RCH Foundation: donation forecasts beaten by 200%

The brief

The Royal Children's Hospital Foundation raises money for the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. It asked us to establish a robust, ongoing digital program to acquire new donors, while increasing the return on its advertising spend.

Those two goals pull against each other in most fundraising accounts. Finding new donors means reaching people who haven't given before, and that usually costs more than asking existing supporters. Our job was to grow the donor base and make the spend more efficient at the same time, so the program could keep running and keep improving month after month.

What we did

We built the program around testing, so every decision was based on what donors actually did. We tested the campaign elements that matter most:

• Goals, set to suit each platform, so every channel was optimising towards the right action
• Creative and copy, to learn which messages and images moved people to give
• Bidding strategy, to find the settings that brought in donations most efficiently
• Keywords, to focus search spend on the terms that led to a donation

Then we looked at timing. We ran a Maximise Conversions bidding strategy alongside a high engagement RCHF event. Google's bidding learns from conversions, so running it when interest in the Foundation was at its peak fed Google the maximum amount of data for its algorithms to learn from. The campaigns got smarter, faster, at the moment it mattered most.

We planned the campaign flighting, meaning when each campaign runs and how hard, using the Foundation's marketing campaign and event calendars. Lining paid media up with the moments supporters are already paying attention hugely increases the efficiency of the spend.

Alongside the testing and timing, we kept optimising the campaigns continually, moving spend towards what was working and away from what wasn't pulling its weight.

The results

Between March 2021 and the end of June 2021, the Foundation's forecast total donation value was exceeded by 200%, with a 566% return on ad spend.

• Conversion value up 246% during the June campaign
• Cost per conversion down 34%, so each donation cost less to bring in
• 26.8% of total donation value came through paid digital

Paid digital also became one of the Foundation's strongest sources of donations. Its donation value was second only to referral traffic, and almost double that of organic search.

Put together, the program met both sides of the brief. Donation value went well past forecast, and each conversion cost less to win, so the Foundation was growing its donor income and getting more from its spend in the same four months.

The Foundation's team summed it up: “[Foresight] are fantastic! ... they have been instrumental in achieving key milestones. We would highly recommend them.” Michelle Petrulis, Marketing Coordinator, Supporter Relations, Royal Children's Hospital Foundation