One of the most powerful tools for starting to build relationships with supporters and potential supporters is valuable content that can be shared on social media, email, websites.
I often hear from nonprofit professionals that they don’t know what kind of content to create. So I’ve put together a list of fifteen ideas for content creation for nonprofits.
When creating your content keep one thing in mind, will my ideal supporter find this interesting and valuable? Whether you’re making videos, writing stories, sharing pictures, or even podcasting, you must keep this principle in mind. Everyone is constantly bombarded with stimuli. You have to earn the right to a place in their day and the only way you’re going to do that is by sharing content that is so good that they invite you into their email inbox, newsfeed, or physical mailbox.
You may be thinking, but I don’t have the time or skills to create polished videos or write epic stories. And you don’t have too. The content doesn’t haven’t to be super high quality, it just has to be valuable. In fact most of the time the people you’re reaching out to will connect better with your content if it feels a little raw. They will feel better knowing that you don’t spend a ton of money on slick marketing, but focus on the mission.
Here are fifteen ideas for nonprofit content
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- The Transformation Story:
This is a story where you tell how your organization helped make a significant transformation in a persons life. I believe these are the most powerful stories you can tell. They pull at the heart strings and put a real face to your mission. This type of story is easiest to create for direct service organizations that are helping people overcome major obstacles in their lives, but with a little work can be used effectively for other organizations too. This story type can be a written story (be sure to include pictures! But get permission first), a video, a picture series, even an audio interview. Here’s an example of a video I put together for Maryhouse in California. - Community Events:
This could be as extensive as a complete events calendar for your community or just a listing of events happening at your local community center. You could send out weekly or monthly updates depending on how many events there are. - Trade News:
This type works well for associations or advocacy groups. You’ll be sending out weekly, monthly, or as needed updates on policy, legislations, regulations, or things that effect your particular industry. These can be extremely valuable to an individual or other organization that works in the particular field and relies upon staying up to date on what’s going on. - Local News:
This only really applies to local nonprofits and not national or international. But, I’ve found that if you’re in a community sharing local news stories tends to get a lot of traction on social media. I wouldn’t go sharing just any news story, but find things that relate to your organization in some way and are valuable to your community. It’s also a bonus if you can use this to strike up a conversation. - How To’s:
How To’s tend to be very popular on social media and usually get very high rankings in search engines. However, they tend to be underused by nonprofits. Your organization is probably looked to, or you want it looked to, as an expert in what you do, so why not create some how to videos around that subject. For example if you are a local community center then how about a how to on riding the local transit system or for an art museum evaluating an art-piece. There are so many possibilities, and again these don’t have to be highly polished videos, they can be shot with a smartphone camera and as long as they provide real valuable content for your ideal supporter they’ll be a hit. - Inspirational Messages:
Short pithy sayings, or heck even long but moving messages, are easy to share and often find lots of traction on social media. How about a weekly photo of an adoptable animal from the animal shelter with an inspiring quote, or a weekly note from a client at a homeless shelter of how they’re overcoming, or a daily encouraging word from your local parish priest. - Ways to help (volunteer, donate stuff, etc…):
Everyone loves to help, it releases endorphins, especially if it doesn’t cost them anything. Sending out a monthly list of needs, especially if the needs are direct service related, is a great way to both tell the story of who your organization is helping but also give people an easy way to help. I’ve found that needs lists or even better just one or two particular needs posted on social media get shared a lot. - Cute Puppies:
If you have a regular stream of cute puppies, kittens, or babies (if you can get permission to share), then you better be posting those pictures as fast as your fingers can click. The internet was built for this! - Educational:
Teach something. This one closely resembles the How To, but doesn’t have to be just how to do something specific. It could be a short series explaining how a certain farming process works, or a guide to understanding local history. Find something that directly relates to your mission and teach the fundamentals. - Entertaining:
This will be harder for some organizations than others, but for an organization or association that works with comedians, actors, musicians, or any type of performing arts this should be an easy one. How about a series of one-liners from up and coming comedians, or thirty second famous scenes monologued, or segments from upcoming musical performances. - Holidays & Weather:
Find a way to tie your mission into upcoming holidays, seasonal changes, or just weather patterns. Everyone is already thinking about these things and if you can tap into that pattern of thinking it’s easier to get attention. For example if you run a homeless shelter then you should be talking about the next big storm or heat wave and how it will effect your clients. - Advocacy Campaigns:
If your organization is involved politically then you’re probably either creating or working with others groups on advocacy campaigns. Assuming the campaign lines up with your core supporters values, it can be very active content that get’s your supporters doing something and associating your organization with that action. - Q&A’s:
Hold a question and answer session with an expert in your field or a client who uses your services. Answer the questions that your supporters would ask if they could. These could take the format of just a written interview or you could step it up a notch and put together a video of the Q&A. - Printable’s:
Give them something useful they can print out. These can be super simple like a checklist of things to pack before visiting your museum, to full activity sheets or even coloring pages. A homeless shelter could provide an instruction sheet on how to put together a survival kit to give out to people in need on the street. - Behind the Scenes:
Take people behind the scenes of your operation. You’re doing something unique, engaging, and powerful. Going behind the scenes shows them something they’ve not seen before and makes them feel special and part of the insiders club. Plus it also shows real people working everyday to move the mission forward. Here’s a video example of a quick and impactful behind the scenes video I put together.
- The Transformation Story:
If you have other ideas or examples of great nonprofit content leave a comment below or send me an email at justin@nonprofit-success.com.
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