The Vancouver Foundation is a philanthropic organization that supports communities across British Columbia by providing grants to charities and non-profits. Their mission is to foster healthy, vibrant, equitable, and inclusive communities. Funding for their initiatives is sourced from community donations and the management of endowment funds for individuals, charities, and businesses. As one of our longstanding clients, we have had the privilege of assisting them in expanding their online presence.
Out-Smarts began supporting the Vancouver Foundation in 2017, initially providing web traffic analytics consulting to enhance their website’s SEO, Google Universal Analytics, Google Ads, and tag tracking for key site interactions. Through this consulting, we discovered that the Vancouver Foundation was not taking advantage of the free Google Ads offered to non-profit organizations (Google Grants). Consequently, Out-Smarts was engaged to develop and manage their search ad campaigns. This partnership has since evolved to encompass Microsoft Ads, Paid Google Ads, and managing their Google Grants campaigns. Out-Smarts continues to provide consultation on SEO and analytics as needed.
To achieve their goal of increasing donations, while raising awareness about Vancouver Foundation’s philanthropic work, we established two distinct groups: one for paid advertising on Google and Microsoft, and another for Google Grants. Additionally, to continually optimize targeting, we implemented Google Analytics strategies to track website traffic to further understand the dynamic needs of donors.
Google and Microsoft Ads Strategy
The objective of Google and Microsoft paid ads for the Vancouver Foundation is to attract potential philanthropic donors and advisors. This includes a strategy that emphasizes fund awareness to encourage potential donors to consider donating through various donation opportunities.
Google Ads Grants Strategy
The initial goal of the Google Grants campaign strategy for the Vancouver Foundation was to help non-profits and other organizations discover the Vancouver Foundation and find suitable grants. Vancouver Foundation offers a wide range of funding opportunities including BIPOC grants, Indigenous Thriving Systems Fund grants, Neighbourhood Small Grants and more.
Vancouver Foundation’s focus has shifted over time, to adapt to the changing needs of the communities they serve. Their current strategy emphasizes trust-based funding to equity-deserving communities across BC including, but not limited to, BIPOC and Indigenous-led organizations.
Web Traffic Analytics and Tracking
To effectively track when people click on specific parts of the website, we set up Google Tag Manager, allowing us to gather detailed interaction data. This data is then imported into Google Analytics 4 (GA4), where we can analyze user behavior in depth. By understanding these insights, we can create more precise and effective targeting strategies, ensuring that our marketing efforts are better aligned with user interests and behaviours.
Pay Per Click Results
Over the years, the ads have successfully driven over 140,000 visitors to the site, achieving a conversion rate of approximately 3%. This consistent influx of traffic has been instrumental in boosting engagement and interaction on the site. Since 2022 alone, this increased traffic has led to over 3,300 key events—actions taken by visitors that demonstrate their engagement and interest in the site’s content or offerings. These key events include various meaningful interactions, such as sign-ups, downloads, and other significant actions that indicate a higher level of user involvement and commitment.
Why We Love This Project
Out-Smarts has proudly supported the Vancouver Foundation since 2017, making them one of our longest-standing clients. We have had the pleasure of assisting them in navigating the ever-changing online landscape to promote the incredible work they do in local communities. We look forward to continuing our partnership and helping them meet the needs of the groups they support.
If your organization is struggling to get found online, we can help design effective digital marketing campaigns that use paid ads to achieve immediate results. Book a free discovery call to see how we can assist you.
A Word From the Client
It has been a pleasure working with Mhairi and her team over the years. They have a strategic and results-oriented approach and are always keen to help us dial-in better results in the digital ad space. Mhairi has been helpful in identifying new opportunities for us to consider, some of which have allowed us to promote our work with cost-savings. More than anything, I enjoy collaborating with Out-Smarts to ensure that our digital strategy continues to be well-aligned and outcome-driven as our organization continually evolves.
- Lindsey Ridgway | Manager, Digital Communications Strategy | Vancouver Foundation
info@out-smarts.com
604 909 3532
