The Ultimate Guide To Nonprofit Copywriting

We have covered business copywriting before on our blog. What it is, why it’s important, and how you can improve. But nonprofit copywriting? While there is certainly a lot of overlap, you need to approach it differently.

Strong copy is the lifeblood of nonprofits. Good copywriting is how you connect with strangers, convince them to care about your cause, and drive them to action. Still, too many nonprofit organizations treat copywriting as an afterthought. Or even worse, as a chore.

In our latest ultimate guide, we cover the most important things you need to know about copywriting for nonprofits. This includes why it’s important, how to get better at it across platforms, and resources that will help you improve.

• What Is Nonprofit Copywriting?
• Why Nonprofit Copywriting Is So Important
• The 5 Pillars Of Effective Nonprofit Copy
• Getting Clear About Your Audience
• Channel-Specific Tips For Nonprofit Copywriting
• General Advice
• Organizations That Will Teach You Good Nonprofit Copywriting
• Tools And Resources
• Conclusion

CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF VERSION OF THIS GUIDE

Let’s get started.

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What Is Nonprofit Copywriting?

Here is the definition we will be working with throughout this ultimate guide:

Nonprofit copywriting is the strategy of using words to connect with your audience and move them towards action, whether that means donating, volunteering, advocating, or simply caring about your cause.

When you look at it like this, copywriting is part of almost everything you write. At a nonprofit, this means:

• Website pages
• Fundraising emails
• Social media posts
• Impact reports
• Grant proposals
• Direct mail
• Policy communication

The goal with nonprofit copywriting is almost always the same: to compel people to action. You’re not just informing people. You are guiding them in a way that is beneficial to your organization.

Why Nonprofit Copywriting Is So Important

Nonprofit copywriting sits at the center of everything you do. If your job is to convince people to support your cause, copywriting is the most effective tool you have at your disposal. Treat good copywriting like infrastructure: without it, everything you build (from fundraising and organizing to advocacy) is less stable as a result.

Still not convinced to take it seriously? Here are four specific reasons getting better at copywriting should be a priority for all nonprofits:

1) Attention spans are dwindling.

With more content online than ever (and the quality always going up), people have their focus split in a million different ways. Nonprofit copywriting is all about putting the right message in front of the right person. The result? More attention (and results) given to your cause.

2) There is more competition than ever.

Ten years ago you could send a fundraiser to an email list and call it a day. Now? There are other nonprofits battling for attention, and bringing solid marketing skills to get it. This makes the nonprofit landscape more competitive. Good copywriting is a way to separate yourself.

3) Website traffic isn’t consistent.

Even though AI for nonprofits can be a great tool, website traffic has already been affected by things like ChatGPT. This is bad news for organizations that rely on their content to build an audience. The solution? Effective copywriting that maximizes the traffic they do get.

4) Nonprofits generally are finding it difficult to operate.

We recently wrote about the Big Beautiful Big. While this legislation has some benefits for nonprofits, it has also made other things more difficult. Implement effective nonprofit copywriting, and you are able to build a solid foundation underneath your organization. Want to “future proof” your nonprofit? Copywriting is one of the most important skills you could have.

Look at it this way: a well-crafted sentence can raise $10,000. But a clunky one that is difficult to read and lacks clarity? It can cost you a donor. Good copy doesn’t just explain your mission. It makes someone feel like it matters to them, and convinces them to take action as a result.

The 5 Pillars Of Effective Nonprofit Copy

If you’re going to use nonprofit copywriting effectively, there are a number of things you could focus on. However, just like anything else, we suggest you follow the “80/20 rule”: focus on the 20% of things that are going to get you 80% of your results.

Focus on these things first, and everything else is just adding on to a solid foundation that’s already in place. Here are what we consider to be the five essential “pillars of nonprofit copy”

1) Clarity

Confusion is the thing you should avoid above all else. If people are confused, they don’t donate. Simple as that. No matter what kind of copy you are writing, it needs to be clear. This is the first hurdle with nonprofit copywriting: do people understand what you are saying? If they don’t, it’s time for a rewrite.

2) Research

As we mention below, audience research is fundamental to whatever it is you are trying to achieve with your copy. What do they care about? What gets them to act? For the issues that your nonprofit deals with, what is the most compelling kind of language to use? To understand this, research is essential.

3) Proof

In copywriting, proof is everything. How does your audience know that you actually do what you say you do? This is where proving things comes in. Do you have any client success stories? Case studies of beneficiaries? Testimonials from people you’ve worked with in the past? Include these, and all of your copywriting will be more influential as a result.

4) Specificity

Vague copy creates poor results. The more specific you can get with nonprofit copywriting, the better your numbers tend to be. So always remember to use concrete language. Numbers. Names. Details. What exactly a fundraiser is about, how much money you want to raise, and what exactly you plan on doing with those funds. Specificity sounds like professionalism.

5) Urgency

Urgency has long been an essential part of marketing. In the nonprofit world, it’s no different. If you want to create effective nonprofit copywriting, you should tell people why they need to act now. Not next week or tomorrow, but immediately. Considering nonprofit copywriting is usually in the context of fundraisers, you can see how essential urgency really is.

Getting Clear About Your Audience

One of the most important rules of copywriting?

Always remember who you are writing to.

This ensures that you focus your messaging, and always keeps the needs and desires of your reader as a top focus. So – who are you writing to?

Hint: it’s not “the general public.” It’s always more specific than that. In nonprofit copywriting, it will usually be a donor, a volunteer, or a policymaker. Get clear on this and writing convincing copy becomes so much easier.

Struggling with figuring out this answer? First, we recommend you take some time for audience research. Here are a few questions you should make sure to answer:

• What does your audience look like?
• What are your audience’s biggest fears?
• What do they value above most other things?
• What do they already know about your issue?
• Why should they specifically care about what you have to say?

Good audience research leads you to answers. And once you have those answers, everything becomes easier.

Channel-Specific Tips For Nonprofit Copywriting

If you want to succeed in nonprofit copywriting, the platform is important. Each one is different with separate rules. Here’s how to adapt your copywriting so it performs everywhere:

Website

• Make the most important information scannable. This is simply how people read. It doesn’t matter how “pretty” your website is. As for how you do this? By using headlines, bullets, and subheadings.
• Be brutally clear. People should immediately know who you are and what your organization does.
• Put donate or sign-up buttons front-and-center. When things are buried they get lost. If your website is going to act like a funnel for potential donors, CTA’s need to be easy to find.

Email

• Spend time writing subject lines. These are 80% of the battle. If people don’t open your emails, nothing else matters much. Test out different angles to see which ones work.
• Always lead with a hook. You want your emails to immediately grab attention when people open them. The quicker you can get to the hook (something that forces people to keep reading) the better.
• Make it easy to read. The way people read email has changed. You can no longer get away with giant walls of text. Formatting matters. Use a maximum of 2-3 sentences per paragraph, and make it easy to scan.
• Only include one CTA. You can get away with different links on other platforms. But email? It pays to have a clear, singular “next action”.

Social Media

• Be bold. On social media you are battling for the attention of thousands of competitors. For nonprofit copywriting to be successful on social media platforms, boldness is your friend.
• Use the word “you” as much as possible. This makes people feel like you are speaking directly to them. This makes them feel “called” to get involved. And that’s when your content starts converting.
• Don’t forget the power of a good image. Social media is visual first. If you want people to stop scrolling, your images need to be topnotch. For nonprofits this means bright, emotional, and relevant.

Grants & Proposals

• Clarity over everything. Often, nonprofit copywriting is about appealing to the emotion of a casual reader. But with grants and proposals? Here, it’s all about clarity. You are writing to decision-makers. Make sure it’s crystal clear what the money is going towards. This is how you write effective grant proposals.
• Use the grantmaker’s language. Who exactly will be reading your proposal? Wherever possible, you want to write in a way that is especially compelling for them. That means writing in the way they talk. Mirror their priorities, goals, and frameworks.
• Write in the active voice. A grant or proposal is all about action. It does you no favors to write in the passive.

General Advice

Now that you understand how copywriting differs between channels, let’s check out some more general rules to live by. Follow the tips below and everything you write (regardless of the platform) will be more effective as a result.

• Stick to one core message. What do you want your audience to do, and what is the clearest path to get them to that decision? The answers to these two questions make up your core message. Stick to that message, and trim anything that doesn’t somehow contribute to it.
• Sound like a real person. As humans, we connect with other humans. This means that nonprofit copywriting needs to actually sound like a person wrote it. This will increasingly become more important with more AI content on the internet.
• Stay consistent across channels. Similar to a brand style guide, your copy should be consistent across platforms. This includes your style and voice. Your copy should also reflect your values and culture.
• Put people first. Many organizations make the mistake of putting themselves at the center of their copy. This is a mistake. The people should always come first (there is a subtle difference). People care about issues, not institutions. Start with the problem you solve or the values you stand for.
• Only write as much as you have to. One of the most common mistakes in copywriting is “overwriting.” If you can say it in one paragraph, don’t say it in three. Attention is scarce. Respect peoples’ time, and they will be more likely to act.
• Prioritize “true” over “impressive”. Every nonprofit wants to do great things. But try too hard to explain what your organization does (and the people you help), and it comes across as bragging. These days people want authenticity. It’s your job to give it to them.

Organizations That Will Teach You Good Nonprofit Copywriting

If you want your copywriting to drive results at your nonprofit, it helps to learn from examples. This is what the list below is for.

Check out these organizations’ online content – everything from their website to daily social posts. This is a great to learn from the best and pick up ideas you can apply to your own organization:

Charity: Water

An organization well-known for emotionally resonant stories and clean design. The takeaway? Make every campaign feel urgent and personal.

Doctors Without Borders

This organization is skilled in balancing data with emotion. Try to show impact (remember the importance of proof?) while still pulling at heartstrings.

Save The Children

Expert storytellers who know how to use persuasive language. If you want to do the same, invest in your storytelling skills.

UNICEF

UNICEF is well-known for localizing messaging for different audiences. While you don’t have to get this advanced, they are still a masterclass in maintaining brand consistency.

American Red Cross

The big takeaway from the American Red Cross? The importance of driving “action now” in your messaging.

Tools And Resources

Here are just a few tools and resources we recommend for improving your nonprofit copywriting. Our most important recommendation? Finding the tools that truly fit into your workflow – and using them enough to get good at them.

• ChatGPT. Nonprofit organizations that don’t use AI tools to scale their mission will fall behind. Might as well learn how to use this software. One warning, though: don’t over-rely on AI.
• Grammarly. A great tool to check your writing style. If you want to write in a way that’s easier to understand, this is the tool for you.
• Mailchimp. While there are many ESP’s that can help with your email marketing game, MailChimp is a great place to start.
• Donorbox Nonprofit blog. A practical source for improving your donor appeals and thank-you messaging. A good place to go if you want to increase your conversions across the board.

Conclusion

Nonprofit copywriting isn’t about being clever. It’s about being clear and honest, and compelling people to act based on that. It’s the foundation of everything you do at your nonprofit, and can make a huge difference in every fundraiser you run in the future.

We hope this guide has encouraged you to take it seriously. Let us know if you ever have any questions – or if you need an expert to help with your own copywriting needs.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF VERSION OF THIS GUIDE

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