36 Free Nonprofit Resources to Bookmark

Here at Classy, we work to be at the forefront of nonprofit knowledge and provide valuable resources for the social impact space. We know it can be difficult, however, for any busy professional to stay on top of best practices, so to keep you from missing out on valuable content we’ve rounded up a few fan favorites all in one place.

Below are our most popular guides of all time for fundraisers, marketers, and leaders. Bookmark this page so you can refer back to these resources whenever you need.

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Top Guides for Fundraisers

1. Anatomy of a Successful Fundraiser

In this guide, we dissect 10 successful fundraising campaigns and the strategies that blew their goals out of the water. From new ideas for email tracks to motivating fundraisers, you’re bound to find a new tactic that will bolster your own results.

Get the Secrets to Success

2. The Pocket Guide to Fundraising Psychology

Updated with the latest research, this guide explores the strategies that make your donors tick. Learn how to get inside their heads and encourage them to give.

Train Their Brains

 

3. The Donor Retention Handbook (Now Available as an Audiobook)

It costs about five times more to acquire a new donor than to retain one. In this guide, you’ll discover money-saving strategies that will help you deliver what your supporters want, when they want—and keep them coming back.

Become Best Friends

 

4. A Comprehensive Guide to Nonprofit Welcome Emails

First impressions can make or break any budding relationship. Learn how to put your best foot forward and tailor your approach for first-time donors, third-party donors, and event attendees.

Get Them at Hello

 

5. The Nonprofit’s Guide to Recurring Giving

The average recurring donor donates 42 percent more than the average one-time donor. Grow a community of avid supporters who provide a reliable stream of revenue year-round.

Go Steady

 

6. The Four Phases of an Effective Peer-to-Peer Campaign

A well-structured peer-to-peer campaign will help you anticipate any challenges and rise above them with ease. Learn how to prepare for each stage of your campaign and keep supporters engaged, all the way through.

Prep for Success

 

7. The Nonprofit’s Guide to Pitching to Corporate Sponsors

This guide will help you identify potential partners, nail your pitch, and secure a lasting relationship.

Get Ready to Impress

 

8. How to Create a Successful Year-Round Fundraising Strategy

A purposeful fundraising strategy keeps your team motivated, holds you accountable, and unifies your team around larger goals. Get tips and tools to craft your year-long game plan, as well as a diagram to help you get it all on one, comprehensive page.

Get the Plan for Your Plan

 

9. Bigger and Better: How to Grow Your Run/Walk

Learn how to create a strategy that grows your event and guarantees a remarkable attendee experience.

On Your Marks

 

10. A Year of Creative Fundraising Ideas

From pub crawls to surf competitions, this list of 100 seasonal event ideas will help you keep supporters excited and engaged, all year long. Comb through each season and choose events to fill the gaps in your fundraising strategy and raise more money.

Did Someone Say House Party?

11. 10 #GivingTuesday Email Templates

We’ve done the work for you. Use these 10 templates to map out your email strategy leading up to the big day.

Email Strategy, Check

 

12. The Guide to Holiday Fundraising

Around 30 percent of annual giving occurs in December. Learn how to manage your year-end appeals and events, and how to incorporate peer-to-peer fundraising to achieve next level holiday results.

Level Up the Holidays

13. The Year-End Fundraising Checklist

End of year giving is the most lucrative time for nonprofits, so start thinking about your year-end campaign now! This free checklist will help your team set your campaign focus, goals, timeline, and includes tips on key elements like segmenting your communications and nonprofit storytelling.

Countdown to Year-End

14. The Ticketed Event Page Cheat Sheet

All nonprofit events share a few common goals: to raise money, increase awareness, and foster relationships with supporters. To achieve these goals, you need an eye-catching and informative campaign page.

This step-by-step guide will show your team how to create an engaging event page with clean design and optimized conversion points.

Attract, Convert, Engage

Top Guides for Marketers

15. The Guide to a Modern Nonprofit

Organizations need to enter the modern age of marketing and fundraising in order to meet donor expectations. In this guide, learn about the latest fundraising models and the steps you can take to update your brand, online presence, and communication.

Less Flintstones, More Jetsons

 

16. The Guide to Nonprofit Storytelling

There’s nothing like powerful storytelling to stir the emotions and encourage giving. Dig into the elements of a good story, different mediums and tools for storytelling, and the inspiration you need to get started.

Once Upon a Time

 

17. A Nonprofit’s Guide to Customer Service

Some of the most successful for-profit companies, such as Zappos, were built around a customer-centric focus. Use this guide to delight your donors and reap similar rewards.

At Your Service

 

18. Design Basics for Nonprofit Professionals

When your entire team understands design basics, it helps protect your unique brand and style. In this guide you’ll learn trends and standards that help you establish brand identity, boost engagement, and more.

Design Your Impact

 

19. The Ultimate Guide to PR for Nonprofits

As the PR landscape shifts for nonprofits, you can use this guide to take PR into your own hands and build an effective strategy—either in-house or with an agency—and get your story noticed.

Read All About It

 

20. The Nonprofit’s Guide to Google Ad Grants

Google offers $10,000 in free advertising to nonprofit organizations. Get everything you need to set up an account and create a campaign, as well as convert traffic into committed support.

Make It Rain

 

21. Digital Terms Glossary for Nonprofits

Get the lowdown on over 50 terms specific to digital marketers to ensure you keep pace with the industry.

From A to Z

 

22. The BIG Guide to Social Media for Nonprofits

When it comes to social media, your growth and engagement strategies should differ from channel to channel. This guide includes key stats and trends that will help you select the right platforms and build communities of support on each one.

Let’s Get Social

 

23. Email Templates for Nonprofit Annual Communication Plan

Use the email templates in this guide to engage your donors, raise cause awareness, and build your brand with a holistic communications plan that will balance your appeals with donor delight and appreciation.

Delight Your Donors

24. The 10-Week Social Media Event Promotion Plan

Posting on social media is a great way to promote a nonprofit event. You can share photos, videos, and information with supporters who can easily share with their own networks. Additionally, you can include direct links to register, donate, or purchase tickets. Use this interactive worksheet to learn how to best leverage social media to promote your next event.

Let’s Get Social

Top Guides for CEOs and Founders

25. Guide to Annual Reports for Nonprofit Organizations

Gone are the days of the boring, text-filled annual report. Learn how to make the information you share so engaging it moves readers to action.

In With the New

 

26. The Pocket Guide to Professional Development

Learn how to create meaningful goals, gain further expertise, and expand your professional network in a way that purposefully drives you forward.

Suit Up

 

27. Money for Your Mission: Emerging Models for Success

Why are so many of the nonprofits tackling the world’s largest problems, subscale? Discover new models of funding that are addressing this issue and allowing social impact organizations to attract investors and achieve greater impact.

Super-Size Me

 

28. A Leader’s Guide to Motivating Employees

Leverage the science of organizational behavior in order to motivate your team. In this guide, you’ll learn about effective team structures and what incentivizes employees to act in certain ways so that you can achieve your collective goals.

Go, Team, Go

 

29. The Guide to Meaningful Nonprofit Metrics

Get the scoop on the communication, development, and impact metrics your organization shoulder monitor to assess its overall health. Packed with industry benchmarks and helpful tips, this guide will grant insight around your performance and inform your future strategies.

Check Your Pulse

30. SWOT Analysis Worksheet

A SWOT analysis is a framework to analyze a business or organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. To help your nonprofit create the most efficient fundraising strategy, download the worksheet, discuss the included prompts, and use your findings to plan your annual strategy.

Analyze This

31. The Nonprofit Growth Guide

Learn specific strategies for growth from eight nonprofits that saw incredible year-over-year growth on Classy. This guide outlines what growth looks like, from setting a goal through measuring its success as well as tangible tips on how your nonprofit can improve and optimize your donation pages, fundraising appeals, and more.

Start Growing

32. A Nonprofit’s Guide to Hiring

Hiring the right people is never easy, but nonprofit professionals can be particularly tricky to track down. This guide will teach you how to set clear expectations and assign responsibilities to hiring teams, keep your nonprofit moving forward during the process, and how to hire for those critical development positions. It also includes an overview of the interview process and interactive templates and resources to help you secure your next rockstar candidate.

Hire Away!

33. The State of Modern Philanthropy

Classy’s team of data scientists created The State of Modern Philanthropy to share online and mobile fundraising trends, donor behavior insights, and Classy platform benchmarks. To learn more about these topics and more, download the report for free below.

Dive Into Data

34. Why America Gives: How Current Events, Technology, and Seasonality Impact Donor Plans

Why do people donate? What prevents someone from making a donation? In an effort to answer these tough questions, Classy commissioned a consumer survey on donor motivation and created this must-read report with the results. Download the full report to learn what factors consumers say impact their decision-making process when it comes to charitable giving.

Why Do People Give?

35. The Quick Start Guide to Data-Driven Fundraising

Gathering and analyzing data allows your nonprofit to make solid decisions based on concrete knowledge. Find out which data you should track and how to execute on a data-driven strategy with the information and use cases in this guide.

Dig In

36. The Annual Report Checklist

Your annual report demonstrates your impact, progress, and accomplishments to existing donors, corporate partners, and potential supporters. Use this interactive checklist to outline your goals, define your audience, and narrow down your content to create a succinct, impactful annual report.

Share Your Impact

Be sure to check back on this page regularly. We’ll update it with new content and fan favorites so you stay at the forefront of nonprofit industry knowledge.