You know your nonprofit is doing great work, but does your audience? If you aren’t careful about demonstrating your impact, you could lose out on valuable support and funding. Following the best practices below will help prove your impact to current and potential supporters, driving growth for your organization.
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LET'S CHAT1. Harness the power of storytelling
There’s a good chance that you’re already releasing impact reports and sharing successes — but are you making use of the power of storytelling? While figures and statistics serve a purpose, they’re not always as engaging as a well-crafted story. This could be a personal story centered on a person your nonprofit has helped, a project you’ve completed, or the journey your nonprofit itself has been on. People love to see examples of growth and transformation online, and memorable stories make a lasting impact and encourage social sharing, leading to more exposure for your organization.
2. Display infographics on your website
If you’ve got exciting data to share, making it as visual as possible will increase your reach and engage visitors for longer. Consider picking out a few of your most important statistics, then creating simple infographics to display on your site and share on social media. You could even accompany your infographics with pictures and stories. For example, consider adding photos and quotes from those you’ve helped alongside graphs showing key statistics about how things have improved for them. This lends a more human side to data that could otherwise seem dry.
3. Develop and share testimonials
Sharing testimonials is an excellent way to share your impact, develop trust, and engage your audience. If possible, look at creating video testimonials to show exactly how you help make positive change. Again, look at harnessing the power of storytelling by creating a compelling narrative. This could mean interviewing someone at the start and end of a project, highlighting what’s changed for them and how you’ve helped. Written testimonials are another great option — share full-length stories on your website and shorter quotes on social media.
4. Create regular content about your work
Proving your impact shouldn’t just be a yearly event. Stay top of mind and keep supporters engaged with regular updates, stories, and insights. Blog posts are an excellent way to share news, and you could schedule these for once a quarter, month, or week, depending on how busy you are. Share recent wins, updates on ongoing projects, and plans for the future. If possible, include photos of what you’ve been doing, video updates from members of your team, and interviews with people you’re working with. You can then use these blog posts as inspiration for social media content, getting as much value from them as possible.
5. Release clear annual reports digitally
Many nonprofits are making the switch from paper to digital annual reports. This makes them available to a wider audience and makes it easy to present data in a clear and impactful way. You can use visual storytelling to make your reports more engaging to supporters who don’t want to read long paragraphs or sift through complex data. Releasing these accessible yearly reports makes it quick and easy for supporters to understand what you’re doing, which is ideal if they don’t have time to use social media or follow your blog.
Proving your impact is just as important as the day-to-day running of your nonprofit. Follow the best practices above to stay engaged with current supporters and encourage new ones.
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