don’t forget to send them a link to your site and include one in the blog!

Quality content & resources

Another great way to get backlinks, particularly for charities, is to create useful resources and content that other sites will naturally link to. This is great for nonprofits as they’ll often already have statistics and research.

This can be in the form of infographics, annual reports, statistics, studies, free template downloads, or generally helpful content. For example, posting content with statistics about the topic will often get linked to, particularly if it’s in the form of infographics that they can post on their site too.

Conclusion

By following these five SEO strategies, your organization can build your online presence and gain traffic, donors, and fundraisers. Ranking higher on Google for search terms such as ‘suicide fundraising’ will allow people who are actively looking to fundraise for a charity to see you first. This is essential for any nonprofit and a great way to build your organization’s brand and grow to help more people with your services!

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Dive into a world where communication with donors is seamless and embrace donor-centric relationships for your nonprofit’s success as you tap into a deeper understanding of communication styles that empower you to unlock your full potential and have donors saying YES! By understanding communication styles on a deeper level you will be empowered to expand your reach of impact and achieve your mission. Join our insightful webinar tailored for nonprofit professionals as we master donor-centric communication through Everything DiSC® techniques.

Are you ready to enhance connections and make every interaction count? Get ready for a journey of discovery and transformation in fundraising as we equip you with the skills and knowledge to create for meaningful interactions that drive results. Embrace donor-centric relationships for nonprofit success.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover how to identify and adapt to the diverse communication styles of your donors.

• Learn the art of crafting messages and engagements that encourage deeper connections and sustained support.

• Gain practical, revenue-specific insights into enhancing your donor interactions.

• Understand the direct link between donor-centric communication and fundraising success.

• Equip yourself with the knowledge to effortlessly raise more funds and expand your impact in the community you serve.

View this session’s slides on this page.

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