Visual adverts are commonly used by charities, as it is known that people react much more emotionally and compassionately to images than they do to words. Considering the visual nature of Instagram, it is therefore surprising that so few charities use it: according to research conducted by JustGiving, only 21% of charities are on Instagram.

Twitter is more commonly used by charities, with SocialTimes finding that 86% of charities and nonprofits use the platform, and 71% considering social media to be useful in raising donations.

Statistica reports that there are 500 million monthly active users on Instagram and 313 million on Twitter to connect and engage with; one of the best and easiest ways of attracting people in order to do so is by using relevant hashtags.

That’s where we come in.

We have selected some of the most popular and useful hashtags related to charities that we could find, to help you draw in supporters and spark social good:

#activism

#aid

#change

#DoSomething

#DoGood

#donate

#GiveMoreTogether

#GivingTuesday

#CharityTuesday

#2030NOW               (Social Good Summit)

#changemakers

#giveback

#volunteer

#volunteers

#volunteering

#donors

#fundraising

#impact

#causes

#crowdfunding

#socent                       (social entrepreneurship)

#campaign

#charity

#SocialGood

#fairtrade

#impinv                      (impact investing)

#philanthropy

#action

#adopt

#inspire

#humanity

#humanrights

#happiness

#save

#support

#NonProfit

#notforprofit             (or #nfp)

#poverty

#women

#sustainability

#climate

#rescued

#eco

#SaveOurPlanet

#disabilities

#humantrafficking

#nptech

Social media doesn’t sit still, which is why it can be overwhelming trying to find the right hashtags to use – keep an eye out for campaigns and trending Twitter tags and jump on the bandwagon to join in with current conversations, engage with your followers and attract attention.

Be selective, especially on Twitter. You only have 140 characters for each tweet as it is, so try not to overshadow your tweet with too many hashtags; you don’t want to distract people from reading the message.

On Instagram, you can use 30 tags per post – but again, you should be cautious not to swamp your caption with too many, or nobody will read it. One way to avoid this problem is to write your caption, post your picture and then add the hashtags in a comment instead.

Time to get tagging!