‘Tis the season for advocacy, especially in Virginia which finds itself at the start of its General Assembly session with a newly elected governor. While advocacy takes place year round, it's this time of year that reminds us about the power donors can have and just how important their voices are throughout the year.
For some organizations, it can be hard to turn donors into public advocates. Some donors choose to silently give, or give but not engage beyond a monetary contribution. But, when people do decide to go public, it’s because of three primary reasons.
When one of these is missing, advocacy stalls. But here’s the opportunity. Nonprofits can approach advocacy as a proud, low-pressure extension of impact—making it easy to invite others because the evidence speaks for itself.
Through our Voices for Good work, we’ve uncovered what nonprofit organizations need to do to turn their donors into public supporters and advocates.
The big takeaway from Voices for Good is that donors share when emotion meets permission and proof; and they hold back when amplification of support risks feeling performative, polarizing, or unverifiable. This leaves organizations in a lurch because when advocacy is done right, the impact can be exponential. So how can we authentically meet and support donors so they become community amplifiers? Remember these common themes we’ve seen over the last few weeks:
Emotional connection and lived experience reign supreme. Personal stories, vivid visuals, and time-bound (or immediate need) appeals can be the catalyst needed for posting content, talking with peers, and putting themselves out there to share a cause.
Create a desire to amplify impact. Public sharing should be framed not as a braggadocious or virtual signaling act, but an act of impact multiplication—turning individual action into community momentum. If a donor lets their newsfeed know they gave to an organization, if just ONE person saw that message and supported the cause, there was a ripple effect that did some good. This is especially true in faith, school, and neighborhood networks.
Trust protects reputation. People put their name on organizations only when they can cite clear outcomes and stewardship. Increase your chances of public acknowledgment by building trust and having a reputation management strategy. Thank-yous, concrete updates, before/after photos, and visible outcomes increase comfort and reduce credibility doubts.
Fatigue is real. And this fatigue is across the board. Oversolicitation, economic uncertainty, trying to do it all. This doesn’t mean nonprofits should let their foot off the gas, it just serves as a reminder that your audience has a lot swirling around them.
1) Make advocacy easy, optional, and proud—never performative. Provide a “private by default; public if you wish” ladder of messaging and sharing options. Give donors ready-to-use language that spotlights the cause, not the donor.
2) Lead with proof-of-impact (the shareable receipt). Create concise updates with 1–2 visuals, one metric, and one beneficiary story. This could be a great social media content series that’s published weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly.
3) Offer advocacy paths for constrained budgets. Many nonprofits have councils or other time-based advocacy supports that allow donors to engage with donating more than their standard gift. These non-fiscal activities like micro-volunteering, wish-lists, and in-kind drives allow individuals to convey real value back to the organization.
Donors become advocates when they feel moved, permitted, and prepared. They stay quiet when posts risk feeling boastful, polarizing, or unverifiable—and when fatigue or finances make public appeals uncomfortable. Build advocacy around evidence, not ego—and your donors will bring others with them.
Voices for Good, Brand Federation’s inaugural index that benchmarks donor behaviors and motivators, has uncovered a wealth of insights that create a picture of today’s nonprofit donor. Generated from the insights of over 500 nonprofit donors from around the country, Voices for Good provides nonprofit leaders and executives with proven findings and tangible action items for navigating the economic uncertainty of today, ensuring that donor relations and expectations aren’t just met, but exceeded.
Brand Federation fielded 512 in‑depth, semi‑structured interviews on EmpathixAI’s CultureChat platform. Built and overseen by PhD‑trained social scientists, CultureChat conducted large‑N qualitative interviews using a 17‑question guide that blended open‑ and closed‑ended prompts. Interviews totaled 213 hours of conversation. Transcripts were systematically coded and cataloged, combining expert-designed code frames with model-assisted classification to generate structured aggregates and prevalence estimates, which were reported in the Voices for Good Report. This approach preserves qualitative richness (what donors say and why) while enabling statistically defensible summaries across key demographics (e.g., gender, age, income, education, and religion/denomination).
Rian Chandler-Dovis is an accomplished researcher and brand strategist with two decades of experience helping organizations define what they stand for and deliver meaningful experiences. She has developed strategies for some of the world’s best-known brands, including MIT, Harvard Medical School, GM, American Express, Mercy Corps, Samsung, PepsiCo, the World Wildlife Fund, AB InBev, and Colgate.
