From Offline Fundraising Dependency to a $5M Digital Revenue Engine
A US-based nonprofit agency transformed — across multiple charitable organisations.
A US-based nonprofit agency helping a wide range of charity organizations. Positive relations with clients. A true passion for greater achievement. A scaling challenge: the organization needed to consistently provide a high-quality digital marketing campaign for the growing number of nonprofit organizations.
This agency was a winner at what they were doing. The issue was what they were called to take on next. Our nonprofit clients were still fundraising the same way: in-person events, direct mailers and personal requests. Online marketing was an add-on if that.
Here's what was actually broken when we walked in:
Lack of digital infrastructure. For most, nonprofit organizations had never run a structured digital campaign: no Google Ads, no email campaigns, no content strategy.
Low digital proficiency. Customers didn't know what online marketing had to offer them, which made it hard to explain to them why it should matter to the charity internally.
Capacity constraints. The agency simply could not scale delivery without either expanding staff or securing a dependable white-label partner.
No cross-sell strategy. Existing nonprofit customers were getting too little attention, missing out on many opportunities to offer expanded digital services.
No proof of value. Without proper reporting, clients were unable to recognize the value of investing in digital, making retention of business and expanding sales that much more challenging.
The opportunity was real. The system to capture it wasn't there yet.
Education & Digital Onboarding
- Built structured pitch decks and training materials to help clients understand what digital channels could do
- Introduced them to Google for Nonprofits — a program offering up to $10,000 in free monthly ad credits
- Walked each organisation through the specific digital opportunities most relevant to their mission
- Created pitch decks and training courses to help clients understand what digital channels were able to do. Got them started on Google for Nonprofits: a program that can provide customers with up to $10k a month of ad credits at no charge. Spoke with each of the organizations about what digital options were particularly pertinent to their mission. Presented digital not as a substitution but the lever they were missing.
Google Ads Setup & Optimisation
- Set up and organised Google Ads accounts for qualifying nonprofits from scratch
- Developed targeted campaigns with relevant keywords and compelling ad copy
- Optimised performance across different regions to maximise reach and donation conversion
- Set up and managed Google Ads accounts for those nonprofits that were eligible, from zero. Constructed campaigns based on specific keywords and catchy ad text. Adjusted performance by geography to increase reach and conversions on donations. Exploited fully available nonprofit ad grants for driving high-quality traffic on the cheap
Content Marketing & Community Building
- Developed a content plan based on stories: specific impacts, the individuals involved, and specific outcomes.
- Created blog articles, newsletters and social posts with the goal of strengthening relationships with donors.
- Built content that made donors feel connected as if they were members, not simply members of a mailing list.
- A dog rescue charity's YouTube channel increased from 1.5 to 3.5 million subscribers in just six months.
Analytics & Impact Reporting
- Created clear and graphic analytics reports for the agency to show to their nonprofit customers.
- Made the results concrete: not simply clicks and impressions, but direct and indirect outcomes related to donation numbers.
- Gave the agency the data to support the claim of value and the rationale to spend on digital.
- Re-framed reporting as a means of retaining and growing accounts, rather than an after-the-fact activity.
Raised through digital campaigns across multiple nonprofits
YouTube subscribers gained in 6 months for a charity client
Client satisfaction score across all participating organisations
The agency went from being an execution partner to a strategic one — the team their clients called when they needed to think bigger, not just deliver more.
Digital marketing is effective for nonprofits. The impediment isn't the channel, it's the training.
Invest the time with customers to let them learn what can be done, and back that up with clear results, and you change everything about your business model. The agency pulled it off. The $5M in contributions proved that they did
Ready to find out what's broken?
Most growth problems aren't mysteries — they just haven't been diagnosed properly yet.