As we settle into the first stretch of 2023, many organizations are putting finishing touches on their annual plans, putting a fresh set of eyes on earlier-stage growth strategies, and revisiting initiatives which may have been paused over the pandemic. A common issue that often arises during this process is the age-old question that nonprofits often grapple with — how can we possibly make it all happen given our current resource realities?
Sound familiar? If so, a simple step you can take to jumpstart your thinking is to peruse this year’s cause awareness calendars. What piques your interest and curiosity? Digging a bit deeper beyond the traditional seasonal themes often sparks great early creative thinking.
From here, a few more questions to consider include:
- What opportunities exist to leverage a broader campaign to bolster your organization’s awareness-building efforts and promote upcoming fundraising programs?
- What opportunities exist to leverage campaigns to advance community partnerships, create new collaborations, and deepen collaborations, or share our stories in new ways?
- How can you build off selected themes to explore new ways to educate new audiences about our mission, create and share content in new ways, or simply amplify the work of other organizations both within, and well beyond, your space?
As you’ll quickly see, many campaigns also offer robust, turn-key creative assets to help you get the most mileage out of your involvement, whether you choose to participate in a deeper way or simply share campaign messaging to help amplify the work of others.
But where to begin? NP TechForGood’s 2023 Cause Awareness & Giving Days Calendar for Nonprofits is a great place to start. If you want to go deeper into more focused areas, more to peruse are:
- Nonprofit Alliance’s 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Calendar
- Office of Disease Prevention’s 2023 National Health Observances
- GoodGoodGood’s The Ultimate List of Environmental Holidays 2023
- LGTBQ+ Nation’s Complete List of LGTBQ+ Holidays & Commemorations
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)’s Awareness Events Roundup
- Pet Sitters International’s 2023 Pet Holidays & Observances
- World Health Organization’s Global Health Days
- UN Women’s 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
Well beyond these mission-focused messages, there are seasonal themes to infuse creativity into internal communications — whether it’s a standing meeting, leadership offsite, community gathering, or simply a way to add some levity to day-to-day interactions at times when your team may need a boost. A great site to explore and bookmark is DaysofTheYear.com; Hubspot’s 278 Social Media Holidays for your 2023 Content Calendar and HootSuite’s Complete List of Social Media Holidays are also great resources to refer to throughout the year.
We hope these offer a springboard to many more ideas ahead in 2023 — and if you participate in, or simply see campaigns that inspire you throughout the year, we’d love to hear from you!
Written by Jen Barth
