Do you have a great idea for a fundraising event or campaign but need to get the word out about it? Old-school fundraiser flyers can be a great choice!
Flyers are a low-cost, highly effective advertising strategy that have been used to grab people’s attention for years. However, it’s important that your nonprofit’s flyers actually engage your audience and inspire them to action.
In this article, we’ll provide 5 different fundraiser flyer ideas you can use at your own organization. We will also share a list of the most important information to include in your fundraiser flyers as well as some compelling examples.
Let’s jump in.
Content to Include in Your Fundraising Flyers
Even though they’ve been around for years, flyers are still a great advertising strategy!
When it comes to nonprofit fundraising, flyers can be an incredibly powerful way to get the word out about your campaign and inspire your audience to action—whether that be donating to your cause, signing up for an event, or participating in your fundraiser in some other way.
However, without the right content included on your flier, you’ll have a difficult job getting anyone to engage in your fundraising efforts. To be effective, your fundraising flier should include the What, When, Where, How, Who, and Why of your event or campaign.
Let’s break down each of these in a little bit more detail.
What: You need to make sure to include the name of your campaign or event on your fundraising flier. This is usually the headline of your flier. From a quick glance, your audience should be able to quickly understand what your fundraiser is about. If your flier is for a specific fundraising event, you should include important details about the event so your audience can know what to expect.
When and Where: If applicable, don’t forget to include the date, time, and location of your fundraiser. No matter how creative and eye-catching your flier is, people cannot participate if they do not know when and where to do so. These crucial details are sometimes overlooked when coming up with fundraiser flier ideas.
How: The “How” of your fundraising flier should be your call to action—it’s the action you want your audience to take in response to reading your flier. This call to action will look different depending on the specific fundraiser. Maybe you want your audience to sign up for 5k. Or maybe you are simply looking for donations for your latest campaign. Whatever the goal is, make it crystal clear on your flier how to get involved.
*Pro tip: A QR code on your flier makes it super easy for anyone to participate right on the spot.
Who: Make sure to include your nonprofit’s name and logo on your flier so that your audience knows who the flier is from. On some flyers, you may have room to include your nonprofit’s mission statement—but don’t feel pressured to include it if there’s not enough space. Instead, you can always include a link to your nonprofit’s website where they can learn more about your organization.
At the bottom of your flier, you should also let readers know how they can contact you. Including your organization’s phone number and email address makes it easy for your audience to reach out with any questions about the fundraiser.
Why: Finally, your flier should make clear why your audience should participate in your fundraiser. Are you trying to save lives? Feed the hungry? Find homes for abandoned pets? Whatever your mission is, make it clear on your flier what the intended impact of your fundraiser is. Statistics, compelling images, and infographics are all great ways to communicate your “why”.
Including each of these pieces of content within your fundraising flier makes it easy for your audience to participate in your campaign or event.
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5 Ideas for Creating Eye-Catching Fundraising Flyers
Now that we’ve gone over the content that should be included on a fundraising flier, it’s time to go over how you can actually design your flier to be engaging and eye-catching.
Below are 5 fundraiser flier ideas you can use to make your flier stand out from the crowd!
Use Compelling Images
You’ve probably heard it before—an image is worth a thousand words. And nowhere is that more true than on fundraising flyers!
A big mistake often made on flyers is including too much text. This can make your flier difficult to digest and visually unappealing. A great way to make your flier more visually interesting is to include captivating imagery.
Consider including images of the people served by your fundraiser. Remember that individuals connect with people—not with concepts. The best images connect people with people (or with their animal buddies).
Notice how they include images of both the people served by the fundraiser (the Boys & Girls!) and what the event involves (eating yummy food for a good cause!). Through these images, the audience can quickly understand how their support can help children while also getting a delicious meal for themselves. It’s a win-win!
Use Legible Fonts and Contrasting Colors
While it might be tempting to use a fancy script-based font (I’m looking at you Lobster), the truth is that the best flyers are easy to scan and read from a distance.
Using a simple font in a large size is almost always the best choice.
And speaking of easy to read, check that your colors provide plenty of contrast between your text and your background. No one can see a green font on a yellow background.
Canva has a really cool color wheel tool that you can use to choose and identify contrasting colors to use for your fundraising flier.
*Pro tip: Before your final printing, test a sample of your fundraising flier on a variety of people. Ask them how well they can read it and if they’re are any parts that are difficult to see. This will ensure that everyone can read it, even on a crowded bulletin board.
As we mentioned earlier, QR codes can make it incredibly easy for your audience to engage with your fundraiser.
Unfortunately, some people simply stick in QR codes onto flyers without thinking too much about the design or how they impact the flier visually. However, with proper planning, it’s possible to incorporate your QR code into your flier in a way that adds to the design—not takes away from it.
Notice how they created the QR code in the same branding colors used throughout the rest of the flier. This is a small detail that can make a big impact visually. The QR code is also big enough to see and scan, but not too big to where it takes over from the main header and compelling image.
Put Impact Front and Center
At the end of the day, what nonprofit supporters care about the most is how their donation will make a difference.
One of the best fundraising flier ideas is to put the donor’s “impact” front and center in the design.
From a quick glance, it is super clear to readers that just one dollar will result in 10 meals for a family in need. Notice how they use a bright and contrasting orange color to highlight this impact even more.
If there’s anything that stands out on your flier, it should be the impact that you're aiming to achieve through your fundraiser.
Use Interesting Shapes to Convey Your Message
A uniquely-shaped flier is a great way to stand out and capture your audience’s attention.
Uncommon shapes not only make your flyers more memorable, but they can also tell your readers something about your organization or event (i.e., a cupcake-shaped flier for a bake sale fundraiser).
While not necessarily for a fundraiser, here is a great example of how Habitat for Humanity used the shape of their flier to raise awareness for their Affordable Homeownership Opportunity.
Even the quickest glance tells readers that the flier has something to do with homes and housing. Consider doing something similar with your next fundraiser flier idea to make it really stick out!
In this article, we shared with you 5 different fundraiser flier ideas you can use at your nonprofit organization. We also explained what sort of content you should include on your flier and why. By now, you should be ready to start designing a flier to raise awareness and support for your next fundraiser.