Digital Card Ideas To Engage Your Nonprofit’s Supporters

Offering digital cards for any occasion is a creative way to request donations, but it can also be valuable for pushing other areas of your mission. Whether you want to spread mission awareness or recognize committed supporters, you’ve come to the right place for inspiration!

By skipping snail mail, your supporters can send nonprofit eCards online for less than the price of stamps. They can easily wish someone a happy birthday, spread holiday cheer, or boost awareness for your cause within seconds.

Digital Card Examples for Spreading Mission Awareness

Whether you’re advocating for human rights or protecting wildlife in a sanctuary, your nonprofit’s cause is the reason your doors are open. External support empowers your team to accomplish more, and a compelling digital card might be just what you need to spread awareness.

Digital cards are a great way for your supporters to engage people in dialogue about your cause, so let’s look at a few of our favorite examples of nonprofits using eCards to spread mission awareness.

CAUSE AWARENESS DAYS

Try creating digital cards for your mission's cause awareness day like this example.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Cause awareness days help nonprofits raise support for particular causes by engaging people in dialogue and inspiring them to take action. If there’s an awareness day associated with your cause, that’s the perfect opportunity to design an eCard that supporters can send to their loved ones.

For World Narcolepsy Day, Project Sleep created a handful of digital cards, allowing supporters to choose their favorite to send free of charge. In this example, the cartoonish design features colorful graphics, bold lettering, and their website URL where recipients can learn more.

The day directly correlates with Project Sleep’s pursuit to raise awareness about sleep health and sleep conditions. It helps to increase public knowledge and elevate the voices of the 3 million people living with narcolepsy around the world, making it the perfect opportunity to create shareable digital cards.

INVITATIONS

A charity eCard is the perfect way to invite people to attend your events.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

There’s no better way to recruit new supporters or members than by relying on your current ones! In fact, marketing research explains that 88% of people highly trust a brand when a friend or family member recommends it. Try creating invitations for your cause, whether someone wants to encourage their loved ones to volunteer or attend an event.

This digital card example is an invitation that church congregants can send to invite others to an upcoming church service or another event. Created by Vineyard Church, this nonprofit eCard includes the church’s logo and text saying ‘Join me this weekend!’ overlayed over a high-contrast photo of their congregation. The sender can include a personalized message letting them know when the service is, too. As an added bonus, churches can request donations by creating eCards like this, too.

Start creating your nonprofit eCards!

Digital Card Examples for Spreading Holiday Cheer

Help your supporters spread some holiday cheer throughout the year with digital cards! From Valentine’s Day to year-end holidays, offer plenty of options that every supporter will love.

When you get creative, you can tie the design into your cause, helping to amplify your digital marketing. Feature festive designs and inspirational messages that relate to your cause. In turn, you’ll engage new people in your nonprofit’s mission and may even encourage donations.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Start off the year on the right foot by making sure you’re at the top of supporters’ minds. Create digital cards that supporters can send out to their loved ones to celebrate the start of the new year. You might include words of appreciation to volunteers and other supporters or simply send well wishes for a successful new year. When creating the pre-written message that will be included with every nonprofit eCard, you might add information about upcoming events and ways the recipient can get involved.

For this example charity eCard, Lutheran Living created a simple design using some basic graphics, elegant text, and colors commonly associated with the holiday. While the organization is a senior living facility, any nonprofit can emulate this design to give supporters a card anyone would love to receive!

VALENTINE’S DAY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Spread the love on Valentine’s Day by offering digital cards. Known for silly puns and heartfelt messages, Valentine’s Day is the perfect chance to get creative and inspire passion for your cause.

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium offered quite the selection of Valentine’s Day cards to supporters. Their team mimicked the typical Valentine’s card design by using witty animal puns, bright colors, bubbly fonts, and plenty of hearts. Best of all, they tied each digital card to their cause by featuring some of the zoo and aquarium’s animals. Supporters could select any cards they wanted. Then, they could either send them virtually or print them and fill them out.

EASTER AND SPRING

Create spring charity cards to celebrate the seasons changing.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Digital cards for Easter can be especially effective for religious organizations that focus on faith-based activities such as service, education, and outreach. General charity eCards for spring are great for launching new fundraising campaigns, helping to boost donations during a season known for renewal and growth.

For spring, Lutheran Living offers two digital card options: one targeted to Easter and a general spring one. That way, users have the option to celebrate the holiday with an Easter card or send well wishes to loved ones who aren’t religious. The spring digital card example shown to the left can be emulated by any organization to celebrate the season.

MOTHER’S DAY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Mother’s Day is the time to celebrate the mother figures in our lives, and there’s no better way to show gratitude than with a heartfelt card. This is a great chance for your nonprofit to give supporters free cards to send to those who raised them. To encourage fundraising, you might allow donors to give in a loved one’s name and then send a digital card letting them know.

The example digital card features watercolor flowers with ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ written in cursive, emulating a traditional paper Mother’s Day card. Your nonprofit can easily whip up a design like this and give supporters an easy way to thank their mothers, making it an extra special day.

FATHER’S DAY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Dads love a heartfelt card, too! Offer supporters Father’s Day cards so they can easily show appreciation to the father figures in their lives. This digital card example is a bit more specific than our Mother’s Day example. It shows how you can tie a special day into your cause.

Peace Winds America strives to strengthen preparedness and response to natural disasters and man-made crises around the world. They celebrate world refugee day as a way to spread cause awareness. That awareness day and Father’s Day occur during the same time each year, so the organization created a card that celebrates both.

Donors can give in someone’s name. Then, they can send them a digital card letting them know and wishing them a happy Father’s Day.

FOURTH OF JULY

Celebrate independence day and fundraise with nonprofit eCards like this one.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

For U.S.-based nonprofits, the Fourth of July just might play into your mission and marketing strategies. Especially great for veterans’ organizations, the holiday is an excellent opportunity to bring awareness to those who serve our country and fight for our independence.

Offer a patriotic digital card to help your supporters wish their loved ones a happy Fourth! If your organization supports veterans, that gives you a perfect chance to highlight your cause by including your logo and mission statement. Or, if your mission doesn’t correlate with the holiday, offer a more generic card like the example to the left.

HALLOWEEN

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Halloween is a widely-celebrated holiday, and celebrating the spooky season is a smart way for your nonprofit to gain some exposure. You can go with a silly design like the one to the left. By using colors associated with the holiday like orange and purple, you can create a spooky digital card that your supporters can send to their friends and family.

While Halloween doesn’t necessarily correlate with charity, you can use the season as an opportunity to host a Halloween-themed event, like a costume fun run or a haunted house. If you’re connecting your digital card to an event like this, make sure to include the details on the card. Then, you can offer the eCard as a way for supporters to invite their friends to attend.

YEAR-END HOLIDAY SEASON

Celebrate the holiday season with digital cards like this example.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Charitable research has found that around 30% of all annual giving occurs in December, making it the perfect time to get creative with your fundraising strategies. Churches might offer digital cards for Christmas that members can send to spread their message, while synagogues might offer Hannukah eCards. Or, any organization can create general holiday cards that everyone can send!

Habitat for Humanity South Africa created a few Christmas eCards for supporters to send to loved ones during the holiday season. The design we chose to feature shows a photo of children building a gingerbread house together, overlayed with the organization’s logo and text wishing the recipient a merry Christmas. By including simple graphics and pops of color, Habitat for Humanity made what would be a simple design into an elegant charity eCard that communicates the organization’s mission.

Start creating your digital cards!

Digital Card Examples for Year-Round Occasions

By offering digital cards for year-round occasions, nonprofits like yours can encourage donors to spread the word about your cause on special occasions throughout the year, even when they may not have time to donate or volunteer. Whether they’re celebrating a birthday or an anniversary, help them do so with a convenient digital card!

BIRTHDAY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Birthdays happen every day, and offering digital cards for birthdays allows your nonprofit to tap into the joy people experience when celebrating.

You can always offer them for free. Alternatively, use them as a way to incentivize giving in honor of others. By offering digital cards in exchange for a donation, you can eliminate the pressure of buying a tangible gift. Someone can donate in their loved one’s name as a way to wish them a happy birthday and then send them a card celebrating their special day.

You can create a generic design like the one to the left. Then, have it populate a message that lets the recipient know that the sender donated on their behalf. Instead, you might incorporate your charity’s branding by adding your logo, choosing an image of your beneficiaries, or adding a line that explains that the card supports your cause.

GET WELL SOON

Help supporters wish their loved ones a speedy recovery with charity eCards like this example.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Your nonprofit can offer get-well-soon cards to help individuals show compassion and support to those who are ill or injured. These charity eCards can help lift someone’s spirits during a difficult time and remind them that they aren’t alone. Since it’ll have your organization’s name attached, it’ll help the recipient feel connected to your cause and build a relationship with them.

Offer a digital card like the example to the left. The design features a simple “get well soon” message in an inviting font, surrounded by flowers. Digital cards like this can be a simple gesture of kindness that can lift someone’s spirits.

If you want to get creative in how you utilize this type of charity eCard, your fundraising officer or volunteer coordinator might send them to some of your valued supporters when they’re feeling under the weather. Showing compassion like this can help cultivate stronger relationships and deepen supporter engagement. Similarly, you might allow team members to send the card to one another or to corporate partners when they’re out of the office.

ANNIVERSARY

Celebrate anniversaries year-round with digital cards.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Anniversary cards are perfect for celebrating milestones for your nonprofit’s donors, volunteers, and staff members. Get creative with how you offer these by having your fundraising coordinator or volunteer manager send them to committed supporters. Leadership can also send them to staff members to congratulate them on such an important life milestone.

Digital anniversary cards can serve as a reminder of how much your organization appreciates the recipient’s involvement and show gratitude to those who have helped make the nonprofit successful throughout the years.

Create a design like the example featured to the left. Go with a classic, romantic look that uses cursive writing and features flowers and other plants to symbolize romance.

SYMPATHY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Your nonprofit can offer words of encouragement with digital sympathy cards. Some nonprofits will offer this type of digital card in exchange for a donation. As a form of memorial fundraising, someone can give in memory of someone to honor their legacy. Then, they can send the charity eCard to the grieving family to express their condolences.

That’s the exact approach Maryland Food Bank took when offering eCards. Donors can support the food bank in honor of someone who’s passed. By sending a digital card, they can show care in the family’s time of need while also supporting the organization’s beneficiaries.

Start creating your digital cards!

Digital Card Examples for Showing Appreciation

Your supporters aren’t the only ones who can send digital cards. Get your leadership and employees in on the action by showing appreciation for one another with digital cards.

VOLUNTEER AND DONOR RECOGNITION

Express appreciation for donors and volunteers with thoughtful digital cards.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Showing appreciation for volunteers and donors is essential for keeping them around. We’ve all heard that retaining supporters costs less than acquiring new ones, and sending individuals a quick acknowledgment eCard might inspire them to come back.

Youth for Understanding (YFU) got their beneficiaries in on the action by letting them send digital cards to their friends, host families, teachers, and volunteers. They created a selection of digital cards, each one branded to the organization with its logo, colors, and voice. Participants could pick their favorites to send to people they wanted to express appreciation for and reconnect with from their YFU experience.

STAFF RECOGNITION

Acknowledge outstanding staff members with charity eCards.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Digital cards aren’t just for recognizing donors and volunteers. Without your staff, your nonprofit wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is today. These individuals work on the ground level to keep your doors open and push your mission forward every day.

Create some digital cards that leadership and other team members can customize to recognize their colleagues’ exceptional work. A virtual pat on the back is an effective employee retention tactic that can go a long way! Plus, organizations have found that productivity is 43% higher when employees feel their team cares, making employee recognition digital cards a smart move for any nonprofit.

While the example to the left is from a for-profit company, nonprofits can take a few notes from innovative retention strategies like this one!

OTHER RECOGNITION

Create digital cards to acknowledge different individuals connected to your mission.

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Don’t forget about thanking anyone else involved in your cause! Create digital cards for individuals to share encouragement and show gratitude for individuals connected to your cause.

Harbor is a collaborative veterinary community created to equip professionals with networking and mentorship opportunities. As part of their WAVE campaign, users could send digital cards to share appreciation for the veterinary professionals in their lives. In exchange for every digital card sent, the organization donated to organizations that support mental well-being in the veterinary industry.

While Harbor isn’t a nonprofit, charitable organizations can take note of how they tied eCards into their mission. For example, a veterans organization might allow individuals to send digital cards to admirable veterans in their lives. Think about anyone who’s associated with your cause who deserves appreciation, so you can get creative with your eCards!

Start creating your charity eCards!

Ways to Offer Digital Cards to Supporters

With the right digital card software, how you offer eCards can be flexible! You have two options: offer them for free or in exchange for a donation. Let’s walk through both options!

FOR FREE

Offering free digital cards to supporters and staff members can be a low-cost way to show appreciation. Everyone loves free gifts, making this a smart engagement tactic! The more cards your supporters send, the more awareness you’ll bring to your mission.

With the right eCard tools, you can easily add digital cards to a page on your site, allowing users to select the ones they like the most. They’ll click their favorite, fill out the recipient’s contact information, and add a heartfelt message. Best of all, they can send the cards to as many people as they want, helping to maximize your reach.

While you can offer any digital card for free, this approach is best for invitations and thank-you cards. If you’re using it as an employee or donor engagement tactic, make sure you limit who can access the page!

IN EXCHANGE FOR A DONATION

If you want to use digital cards as a fundraising tactic, offer them in exchange for donations! Like for many of the examples we’ve shared, donating can replace the need to buy a tangible gift for special occasions like Father’s Day and birthdays. Donating to a worthwhile cause the card’s recipient cares about is often much more meaningful. Not to mention, the donations you receive will make up for any costs you spend on the digital card software!

If you want to charge for your eCards, there are a few ways you can offer donation cards to supporters, including:

As integrated donation forms. This strategy is shown in the example image above. For this method, donors select their preferred eCard, choose a donation amount, fill out their payment information, and add the recipient’s contact details. When they hit ‘send,’ the donation will automatically go to the nonprofit, and the donor’s loved one will receive the digital card along with a personalized message.
Post-donation. Another popular option is to add your charity’s eCards to your donation confirmation page. As soon as they submit their donation, they can choose a card, fill out the recipient’s contact information, add a personalized message, and click send.
As a product in an eStore. This is a less popular option, but it’s still viable. If you sell fundraising products, you might be able to attach eCards to your online store. A user will purchase the eCard. Then, the widget will appear on their order confirmation page. From here, they can customize their digital card and send it to their loved ones.

Check to make sure your eCard provider offers these options before getting started. That way, you’ll have the flexibility you need to create a memorable giving experience.

Start creating your digital cards!

Creating Your Nonprofits Digital Cards

As you can tell, adding digital cards to your nonprofit’s site can be a fantastic way to build brand awareness and strengthen supporter engagement. Backed by the right tools, you can publish your digital cards in no time!

We recommend working with eCardWidget to power your digital card endeavors. The easy-to-use tools enable anyone to create compelling designs. Here’s how it works:

Design your charity eCards. Once you sign up, you can dive into the design process. Kickstart your design by uploading your own images, or get creative with the built-in design tools. You can customize the background, adjust the layout, choose different fonts, add clip art, and so much more. You can even customize the email that will be sent with the eCard. Remember to incorporate your nonprofit’s branding.
Publish the cards. You can either host your cards on eCardWidget’s site or upload them to your nonprofit’s website. To publish them to your site, you’ll embed the HTML embed code into the page where you want the widget to show up. This particular tool also has free apps available for WordPress and Shopify, which makes this process even easier. After doing this, save your changes to update the page.
Supporters can send your digital cards. Start promoting your eCards to supporters. They can easily choose their favorite eCards and send them to their loved ones. They’ll even have the option to send them on different platforms beyond email, such as social media and text message.

It’s that simple! With a straightforward process like this, your team can get up and running super quickly, helping to bolster your online presence.

Start creating your digital cards!

Digital Card FAQ

Why Should Your Nonprofit Send Digital Cards?

Digital cards are a convenient way to maximize your reach and boost your digital footprint. By allowing supporters to send eCards to their loved ones, you can leverage the power of peer-to-peer referrals, helping to position your cause as authoritative and trustworthy. After all, an incredible 88% of people highly trust a brand when a friend or family member recommends it.

Not to mention, you can save on postage since supporters can conveniently send cards online, making them much more cost-efficient than direct mail. And, as we’ve explored, there are countless use cases for digital cards. Celebrate every occasion from birthdays to cause awareness days. You can even use them internally to recognize hard-working staff members and volunteers.

Is It Safe to Send Free Nonprofit eCards?

Yes! Your nonprofit will need to choose a trustworthy provider. If you want to offer digital cards in exchange for donations, see if it integrates with your fundraising software for a seamless, secure experience that donors will trust.

Can You See If A Nonprofit eCard Has Been Delivered?

This typically depends on your software. With our recommended provider eCardWidget, you’ll receive data such as who sent the eCard, the recipient’s email address, and whether the card has been opened.

Start creating your digital cards!

Digital Card Ideas To Engage Your Nonprofit’s Supporters

Digital Card Examples for Spreading Mission Awareness

CAUSE AWARENESS DAYS

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INVITATIONS

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Digital Card Examples for Spreading Holiday Cheer

HAPPY NEW YEAR

What We Love About This Charity eCard

VALENTINE’S DAY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

EASTER AND SPRING

What We Love About This Charity eCard

MOTHER’S DAY

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FATHER’S DAY

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FOURTH OF JULY

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HALLOWEEN

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YEAR-END HOLIDAY SEASON

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Digital Card Examples for Year-Round Occasions

BIRTHDAY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

GET WELL SOON

What We Love About This Charity eCard

ANNIVERSARY

What We Love About This Charity eCard

SYMPATHY

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Digital Card Examples for Showing Appreciation

VOLUNTEER AND DONOR RECOGNITION

What We Love About This Charity eCard

STAFF RECOGNITION

What We Love About This Charity eCard

OTHER RECOGNITION

What We Love About This Charity eCard

Ways to Offer Digital Cards to Supporters

FOR FREE

IN EXCHANGE FOR A DONATION

Creating Your Nonprofits Digital Cards

Digital Card FAQ

Why Should Your Nonprofit Send Digital Cards?

Is It Safe to Send Free Nonprofit eCards?

Can You See If A Nonprofit eCard Has Been Delivered?

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