Think about if each hour a volunteer spent together with your nonprofit got here with a $25 test connected to it. For a lot of of your supporters, this isn’t a fantasy—it’s a actuality ready to be claimed.
Volunteer grants, usually referred to as “{Dollars} for Doers,” are company giving packages the place firms donate cash to nonprofits primarily based on the hours their staff volunteer. It’s basically free cash in your mission. But, billions of {dollars} in company philanthropy go unclaimed yearly just because volunteers don’t know these packages exist.
The hole isn’t an absence of generosity; it’s a lack of expertise. That’s the place volunteer grant advertising and marketing is available in.
To bridge this hole, you don’t want an enormous promoting finances. You want a sensible, focused technique that educates your supporters and makes it easy for them to submit their hours. On this information, we’ll transfer past the fundamentals and dive into actionable advertising and marketing ways that flip your volunteer base right into a income engine.
We’ll cowl:
Let’s dive in and begin turning these volunteer hours into important funding.
Half 1: The Hidden Worth of Volunteer Grants
Earlier than you’ll be able to market volunteer grants successfully, it’s worthwhile to perceive the dimensions of the chance. These aren’t simply small change; they’re a major, underutilized income stream.
What Are Volunteer Grants?
Volunteer grants are company giving packages the place an organization supplies a financial donation to an eligible nonprofit as a reward for an worker’s volunteer service.
- Thresholds: Corporations usually require a minimal variety of hours (e.g., 10, 20, or 40 hours) to be served in a calendar yr.
- Payouts: As soon as the edge is met, the corporate points a test. This is usually a set quantity (e.g., $500 for 20 hours) or an hourly charge (e.g., $25 per hour).
Did You Know? 40% of Fortune 500 firms provide volunteer grant packages. Moreover, 80% of firms with these packages provide between $8 and $15 per hour volunteered. With the estimated worth of a volunteer hour hitting $34.79 in 2024, securing a grant successfully doubles the worth of each hour served.
Why Advertising Issues
The statistics are stark: whereas thousands and thousands of people work for firms with these packages, the typical worker participation charge is barely 3%. Why? As a result of nobody instructed them. Your advertising and marketing technique is the catalyst that transforms a passive volunteer into an energetic fundraiser.
Half 2: Constructing Your Volunteer Grant Advertising Technique
You don’t must reinvent the wheel. The best volunteer grant advertising and marketing integrates seamlessly into the communications you’re already sending. Here’s a channel-by-channel playbook.
1. Web site Placement: The “Passive” Ask
Your web site is your 24/7 growth officer. Make sure that volunteer grants are seen the place supporters are already trying.
- The “Methods to Give” Web page: Add a piece explicitly titled “Company Volunteering” or “Employer Grants.” Clarify that their time can double as a monetary present.
- The Volunteer Touchdown Web page: That is vital. Earlier than somebody even indicators up for a shift, they need to see a message: “Do you’re employed for an identical present firm? Your hours could possibly be price cash to us!”
- Search Software: Embed a company giving database instrument (like Double the Donation) straight on these pages. This enables guests to sort of their employer’s identify and immediately see if they’re eligible for a grant.
2. E mail Advertising: The “Energetic” Ask
E mail is your most direct line to supporters. Use it to teach and remind.
- The Welcome Sequence: When a brand new volunteer registers, your automated welcome e mail ought to embrace a “Do you know?” part about volunteer grants.
- The “Milestone” E mail: Set off an automatic e mail when a volunteer hits a selected hour threshold (e.g., 10 or 20 hours).
Topic Line: “You’re a star! (And also you may be eligible for a grant)”
Physique: “Congrats on reaching 20 hours! Do you know many firms, like [Company A] and [Company B], will donate $500 for this milestone? Click on right here to test your eligibility.” - Seasonal Campaigns: Throughout Nationwide Volunteer Month (April) or the end-of-year giving season, ship a devoted blast reminding volunteers to log their hours and submit grant requests earlier than company deadlines expire.
3. Social Media: The “Public” Ask
Social media is ideal for fast, participating reminders that normalize company giving.
- Success Tales: Share a photograph of a volunteer (let’s name him Mark). “Because of Mark for strolling canine each Saturday! And an enormous thanks to [Mark’s Employer] for his or her $500 volunteer grant that paid for pet food this month!”
Why it really works: It publicly acknowledges the volunteer (retention!) and the corporate (stewardship!), whereas subtly instructing different followers that that is one thing they’ll do too. - Tagging Corporations: If you host a company group, tag the corporate on LinkedIn and Fb. “Thanks to the group from @Salesforce for volunteering! We love our company companions.”
4. On-Web site Advertising: The “In-Particular person” Ask
Seize volunteers whereas they’re engaged within the work.
- Signage: Place a QR code at your volunteer check-in kiosk or entrance desk. “Examine in case your employer pays us in your time right now!”
- Coaching Supplies: Embrace a one-pager about volunteer grants in your volunteer handbook or orientation packet.
- Verbal Reminders: Practice your volunteer coordinators to say grants throughout the pre-shift briefing or post-shift thanks. “Thanks for coming right now! Please keep in mind to log your hours—lots of your employers will match them with a donation!”.
Half 3: Figuring out Eligible Volunteers
You’ll be able to’t market to these you don’t know. The most important hurdle for a lot of nonprofits is an absence of employment information. Right here is the best way to repair that.
1. Replace Your Consumption Varieties
The most effective time to ask is originally. Add an optionally available “Employer” discipline to your volunteer registration type.
Professional Tip: Use a search instrument/drop-down menu moderately than a free-text discipline to make sure standardized information (e.g., “Microsoft” as an alternative of “MSFT” or “Microsoft Inc.”).
2. The “Replace Your Profile” Marketing campaign
Ship an annual survey to your current volunteer base. Body it as a solution to “assist us serve you higher” or “replace our information.” Ask about their present employer and if they’ve entry to a company portal like Benevity or CyberGrants.
3. Knowledge Appends
You probably have a big database with e mail addresses however no employer information, take into account utilizing an information append service. These instruments can scan your record in opposition to public information and LinkedIn information to establish the place your supporters work, permitting you to section your advertising and marketing lists for high-value employers like Verizon or Disney.
Fast Tip: Retirees are eligible too! Corporations like Intel and Chevron prolong volunteer grant eligibility to retirees. Don’t exclude your older volunteers out of your advertising and marketing; create a selected section only for them.
Guide monitoring is sustainable for 10 volunteers, however not for 1,000. Expertise is the important thing to scaling your volunteer grant advertising and marketing with out burning out your employees.
1. Double the Donation
That is the trade commonplace for automating company giving.
The Magic: It integrates together with your donation varieties and volunteer registration pages. When a consumer enters their employer, the system mechanically checks eligibility and triggers a personalised e mail with the precise varieties and subsequent steps they want.
The Profit: You don’t need to be a “grant professional.” The system handles the rules for hundreds of firms so that you don’t need to.
2. Volunteer Administration Methods (VMS)
A Volunteer Administration System (often known as a VMS) is designed to log hours precisely.
Integration: Many of those platforms combine straight with matching present instruments, making a seamless circulation from “Hour Logged” to “Grant Requested.”
Reporting: Use your VMS to generate reviews on “Volunteers approaching grant thresholds” so you’ll be able to ship focused nudges.
Half 5: Overcoming Widespread Boundaries to Entry
Even with a compelling advertising and marketing marketing campaign, friction is the enemy of conversion. If a volunteer hits a snag whereas attempting to submit a grant request—whether or not it’s a complicated type or a lapse in reminiscence—you lose that income. To safe these “{dollars} for doers,” your nonprofit advertising and marketing technique should actively dismantle the logistical and psychological roadblocks standing of their approach.
Barrier 1: “I Don’t Know If I’m Eligible”
The Impediment: Most volunteers assume that solely huge firms like Google or Microsoft provide grants. They don’t notice that hundreds of mid-sized firms, regional banks, and insurance coverage corporations additionally take part.
The Answer: The Prompt Search
Don’t make them dig via their worker handbook. Present speedy solutions straight in your website.
- Embed a Search Software: Place a company giving search instrument (like Double the Donation) in your volunteer touchdown web page. This enables supporters to sort of their firm identify and immediately see pointers, minimal hour thresholds, and hyperlinks to varieties.
- Record High Native Employers: Create a “High Companions” part in your web site itemizing native employers recognized for company philanthropy. Seeing their firm’s emblem validates their eligibility immediately.
Barrier 2: “It’s Too A lot Paperwork”
The Impediment: The time period “grant” implies hours of writing proposals and filling out complicated varieties. Volunteers worry getting slowed down in forms.
The Answer: The “5-Minute” Promise
Reframe the method by highlighting the effectivity of contemporary CSR platforms.
- Digital Portals: Educate volunteers that the majority firms use streamlined portals like Benevity, CyberGrants, or YourCause. These platforms usually enable staff to log hours and request a grant in underneath 5 minutes.
- Direct Hyperlinks: In your e mail communications, present direct URLs to those portals at any time when attainable. Eradicating the step of “looking for the login web page” considerably will increase conversion charges.
Barrier 3: “I Forgot (The Amnesia Issue)”
The Impediment: Volunteers are busy. They could go away a shift desiring to log their hours “later,” however “later” by no means comes.
The Answer: Automated Triggers
Combine your volunteer administration software program together with your communications technique to catch them whereas the reminiscence is contemporary.
- Submit-Shift Automation: Arrange an computerized e mail to set off 1 hour after a shift ends. “Thanks for volunteering right now! Don’t neglect to log your hours right here [Link] to unlock your company grant.”
- Milestone Nudges: When a volunteer hits a standard threshold (e.g., 20 hours), ship a celebratory e mail that doubles as a reminder: “You simply hit 20 hours! That’s the magic quantity for a $500 grant from many employers. Examine your standing now.”
Barrier 4: “My Firm Doesn’t Supply a Program”
The Impediment: A volunteer checks their eligibility and finds nothing. They really feel they’ve hit a lifeless finish.
The Answer: Advocacy Instruments
Flip that “no” right into a “not but.” Empower these volunteers to change into inside champions in your trigger.
- Advocacy Templates: Present a pre-written e mail they’ll ship to their HR or CSR division asking to start out a volunteer grant program. (See Template 3 on this information).
- Different Giving: If grants aren’t an choice, counsel different methods their firm may help you, akin to matching presents for money donations or organizing a group service day.
Wrapping Up & Subsequent Steps
Volunteer grant advertising and marketing is about working smarter, not tougher. By educating the supporters who’re already in your constructing, you’ll be able to unlock a sustainable stream of unrestricted income that grows together with your volunteer program.
Don’t let these company {dollars} disappear. Begin small, automate the place you’ll be able to, and have a good time each win.
Able to launch your technique?
- Audit your web site: Is there a transparent “Company Volunteering” part?
- Examine your varieties: Are you gathering employer information from new volunteers?
- Ship one e mail: Choose your prime 50 most energetic volunteers and ship them a private word asking if their firm gives grants.
With the suitable message on the proper time, you’ll be able to flip each hour of service right into a monetary funding in your mission. And Double the Donation Volunteering will help! Get a personalised demo to see their platform in motion and see how the automation instruments make volunteer grant advertising and marketing simpler than ever earlier than.
