Google Alerts for Leads for Nonprofit Orgs: Do They Work?
Did you know there are more than 5.5 billion internet users worldwide? That’s over 67% of the world’s entire population searching for, sharing, and discussing topics online—including causes like yours.
Online noise is only growing, and your nonprofit needs a plan to stand out. Many recommend Google Alerts for leads for nonprofit organizations, but the question remains: Is this tool the most effective way to join online conversations and build connections with potential supporters?
Let’s break down the basics of Google Alerts so you can decide if it’s truly the best way to generate leads—or if there are better Google Alerts alternatives that can help you maximize your reach.
Wondering what’s possible beyond Google Alerts?
Discover how the right tools can help you reach the right people.
What Is Google Alerts?
Google Alerts is a free tool that notifies you via email when a new web result appears related to the specific terms you’ve tracked. Essentially, you tell Google what you’re looking for, and Google emails you every time something pops up that matches your criteria. You don’t need a Gmail account to set up Google Alerts—just a list of search terms and guidelines.
How Do Nonprofits Set Up Google Alerts?
Since Google Alerts only notifies you of results relevant to your specific criteria, the first step in setting up this tool is to decide which terms you want to search for. Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Your nonprofit’s name, including common abbreviations or spellings
- The names of your nonprofit’s leaders, such as the Executive Director or Board Chair
- Cause-related terms (i.e., “animal welfare programs in Georgia”)
- Funding opportunities, like grant opportunities or CSR programs
- Community issues (i.e., “food insecurity in Chicago”)
After you’ve created a list of search terms to start with, visit the Google Alerts website and type a term. The interface will immediately populate an alert preview and give you the ability to customize your search from the “Show Options” button.
How to Set Search Criteria
Google Alerts allows users to filter their searches according to the following guidelines:
- How Often: Do you want to receive alerts as-it-happens, once a day, or once a week?
- Sources: Should Google Alerts monitor specific sources, such as books, blogs, or videos?
- Language: Which language or languages would you prefer to receive results in?
- Region: What specific regions should Google Alerts pull results from?
- How Many: Do you want to receive only the best results (i.e., the most relevant and high-quality content related to your search terms) or all results that Google Alerts finds?
- Deliver To: What email address should Google Alerts use to notify you?
Over time, your search terms and criteria may change as your nonprofit’s needs and goals do. Document the setup date of your Google Alerts searches and establish a recurring cadence for revisiting these terms over time. For example, maybe you’ll revise your list of search terms once every six months.
Why Do People Recommend Google Alerts for Leads for Nonprofit Organizations?
Nonprofits use Google Alerts to:
- Join the conversation: Knowing what cause-related topics are popular allows your nonprofit to stay relevant by proactively answering users’ questions and providing your expert input.
- Watch peer organizations: Learn what other nonprofits are doing to market their mission and raise funds. You can take inspiration from their efforts or even partner with them to maximize your impact!
- Track prospective supporters: People who frequently talk about your nonprofit’s cause online may be solid candidates for donating or volunteering. Some nonprofits use Google Alerts to supplement traditional donor research software, tailoring its notifications to keep them in the know about potential supporters.
While Google Alerts helps nonprofits stay informed on specific topics, it does not serve as a replacement for prospect research. After all, nonprofits need effective prospect researching strategies—not lead generation tools—and that's the difference between Google Alerts and its alternatives.
Have you ever heard the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know”? Google Alerts never leaves the purview of the terms you select, meaning you’ll strictly receive results for the topics you know to search. Instead, you need meaningful insights that lead to authentic relationships with donors and potential supporters—which is why Google Alerts alternatives often drive greater results.
Google Alerts Alternatives
Tools designed to deliver donor intelligence prove more useful for nonprofit lead generation because they provide the information necessary to cultivate meaningful relationships with individual prospects. In other words, Google Alerts alternatives can surface actionable insights for your nonprofit instead of a list of web results.
What Are Media Monitoring Services for Nonprofits?
The standout alternative for Google Alerts is media monitoring services for nonprofits, like Insightful Philanthropy. These services pull historical donor data and real-time information from often overlooked resources, like news outlets and obituaries, to inform your nonprofit’s outreach strategies and prospect research.
Insightful Philanthropy offers the most comprehensive source of donor intelligence for nonprofits. Its solution, hand-curated by editorial experts, delivers timely updates based on a search algorithm tailored to your nonprofit’s unique needs. Insightful’s platform is powered by Newsbank, Inc., the premier provider of the world's largest repository of reliable information for more than 50 years.
How to Set Up Media Monitoring Services for Nonprofits
1. Upload Profiles From Your CRM
Before your nonprofit starts researching, you should start with the data you already have. This way, you’re not just following previous donors or potential supporters; you’re matching existing data with vast sources of information that supplement and enhance your current view of supporters.
Import donor data from your CRM by:
- Using the platform’s built-in tool: If your nonprofit uses an RE NXT CRM, you can use the platform’s API connection to automatically import your entire donor database.
- Exporting CRM records as a CSV file: You can also export donor records from your CRM as a CSV file and easily upload the file to Insightful’s platform.
The platform will create donor profiles, which include:
- Basic information, such as the donor’s name and stage in the donor lifecycle
- Relationships, including the donor’s spouse, family members, and other connections
- Locations, including current and past residences
- Organizations they’re associated with, including companies and other nonprofits
- Aliases or nicknames that may also be used to find them in the news
The software only needs basic demographic details about your donors to ensure it delivers the right information.
For example, the name “John Smith” may appear thousands of times in the news daily. However, your donor named John Smith is married to Jane Smith, lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and works for a company in the city. Narrowing down your search results with these details ensures that you receive relevant information about the right people.
2. Follow Donor Profiles
The information you upload from your CRM is used to create an automatic search about every donor your organization wants to track. Browse the donor profiles in your system and select the ones you specifically want to follow.
As the platform collects information about the people you want to track, it compiles its findings into a news feed, where your nonprofit can browse mentions and other details about the donors you selected to follow.
3. Research Additional People, Organizations, and Interests
Remember when we mentioned, “you don’t know what you don’t know?” Insightful’s donor news alert service helps with that, offering a research tool where your nonprofit can search for people, organizations, and interests outside of your database:
- People: Search for top prospects, industry leaders, or other people relevant to your cause whose information isn’t already stored in your CRM.
- Organizations: Research organizations that may be able to support your work. For example, you can search foundations to find a good fit and inform your proposals.
- Interests: Follow information about your organization or peer institutions, including mission-related topics or fundraising objectives.
Ready to try these search tools out for yourself?
Why Are Google Alerts Alternatives like Insightful Philanthropy Better For Leads?
There are a few key differences that make Google Alerts alternatives more effective for nonprofit lead generation:
- Media monitoring services don’t restrict your search parameters to specific search terms; they invite your nonprofit to follow specific people, organizations, and interests.
- Google Alerts updates your nonprofit on web results as they’re published, while media monitoring services provide insights into both the past and present.
- Rather than pulling results from just one search engine, these services scour tens of thousands of global news and information sources.
Specifically, nonprofits choose Insightful’s platform because of its holistic approach to prospect research. Insightful provides historical information (dating back to the mid-1980s) and real-time insights, helping nonprofits get a more comprehensive view of donors, prospects, and organizations relevant to their causes.
Additionally, Insightful’s platform empowers nonprofits to turn this research into action. While Google Alerts simply notifies nonprofits about mission-related topics, media monitoring services give your organization an inside look at the personal events and motivations that impact its donors.
When a donor’s spouse passes away, for example, how will your nonprofit know? Unless you’ve asked Google Alerts to track hyper-specific terms, such as “Jane Smith passed away,” you’ll be left in the dark. Donor news alert services flag events like this so that you can reach out with heartfelt messages.
To learn more about what makes Insightful the best Google Alerts alternative, watch the following video:
Expert Insight: Use Google Alerts Alternatives Instead
Using Google Alerts for leads for nonprofit organizations is like using a shovel instead of a metal detector to find treasure—you may find something eventually, but it’s not the most effective way to identify valuable data.
In a world where information is at our fingertips, your nonprofit can’t afford to miss out on the data about its existing and future supporters. Explore donor news alerts services like Insightful Philanthropy to tap into the full potential of donor research and start growing your nonprofit’s base of support.
At Insightful, we believe nonprofits that know more raise more.
Ready to access critical donor intelligence from 14,000+ news and information sources?