Holiday PR Strategies for Nonprofits, the gist:

• Tell a unique and highly visual story of the work your organization does.
• Run campaigns across different platforms, focusing on the value you offer with clear and consistent messaging.
• Consider paid media for an edge over the competition.

Q4 is here, so it might be time to refine PR strategies for nonprofits whose year-end goals suddenly look more daunting! The last few months of the year are a critical time for nonprofit organizations, with many raising as much as 50% of their annual revenue in November and December.

We all want to hit our goals and finish the year strong to have the most impact. A crucial part of your year-end prep should include brainstorming how to convey your message throughout the holidays to ensure your stories aren’t lost in all the noise.

So, how can you refine your PR strategies for the holidays to achieve organizational goals and still manage to celebrate the season?

While it’s true there is no magic formula, there’s good news: There are a handful of relatively painless things you can do now to help your message stand out during the season of giving.

1. Tell A Unique Story

Sharing a unique impact story about your nonprofit sets you apart and makes your brand memorable. For instance, a nonprofit providing affordable housing might tell the story of one of its newest residents, who has overcome a challenging situation and will now celebrate the first holiday season in her new home. An organization providing meal deliveries to vulnerable families might share the life-changing experience of one of its volunteer drivers during the holiday season. Spoiler alert: Check out our Headline about leveraging volunteer stories to learn how one family is forever changed by their volunteer experience.

Stories like these—told with care and reinforced with great visual content—resonate emotionally with audiences and illustrate how your organization addresses specific community challenges that might otherwise be overlooked. Your stories could encourage community members to donate or volunteer, and they reinforce your organization’s credibility, demonstrating the successes and impact of your programs.

Regardless of which stories you decide to share, keep the principles of ethical storytelling front and center to ensure these personal experiences are handled with utmost respect.

2. Leverage Multi-Channel Campaigns

Consumers are inundated with marketing messages year-round, especially during the holiday season. To avoid ‘marketing fatigue’ and still get your message across, you’ll want to focus on a quality-over-quantity approach.

First, who is your audience and where will we find them? Developing target audience personas can help us identify our audience, including their key demographics, interests, and behaviors. By understanding which platforms they use and how they prefer to consume information, we can tailor PR strategies for nonprofits to engage them more effectively and meet them where they are with consistent, values-based messaging. Those unique impact stories we mentioned earlier? They can be woven into a compelling volunteer or donation appeal that reaches your audience across platforms—email, social media, direct mail, and others—and inspires them to take action.

Reinforce your organization’s key messages—the main points you want your audience to hear, understand, and remember—consistently across your marketing channels. An integrated communications approach amplifies your campaign and helps you engage potential supporters in the spaces where they’re most active, increasing the chances of capturing their attention.

Consistency in messaging doesn’t mean saying the same thing repeatedly. The core of your message should remain intact, but change your message just enough to make it feel fresh and relevant to your audiences by adding a new detail, switching up the copy, or featuring a different image across your communication channels.

3. Consider a Paid Media Campaign

If a budget is available, a paid media campaign during the holiday season can give your organization the boost it needs to stand out. Larger organizations could look at investing in a comprehensive strategy using Google Ads, Facebook, and YouTube to reach a broad audience. Smaller nonprofits might consider taking advantage of more cost-effective options like Google Ad Grants or targeted social media ads. A paid media campaign can be very effective in reaching your target audience and keeping your organization top-of-mind when people are feeling most charitable.

As we enter the final stretch of the year, the pressure to meet our goals can feel overwhelming, but join us in a deep breath. With the right PR and integrated strategies, nonprofits can rise above the commotion during the holidays. These are also strategies to replicate and carry into 2025 easily.

Ready to lean into Q4 and optimize your messaging for results? Let’s connect!