DonationbuttonOkay, you’ve donated your hard-earned money to one or more fertility nonprofits. So, now what? Will the patient referrals start rolling in? Will Google Analytics indicate all the click throughs you are getting via the banner ad you placed on its website? Will you see a lot of shares on social media of the blog you wrote for the organization?

Indeed, all that might happen. But to expect those results is missing the point of why fertility providers should support the nonprofits. You should support them because supporting them means supporting the infertility community. By all means you should hold commercial, for-profit websites and media accountable to these standards, but I don’t think it is reasonable to expect the nonprofits to help you maximize your ROI. Their goals are to support, educate and advocate for your patients. That is what you should expect them to do because what is good for patients is good for your business.

However, the nonprofits should be communicating with you about their progress and what your donation has meant to achieving their goals. Additionally, there are various ways you can leverage your sponsorship for maximum patient exposure and brand awareness. Here are some examples of what you could do to be ‘active’ versus ‘passive’ in optimizing your donation:

1) Create and distribute a press release about what your sponsorship entails and why you decided to donate. Even if you are an ‘old’ sponsor, you can do this when you renew.
2) Add a graphic badge/the organization’s logo to your website and be sure to link to it in the resources section as well.
3) Guest blog on the the nonprofit’s website, as well as add appropriate content to it, if asked. Conversely, ask its CEO/director to guest blog on your site, if you have a blog.
4) Share social media posts about what the nonprofits offers — designate one or two days per month out of your social media schedule to promoting it.
5) Share the nonprofit’s tweets, Facebook posts, and blogs as ready-available content for your social media efforts.
6) Include information about the nonprofit and your sponsorship in an email blast.
7) Include the organization’s brochure in your patient packets, again letting patients know you are sponsors.

Do you have other ideas? Please let us know. You should be proud of your efforts to sponsor the fertility nonprofits, so don’t forget to publicize your generosity!