Marketing that grows your community and your impact
"Good marketing for ShalomCT isn't about ads or campaigns — it's about helping the right people discover something meaningful, feel connected to the mission, and take action. This guide is your practical playbook."
Every email you send, every event you announce, every conversation you have — that's already marketing. The goal of this guide is to help ShalomCT do it more intentionally: reach more people (especially those not yet on any list), inspire more giving, and deepen community connection with the team and tools you already have.
No jargon, no MBA required. Just practical, tested strategies for community organizations that want to grow their impact.
What fundraising marketing expertise looks like
Strong nonprofits typically have a mix of skills on their team: communicators who tell the story beautifully, relationship builders who connect with donors personally, and data-driven marketers who optimize for results. No single person does all of this — it's a team sport.
If your organization is thinking about adding fundraising marketing expertise — now or in the future — here's what that role typically looks like, and how to evaluate candidates well.
Job titles to search for
- Director of Digital Fundraising
- Donor Acquisition Specialist
- Development Marketing Manager
- Digital Marketing Manager (Nonprofit)
Where to post the job
Six questions that separate great candidates from good ones
These questions are designed to get at results, not résumé. Look for candidates who can give you real numbers and specific stories.
- "Tell me about a campaign that moved the needle on donations. What were the before/after numbers?"
- "What's your experience with donor segmentation and lapsed donor reactivation?"
- "How would you grow our email list from scratch — where would you start?"
- "What email open and click rates have you achieved? What do you benchmark against?"
- "How would you identify the people we're NOT currently reaching in Fairfield County?"
- "Have you managed Google Ad Grants for nonprofits? What were the results?"
What to look for in their answers
✅ Green Flags
- Talks in real numbers (open rates, conversion rates, revenue lifted)
- Has worked with a nonprofit CRM (Bloomerang, Salesforce NPSP, etc.)
- Understands donor lifecycle — not just one-time campaigns
- Asks smart questions about your current list size and segments
- Has experience with Google Ad Grants or Meta ads for nonprofits
- Excited about the mission, not just the job
- Can speak to what they'd do in their first 90 days
🚩 Watch Out For
- All talk of "brand" and "awareness" — no mention of revenue or retention
- Can't give you a single concrete result from a past campaign
- Has only worked in B2B or consumer — no nonprofit experience
- Doesn't know what a lapsed donor is
- Talks about design but not strategy
- Vague about how they'd measure success
Where to find unaffiliated Jewish people in Fairfield County
These are the specific platforms, groups, and channels where Jewish people in Fairfield County are already gathering — many of whom have never heard of ShalomCT. Each one is a door worth knocking on.
📘 Facebook — highest potential for community reach
-
Young Jewish Professionals CT
Young Jewish professionals across Connecticut — a warm audience for young adult programming and giving. -
JPP New Haven — Young Jewish Professionals
Eastern Fairfield County + commuters to New Haven. Overlap with your geography. -
Fairfield County Town Groups
Search Facebook for "Westport CT Community," "Greenwich CT Events," "Stamford CT Families" — post events to these general groups to reach beyond the Jewish bubble.
💬 Reddit — especially for younger adults
- r/Connecticut — State-wide reach for broad announcements
- r/Jewish + r/Judaism — Jewish community nationally, mention CT events
- r/WestportCT · r/StamfordCT · r/Greenwich — Hyperlocal town communities for event announcements
✡️ Jewish organizations already in your backyard
- Jewish Family Service of CT — Cross-promote events, share newsletters
- UConn Hillel — Jewish college students = future donors and young adults to engage
- Camp Laurelwood — CT's premier Jewish summer camp. Alumni families are your audience.
- ADL Connecticut — Established network, potential joint programming
- Hadassah Connecticut — Jewish women's organization, very active donor network
- Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy (Stamford) + Hillel Academy (Fairfield) — Jewish day school parents = engaged families
📰 Where to get coverage and reach readers
- Connecticut Jewish Ledger — The CT Jewish community newspaper. Submit event listings and press releases. jewishledger.com
- Patch.com — Hyperlocal newsletters for every Fairfield County town. Free to post community events. patch.com/connecticut/fairfield
- Nextdoor — Post neighborhood events in Westport, Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, New Canaan, Wilton, Ridgefield, Trumbull. nextdoor.com
- Eventbrite — List all public events here for organic discovery. Free for free events. eventbrite.com
🏪 In-person touchpoints in Fairfield County
- Kosher/Israeli businesses — Flyers at kosher delis, Israeli restaurants, Jewish bookstores in Stamford, Westport, and surrounding areas
- JCC bulletin boards — Physical and digital boards at JCC of Stamford and local JCCs
- Synagogue newsletters — Congregation Ahavath Achim · Beth El Fairfield · Temple Shalom Norwalk — ask to include your events
- B'nai B'rith / BBYO — B'nai B'rith MetroNorth covers CT. BBYO = teen pipeline to future donors.
🚀 Do these 5 things this week
- Post your next event to r/Connecticut and r/WestportCT or your town's subreddit
- Submit an event listing to the Connecticut Jewish Ledger
- Request to join the Young Jewish Professionals CT Facebook group and introduce ShalomCT
- List your next 3 public events on Eventbrite (free)
- Send a personal email to the rabbi at one local synagogue asking to include ShalomCT in their next newsletter
How do you reach Jews who aren't on any synagogue list?
The biggest growth opportunity isn't lapsed donors — it's the unaffiliated. People who are Jewish, live in Fairfield County, and have never connected with a Federation or synagogue. They exist in large numbers. They're just not on anyone's radar yet.
This is a harder problem than donor retention — but it's also where the biggest long-term growth comes from. Here's how to think about it systematically.
Getting new people to show up
Events are your best acquisition tool. They're low-commitment for newcomers ("I'll just try one event") and high-conversion once people show up and feel the community. The goal is to make your events feel like they're for them, not just for current members.
🎯 For people already on your list but disengaged:
- Personalized re-invitation emails — "We haven't seen you in a while — this one's for you." First-name, specific event, low pressure. The lapsed donor reactivation template in the Content tab works here too.
- Segment by interest — If someone gave to a specific program, invite them to events related to that program. Relevance is everything.
- Text/SMS outreach — Many people ignore email but read texts. A simple "Hey [Name], we'd love to see you at [event] on [date]" text can outperform 10 emails.
🌐 For completely new people (unaffiliated):
- Facebook community groups — Search "Jewish Connecticut," "Jewish Fairfield County," "Jews in Westport/Stamford/Greenwich." These groups exist and are active. Post event announcements. Engage genuinely in discussions first.
- Targeted Facebook/Instagram ads — You can target by religion interest, location, and age on Meta. A $100 boosted post for an upcoming event can reach thousands of relevant people in Fairfield County.
- Nextdoor — Hyperlocal neighborhoods. Post about community events. Jewish community events do very well here.
- Eventbrite listing — List your public events on Eventbrite. People searching for things to do in CT will find them.
- Google My Business — Make sure ShalomCT has a complete Google Business profile. People searching "Jewish events near me" should find you.
Your best existing pipeline for new families
PJ Library is already doing this work for you — connecting with young Jewish families who aren't yet synagogue-affiliated. The key is to nurture that relationship and use it as a bridge to Federation engagement.
- Every PJ Library family is a warm prospect. Make sure they're on your event list.
- Host events specifically designed for PJ Library families — it's a natural on-ramp.
- The progression: PJ Library → community event → donor. That pipeline is gold.
Low-cost, high-impact ways to show up in the community
- Flyers at Jewish-adjacent businesses — Kosher delis, Jewish bookstores, Israeli restaurants, JCC bulletin boards. People who shop there are your audience.
- Partner with non-competing Jewish orgs — Hillel, JCC, Jewish day schools may not promote you directly, but informal cross-promotion (sharing calendars, co-hosting events) builds reach.
- College-age pipeline — Reach Hillel at Yale, UConn, and nearby campuses. Young adults who grew up Jewish but went secular often re-engage in their late 20s. Federation programming can be that hook.
- Jewish professional networks — Many unaffiliated Jews are part of informal professional networks (Jewish lawyers, Jewish entrepreneurs, etc.). One well-connected person in that network can bring in dozens.
- Local press — The Connecticut Jewish Ledger, local Patch, town newspapers. A story about a compelling program or community achievement reaches people who would never see your Instagram.
What actually works for reaching unaffiliated people
The most effective way to reach unaffiliated people is through other people. Every person who loves ShalomCT knows 10 people who don't. The best marketing program you can build is one that makes your current community excited to personally invite someone new.
Ask board members, donors, and volunteers: "Who's the most interesting Jewish person you know who's never been to a Federation event?" Then have them make a personal introduction. That one conversation is worth 1,000 Instagram impressions.
🍎 Low-Hanging Fruit — No New Hire Required
While you're building out your team, there are things you can do right now that will move the needle. These don't require a marketing hire. They just require a bit of time and intention.
$10,000 per month in FREE Google search advertising — for nonprofits. This is real money. It shows up when people in Fairfield County search for things like "Jewish community events" or "how to give to charity." Takes about 2 weeks to set up. Apply at google.com/nonprofits →
Pull everyone who gave 2–3 years ago but hasn't given recently. Send them one personal, warm email — not a mass blast. Something like: "I was thinking of you and wanted to reach out." This is the highest-ROI activity in fundraising. No tools needed. Just your email and a list.
Right now, most nonprofits link to their homepage. Change it to a donation page or a landing page with a clear action. Or use Linktree to offer multiple options: Donate, Events, Learn More. Takes 5 minutes. Converts much better.
Put out a simple sign-in sheet at every event, or use a QR code linked to a Google Form. Even 10 new email subscribers per event adds up fast. Your email list is your most valuable long-term asset — it's people who said "I care about this."
Ask each board member to send a personal email to 5 people in their network this month. Personal asks convert 10x better than mass emails. Give them a template to make it easy — but encourage them to add their own personal touch. This is peer-to-peer fundraising at its simplest.
A 60-second genuine thank-you video from the Executive Director sent to recent donors dramatically increases retention. You don't need production quality. Just good lighting, a warm smile, and authentic words. Record on your phone. Send by email. People feel seen — and they give again.
Install the Meta Pixel on your website (your web team can do this in 10 minutes). Then run a $5/day Facebook and Instagram ad campaign targeting people who already visited your website. These people already know you — this just keeps you top of mind. Extremely cost-effective.
🛠️ Tools Worth Knowing About
These are the platforms that leading nonprofits use to power their fundraising and marketing. Some may already be in use at ShalomCT — others are worth exploring. Familiarity with these tools is also a great signal when evaluating any candidate.
CRM & Donor Database
Your CRM is the foundation. It stores your donor relationships, tracks giving history, and powers segmentation. If you don't have one — or if your current one isn't working for you — this is the most impactful investment you can make.
Built specifically for nonprofit donor retention. Intuitive, beautiful dashboards, great support. The best choice for most organizations your size.
Enterprise-level power. More complex to set up, but extremely flexible. Worth considering if you anticipate significant growth.
A solid, established platform popular with mid-size nonprofits. Good reporting and integrated online giving forms.
Finding New Contacts & Prospects
This is one area most nonprofits underuse completely. There are tools that let you find professionals in Fairfield County by company, job title, or industry — perfect for major donor prospecting and corporate sponsor outreach.
A massive B2B contact database. You can search for executives and professionals in Fairfield County by industry or company. Excellent for identifying potential major donors and corporate sponsors before you ever make a call. This is how sophisticated development teams prospect at scale.
Email Marketing
Email remains the highest-ROI marketing channel in fundraising — by far. These tools help you send beautiful campaigns, segment your list, and track what's working.
The easiest to use. Free up to 500 contacts. Great templates and drag-and-drop editor. Perfect starting point.
Nonprofit discount available. Particularly strong for event invitations and RSVP tracking. Great customer support.
More advanced segmentation and automation. If your email list grows large and you want sophisticated donor journeys, this is the upgrade path.
Social Media Management
Schedule posts across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn from one dashboard. Free plan available. Simple and reliable.
Design gorgeous social graphics without a designer. Has nonprofit templates and a free nonprofit plan. Your whole team can use it.
Instagram-first scheduling tool with strong analytics. Great visual calendar for planning content.
Paid Advertising
$10,000/month in free Google search ads for nonprofits. One of the most underused benefits available. Apply immediately if you haven't.
Manage Facebook and Instagram ads from one place. Even $5/day in targeted retargeting ads can have a meaningful impact.
Analytics & Insights
Free, essential. Shows you how people find your website, which pages they visit, and where they drop off. Set it up if you haven't already.
Shows you exactly how people use your website — heatmaps, scroll tracking, session recordings. Eye-opening for improving your donation page.
📱 Social Media Captions — Use These Today
Eight real, ready-to-use captions for Instagram and Facebook. Feel free to edit to match your voice — they're written as starting points, not scripts.
📧 Email Drafts — Three Complete Templates
Email 1 — Lapsed Donor Reactivation
Option A: "I've been thinking of you" Option B: "We miss you — and I mean that" Option C: "[First Name], a quick personal note from Cindy"
Email 2 — Year-End Giving Appeal
Option A: "Your year-end gift — and why it matters more than you know" Option B: "3 days left to make your gift count" Option C: "Before December 31st — a personal note from Cindy"
Email 3 — Event Invitation
Option A: "You're personally invited — [Event Name]" Option B: "An evening I think you'll love — [Date]" Option C: "[First Name], I'd love to see you there"
💡 Big Ideas Most Nonprofits Haven't Tried
These are higher-effort moves — but they tend to generate outsized results. Think of these as the next phase, once your fundamentals are strong.
"Adopt a Program" Campaign
Give donors the ability to fund a specific program — youth education, senior services, crisis support — for a full year. They receive updates on "their" program throughout the year. People give more when they know exactly what their money does. This creates a personal, accountable connection between donor and impact that annual fund campaigns rarely achieve.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Give each board member and engaged volunteer a personal fundraising page. They share it with their network — friends, colleagues, family — and the asks come from a trusted face, not an organization. Tools to explore: Mightycause and Classy. This is how mid-size nonprofits raise serious money without a large marketing budget.
LinkedIn Outreach via Apollo.io
Use Apollo.io to identify executives in Fairfield County at companies that typically support Jewish and community causes — law firms, financial advisory firms, real estate, healthcare. Send warm, personal LinkedIn messages from Cindy or a board member. This is proactive major donor cultivation at a scale most nonprofits don't attempt.
Podcast & Local Media Swaps
Partner with local Jewish podcasts, community radio shows, or Connecticut-focused news outlets. Offer content — stories, access, community insights — in exchange for mentions and introductions. This builds credibility and reaches audiences you're not currently talking to without spending on advertising.
Turn Your Annual Report Into a Digital Story
Instead of a PDF that nobody reads, create a beautiful scrollable web page that tells the year's story through photos, quotes, and impact numbers. Then use it as a social media campaign — pull out one story per week for a month. Your annual report becomes a marketing asset instead of an obligation.
WhatsApp Community
Jewish communities heavily use WhatsApp. Consider creating a ShalomCT WhatsApp Community for your most engaged donors and members — a place for event announcements, behind-the-scenes updates, and real connection. Low-cost, high-engagement, and culturally appropriate for many in your community.
Major Donor Cultivation Dinners
Invite 8–10 prospective major donors ($5,000+) to an intimate dinner with Cindy and a board member or two. This is not a pitch — it's a conversation. Stories, vision, connection. The ask comes later, naturally. Major donor cultivation dinners convert at remarkably high rates because people give to people they trust, and trust is built in rooms like this.
AI can do in minutes what used to take days
You don't need a big team or a big budget to use AI well. The tools are free or nearly free, easy to use, and can dramatically multiply what your current team can produce. Think of AI as a tireless helper who's great at drafting, brainstorming, and research — so your people can focus on what only humans can do.
Nonprofits getting ahead right now are the ones learning these tools. They're producing more content, faster, with the same team size. Here's where to start.
AI tools for emails, social posts, and donor communications
⭐ Google Gemini — gemini.google.com
Google's most capable AI — free, no account required if you have Gmail. Excellent for drafting fundraising emails, social posts, event descriptions, and brainstorming. Gemini Advanced (paid) connects directly to your Google Docs, Gmail, and Calendar — a huge time saver for nonprofit teams already using Google Workspace.
"Write a warm, personal fundraising email for a Jewish community federation in Fairfield County, CT. The goal is to re-engage lapsed donors who gave 2-3 years ago. Tone: personal, grateful, specific about community impact. Under 200 words."
ChatGPT — chat.openai.com
The most widely used AI tool. Great for writing social media posts, generating 10 subject line options, summarizing long reports, and brainstorming event ideas. Free version is excellent. Same prompts work here as in Gemini — try both and use whichever you prefer.
Claude (by Anthropic) — claude.ai
Excellent for longer documents — grant proposals, annual reports, newsletter rewrites. Tends to produce very careful, nuanced writing. Free tier available.
"Here is our current newsletter. Please rewrite it to be more emotionally compelling, lead with a human story, and end with a clear call to action to donate or register for our upcoming event."
Canva AI — canva.com
Canva now has AI built in — generate social graphics, resize designs for different platforms, and get copy suggestions. Nonprofit discount available.
Using AI to understand your community better
Perplexity AI — perplexity.ai
Like Google, but it reads the sources and summarizes them for you. Great for researching grant opportunities, understanding demographic data, or finding what other federations are doing. Free.
"What are the most effective strategies Jewish community organizations are using in 2024-2025 to engage unaffiliated younger Jewish adults?"
Google NotebookLM — notebooklm.google.com
Upload your own documents — annual reports, donor files, past newsletters — and ask questions about them. It only answers from YOUR documents. No made-up information. Free.
Upload your last 3 years of newsletters + annual reports. Then ask: "What programs have we highlighted most? What stories generated the most engagement? What themes are missing that donors might care about?"
Setting up systems so work happens automatically
Zapier — zapier.com
Connects your apps automatically. When someone registers for an event, automatically add them to your email list. When someone fills out a contact form, send them a welcome email. No coding required. Nonprofit discount available.
Otter.ai — otter.ai
Automatically transcribes meetings, board calls, and interviews. Never lose what was said in a donor conversation or board meeting again. Free tier covers most needs.
Three things to try right now — takes 30 minutes total
- Open ChatGPT and write your next donor email with it. Give it your talking points and ask for 3 versions. Pick the best one. You'll save 2 hours.
- Upload your last newsletter to NotebookLM and ask "How could this be more emotionally compelling?" The feedback will surprise you.
- Ask ChatGPT to write 10 Instagram captions for your next event. Use 2-3. The rest will spark ideas for next time.
💡 The mindset shift: AI handles the drafting, formatting, and brainstorming — so your team can spend their time on relationships, judgment, and mission. That's where humans are irreplaceable.
📚 Resources Worth Following
The best fundraising marketers are constantly learning. These are the sources that serious nonprofit development professionals actually read and follow.
📰 Newsletters & Publications
The essential trade publication for nonprofit leaders. News, trends, research, and analysis. Required reading for anyone serious about this space.
Written by Kivi Leroux Miller — arguably the best nonprofit marketing writer working today. Practical, no-nonsense, deeply useful. Subscribe to the newsletter.
The annual nonprofit digital marketing benchmarks report. Published every spring, it tells you what open rates, click rates, and conversion rates look like across the sector. Read it every year. It's free and invaluable.
📖 Books
The definitive playbook for nonprofit communications and marketing. Clear, practical, and written specifically for organizations like yours.
Based on real donor research. Completely changed how the field thinks about donor retention and gratitude. If you only read one fundraising book this year, make it this one.
A master class in writing that moves donors to act. Covers direct mail, email, and online giving. Practical exercises throughout.
🎙️ Podcasts
Straightforward, tactical episodes on the mechanics of fundraising. Good for your team as well as any new hire you bring on.
By Classy, one of the leading nonprofit fundraising platforms. Conversations with development leaders about what's actually working. High-quality guests, practical insights.
💡 Tip: When you hire your fundraising marketer, share these resources with them on Day 1. It signals that you're a learning organization — and it gives you a common language to use together.