I’ve fundraised $725,000 in a single 12 months for an area charitable basis, and its social media technique performed an enormous half within the outcomes.
Not like companies, nonprofits don’t promote services or products. It’s a must to rethink your strategy and concurrently evoke compassion in your followers, enhance their depend, and make donors consider in your noble trigger.
All below a restricted advertising and marketing funds. In the event you’re questioning learn how to pull this off, hold studying.
Desk of Contents
Why Nonprofits Ought to Use Social Media
How do you inform your story as a nonprofit to draw both donors or engaged audiences? A web site alone gained’t do. No one googles NGOs to make a contribution or develop into a follower until they already know you. Meaning web optimization isn’t your profitable technique.
However social media is.
1. Social media provides you model publicity and visibility.
70% of donors go to a nonprofit’s social media profiles earlier than making a present, as Bloomerang discovered. However let’s depart fundraising apart for a second. Social media is a robust means to encourage supporters and get your group found by new audiences.
Viral video content material on TikTok is your go-to software. Organizations can construct a following exponentially by creating shifting or humorous content material.
An instance is a Highlight Humanity video gathering 1.1M views. The video is sort of easy — just a bit deed meaning an entire life to a toddler.
2. It helps you nurture supporter relationships.
LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Instagram — all foster two-way communication and hold audiences linked to a trigger. It additionally opens new doorways for networking with influential backers.
For instance, TeemTreas, a collaborative fundraising marketing campaign launched by YouTube star MrBeast, planted 20+ million timber. The initiative discovered its supporters throughout completely different social media platforms.
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3. It provides to your transparency and credibility.
The most important worry of a supporter is that cash shall be spent someplace else. Creating open annual reviews with all incoming and spent funds by articles provides immense transparency to an NGO of any measurement.
Subsequent, you create a sequence of social media posts the place you share your numbers and beneficiaries’ tales.
4. It amplifies fundraising efforts.
Fb and Instagram provide particular instruments and options for nonprofits to ship extra givers to your web site or increase cash instantly on Fb and Instagram.
5. It helps you recruit volunteers and employees.
How did I uncover a basis to fundraise for? By means of their Instagram account, specifically Reels. How will we collect volunteers to take away particles or assist distribute meals kits?
Guess the reply. Social media campaigns.
We even employed just a few crew members who DM’d our Instagram account and provided their assist as volunteers.
Media content material is the easiest way to attach with change-makers and create a greater world.
The only instance is clean-up campaigns.
Bonus: You’re turning into a acknowledged thought chief in a selected sector, subsequently, boosting model consciousness on an area and world degree. Members of your group shall be provided interviews and broadcasts.
The way to Construct a Nonprofit Social Media Technique
At District #1 Basis, a nonprofit I’m a part of, we use YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram as our prime channels. Nevertheless, we’ll quickly be launching TikTok as nicely. I joined the group in its first 12 months and wanted its strong on-line presence to speak with potential donors.
Right here’s a step-by-step information to social media technique growth that you may observe in your personal group.
1. Define the objectives you wish to obtain.
You may’t stretch your self skinny and create all doable content material without delay. Choose your three desired outcomes you wish to obtain first and construct up a method round.
I like to recommend beginning with:
Elevating consciousness about your mission.
Recruiting volunteers.
Rising donations or recurring items.
Whereas chasing these objectives, you’ll robotically drive extra site visitors to your web site and construct a group of like-minded individuals.
Secondly, flip these objectives into measurable, time-bound aims.
Instance: Develop our Instagram engagement fee to 1.5% and add 1,000 new followers by June 2025. Increase $3,000 to purchase tools for clean-ups. Have interaction two influencers within the initiative by June 2025.
After getting it, develop your ICP (a great buyer profile) that you just wish to entice. Use HubSpot’s ICP Worksheet to seek out best-fit supporters.
2. Consider the important thing viewers segments.
Earlier than you write a single caption or cue up a reel, get clear on who you’re speaking to. Then, communicate of their language.
Donors fund the mission — they wish to really feel the true influence.
Volunteers give their time — they want a purpose to point out up.
Advocates and influencers carry your message — they thrive on tales value sharing.
Every one wants completely different content material.
Tip: Totally different age teams favor completely different platforms. Gen Z could also be extra energetic on TikTok or Instagram Reels, whereas Gen X leans towards Fb.
Use a free purchaser persona generator to know shared and distinctive traits of your audiences.
3. Analyze well-liked volunteer actions and charitable organizations’ social media.
That is your goldmine of thought-provoking, humorous, touching, and entertaining campaigns to encourage your content material technique.
Begin by analyzing native charitable initiatives and organizations, and search for their social media. Take notes of top-performing posts and make assumptions about why they labored out.
Take note of the viewers phase a put up was created for.
Right here, you wish to get concepts for attracting volunteers and micro-influencers.
The way to discover such initiatives? Google charitable organizations registered in your metropolis or nation, or use hashtags on social media.
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Examples: #AnimalRescue + #Seattle, #HomelessOutreach + #Philly, #LAvolunteers, #BeachCleanup, #ForYou, #donate.
Tip: Use ChatGPT Mannequin 4o to generate related hashtags.
4. Create a content material technique.
Plan your content material pillars. These are classes of posts you may rotate between.
Influence Tales
Movies of beneficiaries, their earlier than and after, or clips taken from the sphere. This content material format is ideal for TikTok and Instagram Reels, in addition to for paid advertisements. It will also be a carousel put up.
And keep in mind, your movies shouldn’t at all times be of superior high quality. They need to convey feelings and the truth on prime of anything. Take a look at the put up under from an animal shelter rescue from Gaza.
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Behind-the-Scenes
These are primarily employees intros and day by day crew actions, from the workplace and the sphere.
Calls to Motion
Posts aiming to assemble volunteers, emergency response, donate to a trigger, join your publication, signal a petition, and so forth.
For instance, MercyCorps urges you to donate to ability coaching applications for smallholder farmers in Guatemala by matching 2X your contribution.
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Academic Posts
Infographics, consciousness details, or survey outcomes. In each video and graphic codecs.
For instance, UNICEF Ukraine shares academic Reels, Tales, and Carousels twice per week to show mother and father or youth about how to deal with war-caused anxiousness, learn how to correctly feed an energetic teenager, and so forth.
Within the put up under, UNICEF collaborated with a toddler therapist and featured 24 concepts for drained mother and father to play with the child.
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Occasion Highlights
Once you attend occasions for NGOs, fundraising evenings, or speak to authorities officers, you wish to share the information and key takeaways and tag the occasion or an vital individual. This fashion, you forge trustworthiness and enhance model consciousness.
You may create a standalone put up or repost certainly one of your colleagues.
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Donor Spotlights
Obtained a non-anonymous contribution or signed a brand new contract with a donor? Flip this into the put up! Make pictures with a contributor, report a brief video-interview (may be executed on-line through Zoom), and make them really feel appreciated.
Plus, the giver will repost it and present your work and influence to their audiences.
At District #1, we share such information throughout all platforms.
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5. Measure outcomes and enhance.
And, as the ultimate step of your social media technique for a nonprofit, flip to analytics. Outline what metrics you’ll be working in the direction of in the beginning and test each month when you’re on observe. Attempt to replicate top-performing content material and see if it yields the identical outcomes.
What metrics to trace:
Engagement fee
Attain/impressions
Hyperlink clicks/site visitors
Follower development
Donations from social
Run and analyze all of your social media campaigns from one place. Join with individuals you care about on every social platform.
Greatest Social Media Platforms for Nonprofits
In response to HubSpot’s 2025 Social Traits Report, 85% of entrepreneurs discovered that social media advertising and marketing was efficient for his or her manufacturers. Charitable organizations additionally noticed above-median engagement charges throughout all social media platforms, with TikTok dominating the engagement fee per video.
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Whereas it’s nice to have a diversified nonprofit social media technique, specializing in too many platforms without delay makes use of up numerous time and assets.
So, as an alternative, I counsel deciding on two to 4 platforms that work finest for my trigger and sticking to them till you attain your social media objectives.
My favorites are Instagram and TikTok. Since every platform has its distinctive options and person preferences, you must observe completely different methods to maximise your content material’s influence.
1. Fb
I’ve been utilizing Fb ever since I received my first smartphone.
However this 12 months, 1 in 5 entrepreneurs plan to chop investments in Fb and pour budgets into YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, based on the 2025 HubSpot Social Traits Report.
On condition that, I’d not prioritize this platform, however ditching it utterly would even be a mistake. Millennials are nonetheless hanging out on Fb, that means your viewers may be there. Plus, their personal contributions are beneficiant — most millennial donors gave between $100 and $499 in 2024.
(That is additionally why I counsel you to create a purchaser persona and perceive the place your supporters sit.)
Take into account No Child Hungry, a charity group that goals to finish childhood starvation within the U.S. The nonprofit has gained over 334,000 followers by usually posting about its campaigns and actions on its Fb Web page.
Numbers apart, Fb provides simplicity and flexibility. My friends from nonprofits had success selling all varieties of content material, from texts and movies to infographics and polls. Let’s take a look at some methods they observe.
The way to Use Fb for Nonprofits
Livestreaming: In comparison with pre-recorded movies, livestreams give organizations increased engagement charges. You may present real-time updates about your nonprofit’s actions by livestreaming them. On the similar time, viewers could make donations by way of the livestream itself.
Utilizing the donation button: Throughout a fundraising marketing campaign for unsheltered individuals, one skilled created a devoted Fb Web page with a donation button. This made it simpler for supporters to make donations as soon as they visited the web page.
Becoming a member of Fb teams: Teams enable nonprofits to succeed in a world viewers that shares the identical ardour. You may put up on completely different Fb teams to ask for donations or volunteers. You can even handle your individual group, the place you may share updates with supporters.
2. Instagram
Instagram has develop into the #1 platform for nonprofit discoveries amongst Gen Z, based on 1,000 surveyed supporters. On prime of that, 51% of Gen Z volunteer their time in tandem with their monetary contribution.
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So, this platform is right for partaking the younger viewers and recruiting volunteers.
Nevertheless, Instagram solely promotes visible content material codecs like pictures and movies. This could pose a problem when you favor writing about your model.
Use numerous reel templates, memes, and different social media tendencies for nonprofits to show critical charity info into enjoyable content material your viewers will love.
Hilarity for Charity’s Instagram posts not too long ago grabbed my consideration whereas scrolling by way of my newsfeed.
I like how they use content material classes and model colours to create a robust and supportive ambiance whereas educating readers about Alzheimer’s illness.
The way to Use Instagram for Nonprofits
Partnering with influencers. Influencer advertising and marketing is likely one of the key methods to extend viewers interplay, and Instagram is a good place to seek out public figures who’re enthusiastic about charitable causes. You may ask influencers to create reels showcasing their help in your trigger.
Cross-sharing. If I make a put up on Fb, I can share it on Instagram with one click on. So, even when you’re low on time, you may shortly run a marketing campaign on two social media platforms without delay.
Utilizing Instagram Tales. You should utilize Instagram Tales to construct curiosity amongst your followers and get them to go to your profile. Tales sometimes embody sneak peeks into your newest campaigns, shoutouts to supporters, and a few behind-the-scenes photographs of volunteers working.
3. TikTok
TikTok’s 2.85% engagement fee per video in comparison with 0.66% for Fb makes this video-based platform a strong selection for social media advertising and marketing technique for nonprofits. It helps charities not simply by way of fundraising but additionally by rolling out new options.
For instance, in 2023, TikTok donated $250,000 to the Uncommon Influence Fund whereas introducing options like sleep reminders and screen-time limits to help psychological well being.
TikTok’s demographics largely consist of individuals under the age of 34 . This implies I can simply attain Gen-Zers and youthful millennials on the app.
Different nonprofits additionally use TikTok for development and elevated attain. American Most cancers Society, as an example, has constructed presence on TikTok and has gained over 28,700 followers.
The way to Use TikTok for Nonprofits
Creating video content material: Create movies about discipline actions, fundraising campaigns, and occasion planning. This exhibits supporters the way you’ll be spending their donations.
Utilizing Donation Stickers: Be certain so as to add Donation Stickers to all movies. This fashion, followers can instantly make donations with out spending time trying to find a hyperlink.
Importing brief movies: TikTok permits video uploads of as much as three minutes. Nevertheless, I like to recommend importing shorter movies which are lower than 30 seconds as a result of these get probably the most engagement.
Use hashtags: It’s going to make your account and movies discoverable for brand new supporters and shall be added to Google SERPs.
4. X (Previously Twitter)
Fashionable companies are shifting their focus to video-based platforms, however X nonetheless has a fair proportion, with 63% of B2C manufacturers utilizing X. Personally, I additionally think about X an important nonprofit advertising and marketing channel.
But it surely’s not simply me. Different nonprofits have had nice outcomes on this platform. Take into account Oceana Worldwide, an NGO devoted to saving and restoring the oceans. It has amassed greater than 482,800 followers on X.
X has a large superstar presence, which implies you may seize the eye of celebs who is perhaps curious about working in your trigger.
Creating content material on the platform can be simple, because it permits customers so as to add brief captions to photographs and movies.
Nevertheless, what’s tiring about X is that I have to put up day by day. In any other case, engagement charges shortly die down, and it turns into tough to extend your attain as soon as extra.
The way to Use X for Nonprofits
Organizing content material into threads: X posts (previously tweets) have a restrict of 280 characters. However I’ve discovered that threads are a good way to get across the restrict. Not solely do they permit me to share extra info, however in addition they persuade the X algorithm that my posts are partaking.
Posting throughout prime time: The trick is to put up at a time when customers are most energetic. Latest research discovered a candy spot between 9 AM and 11 AM throughout workdays.
Utilizing actionable CTAs: One other approach I enhance my engagement on X is by utilizing calls-to-action like “Share when you help this trigger” or “100k likes, and we’ll arrange free well being checks this month.” This encourages individuals to work together with my posts by way of likes, reposts, and feedback, rising my attain.
Creating branded hashtags: Utilizing well-liked hashtags might help you attain a big viewers. You can even create your individual hashtags and encourage followers to make use of them of their posts.
Equally, tons of of different nonprofits have efficiently created social media campaigns on platforms like Reddit, Threads, and LinkedIn. The platform you select will depend on your aim and the demographics you wish to goal.
Meagan Jackman, President and CMO of The Harkey Group, gives steerage that will help you select the best platform:
“If a nonprofit wants company donations, the crew ought to flip to LinkedIn. If there’s a youth nonprofit seeking to communicate to folks, they need to leverage Fb. If the message is informational, YouTube is a good medium.”
The final word aim is to be the place your audience can discover you.
My expertise confirmed that LinkedIn is the best option to discover institutional companions and huge donors. Nevertheless, I used a mixture of private branding and chilly outreach.
Social Media Ideas for Nonprofits
Use the following pointers when designing your social media technique for a nonprofit group. It’s going to make you join with supporters sooner.
Prioritize high-engagement codecs.
As talked about above, the best-performing content material varieties for non-profits in 2025 are:
Quick-form video (Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts)
Picture carousels
Infographics
Behind-the-scenes
Genuine content material
A fast iPhone video of a fieldworker explaining what a $25 donation gives is extra highly effective than a static hyperlink put up. And $25 can feed a child, plant 25 timber, and sow tons of of greens.
Write with a human voice.
You wish to be:
Relatable, not robotic
Emotionally compelling
Motion-driven (use sturdy CTAs: “Be a part of us,” “Give now,” “Watch this story”)
Make your model voice heard and convey it by way of your media codecs.
Use AI instruments to encourage your content material technique.
Often, you’ve received infinite alternatives to snap a video whereas engaged on the location. Each beneficiary, be it a cat, a tree, the ocean, or a human, is a compelling story. However after I’m on a discipline journey, I at all times hesitate on what to shoot.
Right here, AI can come to the rescue.
As an SMM specialist, it’s your responsibility to information your fieldworkers on the kind of content material you need them to seize. Ideate with ChatGPT or Jasper. Clarify the aim of a discipline journey and ask a robotic to generate concepts for various social media channels.
Use AI to hurry up social media technique creation and ask it to develop a social media calendar.
You’ll save days on it and reinvest time into analytics and creativity.
Collaborate with micro-influencers.
Mega influencers could rack up views, however micro-influencers are inclined to have tighter-knit communities. Associate with mission-aligned voices who really care about your trigger.
Encourage them to co-create content material and develop into an actual a part of your initiative.
For instance, Weston Koury (@westbrouck) on TikTok partnered with The Good Patch and the It Will get Higher Venture to lift consciousness for LGBTQ+ youth psychological well being.
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Use superior data-driven ways.
Deal with conversions that matter. Donation clicks, volunteer sign-ups, occasion RSVPs. Mix social knowledge with CRM insights for full-funnel monitoring.
Bear in mind to A/B-test a number of variations of the identical put up throughout completely different sub-audiences. Analyze micro-conversions (e.g., 10-second video views vs. hyperlink clicks) to refine messaging.
Add distinctive UTM tags to marketing campaign posts to measure platform ROI and see precisely which supply drives the highest-value actions.
Having these knowledge factors, you may double down on what works, even with a restricted funds.
Nonprofit Social Media Examples
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a charitable basis that helps with social housing. It has a presence on all social media aside from TikTok. Nevertheless, I observed that their Instagram generates probably the most engagement.
Their crew focuses on creating discipline content material, displaying building in progress, and that includes tales with joyful beneficiaries.
The web page seems vibrant and actually provides off that sturdy mission vibe. I like to recommend that nonprofits research this Instagram and take notes on the sphere content material.
Greenback For
Greenback For has a noble mission to pay hospital payments that individuals can’t afford. It has amassed an important following throughout completely different social media platforms with out investing in fancy video manufacturing. TikTok has 93,500 followers, whereas Instagram has 64,600 followers.
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The founding father of the group information his ideas on the subject and posts academic content material every single day, together with beneficiaries’ tales, medical payments which are queuing to be paid, and so forth.
I like that degree of authenticity! It permits for an actual reference to the mission and his ardour, which is contagious.
Observe: They repurpose the identical content material throughout completely different platforms whereas altering captions and colours. And this technique works! You may replicate this too for cost-effectiveness.
The Wildlife Trusts
Their noble mission is to revive nature throughout the globe. A 100-year-old basis discovered its supporters on X (aka Twitter) with 272,100 followers and an energetic viewers below its posts.
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They share lovely nature posts whereas additionally sparking debates with the UK authorities. One second it is a humorous animal meme, the following — it’s a name for donations or an academic infographic.
The Wildlife Belief is a superb instance of how completely different content material performs and the way it resonates with each loyal supporters and new guests. I additionally love how they use emojis in intelligent methods to strengthen that reference to nature.
Be taught from their posts and write down which posts captured your consideration. Suppose ‘why?’ for a second. Observe it, too. Then, replicate the technique.
Assist Your Trigger By means of Social Media for Nonprofits
I do know firsthand how powerful nonprofit advertising and marketing may be — I have been there. However as soon as I began specializing in constructing a powerful presence throughout platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram (quickly TikTok), I noticed how a lot simpler it turned to attach with individuals and donors who really care.
That’s why I consider in leaning into finest practices and staying on prime of social media tendencies. It’s helped me develop consciousness, construct belief, and create actual engagement — and I’m assured it might do the identical for you.
Editor’s notice: This put up was initially printed in March 2014 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
