No matter where you are in the process of creating more effective communications and marketing for your nonprofit, you can always do more. But that means it is very easy to get overwhelmed!

Here’s how we suggest you level up your permission-based marketing, list building, and segmentation. Figure out where you are first, then look at the next level to find what you should be working on.

These five levels are from our Five Levels of Nonprofit Communications Effectiveness based on years of research for the annual Nonprofit Communications Trends Reports. Take the free quiz to get your level and our recommended training.

Level 1: Beginner

Level 2: Capable

  • Start discussing the concept of target audiences and what it might look like to create communications for them instead of the general public.

Level 3: Skilled

Level 4: Advanced

  • Use personas and engagement to actively segment your lists and share relevant content with those segments.  
  • Advocate for investment in better tools to create content and manage channels. 
  • Experiment with more sophisticated list building and engagement campaigns.

Level 5: Expert

  • Implement highly targeted campaigns and build engagement and segmenting automation into your CRM. 
  • Consistently implement sophisticated list building and engagement strategies.