by

A Social Media Toolkit Template For Nonprofits

The best nonprofit social media campaigns make use of video, personal stories, data, hashtags, photos, and sample social media posts. See best practices and get tips that will set you up for social media success.


 

An effective social giving campaign needs more than a good purpose. It needs a compelling story and imagery that stands out to grab the reader’s attention and motivates them to share your initiatives with their friends and family. 

What to include in a social media toolkit

For larger nonprofit organizations with well-staffed marketing departments, building the perfect social giving campaign is pretty straightforward. But what about smaller nonprofits that only have a handful of people running the entire organization? 

How do they create effective social giving campaigns that trend on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms? 

More often than not, with the help of a social media toolkit. 

Enhance social giving initiatives with a social media toolkit

 

What is a social media toolkit?

A social media toolkit contains resources that you can use to streamline your social giving campaigns on social media platforms. It’s similar to a media kit, but instead of elements for reporters like press releases and press mentions, it contains information for social media marketing.

What goes inside a social media toolkit?

A good toolkit should contain a checklist of five essential elements:

    • A video about your campaign or donation drive
    • Stories and data
    • A few good hashtags
    • Attention-grabbing photos
    • Written content

These elements will help you maximize a donation campaign, increase event registration, or anything else that pushes your social sharing initiatives forward. Let’s look at how each asset can be used. 

    1. Put video to work

     

    Videos are an extremely effective way to spread awareness about your campaign or donation drive on social media. 

    According to Wyzowl’s “State of Video Marketing 2024” survey of business marketers, 90% of organizations interviewed were happy with the success of their YouTube video campaign. According to the report, video continues to be an excellent marketing tool across platforms.

      • 86% of organizations found Facebook video marketing to be successful and effective.
      • 79% said the same for Instagram videos.
      • 76% said the same for videos on LinkedIn.

    The numbers don’t lie. Videos are effective. The report goes on to note that 89% of people surveyed want to see even more videos from organizations and brands in 2024. 

    Try creating an informational video around your initiatives, explaining your cause and broadly outlining your organization’s goals and objectives. Then, upload the video clip to your preferred social media platform. In the video, be sure to ask your followers to share the clip to spread awareness.

    If you’re looking for a simple tool that can help you create engaging videos for social media, check out Animoto. It’s a drag-and-drop video maker designed to help organizations create shareable, visually-stunning videos on their top social media platforms.

    2. Leverage stories and data 

     

    Use stories to connect with followers on an emotional level. 

    If your campaign is directed at solving a problem, give the people affected by the issue a chance to share their stories. When possible, let the people whose lives have been improved share their own stories. Package these elements into your social media toolkit via videos, copy, and images.

    If you can, include data and statistics as well. You can use this information to shed light on the problem you’re addressing, or represent your success rates with statistics, charts, and graphs. 

    3. Hashtags

     

    Hashtags are an essential part of the social media toolkit template, as they can help build interest and unite user-generated content around your efforts. You can use hashtags to interact with people over social media, and make your campaign or donation drive more recognizable.

    As you build and tweak your social media toolkit, spend some time coming up with catchy hashtags to include in your content. Think of words and phrases that are closely aligned with your organization’s image, and add them to your toolkit. You can also come up with a list of campaign-specific hashtags for different initiatives you have in place.

    As more people become aware of your efforts, they can look up the progress of your campaigns by following the relevant hashtags.

    4. Attention-grabbing photos

     

    According to a team of MIT neuroscientists, the human brain is capable of processing entire images in as little as 13 milliseconds. So, it should come as no surprise that visual storytelling is one of the most effective ways to promote content over social media. 

    Enhance your nonprofit social media campaigns by adding relevant photos and infographics:

      • Create branded logos, banners, and profile pictures for your social media accounts.
      • Compile campaign data into easy-to-read infographics.
      • Take various photos for each campaign that help generate awareness.

    Looking for a quick and effective way to create attention-grabbing photos that are optimized for specific social media platforms? Check out Canva. It’s a drag-and-drop builder for photos, posters, infographics, and anything else related to pictures. You can also use it to come up with various visual assets that you can add to your social media toolkit for others to share.

    5. Written content

     

    Simplify the writing process by coming up with templates for your content. This should include a brief message about your campaign, any relevant hashtags, and a date if needed. 

    Here’s an example of a template you could add to your social media toolkit:

    “Join us in supporting (name of cause) on (date of event). Together, we can make a difference by (goal of campaign). For more info, visit (link to website/fundraising page) (hashtag)”

    If you’re posting on X, be sure to limit your content to 280 characters. Don’t forget to add a call-to-action to your toolkit that urges followers to complete your desired action, like registering for an upcoming event or donating money.

Building a social media toolkit template that works

 

While the five elements outlined above are important for running effective nonprofit social media campaigns, you’re welcome to add more to your toolkit when needed. Other useful components include:

    • Links to your website, blog, landing pages, and social media profiles
    • Contact information like email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses
    • An opt-in to receive an email when the toolkit is updated
    • A list of your sponsors and partners that includes their branded logos and links to their websites

You might also consider adding a content calendar of sorts so your followers always know when to expect new content. Suggested timelines are commonly featured in social media toolkits. Deadlines will help you plan your content a few months ahead which makes it easier to maintain the same tone and brand image as you promote your nonprofit social media campaigns across various platforms. 

Social media toolkit examples

 

Want to see an example of an effective social media toolkit template? Have a look at Light the Night by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. There you will find:

    • A relevant hashtag (#lightthenight) related to the campaign
    • A call-to-action asking the visitor to share a story on why they’re participating in the event
    • Attention-grabbing pictures that incorporate storytelling, statistics, and status updates
    • Shareable videos that offer deeper insight into the Light the Night campaign

The end result is a comprehensive social media toolkit that promotes social giving by encouraging supporters to share their own stories.

social media toolkit from Light the Night

Toolkits are a force multiplier 

 

Just because you don’t have a large marketing team doesn’t mean you can’t get the most out of social media. A toolkit makes it possible for small organizations and their avid supporters to promote social giving campaigns and drive donations on multiple platforms. 

Ready to get started? Follow these tips as you build your own toolkit for your organization’s nonprofit social media campaigns.

Want more tips like this? Subscribe to get the best content from the Learn Library once a month.

Featured Photo: Provide tech health solutions for Nigerian youth by Education as a Vaccine


Get Free Tips + Tools in Your Inbox
Subscribe to get the best content from the Learn Library in your inbox once per month.
Meet Your New Fundraising Team
Join GlobalGiving for training and support tailored to you.
Ver contenido en español

Looking for something specific?

Find exactly what you're looking for in our Learn Library by searching for specific words or phrases related to the content you need.

WARNING: Javascript is currently disabled or is not available in your browser. GlobalGiving makes extensive use of Javascript and will not function properly with Javascript disabled. Please enable Javascript and refresh this page.