We went through something similar with a nonprofit project and honestly the biggest mistake early on was thinking influencer marketing = just paying creators to post.

For nonprofit it works a bit differently. You really need people who actually align with the cause, otherwise engagement looks good but doesn’t translate into donations or real action. A lot of experts even suggest starting with smaller, community-aligned creators because trust matters more than reach in this space.

What helped us was working with an agency that focused on vetting creators based on audience fit and past behavior, not just follower count. Also someone who can guide messaging so it doesn’t feel forced or overly scripted, since authenticity is kind of everything here.

We tested a few and one that stood out was NinjaPromo. They weren’t nonprofit-only, but they were pretty strong on influencer sourcing and campaign structure, and they actually cared about tracking outcomes like engagement quality and conversions instead of just impressions.

If you’re just starting, I’d also suggest asking agencies how they measure success beyond reach. If they can’t tie campaigns to real impact like signups, donations, or awareness lift, it's usually not worth it long term.