Q4 Acquisition Strategy: The Digital Co-Op Outperforms Other Paid Media Sources

 

When we first set out to develop The Digital Co-Op in 2020, platform privacy shifts were affecting targeting abilities on Facebook, impacting nearly all our partners. Our aim was to offer a more self-service acquisition approach to ensure our partners would not be beholden to the whims of Big Tech. Today, as the technology and privacy landscape continues to evolve, nonprofits across the industry are finding it harder once again to find reliable acquisition sources, faced with recent platform changes in Meta and fiercer competition over Search than ever before.

We’re big believers in diversifying acquisition channels and see plenty of success over Meta and YouTube, especially scaling in big moments. But their efficacy has narrowed to a smaller set of organizations with particular profile and moments, while nonprofits need a consistent source they can turn to again and again to acquire high-value, retaining supporters.

Our intention with The Digital Co-Op has always been to develop a tool that revolutionizes the way organizations acquire new supporters – using the power of cutting-edge predictive modeling to target audiences most likely to take action for your mission. So we’re excited to share the results of our most recent report:

In a review of aggregate data from top nonprofit members of The Digital Co-Op, spanning across active acquisition channels since 2022, we’ve seen that The Digital Co-Op is outperforming other major paid media sources.

To highlight the strength of The Digital Co-Op’s performance as an acquisition channel, we took a look at a few KPIs: return on ad spend (ROAS), average cost per newly acquired name, and average gift across acquisition channels over the past three years. What we found were some striking comparisons:

Our report also found that The Digital Co-Op offers a lower average cost per acquisition than Meta and YouTube, while driving a higher average gift:

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As Giving Tuesday and end of year quickly approach, nonprofits are preparing to launch some of the biggest campaigns of the year in the weeks and months to come. With acquisition posing a key challenge to fundraisers, and successful programs managing a carefully calibrated, multi-channel digital program in which the data guides the strategy, these results are particularly exciting.

The Digital Co-Op is proving to be a top acquisition source – outperforming other paid media sources. If you’re ready to target your largest and best audience this December, we can’t wait to talk with you – reach out to your Co-Op contact directly, or send us an email at thedigitalcoop@missionwired.com to get the conversation started.