Foundation
A content calendar is your charity’s secret weapon for effective communication and impact!
By streamlining your content planning, you can save time, stay organised, and ensure your messages resonate with your audience at the right moments. This guide will help you understand and maximise the potential of a content calendar, even if you’re starting from scratch.
What is a content calendar?
A content calendar is more than a schedule; it’s a roadmap for your charity’s storytelling. It helps you:
- Plan and organise your communications strategically
- Align your content with key campaigns, events, and causes
- Track progress from idea to publication
You can use it to manage blog posts, email newsletters, social media updates, fundraising campaigns, volunteer spotlights, and more. A well-maintained content calendar ensures your team is always one step ahead.
Why is a content calendar important for charities?
- Consistency is key: It keeps your messaging steady, so supporters know when to hear from you
- Resource optimisation: Helps to plan around your available team and tools
- Maximise impact: Ties your content to fundraising events, awareness days, and your charity’s goals
- Stress reduction: Eliminates last-minute scrambling by staying organised
Getting started with a content calendar
1. Identify key dates and events
Start by mapping out the following and use these as anchor points to structure your calendar:
- Seasonal campaigns: E.g., end-of-year giving, summer events
- Awareness days: Relevant dates for your cause (e.g., World mental health day)
- Fundraising efforts: Plan around major events or campaigns
- Internal milestones: Anniversaries, new project launches, or team achievements
2. Brainstorm content ideas
Think about the stories you want to tell and how they align with your charity’s cause. Some ideas to help you with this:
- Impact stories: Share the difference your charity makes through testimonials or case studies
- How-to guides: Practical advice or tips related to your cause
- Behind-the-scenes: Highlight your team’s work to build trust and connection
- Volunteer features: Spotlight the people powering your charity
- Calls-to-action: Encourage donations, volunteer sign-ups, or event participation
How to use our content calendar template:
- Start by prioritising your content ideas and consider predicted launch dates
- Plan content creation for at least a month before your intended launch date (depending on the internal resource that you have). Be sure to factor in the time it will take to research, write, edit, and publish your content
How to fill in your content calendar
- Add a due date for the piece of content
- Enter the name of the content creator
- Add the title, format and meta description
- Add a link to the Word document or Google doc file where the content is being created
- As each piece of content is created, update the checkboxes to show its progress
How this helps your charity
With a clear content calendar, you’ll be able to:
- Stay organised and confident in your planning
- Build deeper connections with supporters
- Focus on storytelling that drives real change
Download the template, make it your own, and get ready to tell your charity’s story with purpose and impact!
To download the calendar, simply click the button below, then save the Excel file and edit it as required.
