The most successful nonprofit organizations have one thing in common: an informed, engaged and invested donor base.

Your marketing plan or donor relations strategy likely includes frequent social media posts, perhaps a monthly email newsletter or a quarterly printed newsletter, and certainly one or two annual direct mail appeals.

As important as those tactics are, they don’t allow you to ‘talk’ directly to your donors.

Verbal communication lets you express the passion and excitement you feel, which helps create the emotional connection that’s key to keeping donors interested.

What’s the Solution?

Send a monthly video update. Shoot a short video featuring your Executive Director or other key staff members. It doesn’t have to be heavily produced, and you don’t need a lot of fancy gear – a smartphone or affordable video camera, a tripod and a light are all you need.

The objective is to speak directly to the person watching. Think of it like a catch-up call with your best friend. A few things you might talk about:

• Recap what the organization has been up to in the past month
• Provide an overview of what you’re working on now
• Highlight key plans for the near future

Time-Saving Tip: Use the content in your monthly board meeting report to start pulling this narrative together.

Need Help? Say So.

Has your nonprofit had a setback? Don’t be afraid to mention it. Your donors – more than anyone else – WANT to help your organization. Address the challenge frankly and describe your plan to overcome it. If you need financial or in-kind support to clear the hurdle, ask for it. But remember – your monthly video isn’t a fundraising piece, it’s a communication tool.

Over time, your videos will show donors how the organization is constantly moving forward by connecting the dots between previous updates and the updates that follow.

Since the objective is to speak directly to your supporters, send your video link to them via email. Each donor should feel as if they’re receiving inside information, so don’t repost the content on your website or social media.

Once you get comfortable shooting videos, you could easily send messages to the general public via wider distribution channels as part of your overall marketing strategy.

Need a hand with your nonprofit marketing efforts or donor relations strategy? The MadAveCollective can help. Download our capabilities brochure and contact us today.