With less funds available from the federal government, nonprofits have been forced to find alternative sources of revenue, such as soliciting donations and hosting more events. As a result, strategies like incorporating digital advertising for nonprofits have become the new table stakes. Nonprofit spend on online ads grew nearly 20% in 2025, with revenue from online sources improving 15%.
In advertising, we usually have two goals: to build awareness, and drive direct response action, such as eCommerce sales. With nonprofit digital advertising, however, the pressure is usually on to bring in the highest return on ad spend (ROAS)—the revenue generated needs to far outpace spend it order to make it worth the investment.
With that in mind, there are channels and tactics that are generally more likely to yield a positive return for nonprofits, and some, like the Google Grants program, that require no media investment at all. Keep reading as we dive into the popular & best-performing digital advertising strategies for nonprofits.
Best Performing: Google Paid Search + Retargeting
Unsurprisingly, nonprofits report some of the best return on ad spend from Google’s paid search and Performance Max tactics, along with retargeting on social media.
With paid search, 501(c)(3)s can take advantage of Google’s Ad Grants program to run up to $10k worth of advertising free each month. While there are restrictions (making it tough to spend much of that free money), both search and PMax campaigns can be managed through a Google Grant account.
Screechy Cat Media recommends pairing your Google Ad Grants account with a paid Google search campaign for maximum exposure. Nonprofits report up to $2.75 in return for every $1 invested in search, making it the most cost effective of all digital advertising channels.
Don’t forget about retargeting, though. Your best return on investment will always come from attracting recurring donors, not from acquiring net new. Social media retargeting is efficient and performs well, with 32% of donors saying they are more inspired to donate via social than any other source. Which is why, it’s the next digital advertising tactic we recommend.
Good performance: Social media
More than 50% of nonprofits invest in digital advertising. Of those, 98% are spending money on Meta—and, for good reason. While Meta advertising generally has a lower average ROAS for nonprofits than paid search (about half), the platform offers one of the best opportunities for both prospecting (reaching new audiences) and remarketing, thanks to its rich user data and capabilities such as lookalike targeting.
Where Meta really shines for nonprofits is in event promotion and lead generation. The cost-per-lead on Meta ($3.64 average) is significantly better than display or other social channels, making it a strong top-of-funnel and mid-funnel play.
Not all social media platforms are created equal, however. Nonprofits have reported a ROAS from TikTok of just $0.04 for every $1 invested, making it terrible for fundraising efforts. TikTok may serve your nonprofit’s goals of event awareness, but is itself often underutilized outside of major urban areas (particularly so after the split into a US company last year).
Perfect for larger nonprofits
Small, local nonprofits are best served by focusing ad dollars on tactics like paid search, retargeting, and social media, as these are both the most cost efficient and effective. For larger organizations, we recommend incorporating additional top-of-funnel tactics such as banner (display) advertising and ConnectedTV.
We generally recommend banner advertising for awareness purposes, both in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Banner ads can be cost effective, but earn lower click-thru rates and higher CPCs than other tactics. They also typically do not drive high ROAS for nonprofits, with benchmarks hovering around $0.35 per dollar.
ConnectedTV is a newer channel, one that allows us to buy TV advertising across streaming services and internet-enabled televisions. We also only recommend this tactic for awareness, as there is often no direct action for a user to take from them. Both types of digital advertising are can be highly targeted based on demographics & internet behavior, which make for effective prospecting tools.
Getting Starting with nonprofit digital advertising
Between the Google Ad Grants program, paid search advertising, and retargeting, nonprofits have options for raising funds and awareness. For larger nonprofits with goals in the millions of dollars, we also recommend incorporating banner and ConnectedTV advertising.
Looking to get started with nonprofit digital advertising? Contact us today or set up a no-obligation consultation using this booking link.
