Ad Grants
305k
website visits in a year
4,900
donations driven in a year
7,400
teacher registrations in a year
DonorsChoose.org is the leading platform for giving to public schools. The organisation’s mission is to make it easy for anyone to help a classroom in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences that they need for a great education, regardless of the economic status of their community. Teachers across America use the site to create projects requesting resources that their students need, and donors give to the projects that inspire them. Since its founding by a teacher in 2000, more than 3 million people and partners have given $760 million to projects reaching 31 million students, predominantly in low-income communities. Unique among education funding platforms, the DonorsChoose.org team vets each project request and delivers resources directly to the school.
The organisation strives to keep their marketing budget lean and leverages Google Ad Grants as an efficient way to connect more donors and teachers to the platform. DonorsChoose.org uses Google Ads to raise awareness, drive donations, increase teacher registrations, solicit new teacher project submissions and more. Yangsin says, 'We implemented conversion tracking to measure the impact of our marketing goals. As a multi-faceted marketplace for donors, teachers and partners, our marketing channels need to reflect the needs of each type of user. We set goals for each group and decided on the conversion metric that we most want to drive in order to achieve that goal.' Google Ads’ ad performance data provides the organisation with a clear picture of teachers’ classroom needs and donor interest.
In addition to tracking metrics with conversion tracking within Google Ads, DonorsChoose.org also uses Google Analytics and Google Data Studio. Yangsin says, 'The data available is so rich. You can go as micro or macro as you need to better understand users who come to your website.' The organisation uses data from the Google Ads dashboard to ensure that their top-line account metrics exceed industry standards. Closely monitoring performance data allows DonorsChoose.org to optimise their account and ensure that they are using their Ad Grants account to its utmost capacity.
Measuring the strength of their messaging and calls to action by looking at conversion tracking data and on-site behaviour via Google Analytics provides insight into what resonates with their audiences and helps to better frame outreach messaging. Conversion data lends insight into what resources teachers are searching for most and what messaging resonates best with new donors. 'Armed with this knowledge, we can nimbly adapt messaging in other marketing channels to match with what works in Google Ads', explains Yangsin.
“Google Ad Grants allows us to effectively connect with teachers, donors and partners looking to make a difference in local classrooms. Through Google Ads, we can reach teachers looking to bring their classroom dreams to life, and connect with donors and partners seeking a direct and accountable way to support public education,' explains Yangsin. In a year’s time the organisation’s Ad Grants account drove 305 K website visits, 4.9 K donations, 7.4 K teacher registrations, 6.6 K new teacher project submissions and 1.9 K contact us form submissions – with a 8.44% click-through rate. Implementing conversion tracking vastly improved the information that they receive from Google Ads and added an extra layer of data to inform goal setting. Yangsin says, 'We have seen continued growth and improvement to primary conversion tracking goals, thanks to a strategic use of Ad Grants. In just a year, we’ve raised an additional $497k from about 5,000 donations through our ads. We can see the direct impact of our ads on every facet of our marketplace, from new teachers creating their first classroom project, to donors being inspired to give. With our lean marketing budget, I wouldn’t have fathomed these kinds of results if it weren’t for Ad Grants.'
'Our Google Ad Grant is a huge part of our digital marketing strategy at DonorsChoose.org. Google Ads is one of our most impactful marketing channels, allowing us to reach new donors and teachers, channeling materials and experiences into classrooms across the country. These ads spotlight how easy and accessible giving to a local classroom can be.'Yangsin Lau Vazquez, Digital and Growth Marketing, DonorsChoose.org
