Taking Notes From 2015’s Best Nonprofit Marketer
Upon receiving the title, “Best Nonprofit Marketer” of 2015, Ettore Rossetti reflected, “It just takes one innovative idea to transform an organization” (American Marketing Association Foundation).
Rossetti leads the charge for Save the Children‘s marketing and fundraising. Once you scroll through their multiple social platforms and read about their innovative fundraising strategies, you see that since the beginning, he has had plenty of innovative ideas that continue to transform the organization.
To start, Save the Children’s social media following has increased from zero to nearly 3 million and has funded more than $20 million of its programs through fundraising. A closer look at their website and social networks reveal some of the innovative tactics.
Homepage: Right on the homepage, they underline the need for the viewer to donate, with clear and compelling statistics. They create an easy pathway to donate or get involved with action-oriented donation buttons, a newsletter subscription form, and social media sharing icons.
Donation Page: They emphasize that donating is easy and necessary. Included on the homepage is a pie chart, highlighting that 89% of their donations go to the services. Their main method of donation is monthly, which might make it feel more manageable to donors. They also subtly point to numerous credentials in the upper right-hand part of the page, which makes putting in your bank account information feel safer.
Blogging: The blog at Save the Children is full of stories and updates, all revolving around their mission but from various viewpoints. Featuring “Stories From the Field” (shows what their charity is doing from the perspective of a real volunteer), recent announcements in their realm (responding to relevant matters in a timely fashion), and numerous other engaging stories.
The blog also isn’t very flashy, showing you that the quality of the content is often more important than the design. The categories are clear and the posts often include short bios of the authors for context.
Social Media: Your nonprofit might not have the time to be on more than one or two social platforms; if you don’t, that’s okay! Regardless of how many social profiles you have, consistency is important. You can glean a lot from looking through what Rossetti and the team have done for Save the Children’s social media presence.
Most notable: across all accounts there is a consistent tone, aesthetic, and presence. They are all updated frequently and have a feeling of authenticity.
With their Twitter, they are the first to respond to any of the day’s news and updates in their field. They feature captivating statistics, facts, and stories that prompt their following to retweet and share.
Facebook features longer stories, especially promoting stories of the lives their nonprofit changes. They seem to keep in mind that Facebook is a channel for socializing rather than selling, so they share stories that you would want to share with friends.
For more ideas on how to keep up with the work of Rossetti and other such nonprofit marketers, read up on some tools and tricks with Nonprofit Content Marketing: Tips & Tools to Getting Started. If you’re a small team and need more of a kickstart for the basics in nonprofit marketing, take a look at Wearing a lot of Nonprofit Hats? Expand Your Digital Knowledge Base.
