Infographics have become very popular and influential over the last few years, especially on social media platforms where people are more interested in scrolling and scanning than reading dense content.
Infographics are the perfect tool to communicate details in a visually appealing, easy-to-digest way. And the good news is things have gotten a lot better since their introduction around 2012, when it seemed like everyone was jumping on the infographic bandwagon with low-quality products.
There are loads of benefits that nonprofits can enjoy with the right infographics! We rounded up some of the top reasons you should add this tool to your fundraising content and a few great examples to get you started!
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4 Benefits of Infographics for Nonprofits
There are loads of pros and cons to using infographics in your fundraising and online content. Here are four benefits of adding infographics to your nonprofit and fundraising content (in no particular order):
1) Turn complicated concepts into easy-to-understand visuals
People don’t often sit down to read hundreds (or thousands) of words online. They’re often skimming information while they’re multitasking or distracted by other things. Infographics can communicate complicated concepts or data in an accessible format that people can understand with just a glance or quick skim.
2) Break up big text blocks and catch your reader’s eyes
Infographics can serve as a natural headline, thesis statement, or visual summary of much longer content. That way, if your reader is short on time, they can grab the “headlines” via the infographic and decide whether to come back later and dig into all the details.
You might think this is a bad thing--why write the long version then give your readers the cliff notes? Really, many readers will just skip reading the long version altogether. But an infographic draws them in and relies on their ability to more easily remember images and graphs.
3) Infographics are easy to share
Sharing is critical for online content these days, whether on social media pages, your website, or elsewhere. Infographics are so much easier to share to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other platforms than other content formats. Plus, it’s tough to share links to Instagram--but infographics are easy to post on all platforms!
Having content that’s easy to share expands your potential reach online as your followers and community can share valuable information with their networks. Plus, any content that’s easy to share has a greater possibility of going viral (which means more visibility and publicity for your nonprofit).
4) Your website can enjoy an SEO boost
A helpful infographic that communicates valuable information can increase the unique traffic to your website and give you a bit of a boost. More traffic and more engagement with your website is almost always a good thing!
Because more people are using smartphones to surf the internet, infographics can be a very effective way to communicate information in a mobile-friendly format.
4 Ways to Use Infographics in Your Fundraising
Now that we’ve (hopefully) convinced you of the value of infographics, the next question is how. What are the most effective fundraising graphics or the best strategies to incorporate infographics?
1) Use fundraising graphics to explain the problem
Infographics can communicate startling statistics and information in a compelling format that helps people understand why your mission or specific fundraising campaign is important.
In 2011, Amnesty International created an eye-catching infographic to outline the maternal healthcare crisis in the US.
The statistics are shocking, increasing the likelihood that readers will share the image with friends or family and begin a discussion about maternal healthcare. This infographic is an excellent example of using images to raise awareness, give your readers a broad overview of the issue, and help people understand your work.
2) Show the impact with a fundraising infographic
You can also use infographics to communicate the more significant impact your organization is having on the world. Compassion International doesn’t focus on the issue or on their work in many of their infographics. Instead, they show potential supporters the impact of sponsoring just one child will have on the world.
Compassion International knows their audience likely won’t read a long, stuffy case study. So they put all the essential information into a compelling graphic to help their audience understand the issue at hand and what a donation can accomplish.
3) Make your annual report visual with infographics
Like we said before, many people don’t have time to kick back and read your exhaustive annual report, no matter how compelling or valuable the data is. You can jazz up your annual report and help donors, volunteers, and board members understand the main ideas with a strategic infographic.
Incorporating a few infographics into your annual reports turns a stuffy document into easy-to-understand, sharable content that’s more accessible to your audience.
In 2016, the Conservation Fund used content from their annual report to create social media infographics to explain everything the organization accomplished that year and why it matters to the reader.
4) Share details about a campaign or fundraising goal
Movember is a month-long campaign that challenges participants to grow a mustache during November to raise awareness about prostate cancer (and funds). While mustaches themselves are eye-catching, their infographics take the cake for condensing all the important information into one sharable fundraising graphic.
Their infographic “The Good, The Bad[ass], and The Ugly” highlights key accomplishments from the previous year in various categories, including the amount of money they raised to the 5 most tweeted stache styles. They’ve also created infographics about the history of the mustache.
In short, Movember has mastered the art of creating infographics to inform people about their annual mustache/fundraising campaign and get people to join the Movemember Movement. With a bit of creativity, you can use fundraising graphics in the same way for your next campaign! Who knows--maybe you’ll be the next infographic viral sensation!
Hopefully, by now, we’ve convinced you that infographics are an excellent versatile, and effective resource for your fundraising strategies. The great news is they also don’t have to be costly! With free (or cheap) tools like Canva, you can create your own mobile-friendly infographics with just a few clicks. Or, if design and visuals aren’t your thing, you can hire freelance graphic designers on sites like 99Designs or Fivrr.
While you’re creating some fantastic fundraising graphics for your next campaign, here are three more resources to help boost your efforts.
- Raise Funds with Social Wall for Your Fundraiser Campaign: Traditional fundraising strategies are still effective in helping you reach your fundraising goals. But, with the rise of digital platforms, it’s time to add some new strategies to reach different audiences. Displaying Social Walls helps you connect with the audience more effectively and influence them to become part of your movement by raising money. Learn more about this digital fundraising tool and how you can incorporate it into your next fundraising campaign!
- Why--and How--to Tell Great Stories in Your Next Annual Report: Most people love getting swept up in stories. They’re powerful tools to help us understand complex issues and even deepen our connection with each other. Telling the right stories in your annual report can showcase your impact, empower your donors, and equip people to share about your organization. This blog will help you leverage the power of stories in your next annual report.
- 5 Proven Techniques to Boost Donations for Your Nonprofit: It’s more challenging to attract new donors than it is to keep your current supporters. People are busy and you need to cut through a lot of “noise” to grab their attention. But don’t get discouraged. Many nonprofits are incorporating a mix of old and new strategies to increase donations. This blog offers some proven ways you can connect with current and potential supporters to boost donations.
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