Marketing and fundraising are essential parts of running an organization. They can feel intimidating at first, especially when resources are limited or your focus is pulled toward day-to-day operations. It can also feel daunting because these efforts require constantly putting yourself out there, risking rejection, and asking for support. But once you understand the basics, they become tools for clarity and connection rather than sources of stress.
At their core, marketing and fundraising are about storytelling. They’re about showing people the change you want to see in the world and helping them understand how their support makes that change possible. When your message is clear and authentic, it not only attracts donors but also strengthens your organization’s community and impact.
Good marketing connects your mission to your audience’s values. Strong fundraising builds trust by matching donor dollars to the work they care most about. When these two pieces work together, they create a foundation that supports everything else your organization does.
We want to make it easier for you. So we asked our experts for some easy, actionable advice to help you strengthen your marketing and fundraising efforts and approach both with confidence.
Register here for our Free Webinar on November 5th at 12:00PM EST
Question: Fundraising is always top of mind for nonprofits, especially this time of year. From your experience, what are often overlooked, but easy action items, that orgs can do to increase their fundraising success?
James Odene, Creative Director at User-Friendly
Stop making and remaking new EOY fundraising campaigns. Make one really good one and run it for years and years. It's not a quick fix, it's a long game with compounding effects. Also, more attention matters. Direct mail, TV, Radio... we should be considering all of these, not just narrowly targeted digital ads.
Kristen McGarr, Fractional Chief Revenue Officer at Adroit Insights
Make donating frictionless via a clean landing page with 3–4 smart suggested amounts tied to impact. Activate your board with micro-asks (five warm intros each + two short testimonials you can quote). Do a quick lapsed-donor “we miss you” pass with a specific project ask, not a generic appeal.
After the gift, speed = trust: thank within 24 hours (a 20-second beneficiary video beats a form letter), include a one-click “make it monthly,” and trigger 30/60/90-day touches with tiny impact updates.
Don’t wait for giving season... track your donors' fiscal cycles in your CRM, and set up automated reminders for yourself to time the ask for when it’s best for them, not just you.
Tarra Nystrom, SMART Money Grant Writing
An oft overlooked aspect of year-end fundraising agendas is making time for grant applications, reports, and next year’s strategies. Grants are a crucial part of fundraising for many nonprofits. “Back in the day,” grants managers welcomed cyclical busy times and slower times. That is not the case any longer. Grants management must remain on the calendar even when daunting tasks like writing authentic appeal letters, database segmentation for those appeals, finalizing the next year’s event venues, and other fundraising musts.
If grants management falls by the wayside because of demands during the end-of-year fundraising, your organization risks losing out on thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of valuable dollars, jeopardizing important grantor relationships, but most importantly the results of reduced outputs, outcomes, and impacts could devastate your mission and the community.
Dave Cortright, Professional Coach at Dave Cortright Coaching
Speaking from a donor perspective, the cause gets me in the door, but the connection keeps me coming back. If I'm passionate about the cause, but the nonprofit doesn't do a good job making me (and my donations) feel properly valued, I'll take my charity to another org that does.
Everyone is different, but almost every wants to be seen, remembered and validated. Ask about their life, their family, their job, their hobbies. Remember that and use that info to ask again next time.
Tee Barnett, Coaching Trainer & Personal Strategist
When speaking to funders, before pitching of any kind, elicit what vision the funder/donor has for how they want to change the world and then attempt to speak directly to how your project is well-placed to do that, ideally crafting your response to how they think and speak about these things.
I hope these insights have given you some practical guidance to help your organization scale and grow!
PS: Still overwhelmed? Let's talk about it - I'm here to help make this easier for you!
Don't forget to join us for our upcoming webinar on Wednesday, November 5th at 12 PM EST! It's a great opportunity to dive deeper into these concepts and get your specific questions answered by our expert panel.
Register here for our Free Webinar on November 5th at 12:00PM EST
Can't make this one? No worries! Recordings will be available on our Youtube channel afterwards.
Past webinars:
Ah thanks so much for the recordings. It's 10:30 pm at our place otherwise!
Here's the link to the summary and updates
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Er4duMaar9u8mju4Y/fundraising-and-marketing-webinar-recap-the-takeaways-from?utm_campaign=post_share&utm_source=link