Nonprofit Marketing

What is this tool?

A working marketing system for nonprofits with under 20 staff and limited budget for outside agencies. It combines five things in one place:

• Campaign management — track multiple marketing campaigns from planning to wrap-up
• Event marketing workflows — pre/day-of/post plans for outreach events, with pre-built playbooks
• Org-wide libraries — reusable personas, messaging, email sequences, press templates, board justifications
• Visual planning — annual calendar, member journey map, partnership pipeline
• Output generation — assemble a polished marketing plan as HTML or .docx

Getting started

1. Sign up or sign in. Try the demo at demo@example.org / demo — a fully populated demo team with one campaign and one event.
2. Enter your organization's name during the one-step onboarding.
3. Start in the Messaging Library if this is your first time. Spending 30 minutes there pays off in every campaign.

Recommended workflow

1. Set up the Messaging Library first — tagline, mission, value prop, key messages, brand voice, boilerplate. This is reusable everywhere.
2. Define 2-3 personas in the Personas page — who you're trying to reach.
3. Map the Member Journey — what does a prospect experience from awareness to recommit?
4. Create a campaign for your next initiative (membership drive, annual appeal, event series).
5. Plan supporting events for the campaign on the Events page.
6. Generate collateral for the campaign — one-pagers, flyers, info sheets.
7. Draft email sequences for nurture, welcome, post-event follow-up.
8. Schedule social posts on the calendar.
9. Build the marketing plan when you're ready to share with the board.

Campaigns

Each campaign is its own project. Track multiple in parallel. Statuses move through Planning → Running → Wrapping Up → Complete. Each captures:

• Type (Membership Drive, Annual Appeal, Event Promotion, Awareness, Capital, Volunteer Recruitment, Re-engagement, Stewardship, Advocacy)
• Goal, KPIs, budget
• Audience description
• Channels (Email, Direct Mail, Social, Website, Press, Paid Ads, Events, etc.)
• Campaign-specific messaging (value prop, key messages, CTA)
• Notes

Switch between active campaigns via the navy/teal dropdown at the top of every campaign section page.

Events & Playbooks

Outreach events get their own workflow — pre-event planning, day-of execution, post-event follow-up. The tool ships with 5 pre-built playbooks:

• Open House — 2-hour come-and-go event at your office or program site
• Info Session — 45-60 minute presentation for prospective members/volunteers
• Tabling / Booth — set up at a community festival or fair
• Virtual Webinar — free 45-60 min educational webinar
• Major Fundraiser / Gala — 6-month planning runway for larger events

Create a new event, then choose Apply Playbook from its menu to load the corresponding pre-event, day-of, and post-event plans. Customize from there.

Annual Calendar

A 12-month visualization of all campaigns and events. Campaigns appear as teal bars across the months they run; events appear as date-stamped entries. Use this to spot scheduling conflicts and over-busy months.

Member Journey

Six stages: Awareness → Interest → Consideration → Join → Retain → Recommit. For each stage, document what the prospect experiences, what touchpoints engage them, and what conversion you want. The map informs which campaigns to run and where to invest.

Partnership Outreach

Track potential partner organizations (community partners, sponsors, funders, media, religious orgs, corporate). Each entry captures status (identified → outreach-sent → in-conversation → active → dormant → declined), purpose, contact info, and notes. Treat this like a sales pipeline — partnerships compound over time.

Personas

Reusable target audience profiles. Each persona captures demographics, motivations, barriers, messages that resonate, and best channels. Reference these from campaign briefs. The demo includes "New Nonprofit ED" and "Founding Board Chair" as examples.

Messaging Library

Your most-reused content. Six fields:

• Tagline — short, memorable phrase (6-10 words)
• Mission Statement — your formal mission
• Value Proposition — one-paragraph "what you offer + who it's for + why it matters"
• Key Messages — 3-5 talking points you want to repeat across all channels
• Brand Voice — how you sound (warm, authoritative, casual, etc.)
• Boilerplate "About" — 3-5 sentence org description used in press releases and applications

Time you spend here pays off in every other page.

Email Sequences

Multi-email sequences for nurture, welcome, re-engagement, or post-event follow-up. Each sequence has a trigger (what starts it) and a list of emails with day offsets, subjects, preview text, and bodies. The demo seeds an "Open House Follow-up" sequence with 3 emails at Day 0 / 7 / 14.

Collateral Builder

Generate one-pagers, two-pagers, flyers, info sheets, postcards, table tents, and rack cards. Each piece has a title, tagline/headline, body, CTA, and contact line. Click Preview to see the assembled piece in a print-ready new tab.

Social Media

A simple content calendar. Each post has a date, platform (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Threads, TikTok, YouTube), body, optional link, and status (draft / scheduled / posted / cancelled). Designed to plan ahead — not to actually post on your behalf.

Press & Media

Press release builder in the standard nonprofit format: For Immediate Release tag, dateline, headline, lede, body, ### end mark, boilerplate "About [Org]", and media contact. Click Preview for a print-ready newspaper-style version.

Board Justifications

Modeled on the Board-Ready Justification format. Use this when you need board approval for a marketing initiative — new campaign, hiring an agency, technology purchase, major event. The structure walks through:

1. Purpose — what are you asking the board to approve?
2. The Operational Case — what problem does this solve?
3. The Fiduciary Case — how does this serve the board's fiduciary duty?
4. Cost vs. Expected Return — money in, money/value out
5. Risk Management — what could go wrong; how you'll mitigate
6. Recommended Motion — exact text the board will vote on

Click Preview to see the assembled justification ready to print and bring to the meeting.

Build Marketing Plan

Assembles your messaging, personas, campaigns, and events into a single polished plan. Three outputs:

• Preview (HTML) — opens in new tab, print-ready
• Download .html — saves the file locally
• Download .docx — generates a Word document for the board packet

For the Membership & Outreach Committee

If you're using this with a committee, the natural workflow is:

• Committee chair owns the Messaging Library, Personas, and Member Journey — these are organizational, not campaign-specific.
• Individual committee members can own specific Campaigns.
• The committee reviews Board Justifications together before bringing them to the full board.
• At each committee meeting, walk through the Annual Calendar to spot bottlenecks.
• Use the Build Marketing Plan output as a recurring exhibit in the committee's report to the full Board.

Team & Pro

Up to 3 team seats on the Free plan; unlimited on Pro ($29/month, 14-day free trial). Leader role manages the team; member role can edit any data but not invite/remove. Super-admin (skycopatc@yahoo.com / Buildyourclub) sees all teams across the system.

Disclaimer

This tool produces drafts and plans. Outcomes depend on execution. Marketing for nonprofits is iterative — track your KPIs, learn what works, and adjust.

Build Your Club Academy · Nonprofit Marketing User Guide