(AmpleHarvest is not a client of Web 105. But we heard about their story and wanted to share it)
AmpleHarvest’s Non Profit Success Story: The Background
It’s time for another great Non Profit Success Story… This time it’s about how AmpleHarvest was able to get over 1,300,000 clicks to their NFP website within a few short years using the Google Adwords Grant.
AmpleHarvest’s mission is to provide families who are malnourished (because they don’t have enough food), with fresh produce from local gardeners.
This is achieved with a simple solution – AmpleHarvest provides gardeners the technology / resources, the gardeners grow the food – then this fresh, nutritious food is passed out to millions of hungry families across America.
This serves two purposes – to eliminate wasted food (from those with excess food in their garden) and nourish those in impoverished communities.
AmpleHarvest has set up “food pantries” across America where people can access fresh produce.
There are now more than 7,000 “food pantries” across the U.S. and they have successfully provided thousands of malnourished families with delicious, fresh produce.
AmpleHarvest’s Marketing Goals
AmpleHarvest’s primary marketing goals with the Google Adwords grant was to:
- Increase online “food pantry” sign-ups
- Connect more food growers (gardeners) with local pantries
- Generate more donations to sustain and grow operations
The Process
AmpleHarvest had no prior online marketing experience, nor did they have an allocated advertising budget.
However, with the Google Adwords Grant, they were able to receive the funding they needed to gain momentum online.
With millions of users using Google, AmpleHarvest was able to get their message in front of many interested people.
Gary Oppenheimer (Founder of AmpleHarvest) applied for the grant in 2009 and promptly began managing the Adwords account actively.
By studying the platform and understanding online user behaviour, he was able to use the $10,000 per month Adwords budget allocated to AmpleHarvest effectively.
In 2014, he was accepted into the Grantspro program, which boosted their monthly budget from $10,000 to a whopping $40,000 per month.
Oppenheimer says:
“Grantspro has provided the industrial level communications muscle that is typically unavailable to a small nonprofit.”
With the increase in budget, AmpleHarvest is able to reach more users, test more campaigns and regularly improve campaign performance.
The Results
The results for AmpleHarvest have been spectacular.
Over the past several years, using just the Adwords Grant alone, they have achieved:
- Over 7,000 food pantry registrations
- 60,000 conversions
- 1,300,000~ clicks to their website
- 62% new website traffic that they otherwise would not have been able to obtain
- Significantly increased awareness and publicity
AmpleHarvest is still going strong with their mission and have successfully utilised the internet to expand their donation and user-base.
“Ad Grants has been a critical partner of AmpleHarvest.org since our launch. 1,000 food pantries nationwide registered to receive locally grown fresh food for the first time within 150 days of our existence due to the extensive reach of AdWords.”
Gary Oppenheimer (Founder, AmpleHarvest)
You can view the AmpleHarvest website here.
Want to hear about another Non Profit Success Story? Find out how Elder Wisdom Circle was able to also receive $40,000 a month from Google, and the astounding results they achieved with it.