Budgeting in any industry can be overwhelming, let alone if you’re putting together a nonprofit marketing budget. It can start to feel like everything is a priority as you sit down to plan. At the same time, it’s important to go into a new fiscal year being mindful of your spend. As you sit down to plan your overall finances for the year, setting up a nonprofit marketing budget is key to achieving the goals and initiatives you’re working towards.

Establishing budgeting goals and marketing objectives doesn’t have to be a daunting task either. When executed properly, they can help you make objective decisions and lay out steps for future success. We’ll cover the importance of creating a strategic nonprofit marketing budget, tips for getting started, and ideas for managing your budget throughout your fiscal year.

Why Is A Nonprofit Marketing Budget Important?

So why exactly is a budget important for your nonprofit, specifically when it comes to your marketing? From a high-level view, it’s key to pre-plan your marketing initiatives and make sure you have the right resources behind them.

If you’re curious what the average marketing budget nonprofits have in place is, research shows the average marketing budget for a nonprofit is 5-15% of your operating budget. However, one surprising study found that almost 20% of nonprofits had no firm budget and simply played it by ear, month to month.

As a nonprofit group, you likely put a lot of energy into impact initiatives like fundraising, donor relations, or event planning. But at the end of the day, marketing is an important piece to all of those activities.

By establishing budgeting goals up front, it’s a lot easier to advocate for the day-to-day support you’ll need before you’re in the midst of marketing work. Plus, when it comes time to review the year with your board, it makes reporting on your marketing strategy’s ROI much easier to track.

6 Best Practices When Creating a Budget for Nonprofits

You should start establishing your nonprofit marketing budget roughly 2 ½ to 3 months ahead of your new fiscal year. The average marketing budget for nonprofit organizations needs to account for cash flow, programs, advertising, and more.

Starting early will give you enough time to set up deadlines for internal and board approvals so you’re ready to get started when the fiscal year begins. Plus, it allows you to engage any outside vendors or marketing agencies that can offer extra outside support.

If you’re not sure where to begin, here are some great nonprofit budgeting tools from the National Council of Nonprofits and some best practices you can use as you’re putting it all together.

1. Set Your Strategy

To start, you’ll need to know the overarching objectives of your organization for the year. Marketing for brand awareness is great, but it’s not the only way you can use marketing to your advantage. Your marketing choices should be flexible enough to offer support in a variety of ways to different impact initiatives.

For example, marketing campaigns to help raise a specific donation amount vs. hosting an event to engage current volunteers look very different. Work with those top nonprofit-wide initiatives and then research how marketing will play a role in achieving them.

2. Determine Your Marketing Goals

Next, shifting our focus to defining nonprofit marketing goals, it’s time to establish specific goals that’ll directly support the broader organizational objectives you’ve identified through your research. These should be clear and measurable, and can include:

• Gain new members or donors
• Raise awareness of your mission
• Broaden your volunteer network
• Increased donations or support
• Driving qualified website traffic

As an example of how it all fits, consider a nonprofit that wants to find new volunteers. If there’s a sign-up form on the website, a marketing goal could be to drive more qualified website traffic to that landing page/form.

Increasing site traffic with visitors who have similar interests will give the organization greater visibility and help boost those volunteer numbers over time. Plus, as your site traffic grows over time, you’re likely to build your expertise, experience, authority, and trust (EEAT). This means you’ll perform better in search algorithms as well.

Another way to determine your marketing goals is to use the SMART Framework. This is a simple approach to creating achievable goals.

• Specific: Be clear about what you want to achieve
• Measurable: Set metrics and criteria to track progress and evaluate performance
• Actionable: Set goals that are realistic with the available resources
• Relevant: Set goals that align with your broader business objectives
• Time-bound: Establish clear time frames and deadlines to check progress

Once your goals are established, it’s time to consider the specific marketing actions you can take to reach them.

3. Understand Your Nonprofit Target Audience

Understanding your nonprofit target audience and how they prefer to communicate, as well as where they spend their time online and offline, is an important part of your marketing strategy. Selecting the right marketing channels for nonprofits to effectively connect with your target audience is the first step. This will prevent you from wasting resources on platforms where your audience isn’t present.

For example, knowing that 32% of donors are most likely to give via social media, followed by email at 30% can help you budget more money towards social media than print ads.

To maximize your reach and engagement, you should diversify your marketing channel mix by using a variety of platforms. This lets you connect with a broader spectrum of potential supporters.

Also, tailoring your messaging to each platform is key. Using the right messaging on the right channel makes sure that you’re not only seen but also heard and acted upon by your audience.

4. Pick Your Tactics & Plan Ahead

Keeping with our analogy, if your marketing goal is to drive more traffic your tactics may include investing in a PPC campaign or focusing on a content marketing strategy to help you work towards those goals.

And while you’re planning out your tactics, make sure that you’re including a good mix of both traditional and digital marketing efforts.

Some traditional marketing tactics to consider are: 

• Print advertising
• Direct mail campaigns
• Radio messaging
• Billboard messaging

And some effective digital marketing tactics you can pair with these include:

• Social media advertising
• Internet radio messaging
• PPC / display advertising
• Organic internet marketing
• Website redesign or hosting and management updates

From there, decide how to allocate your budget, keeping those main goals in mind as well as any spending requirements. For example, there may be minimum spend amounts needed to do advertising via radio or social media.

If your nonprofit marketing budget also needs to cover events, consider setting up buckets per event. You can include budgeting to cover each event’s postage, signage, security, rental fees, printing, design, and more. That way those hidden costs won’t be unaccounted for in your budget.

As an extra safety net, consider also setting up a miscellaneous fund so you can plan for the unexpected and field any last-second requests. This can also come in handy for items with larger costs like photography, videography, or traditional media placements like TV and radio.

Once you’ve settled on which tactics are most important to reaching your marketing goals, you can start to craft your best marketing budget. 

5. Communicate with Your Nonprofit Team

Nonprofit marketing typically covers a wide range of mission pillars from event planning, execution, follow-up, and everything in between. The key here is to have your action steps planned ahead so you have enough resources to cover all these demands.

While putting together your nonprofit marketing budget, there may be necessary tactics that require clear communication with the board or fall outside the scope of your team. For example, you might need to redesign your website to improve your branding, but if you don’t have the right dev and design support, that can be a challenge. If this falls outside of your budget, then you’ll need to discuss this with the nonprofit’s top stakeholders.

As you start to outline your marketing budget, communicate what’s needed for your marketing tactics to be successful, and also advocate for the resources your team will need to accomplish them. Establishing expectations at the start will make the months ahead easier to navigate.

6. Evaluate Performance & Measure Your Effectiveness

To get a sense of how well your marketing campaign is performing, it’s important to check your key performance indicators. For each marketing channel and the specific goals associated with them, it’s crucial to track relevant metrics and regularly assess how things are moving.

Tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can be incredibly helpful. Setting up tracking from the beginning allows you to monitor site visitors, important actions (key events), how engaged users are with the content (engagement rate), and more. This provides valuable insights into what’s working and where adjustments are needed.

Managing Your Costs Throughout the Fiscal Year

Once your nonprofit marketing budget is in place, the next hardest part can be sticking to it and managing it throughout the year. Since the average marketing budget for a nonprofit is a small percentage of your budget, it can be easy to go over or use that for a different project. Here are some of our recommendations that can help, especially if you’re trying to maximize your dollars throughout the fiscal year.

Use Your Volunteer Network

It’s easy to think within the confines of what your team can do, but don’t forget there’s an entire community behind you that believes in your cause! Consider ways that organizations, volunteers, or other partners you have exposure to can help open the doors for growth and help you carry out marketing goals in a cost-effective manner.

Look for Trade or Pro-Bono Relationships

Be vigilant for any opportunities to create a mutually beneficial relationship that also helps you stay on budget. This could include:

• Trading venue fees for sponsorship highlights on event materials.
• Trading a free, mission-driven in-office lunch and learn for event volunteers.
• Trading board membership dues and seat for marketing support.

Don’t Just Think in the Present

It can get difficult if your staff gets bogged down with immediate fundraising needs or focuses on the event happening right now, with no preparation for what lies ahead. This short-sighted focus can hinder any necessary preparation for your next significant impact initiative, which could hinder its potential future success.

Most importantly don’t just stay in the moment with your marketing. Always keep an eye a month or two ahead, even while you’re evaluating the past months, to make any nonprofit marketing budget adjustments and stay on track.

How An Agency Can Make The Most of Your Money

As you begin establishing your goals and marketing budget, remember that you are not alone. If you’re finding that there are certain marketing goals that fall outside what your team’s expertise or you need help creating a well-rounded marketing plan, having an outside perspective can help.

Working with an agency can generate creative ideas for expanding your mission awareness into new markets at a reasonable cost. Streamlining your outsourced marketing support by working with a single agency can lead to long-term cost savings. It can also create a consistent support system for your marketing efforts.

Hiring a marketing agency can help you find the best strategy based on best practices and a more integrated approach. Instead of spending time and dollars on tactics that don’t work, a marketing agency will develop a strategy to generate results.

Outsourcing some of your marketing needs provides flexibility and access to specialized skills without having to pay full-time salaries or benefits, which can be hard to do at a nonprofit due to budget concerns.

Agencies have access to a variety of tools and other resources that could be expensive for individual businesses to acquire on their own. Using tools, agencies can deliver targeted campaigns quickly and efficiently.

Many nonprofits have trouble developing effective marketing strategies that connect them with their audiences and help them achieve their goals. Working with an outside agency can help you find the correct strategy quicker and not waste time with guesswork.

Plus, an experienced agency can help you when allocating funds for marketing channels you aren’t familiar with. They can help you determine the best spend for your money so you can make the best impact.

Working in a digital marketing agency (or really any company in any industry), you come to understand that the success of a project lives or dies by the quality of your project management. 

Project management methodologies offer a clear roadmap that will keep you on track and under budget. That way your team can deliver a project not only successfully, but efficiently. 

There are different types of project management methodologies you can choose from that will ensure your digital marketing project stays on track. Keep reading to learn more about which project management approach may work best for you. 

What is Project Management?

Project management provides a framework for delivering completed projects. It is the planning, performing, and finishing of certain tasks and goals for a campaign or project. 

The main objectives of project management are producing specific outputs, called deliverables. The work is divided into project management phases, which allow for easier collaboration, better coordination, and more efficient delivery of project work. 

For example, within our agency project management is used to manage multiple marketing activities and campaigns, including: 

• PPC (pay per click)
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Email marketing
• CRO (conversion rate optimization)
• Content marketing
• Website redesigns
• Rebranding strategies
• Product launches and creative campaigns

For project management to be successful, there must be a project manager to lead in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing out projects. The project manager is responsible for the entire scope of the project, the project team and resources, as well as the project budget and timeline. 

Every project manager takes control of a  project differently. Depending on their unique qualities, they will select a style and a project management methodology that suits their personality and the personality of their team.

Every successful project management process depends heavily on the strength of the project manager, and learning how to be a good project manager starts with knowing which type you are. 

The 4 Types of Project Managers

Wondering what type of project manager you are? There are 4 main types of project managers that all work differently to accomplish goals. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses, but all types work efficiently in their own unique way to launch a successful project. Let’s explore each one further.

1. Technical Project Manager

The technical project manager has complete command over all project management practices. Technical project managers have great attention to detail, analytical and problem-solving skills, as well as, critical thinking and decision-making capabilities. A technical project manager is successful because their team trusts their expertise and looks to them as an authority.  

2. Adventurous Project Manager

Adventurous project managers are those that believe the bigger the risk, the higher the reward. They are always looking for new opportunities and ground-breaking ideas. However, while they take risks, they still stay inside strategic boundaries. An adventurous project manager is successful because they are able to see and share the bigger picture and get the team to buy into the excitement. 

3. Expert Project Manager

Expert project managers are experienced and knowledgeable. These managers focus on reliable data and are masters of executing different project management methodologies to perfection. They turn business opportunities into financial results thanks to their years of experience and hard work. The expert project manager is successful because the team can depend on their in-depth knowledge and experience to guide them through the process as well as learn from their expertise in project management. 

4. Supportive Project Manager

The supportive project manager believes in motivation and delegation. They focus on uninterrupted communication, smooth team collaboration, and boosting morale. Working closely with team members, they ensure everyone has a role to play. The supportive project manager is successful because they are able to get everyone involved and working together, which leads to the entire team gaining experience and skills. 

Types of Project Management Methodologies

As you begin your research into project management methodologies, you’ll quickly learn that there are several popular project management approaches:

• Agile – This methodology is collaborative, quick, and open to data-driven change. It involves short phases of work with frequent testing, reassessment, and adaptation throughout the process. 

• Scrum – This methodology splits work into short cycles (often called sprints) which usually last 1-2 weeks. Each small team is led by a Scrum master, which is different from the project manager. 

• Kanban – This methodology visually represents tasks on a Kanban board. Each column on the board represents a stage in the process, and tasks are shown as they progress through columns.

• Six Sigma – This methodology puts an emphasis on ensuring consistency in output and impeccable quality. It aims to eliminate defects and reduce variation. 

• Waterfall – Waterfall is considered the traditional project management methodology. The tasks and phases are completed in a linear, sequential order. Each stage must be completed before moving on to the next one. 

• Lean – This methodology applies lean business principles to project management methods. This maximizes value and minimizes waste. The 3Ms (Muda or waste, Mura or unevenness, and Muri or overburden), represent waste in this method. 

• Prince2 – This methodology aims to equip project managers with knowledge of the best practices and processes. It is guided by 7 principles that dictate 7 different processes. 

• XP – This methodology is designed for software development and emphasizes teamwork and collaboration among managers, customers, and developers. It consists of a set of rules based on its five values. 

Which one is best? Choosing the right approach can be difficult because of the wide variety of types of project management approaches.

And while all methods have advantages and disadvantages, we have found that the Waterfall method is best when it comes to digital marketing project management because of its structure and extensive documentation. 

The Best Project Management System for Marketing: The Waterfall Approach

The waterfall method is a sequential, linear process that consists of several discrete phases. No phase can begin until the prior phase is complete. In addition, each phase’s completion is terminal. This means you cannot return to a previous phase once you have moved on to the next one. 

The Pros of Waterfall Project Management

The Waterfall project management approach has many advantages. First and foremost, it is easy to manage and understand. Extensive documentation allows you to see progress clearly.

The documentation also means that knowledge stays in the organization and makes training simple. You don’t have to try and infer what someone was going to do next, it is already written out for you. 

The Waterfall approach also allows team members to better plan their time, so they know what they need to do and when they need to do it. Lastly, it benefits the person receiving the results, because they will know exactly what to expect. 

Using the Waterfall project management approach, you can segment your marketing projects into easy-to-execute project management phases.

Putting It Into Practice: Creating Project Management Phases

Project management phases are key to creating a successful project. Understanding and following these phases will help you to stay on track and successfully accomplish your goals. When choosing the Waterfall approach, there are six phases to progress through: 

1. Discovery / Scope – The scope of a project outlines all aspects of the project in detail. This includes activities, resources, timelines, and deliverables. The scope also covers the key stakeholders, processes, assumptions, and constraints.

2. Design – The design phase of a project is usually broken up into two subphases: logical design and physical design. The logical design consists of brainstorming and theorizing possible solutions. In terms of deliverables, the logical phase typically takes the form of a mood board. The physical design puts those theoretical concepts into concrete practices and provides additional deliverables like design compositions

3. Development – The development of the project happens when programmers incorporate the requirements and specifications that were created in the design phase into actual code. This includes building out the structure as well as the functionalities required by the project, including adding in content marketing and SEO strategies.

4. Test – The test phase is used to evaluate the final version of the developed project. During this phase, the documentation from all the previous phases is finalized to align with the delivered project. This is also where the project manager and team will decide if the project is ready to be launched. 

5. Launch – The launch phase occurs when the project team is ready to set the project into motion and share it with the client or the world

6. Review – The review phase includes the project managers comparing the actual project budget, timeline, and goals to their original projections. Depending on the results, project managers may choose to adjust schedules or adjust processes to keep future projects on track. 

The Cons of Waterfall Project Management

While there are many advantages to the Waterfall approach, there are also disadvantages. The main con to this approach is that there is no going back; the completion of a phase is terminal.

In addition, there’s the pressure of making the final deadline. Since the timeline is so strict, falling behind on one task means falling behind on every task. There isn’t much flexibility or room for error. 

Since there are some disadvantages to the Waterfall method, we recommend creating your own hybrid project management approach and adding agility. Doing this allows for more flexibility than a strict Waterfall approach, but still benefits you with that clear structure and documentation of expectations.

Hybrid Project Management Concepts: Adding Agility

It’s not uncommon for organizations to adopt a standard project management methodology based on the unique way their team operates. Or, even more likely, they will combine several methodologies to create a hybrid concept.

A disadvantage of the Waterfall approach is that it can be too rigid and not quickly adaptable. This rigidity can be a drawback when working in digital marketing where scope revisions can come at any time.  For that reason, it’s key to develop a Waterfall / Agile hybrid of methodologies.

The key to figuring out how to be a good project manager is learning how to cater to the needs of all stakeholders and knowing when that means being flexible and stepping outside of the Waterfall model. Being flexible gives freedom to make adjustments that are needed for unique requests or scenarios.

Agile methods focus on adding, testing, and tweaking the functionalities of a project. This means you can explore potential changes as development progresses, instead of being tied down to one plan. 

All features go through a testing and revision process in weekly or bi-weekly “sprints”. These sprints allow constant collaboration and continuous improvement at every stage of the project. 

Putting Your Project Management Approach Into Practice

Once you’ve decided what type of project management approach is best for you and your team, you can begin putting it into practice. When setting up your project management strategy, there are a few things to keep in mind. 

Creating an agile waterfall project management strategy can seem overwhelming, but with the right guidelines, it can feel less daunting. Following these guidelines will help ensure your project runs smoothly and is delivered successfully: 

• Have a unique scope created for every project. Do not depend on cookie-cutter project scopes. Get creative and develop a new scope for each of your projects to ensure you are determining the best course of action for that specific scenario. A well-thought-out, tailored scope is your best chance at sticking to your timeline, budget, and expectations.

• Create flexible hours for completing the work. Every web redesign marketing project is different. Some may be heavier on design, while others may focus more on development. The same can be said about internet marketing projects – some will need more time spent on SEO, while others need attention on social media efforts. Your hours should reflect your priorities and marketing goals.

• Incorporate project reports. Evaluating every project at the end of each phase or month will help you to measure your progress and avoid issues that can build up over time. You can then make any necessary adjustments to your project to keep it on course.
  

Putting different types of project management methodologies into practice is hard, but not impossible, especially when you have someone on the outside to help. With the right research, planning, and structure, you can create a project that will no doubt be successful.