4 Examples of Nonprofits Growing Their Audience
This time of year is all about growing…
➡️ Acquiring new email subscribers
➡️ Gaining new followers on social media
➡️ Uncovering people who are digitally “raising” their hands
Summer is a great time (the best?) to grow your nonprofit's audience so that you can use the 5-ish months before end-of-year giving season to educate, entertain, inform and nurture your donors before you make a meaningful ask.
I always joke that the two hardest things I've ever done are: grow my audience and teaching my kiddo to 💩 in the potty sooo…..
….I'm not going to pretend that these things are “easy” and I'll leave #2 for another day. Instead, today I want to share examples of nonprofits out in the world growing their audience so you can take inspo and do it too.
EXAMPLE 1: MOMS F1RST SUMMIT
A few weeks back, Moms First hosted the inaugural MOMS F1RST SUMMIT - a one-day in-person and online gathering to uplift the stories of diverse moms across the country in order to encourage business leaders, elected officials, and thought leaders to put moms first.
What I love about this: The summit was definitely a high effort, high reward style event, but in this case - it was worth it. The first of it's kind, this summit mobilized a group of ideal audience members (moms) who are thirsty for information, community and how to take action around issues like paid family leave and affordable childcare in corporate America. It also attracted a ton of press and visibility which in turn gave the organization a ton of even more credibility.
Number of new audience members: 12k+
EXAMPLE 2: POLITISIT POP-UP
Nonprofit work is difficult enough which is why I love this homepage pop-up example from Politisit.
Why I like this:
✅ It has a strong headline
✅ It invites you to join in
✅ It has credibility (500 other have already added their names)
✅ It makes it easy by only asking for your first name and email address
I hear from a lot of nonprofit people things like, “But I HATE pop-ups!" to which I reply: YOU ARE NOT YOUR SUBSCRIBER.
There is a reason why every major brand on the planet has a pop-up on their homepage and throughout their website…because they work.
Number of new audience members: at least 500+
EXAMPLE #3: CHAMBER OF MOTHERS PAID RETURN DECK
Designing an opt-in your ideal donor actually wants takes some time, testing and research to get it just right. ✨
My client, Chamber of Mothers, landed on a Paid Return Deck which is a tool employees can customize and give to their employer when there is no paid leave policy at their company.
What I love about this: This email opt-in is laser-focused on one type of audience member: parents working in companies without a paid family leave policy who want change.
➡️ Not stay at home moms
➡️ Not moms with adult aged children
➡️ Not moms who work in a company that already has a paid family leave policy
Number of new audience members: 128 (and counting!)
EXAMPLE #4: THE BLOC MONTHLY DONOR CALL SERIES
For someone who gets zapped doing Zoom calls, I really love a casual “Lunch & Learn” style gathering.
When I encourage my clients to do these it usually involves:
🕰️ a 30-minute Zoom call
🤝 15 minutes of updates & plans
🗣️ 15 minutes of open Q&A
Recently, I was invited to attend one of these calls by The Bloc, an organization transforming the lives of young people on the Westside of Chicago through boxing that I am a monthly donor to.
What I love about this: Inviting folks to a call like this is a clear and simple way to get people to digitally raise their hands 🙋🏻♀️. You could also use this as a way to try to convert social media followers to email a subscribers where the price of admission to the call is an email address.
Number of new audience members: Unknown
