How to find and use the best Hashtags for Nonprofits

Gain more exposure on Social Media by finding and using the best hashtags for your nonprofit.

What is a hashtag?

A hashtag is a short link preceded by the pound sign (#). You’ve seen them all over social media and you might find them ugly to use in your posts, but hashtags actually help organize posts on social media.

You know what else? Hashtags can also help you gain more exposure.

Do you want to know how to get more followers on Instagram? Create meaningful content, engage in meaningful conversations and use the right hashtags to gain visibility.

Do you want to know how to get more followers on LinkedIn? Create meaningful content, engage in meaningful conversations and use the right hashtags to gain visibility. Yeah, it’s basically the same.

Proof that hashtags work

We could add nice screenshots of posts with and without the right hashtags, but since it’s so simple to execute, you might as well just try it and see for yourself.

Here are the steps to take:

Make a list of relevant hashtags like we’re showing in this post below;
Select the best hashtags based on the number of views, be sure to also add less competitive hashtags to your mix;
Use them in your next post. On Instagram, you can add about 10 or 20 hashtags (Instagram has a maximum of 30 hashtags you can use), but don’t overdo it on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. About 3 hashtags per post should be sufficient on these platforms;
Keep track of hashtag mixes that work best for you.

How to find the best hashtags on social media

What are trending hashtags?

First of all, you need to know that there are basically two types of hashtags:

Trending hashtags like #MeToo, which have a high amount of views for a short period of time.
Evergreen hashtags with pretty much a stable amount of views over time. Using #Nonprofits will give you about the same exposure any time you use it (unless it goes trending).

When conducting your hashtag research. Be aware that some hashtags might be very seasonal.

How to find the best hashtags for your niche

To find the best hashtags for your niche, you can use Digital Marketing Tools. For the Instagram Hashtag research, we’ve used Displaypurposes.com and for our Twitter hashtag research, we’ve used RiteTag.com. Our niche is:

Nonprofits and Social Impact.

What are the best hashtags for nonprofits on Instagram

Here’s a list for your inspiration. To get the best out of your Instagram Marketing, it’s best to use a mix of hashtags with a lot of exposure and a few hashtags which are less competitive. Also, keep in mind that doing your hashtag research for Instagram is great to find out if you’re missing out, but you should always keep track of hashtags that work best for you.

Hashtag	Popularity on Instagram
#philanthropy	60%
#causes	53%
#socialgood	57%
#dogood	62%
#fundraising	63%
#nonprofit	65%
#volunteer	68%
#activism	59%
#givingback	64%
#donate	68%
#givingtuesday	58%
#nonprofitorganization	50%
#volunteering	63%
#charity	72%
#giving	64%
#charityevents	58%
#humanitarian	59%
#giveback	66%
#fundraiser	66%
#change	76%

#water	84%
#ocean	82%
#trees	82%
#forest	79%
#woods	74%
#wilderness	70%
#wild	77%
#hunger	65%
#humanrights	64%
#civilrights	58%
#justice	68%
#equality	72%
#humanity	67%
#equalrights	64%
#gayrights	65%
#animalrights	64%
#animalliberation	57%
#animalcruelty	59%
#veganism	69%
#friendsnotfood	59%
#govegan	71%
#animalabuse	56%
#crueltyfree	72%
#earthlings	57%
#veganuniverse	43%
#veganlifestyle	65%
#animalwelfare	56%
#vegansofinstagram	68%
#teenvegan	44%
#veganlife	69%
#animallover	71%
#vegancommunity	60%
#animalactivist	52%
#animalrescue	61%

What are the best hashtags for nonprofits on Twitter

Like we’ve mentioned. Don’t overdo it with hashtags on Twitter. Use approximately three hashtags per post. Mix it up with hashtags that have a large number of views and less competitive hashtags.

Hashtag	Unique tweets per hour	Retweets per hour	Hashtag exposure per hour
#nonprofit	21	33	26704
#nonprofitorganization	0	4	0
#fundraising	21	17	65662
#charity	50	46	48408
#care	12	9	30088
#community	38	45	129592
#donation	4	8	14592
#support	33	34	18296
#children	46	25	151538
#socialenterprise	0	4	0
#socent	0	12	0
#change	50	38	119829
#philantrophy	4	0	1800
#volunteer	17	4	17712
#givingtuesday	8	9	18129
#giving	8	0	212825
#water	75	83	189975
#plastic	8	21	1229
#plasticbags	4	0	129
#plasticpollution	12	5	8854
#waste	12	9	133312
#ocean	38	70	97467
#hunger	4	8	3358
#humanrights	42	79	315442
#civilrights	4	0	2212
#womansmarch	4	8	14033
#justice	71	50	214317
#socialjustice	21	8	168742
#law	42	70	189871
#hope	21	146	32050
#peace	92	70	57738
#equality	17	12	61921
#gender	17	25	59796
#genderequality	12	17	2005125
#feminism	21	25	2004679
#diversity	38	12	176525
#society	25	29	607379
#humanity	17	12	204754
#heart	50	50	300238
#humans	8	4	42583
#vegan	121	112	956446
#animalrights	8	21	25512
#govegan	4	42	3146
#wildlife	25	54	40196
#respect	71	75	191208
#rescue	21	37	7583
#shelter	12	5	12650
#adoptdontshop	38	79	157446

Always be learning

These 4 simple steps will set you in the right direction. It’s up to you to keep track of what works for you and what doesn’t.

Remember that the success of your Social Media marketing hinges on your entire approach:

How relevant are your followers?
How relevant and beautiful are your creatives?
How often do you engage with your followers?
How often do you post on Instagram or Twitter?

Using the best hashtags can validate that you’re on track with all the points mentioned above, but that you just needed that extra boost. Let’s hope that’s the case for you too ;).

You have a story to tell. We want to help.

Let’s create memorable content and reach tens of thousands of people.

See how it works