Digital FundraisingFundraisingStrategy Corner

Quick wins are great. But if you want to build a movement, you need more than momentary momentum.

At Whole Whale, we see too many nonprofits with too narrow an approach to digital marketing that misses out on building long-term relationships and sustainable support at scale. To move your mission forward, you need a full-funnel digital marketing strategy—one that nurtures your audience from first touch to lifelong champion. That means designing campaigns and content that meet your audience where they are, whether they’re just discovering your work or showing up again and again to create change alongside you.

What is a Funnel of Engagement?

Whole Whale created the Funnel of Engagement to help orgs like you better map the typical journey a supporter takes from being Aware of your organization to becoming Committed to your cause. This nonprofit marketing funnel mirrors a traditional marketing funnel but with a focus on winning engagement and commitment rather than just sales.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Aware: People learn your name and start to understand what you stand for.
  
• Interested: They actively choose to learn more—visiting your site, following you on social media, or signing up for your email list.
  
• Engaged: They take meaningful action with your org—donating, volunteering, attending events, or joining a campaign.
  
• Committed: They stick around. They deepen their relationship with your organization, take multiple actions over time, and maybe even become advocates or recurring donors.

“A healthy funnel doesn’t just focus on conversions at the bottom. It ensures you’re filling the top and building trust along the way.” – George Weiner, CEO

Why Full-Funnel Thinking Matters

Your audience isn’t one-size-fits-all, and your digital strategy shouldn’t be either. When you design for each stage of the funnel, you can:

• Visualize and optimize the entire supporter journey: Know how people move from first click to lifelong commitment and ensure you’re growing your audience in each stage.
• Align digital metrics with organizational goals: Understand how digital engagement supports real-world change and directly track your success along the journey.
• Identify gaps and opportunities: Spot where people are dropping off—and where they’re leaning in and use that to guide your strategy forward.
• Make smarter decisions: Build campaigns and content that meet people’s needs at each stage and interaction with your org.

Let’s break down what this looks like in practice:

AWARE: Building Visibility and Interest

Awareness is all about building reach and recognition. Are the right people discovering you and hearing about your mission?

What it looks like:

• Visits to your website
• Social media impressions and reach
• Video views
• Press mentions or partnerships that increase visibility
• Brand authority and quality indexing keywords

Tactics to grow:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Content marketing (blog posts, articles)
• Google Ad Grant optimization
• Awareness advertising (e.g. Programmatic, Display, Search, YouTube)
• Organic social media posting

✅ Digital Goal – ATTRACT: Introduce more of your priority audiences to your mission and impact.

INTERESTED: Earning Permission to Connect

At this stage, your audience is starting to choose you. They’re curious. They want to learn more—and they’re willing to open up and even give you permission to communicate further.

What it looks like:

• Clicks to your website
• Email signups
• Time spent on your site
• Email newsletter opens and clicks
• Follows and clicks on social media

Tactics to grow:

• Email newsletter signup CTAs on your website
• Lead gen advertising (e.g. Meta, LinkedIn)
• Webinars and online events
• Case studies and impact stories
• Downloadable resources (e-books, guides)
• Social follower growth and engagement

✅ Digital Goal – INFORM: Turn casual interest into deeper connection—collect permission-based contact info to build ongoing relationships.

ENGAGED: Moving to Meaningful Action

This is where impact starts to happen. You’re not just educating—you’re mobilizing.

What it looks like:

• Priority actions taken (downloads, registrations, pledges, petition signatures, purchases, phone calls, etc.)
• Donations to your org
• Campaign participation
• Webinar or event attendance
• Volunteer signups
• Likes, comments, and shares on social media

Tactics to grow:

• Email nurture, including a welcome series
• Donation and direct appeal campaigns
• Conversion advertising (Search, Meta)
• Volunteer opportunities and event marketing
• Personalized communication & value exchange
• Landing page optimization

✅ Digital Goal – CONVERT: Inspire action that aligns with your programmatic and advocacy goals.

COMMITTED: Growing a Community of Champions

The most valuable supporter is a returning supporter. This stage is about deepening relationships and driving sustained impact.

What it looks like:

• Growth in key metrics YoY: more web traffic, more actions, more donors, more email subscribers, more clicks, more views, etc.
• Monthly or recurring donors
• Multi-channel participation
• Story sharing and peer-to-peer advocacy
• Strong brand reputation and domain authority

Tactics to grow:

• Sustained audience nurture and engagement
• Impact storytelling
• Rapid response campaigning
• Recurring giving and monthly membership programs

✅ Digital Goal – ENGAGE OVER TIME: Build loyalty, increase long-term value, and advance toward measurable impact outcomes.

Using the Funnel to Drive Strategy

A full-funnel strategy isn’t just good marketing—it’s smart organizing. It helps you:

• Better Understand Your Audience: Meeting supporters where they are at every level of engagement
• Build Long-Term Relationships: Nurturing supporters through each stage fosters stronger connections
• Increase Lifetime Value: Committed supporters who have opportunities to re-engage time and time again provide ongoing support, not just one-time action
• Improve Campaign Effectiveness: Targeted messaging and focused tactics for each stage increases engagement and conversion rates
• Create Advocates: Committed supporters become vocal advocates, expanding your reach to guide even more people into your funnel
• Sustainable Growth: A full-funnel strategy ensures a steady stream of new supporters and continued engagement from existing ones, ensuring no one gets left behind or forgotten

Common Pitfalls for Nonprofit Marketers

Designing a full-funnel digital marketing strategy is powerful—but it’s also important to avoid some common traps. Here are a few we see often:

🚫 Assuming the Funnel is Linear

Real life isn’t a straight line, and neither is your audience’s journey. While some people might follow this exact pattern of behavior, others may bounce between stages—someone might donate after a single tweet, or take a meaningful action before ever signing up for your emails.

What to do instead:

✅ Design for multiple entry points. Offer relevant next steps at every touchpoint. Think of the funnel less like a ladder and more like a net—you want to cast wide and far to ensure you have multiple opportunities to catch a fish.

🚫 Neglecting Users After the First Action

Many orgs celebrate a donation or petition signature and then… crickets. But first-time action is just the start. Without meaningful follow-up, you risk losing the attention and interest of the very people who showed up for you. Even the most committed supporter can be lost if you’re not continuing to show up for them.

What to do instead:

✅ Build a thoughtful post-action journey. Show gratitude for the action taken, whether big or small. Remember to demonstrate the value of their contribution and nurture that person towards their next meaningful action. Ask yourself: What’s the next right step for someone who just engaged? How do we show appreciation, offer more opportunities, and deepen their connection?

🚫 Over-focusing at the Top or Bottom

It’s easy to get obsessed with reach: growing your list, driving traffic, boosting impressions. But if you neglect the middle and bottom of the funnel, you’ll struggle to turn that reach into real results. Similarly, many orgs focus only on conversions, hitting your fundraising goal or winning the campaign, and neglect to invest in the effort and nurture it takes to prime your audience for those important moments. This leaves many potential supporters out of the conversation entirely.

What to do instead:

✅ Balance your efforts. Top-of-funnel activity builds awareness, but mid- and lower-funnel strategies build trust, action, and impact. Nurture relationships, don’t just spark them.

🚫 Measuring Too Much (or the Wrong Things)

If you’re tracking everything, it becomes too hard to focus on what really matters. Vanity metrics like impressions, total pageviews, or likes might look good in a deck—but they don’t always signal real progress.

What to do instead:

✅ Choose metrics that reflect the most meaningful engagement and long-term value. Align KPIs with each funnel stage and use them to track your progress. This will help you visualize how each metric contributes to growth at all stages of your marketing funnel, furthering your impact goals.

Final Takeaway

Nonprofits are often asked to do more with less—but a full-funnel strategy helps you do more with more focus. By mapping your supporters’ journey and designing intentional digital experiences at every stage, you’re not just growing lists or clicks. You’re building a movement. It’s time to think bigger. Let’s build a funnel that fuels change—from awareness to action to lifelong commitment. If you’re ready to take your nonprofit digital marketing strategy to the next level, Let’s Talk.