7 Essential Marketing Tools Every Nonprofit Needs

Successful nonprofit marketing is a balancing act. On one hand, you want to amplify your organization’s message, engage your audience, and drive donations. But you must also stay mindful of the time, effort, and money that goes into your marketing strategy.  

Having the right marketing tools can help you find a balance between efficiency and effectiveness. In this post, we’ll explore seven marketing tools you need in order to stand out from the crowd and see better results:

1. CRM System
2. Fundraising Solutions
3. Web Analytics Tool
4. Prospect Research Tools
5. Generative AI Tools
6. Social Media Management Platform
7. Google Ad Grant

As you learn about the role each of these solutions can play in your marketing, think critically about your technology toolkit. Consider how you can optimize it to spread your message and make outreach easier.  

1. Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) System

Your nonprofit’s CRM is the core of your technology stack. CRM stands for constituent relationship management system, and as the name implies, it allows you to monitor your relationships with donors, volunteers, sponsors, program participants, and anyone else your organization has a connection with.

Use your CRM to automatically create donor profiles when new supporters take key actions, such as donating, volunteering, signing up for your newsletter, or attending an event. Data collected on each donor will be stored in their unique profile. When you reach out to your donors, you can leverage this data to craft messages that build successful relationships.

If you have complex data needs and want to centralize information from a variety of sources in one location, you can also create a digital repository called a data warehouse. Most nonprofits work with a technology consultant to implement this type of solution. 

2. Fundraising Solutions 

Connect with donors in new ways by investing in various fundraising software solutions. These solutions help you stay in touch with your donors, provide your website with additional functionalities, facilitate giving campaigns, and streamline your events.

A few fundraising solutions to consider include:

• Peer-to-peer tools. Peer-to-peer platforms allow participating supporters to create their own online fundraising pages to share with friends and family. Donors can give through these pages, enabling them to support their friends or family members while learning about and giving to your nonprofit.
• Email management system. Email can be a powerful tool for outreach and securing donations. An email management system allows you to create, send, and track email campaigns at scale.
• Text-to-give solutions. Texting allows you to reach your supporters wherever they are and makes donating extremely convenient. A text-to-give tool provides your nonprofit with a specific phone number that supporters can send a keyword to in order to make donations.

Note that some nonprofit fundraising solutions will offer several different types of tools at once. For instance, Blackbaud Luminate Online has both peer-to-peer fundraising tools and email management capabilities. Investing in a more comprehensive solution that can meet multiple needs at once can be a wise move if you want to balance effectiveness and efficiency with your fundraising solutions. 

3. Web Analytics Tool

Your organization’s website serves as your online headquarters where visitors can find educational information about your cause and organization, get updates on your operations, discover opportunities to get involved, and donate.

To ensure your website does its job, you need to monitor and optimize its performance. That’s where a web analytics tool (such as Google Analytics) comes into play. These tools collect and analyze data to measure metrics such as number of visitors, page views, visit duration, traffic sources, and action page conversion rates.

With this data, you can identify aspects of your website that are performing well and others that could be improved. For example, you might find that your donation page has low conversions. Further investigation could show that the page isn’t optimized for mobile and that your donation form could be simplified. After implementing these changes, you will likely see an increase in online donations. 

4. Prospect Research Tools 

Focus your marketing efforts on your most valuable donors with prospect research tools. Prospect research is more comprehensive than wealth screening, taking into account a donor’s affinity for making a major donation in addition to their capacity to give.

Nonprofits can determine a donor’s likelihood of becoming a major donor by looking at the following information:

• Charitable giving history
• Political contributions
• Real estate and property data
• Stock holdings
• Employment background

This data can be challenging to find, and the process is nearly impossible to do at scale without the assistance of software. Prospect research tools compile data from a variety of databases to provide you with each donor’s giving capacity and affinity indicators.

5. Generative AI Tools

NonProfit PRO reports that 90% of nonprofits are using AI for marketing and donor engagement.

There are several different types of AI tools that can help your organization connect with supporters. Specifically, generative AI tools are designed to create content, such as copy, images, videos, and audio.

You have likely heard of ChatGPT, which can do everything from brainstorming blog content about your planned giving program to drafting donor thank-you letters or outlining a social media posting schedule.

While generative AI tools can certainly streamline these marketing tasks, apply a critical eye to every output these tools give you. They are not perfect, and they can sometimes make mistakes. Human oversight ensures that your messaging is consistent with your brand and that you form authentic connections with supporters. 

6. Social Media Management Platform

Your nonprofit’s supporters are likely active on several social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Consistently posting high-quality content on multiple platforms can quickly become overwhelming.

A social media management platform can help you manage your social media presence across multiple platforms from one tool. This way, you can:

• Post eye-catching multimedia content regularly
• Monitor how your organization is perceived online
• See how your supporters engage with your social media profiles
• Ensure you respond to supporters when they interact with you
• Research what competitor organizations are doing on social media
• Track metrics like follow count, reach of posts, clickthrough rate, and more

Success on social media requires consistency—consistency in posting, consistency in messaging, and consistency in branding. The beauty of a social media management platform is that it can help you sustainably maintain consistency.  

7. Google Ad Grant 

Have you ever typed something into Google and noticed the first entry in the search results page is marked with the word “Sponsored”? What you’re seeing is a Google Ad.

All kinds of organizations use paid search engine ads. Typically, when someone clicks on one of these ads, the organization running the ad will then pay a small amount of money to the search engine.

Nonprofits can tap into this type of advertising for free using the Google Ad Grant, which provides $10,000 in ad credits to eligible nonprofits each month. This means that when someone clicks on a Google Ad run by a nonprofit leveraging the Grant, the cost is actually covered by Google.

To get started with the Google Ad Grant, check your eligibility by confirming your organization:

• Has a current and valid charitable status
• Has a functional website with valuable content
• Has an SSL certificate for its site
• Will adhere to the Google Grant program policies

Once you receive the grant, you can begin creating ads for keywords related to your nonprofit. As long as you maintain your eligibility, the grant will automatically renew each month, earning you an additional $120,000 for your annual marketing budget.

Consider investing in the tools outlined above to ensure you connect with supporters and allocate your organization’s resources efficiently. To take your marketing strategy a step further, consider working with a nonprofit technology consultant who can provide outside expertise on your approach.