Case Study: Paid Social & Audience Building

From Stalled Donation Ads to a 1,000-Person Email List

The Metrics

~ 0

New Email Subscribers

0 %

Cost-Per-Lead Reduction

$ 0

Avg. Cost Per Signup

~$6,000 total managed ad spend

THE CHALLENGE
  • Very little name/brand recognition, weak trust signals.
  • Donation ads aimed at cold social audiences weren’t converting.
  • Chasing direct donations from strangers ran ~$25 per lead and was one-and-done, not recurring.
  • Small nonprofit needed a durable asset, not disappearing clicks.
THE APPROACH
  • Redirected spend from chasing donations to building an owned email list to nurture over time.
  • Re-optimized creative & targeting for signups, cutting cost per lead ~70%.
  • Qualified the org for the $10K/mo. Google Ad Grant to extend reach for free.

The Outcome

A Brand-New Strategy

Before

Donation ads to cold audiences. ~$25 per lead. Few leads convert to donors. Bleeding money instead of attracting donors.

After

List-building at $7.66 per signup. A ~1,000-person audience the team can nurture for years. Engaged list of potential donors who asked to be contacted.
A donation campaign that wasn’t working became something more lasting: a ~1,000-person email list the org can nurture for years, built at a fraction of the cost — plus $10K/month in free Google advertising. All in service of helping veterans with PTSD and addiction rebuild their lives.

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