You’re not imagining it: in the non-profit sector, marketing can be a lonely grind. You may feel like you’re toiling away in isolation – unsung, under-resourced and over-stretched.
But we see you! You’re doing work that makes the world a better place; usually on a shoestring budget, in a packed playing field of other worthy causes vying for audience attention. It’s no wonder you have limited bandwidth to create content, much less find time to get a thoughtful, story-rich strategy into place.
We work with purpose-driven teams pretty much every day, and we see these challenges up close: endless to-do lists, crunched budgets and principled people working under pressure to get a vital message out.
We’re also in quite a fraught political era right now: many non-profits are navigating shifts to their operating models in a slippery ideological climate. Strategic clarity is more essential than ever to stay effective.
If you’re struggling to connect with your audience, feeling burnt out – or too overwhelmed to step back and strategize – this is for you.
The Biggest Content and Marketing Challenges for Non-Profits
Non-profit marketing has never been for the weak, but it’s an especially tough time to be in the field. According to a recent study on non-profit leaders’ top concerns, financial sustainability tops the list. Increased demand and decreased funding are multiplying uncertainty by the day.
None of this is incredibly conducive to razor-sharp marketing. But these challenges come *on top of* the content-landscape challenges that we all face these days. Oh, we could go on: the exponential evolution of AI, the brand trust gap, the vastly shifting nature of SEO. Not to mention ever-multiplying social channels – Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, TikTok, SkyLight, Lemon8 … no doubt some soon-to-be-essential platform where we’ll all be Blerbing our top Zingbits three years from now. When you don’t have a clear content strategy, it’s hard to know where to focus, no matter who you are.
We’ve outlined some of the biggest non-profit content challenges below. Far from minor inconveniences, these can stall your work, wear down your team and make it harder to reach the people who need to hear your message most. Solutions incoming, too!
Non-Profit Content Challenge: Under-Resourced Teams and Turnover
Resources are almost always at the top of the challenge list for non-profits. In-house teams tend to be lean, and marketing budgets even leaner. There’s just not enough time or money to do it all, let alone measure what’s working.
Plus, people come and go. Some non-profits lean heavily on volunteers or contract-based staff, making it difficult to implement strategy long-term.
For full-time employees, the emotional exhaustion is real. Non-profit teams experience high levels of burnout, especially among leaders and historically marginalized staff. Without a clear framework and guiding principles to hold things together, content consistency and quality can suffer.
Non-Profit Content Challenge: Generic Messaging that Misses the Mark
With so many urgent voices and worthy causes out there competing, it’s already a slog to cut through the noise. Yet non-profits also struggle to tell fresh, clear stories that grab engagement, especially when internal resources are overtaxed.
Many can’t get off the fundraising treadmill for long enough to do audience research or take stock of key messages. Others have heaps of donor or member data, but no clue how to use it.
Still others lean on tried-and-true messaging – that winds up sounding like everyone else’s; a.k.a. institutional word soup:
We empower diverse communities through capacity-building initiatives that leverage inclusive frameworks and scalable solutions to drive equitable outcomes. Get involved today!
Er… what? Who are we helping here and why? Creating better content begins with overarching strategy (see below), but quick fixes we’d apply here include:
- Replace “we empower diverse communities” with a specific story or stories of impact.
- Swap wordy program descriptions for clear roles and accomplishments.
- Change “get involved” to something like “join our team this Saturday.”
The main difference? Specificity and human connection.
If your organization’s messaging sounds a bit too much like the example above, your voice and tone may need a refresh.
Based on a recent webinar, our CEO Shannon also created a hands-on guide to nailing an authentic voice in business writing. It’s a great read, with practical tips you can incorporate immediately.
Non-Profit Content Challenge: The Expertise Trap
Frequently, we also see non-profits stuck in their own echo chambers, falling back on buzzwords and niche jargon that doesn’t mean much to the average person. In her webinar, Shannon called this “the expertise trap.” That confounding scenario where you essentially know too much about a particular topic – so much it’s daunting to communicate to outsiders. But insider lingo doesn’t get you very far in spaces where authenticity and personal connection rule.
Inserting a shameless plug for our agency services here: this is an area where fresh eyes can do wonders.
The Forge & Spark team has helped all kinds of purpose-based orgs get clear on what they want to say, plus how and where. Including non-profits such as DigiBC, the Creative Technology Association of BC, and Minerva, a Canadian charity dedicated to advancing the leadership of women and girls.
The Fix for Non-Profit Marketing Woes: A Super-Solid Content Strategy
Content doesn’t need to be another source of strain. Here’s how a clear, streamlined strategy can start solving the issues that weigh so many non-profits down:
- It cuts through the clutter. With a well-defined audience and messaging framework, you know exactly what to say, and to whom. No more second-guessing every social post or email.
- It makes creation manageable. When you officially prioritize channels and tactics, you’re not scrambling to be everywhere at once.
- It builds resilience. With shared tools and a clear voice, your message stays consistent even through staff changes or leadership shifts.
- It supports smart decisions. A basic measurement plan can help you see what’s working. so you can do more of that, and less of what’s not.
One way we help our clients achieve all of the above is our 90-Day Content Quick Start. In two collaborative weeks, we get a full-fledged, trust-building Content Plan off the ground, complete with target audiences, key messages, milestones, measurement tactics and enough content to launch with momentum.
No hard sell here, though: we shared a compressed version of the framework we use for this service, free in this recent blog post. We heartily endorse stealing and trying it for yourself. (We’d love to hear if it helps you, though!)
Our other Quick Start Packaged Services are geared to solving other kinds of content challenges – visual branding, content audits, others – efficiently and accessibly.
What About AI: Should Non-Profits Be Using It?
A cautious and qualified yes. AI tools are admittedly handy for brainstorming, repurposing content and automating repetitive tasks cost effectively. But they’re no substitute for nuance, emotion and deep audience connection – the bread and butter of non-profit storytelling.
We’ve worked with a ton of mission-focused teams to harness AI’s strengths without sacrificing humanity or brand integrity. So we know it can be done. As long as it’s guided by a clear strategic framework, AI can ease workloads a bit without compromising quality.
Maybe We Do the Heavy Lifting Together?
If your non-profit team is feeling overstretched, or just stuck when it comes to content and marketing, we’d love to help. Our Quick Start services are specifically designed to ease your burden, clarify your strategy and streamline your approach. So you can focus more energy on your vital mission!
Get in touch to set up a discovery call.
