You know how it is in the charity sector—December sneaks up, and those festive campaign ideas you’ve been thinking about for months still aren’t quite ready to go. Whether you’re selling Christmas Carol tickets or pushing Santa Dash registrations, there’s a lot to tackle and not nearly enough time to get it all done!
Google Ads Grants can help! With upwards of £7,500 per month, available to use to advertise your charity digitally, the programme can ensure your message is reaching the right audience, at the time when it counts the most.
Relatively quick to set up, these campaigns can be tailored to your charity’s needs and so regardless of your festive goals, you can start running ads to help achieve them in no time – just like Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust!
Thanks to the help of Google Ads Grants, over the festive period, we were able to push over 7,000 people to the specially created landing page for the campaign itself and increase donations during the month of December.
The Challenge
Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust came to us just before their busiest time of year. They wanted to support a Direct Response TV (DRTV) advert, which encouraged people to donate to their ‘Help Your Hospital’ campaign. The campaign funds resources, equipment and support for Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. People could donate through the website or via text using the phrase ‘Addenbrooke’s toy’ which would contribute gifts for sick children spending the festive season in hospital.
However, the charity had recently launched a new website that was not yet optimised for search engines, meaning it didn’t appear prominently in organic search results when people Googled the campaign phrase ‘Addenbrooke’s toy’.
This presented a significant challenge, as potential donors who saw the TV advert and wanted to contribute to the campaign were struggling to find the donation page online. Without proper search visibility, the campaign risked losing crucial donations during their busiest fundraising period.
The Solution
Recognising this challenge, we built and optimised Google Ad Campaigns tailored to keywords aligned with Addenbrooke’s key focus areas. By incorporating these keywords into their Festive fundraising campaign, we were able to gain visibility at the top of the search engine results for Addenbrooke’s at a critical time of fundraising.
In addition to supporting their primary campaign, we launched awareness ads for other initiatives and ran a recruitment campaign to broaden their reach. These efforts not only helped regular donors connect with the charity but also introduced their new website to a wider audience, engaging both new and existing supporters.
We were also able to assist in the creation and running of some paid ads using the DRTV advert across Google’s display network, helping to further expand the reach of the campaign and funnel people into the donor stream.
The Impact
We were able to push over 7,000 people to the specially created landing page for the Festive campaign itself and increase donations during the month of December. These funds are used to support children at Addenbrooke’s Hospital over the festive period through toys, medicine and equipment for the hospital.
Additionally, we are still promoting donations via the main website and to various other campaigns, which will continue to support the hospital with research, new facilities and even new departments.
Beyond Festive Fundraising
While the Google Ad Grant is perfect for increasing engagement over the festive season, once applied for, it keeps rolling as long as you use it. So it can keep helping you achieve your goals, well into the new year.
Shifting focus from the toy appeal, Addenbrooke’s aimed to leverage the grant for their year-round fundraising initiatives. In line with their digital strategy, we set up and optimised Google Ads targeting keywords like Cambridge Half Marathon and Dragon Boat Race, helping them fill charity places in these events and generate sponsorship income.
Thanks to the power of Google and Facebook Advertising, Addenbrooke’s successfully filled all of its charity places for the Cambridge Half Marathon in record time! 🎉
Their digital campaign secured their fastest 150 registrations yet, with each runner pledging to raise a minimum of £300. That’s an incredible £45,000 in indirect donations, all made possible through strategic digital outreach. 💪✨
Get your ads out in front of the right audience today, and see what they can achieve for your charity!
