Nonprofit Digital Fundraising Strategy: A Data-Driven Approach for Animal Welfare

Challenge: Breaking Through the Noise to Drive Meaningful Donations

Every day, countless animals face cruelty, neglect, and exploitation—but the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), now named Human World for Animals, exists to change that. As one of the nation’s leading animal welfare organizations, HSUS needed more than just passion to fuel their mission—they needed funding. Despite a strong supporter base, HSUS faced a major hurdle: how to inspire new donors in an increasingly crowded and competitive nonprofit landscape. To meet this challenge, they needed a nonprofit digital fundraising strategy that would cut through the noise and drive real impact.

Coegi was brought in to solve three core challenges:

• Finding the Right Donors: Identify individuals most likely to support and donate—not just those who love animals.
• Maximizing Impact Across Channels: Balance awareness and performance tactics across a $2 million national media campaign.
• Proving ROI: Tie every media investment back to measurable donation outcomes, such as cost per new donor and donation value.

HSUS needed a partner to turn empathy into measurable action—one that could connect their mission to new audiences while ensuring every dollar spent made a difference.

Solution: A Full-Funnel Strategy That Connected Hearts and Data

To meet HSUS’s goals, Coegi developed a comprehensive nonprofit digital fundraising strategy—a multi-channel, performance-driven campaign that blended emotional storytelling with data intelligence to inspire action and increase donations.

1. Smarter Audience Targeting

• Identified high-potential donor segments: passionate animal welfare advocates and seasoned charitable givers.
• Used AI-powered tools like Resonate, Samba TV, and GumGum to reach qualified, high-intent audiences across digital and traditional media.

2. Strategic Channel Mix and Messaging

• Deployed high-impact display ads, contextual programmatic, and social content (Instagram, Pinterest) to drive awareness and engagement.
• Ran direct response TV ads and personalized donation appeals via digital retargeting to convert interest into donations.
• Used retargeting strategies to reach users who engaged with HSUS or competitor content, ensuring consistent message reinforcement.

3. Relentless Optimization and Measurement

• Aligned budget to the most efficient channels using Google Campaign Manager’s attribution insights.
• Maintained an agile campaign approach with creative refreshes and geographic expansion based on performance trends.

Results: $200K+ in Donations and a 75% Decrease in Cost Per Acquisition

Coegi’s strategic media approach and well-executed nonprofit digital fundraising strategy transformed compassion into measurable support for HSUS, exceeding key performance benchmarks while building long-term donor engagement.

Maximizing Donations and Donor Acquisition

• 3,354 total donations and $203,579 raised for HSUS’s critical programs.
• October alone drove 861 donations and $121K in contributions, proving campaign scalability.
• Retargeting and social display campaigns delivered 1,699 donations, with top creative achieving a $29.72 CPA.

Elevating Media Efficiency

• 75.7% reduction in CPA year-over-year, showcasing improved cost-effectiveness.
• Lookalike audiences emerged as top converters, reinforcing the power of first-party data.
• High-impact display units saw CTRs 10x higher than standard banners.
• Pinterest campaign beat KPIs by 82%, increasing quality site traffic.

Fueling Growth Through Optimization

• Nationwide campaign expansion and creative optimizations led to a 247% increase in digital donations YoY.
• Strategic budget reallocations focused investment on highest-performing channels and creatives.

This campaign proves that performance marketing, when grounded in empathy and executed with precision, can drive real social good. Together, Coegi and HSUS created a roadmap for nonprofit fundraising that not only raises awareness, but also changes lives.