How to Leverage Cause Awareness Days for YOUR Nonprofit
by Nonprofit Nerd: Jarrett Ransom
Cause awareness days can be instrumental in engaging your supporters, volunteers, and donors for your nonprofit. When you choose awareness days relevant to your cause and mission as an organization, they become meaningful to your stakeholders, as well. Here is a step-by-step guide to best utilize your chosen days.
Step 1: Choose Key Dates for YOUR Nonprofit
Quality over quantity! When picking key dates to focus on, reflect on the cause and mission of your organization. It is more effective to focus on a few significant cause awareness days which are integral to your mission than to try to emphasize as many as possible. Create digital content surrounding the key dates that you have chosen to focus on and get the word out!
Here are some cause awareness days that might get you thinking and moving in the right direction. Choose those that make sense for your nonprofit!
**note: not all cause awareness days are listed
JANUARY National Mentoring Month
4 January: World Braille Day
18-24 January: Cervical Cancer Prevention Week
FEBRUARY
1-7 February: Children’s Mental Health Week
1-7 February: Sexual Abuse & Sexual Violence Awareness Week
4 February: World Cancer Day
8 February: International Epilepsy Day
28 February: Rare Disease Day
MARCH Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
1-31 March: Endometriosis Month
1-31 March: Brain Tumour Awareness Month
2-7 March: Eating Disorders Awareness Week
3 March: World Hearing Day
8 March: International Women’s Day
11 March: World Kidney Day
21 March: World Down Syndrome Day
APRIL Stress Awareness Month
2 April: World Autism Awareness Day
7 April: World Health Day
19-25 April: MS Awareness Week
MAY
17 May: National Children’s Day
18-23 May: Mental Health Awareness Week
28 May: Menstrual Hygiene Day
JUNE
1-6 June: Volunteers’ Week
5 June: World Environment Day
8 June: World Oceans Day
21-27 June: Learning Disability Week
JULY Plastic Free July
28 July: World Nature Conservation Day
AUGUST
12 August: International Youth Day
SEPTEMBER Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
5 September: International Day of the Charity
7 September: Youth Mental Health Day
10 September: World Suicide Prevention Day
OCTOBER Stoptober
4 October: World Animal Day
9 October: World Hospice & Palliative Care Day
10 October: World Homeless Day
10 October: World Mental Health Day
11-17 October: National Adoption Week
NOVEMBER Movember
14 November: World Diabetes Day
DECEMBER
2 December: The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
5 December: International Volunteer Day
2-7 December: National Grief Awareness Week
10 December: International Animal Rights Day
10 December: Human Rights Day
Step 2: Back Date + Plan
Once you have decided on the dates that you wish to highlight throughout the course of the year, back-track and create a plan. Figure out when your campaign, posts, or relevant information will need to go live in order to properly raise awareness for your chosen date. Think about how much content you will need to create and a rough idea of what the content will entail. Then, reverse engineer a schedule which will allow you to have the necessary assets ready for your go-live date(s).
Step 3: Create Content and Choose Communication Channels
The channels you choose will depend on your organization and the audience that you are trying to reach. The most effective channel will help you emphasize your organization’s specific date or particular campaign.
Think about how to reach YOUR target audience in the most effective way. Consider the age, location, education level, income level, etc. of your target audience as each nonprofit has a target audience unique to that organization. When planning and executing your campaign, focus on the communication channels that will best resonate with your target audience.
Step 4: Launch!
When the day arrives, launch your campaign! Make sure you are monitoring the campaign and the key success indicators that you are looking for (ex. Page views, donations, signups, etc.). Engage with your audience, and as always, express your gratitude for their support.
If you need help getting started, access my free planning calendar and begin by filling in your chosen cause awareness days.
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