GuideStar Blog

In today’s mobile content-driven society, developing consistency with your social media strategy is vital to the success of your nonprofit. Each nonprofit organization should have a strong, visible presence on social media to reach its audience.

In the nonprofit sector, we’re used to hearing we shouldn’t rely too much on limited donor audiences, and that the key to success and sustainability is having a diverse set of income streams while keeping our exposure to risky funding to a minimum. Makes sense, right? As our engagement with supporters, partners, and beneficiaries becomes increasingly digital, are we encountering the same risks by relying on too few social platforms?

One of your duties as a nonprofit is to raise money from your community of donors so that you have the funds necessary to complete your projects for your cause.

Every single day, nonprofits use social media platforms to raise awareness for causes, collect donations, and connect with constituents. The goal is to create a blossoming online community of your nonprofit’s ideal fans who will engage with the content that you have and share it. 

Here are eight simple steps you can use to attract and engage social media followers: 

South Korea isn’t the only place with people competing for Gold (or Platinum!). We are excited to announce the first-ever Nonprofit Winter Games, where we will be giving away more than $2,000 in donations.

February 5–March 2, we're hosting our own games for the sector. Entering for a chance to win up to $500 is as easy as posting to your organization's favorite social media channel or updating your Nonprofit Profile.

Increasingly, donors are turning to social media to find causes to support. According to a recent survey, almost half of millennials say they’re inspired to give to charity by social media. A quarter and a fifth of Gen X and Baby Boomers, respectively, say the same. Whether your nonprofit already has a devoted following that likes and shares every post, or you’re still building your presence on social media, here are some tips will help you expand your social audience and, ultimately, your donor base.

You don’t take a photograph. You ask quietly to borrow it.”
—Unknown

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

The photo social network Instagram is on its way to 1 billion users, alongside Facebook and WhatsApp. In the past two years, Instagram has doubled its monthly active user base to 700 million, and the pace of growth is accelerating.

That makes Instagram twice as big as Twitter!

Doesn’t every nonprofit want to retain their volunteers? Organizations work hard to recruit and engage their volunteers. They spend countless hours and dollars encouraging volunteers to give their time. Training and educating new volunteers takes time and energy. By retaining current volunteers, your nonprofit frees up time to focus more on your cause. How about using your creativity to retain volunteers?

In the spring of 2014, a longtime volunteer of a sports massage association named Ray noticed something worrisome about his organization: after two decades of steady growth, membership had begun to slump. Ray, who owed much of his career success to the association, worried it would die off. So he decided to do something about it and became the Executive Director of the association, with a mission to turn it around.