The Most Asked Nonprofit Marketing Questions of 2025
Chapter Leadership Brief 11.14.25
By Lynsie Slachetka
Founder & CEO, aJuxt Media Group
As we approach the end of 2025, nonprofit marketing teams across the country grapple with increasingly urgent marketing challenges as competition for donor attention intensifies.
Marketing is no longer a nice-to-have for nonprofits; it's essential for visibility, fundraising, engagement, and long-term sustainability. However, many organizations still treat marketing as "extra" vs. mission-critical. Let's address some of the key marketing challenges that nonprofit organizations face and more importantly, what you can do about them now.
How Can We Do More With Less?
Many nonprofits operate with small marketing budgets and stretched-thin teams, limiting their ability to invest in tools, campaigns, or new channels. The reality is stark: tight budgets and limited resources force difficult choices.
What You Can Do:
Start by identifying high-impact, low-cost marketing activities. Social media, email marketing, and content creation can deliver significant returns without breaking the bank. Consider partnering with a marketing agency that offers à la carte services, outsourcing specific projects like digital ad buying or social media management while keeping other work in-house. The cliché is true: time is money. If an agency can identify your target audience and launch an outreach campaign in half the time it would take you, that's a savings you can't afford to pass up.
Where Can We Find The Right Marketing Expertise?
Nonprofits often lack dedicated marketing professionals or rely heavily on volunteers, which can lead to inconsistent efforts. Many nonprofit marketing departments are asked to be experts on all things marketing, branding, and advertising, which isn't feasible with limited resources.
What You Can Do:
Take stock of your team's strengths and identify gaps. Where do you need specialized knowledge such as analytics, SEO, or digital advertising? Investing in professional development through webinars, certifications, or industry conferences can build internal capacity. But ultimately, it may be more effective to identify how your organization can partner with the right agency. Many agencies offer flexible arrangements that allow you to tap into specialized marketing expertise without the overhead of hiring full-time staff.
How Do We Stand Out to Donors In A Crowded Space?
Supporters and donors are bombarded with content daily. That makes it harder to capture attention. Driving engagement—especially digital and social engagement—has become increasingly challenging as organic reach declines and competition for attention intensifies.
What You Can Do:
Focus on storytelling that connects emotionally with your audience, because generic appeals for support won't cut it anymore. Share specific stories about the impact of your work, especially those that make your beneficiaries heroes of the story. Social media campaigns are excellent for this - according to one study, 32% of nonprofit donors are most inspired to give via social media.. Regular, consistent postings that are aligned with each platform's algorithm can significantly improve your reach. Don't forget to actively engage with your audience: respond to comments promptly, use interactive polls and quizzes, and create content that sparks meaningful conversations.
Are We Measuring What Matters?
With limited marketing resources, measuring what works - and what doesn't - becomes critical. Yet many nonprofits struggle to define meaningful metrics and integrate data across systems. Common issues include fragmented supporter and donor data, multiple systems that don't talk to each other, and difficulty selecting and implementing the right marketing tech stack (CRM, automation, analytics).
What You Can Do:
Start simple. Focus on three essential website metrics you can check in less than five minutes: your top referral source (which channels are actually driving traffic and conversions), your top-performing content (which pages are people visiting), and year-over-year comparisons (how has your traffic changed and why). Focus on true ROI and conversions. You need to know if that paid LinkedIn campaign actually resulted in donations, not just website visits.
How Do We Optimize Our Donation Experience?
Nonprofits often excel at telling their story but struggle to design and optimize the donation and engagement funnel. Usability, mobile design, clear calls-to-action, and simplified forms are common areas for improvement, yet they're frequently overlooked.
What You Can Do:
Did you know that your website has less than a second to capture attention? Users form an opinion about your site in just 0.5 seconds, and nearly half of website users won’t wait more than two seconds for a website to load. Ensure that your donation pages load quickly, work seamlessly on mobile devices, and feature clear and engaging calls-to-action.
How Do We Keep Donors Engaged Over Time?
Acquiring supporters and donors is one thing, but retaining them is another. Many nonprofits face drop-off after the first gift or engagement, but keeping them beyond that is increasingly important. Volunteerism, advocacy, and recurring gifts all contribute to long-term sustainability.
What You Can Do:
Develop a comprehensive donor journey that extends beyond the initial gift. Send personalized thank-you messages, set up drip campaigns on social media platforms and in email to share impact updates showing how donations are being used, bottom line - create multiple touchpoints throughout the year. Leverage your board members and volunteers by encouraging them to share organizational updates on their personal social media accounts, which will expand your reach through trusted networks. Build a sense of community around your cause through regular interaction and relationship-building.
Small, Strategic Steps Go A Long Way
The marketing challenges facing nonprofits in 2025 aren't new, but they are intensifying. The good news is - you don't have to solve everything at once. Start by addressing one or two of these questions with focused, strategic action.
Marketing isn't a luxury for nonprofits. It’s how you amplify your mission, reach more people, and secure the resources you need to create lasting change.
aJuxt Media Group is a trusted resource for nonprofit organizations who want to strategically uplevel their nonprofit marketing. Connect with us on LinkedIn or online at aJuxt.com.
Meet Lynsie Slachetka, founder of aJuxt Media Group and social media early adopter who always knows what's "in" and what's "out" in the ever-changing digital landscape. Known for her strategic creativity, she's guided multiple nonprofit organizations to uplevel their digital marketing and achieve real results. A former staffer at Hearst Digital Media Services and prior co-owner of Tallahassee-based marketing agency Voxy Media Group, Lynsie is a Midwestern gal at heart who loves kayaking and exploring with her family. Her motto is: "Nothing is impossible if you just start it."