”With 80% new donors coming to our site from our AdWords campaigns, we really see the value...”

Ted Davis
Web Director
AmeriCares

What they wanted to do

AmeriCares is a nonprofit group that delivers medical and humanitarian aid to people in crisis around the world and in the United States. This deeply committed organization "does amazing things with less money than the big name charities," as one donor puts it. In August, 2011, as news of the famine in Somalia unfolded, AmeriCares hoped to reach new donors so they could raise enough to mobilize an immediate and sustainable relief effort in the region. They turned to Google to build awareness and get new donors on board as quickly as possible.

How they did it

AmeriCares decided to use Contextual Targeting on the Google Display Network to reach their target audience in a powerful and cost-effective way. Contextual Targeting meant that wherever and whenever online users were reading about the famine, AmeriCares could show their ads. The group decided to use display ads with both images and text to make sure they stood out when it counted most.

AmeriCares also used search advertising to bid on important keywords for searches related to the famine as well as to their own brand. This guaranteed that they could capture any rise in search traffic from their display ads and from other media coverage.

Did it work?

80% of the donors from AmeriCares’ AdWords campaigns were new donors, according to Ted Davis, the group's Web Director.

“Advertising with Google has been a really cost-effective way to raise awareness of our charity and broaden our donor base at an especially crucial time. The need was so profound and every day, human lives hung in the balance," Davis says. “It‘s wonderful to be able to fine-tune our campaigns quickly and easily, based on which sites are bringing us the most new donors."

"With 80% new donors coming to our site from our AdWords campaigns, we really see the value ofthis program.”