Marketing & Public Relations

Your nonprofit could be the best organization in the state, but if you don’t know how to market it effectively, you'll remain a "best kept secret". This is why Marketing and PR are essential to nonprofits for promoting your programs and services, as well as your organization as a brand. This page is full of helpful tips and resources to help you form a marketing plan and execute it.

If you have any resources that you’d like to share with the nonprofit community, please email a brief description, and link or PDF to Jennifer Peifer.

Cause Communications' Toolkit

A guide to navigating communications for the nonprofit world is a comprehensive resource offering practical information in virtually every area of communications -- from how to develop and budget a communications plan to what tools you need to help raise awareness and funds.The toolkit is practical and easy-to-use. Tips, templates and strategy outlines are based on more than 25 years of experience from professionals at Cause Communications, and on information from national qualitative and quantitative audits of what nonprofits need in the area of communications.

Design Matters

The Why and How:

6 Reasons Why It’s Important to Hire a Graphic Designer: How hiring a graphic designer will improve your marketing strategy

How to Hire a Graphic Designer

Key Thing to Ask When Hiring Designers

The Design Process:

How to work with a graphic designer, articles by:

An outline of the process a designer uses, by AIGA

How to fund creative projects:

Finding Grants to Fund Marketing

Idea Encore Resources

Marketing Best Practices Checklist: A self-assessment instrument that helps nonprofits identify capacity strengths and challenges and establish capacity building goals in the area of marketing and public relations. ($10)

Brand Identity for Nonprofits: Brand identity can offer reinforcement of mission, operating stability, and increased revenue, tying together diverse elements of strategy to produce real and lasting results.

Making the Most of Limited Marketing Resources: Proven Steps to Successfully Market your Nonprofit on a Shoestring Budget

The top website design assumptions that will cost you

The Cornerstones of Successful Fundraising: Marketing & Communications

Claxon Nonprofit Messaging Framework Template