(Elder Wisdom Circle is not a client of Web 105. But we heard about their story and wanted to share it)
The Elder Wisdom Circle (EWC) is a non profit success story that offers hope and motivation for NFPs.
EWC provides the younger generation with timely advice and wisdom – directly from senior volunteers (ages 60+) who have a wealth of life experiences.
This is achieved through their online platform that lets users send a message with details of their situation. EWC then matches this with the “Elder” who is best suited to provide a response.
EWC’s mission is to provide the younger generation with counsel and guidance, while also improving their view of the older generation.
On the other hand, seniors can volunteer some of their spare time to sharing the wealth of wisdom that they have accumulated over their lifetime.
To achieve better reach to the younger generation, EWC applied for the $10,000 per month, Google Adwords grant to boost their marketing campaigns.
Marketing Goals
EWC’s online marketing goals were threefold:
- Locate advice seekers
- Reach potential volunteers and supporters
- Promote advice columns
The Process
Doug Meckelson (Founder and President of EWC), understood that youths spent a large amount of time on the internet.
With this insight, he became one of the early adopters of the Google Ad grants programme.
They obtained a $10,000 per month Adwords grant and quickly set about putting their marketing plans in motion.
The offer had great appeal and soon had thousands of youths, seeking advice from the wiser generation.
EWC quickly outspent the $10,000/month grant with a very successful Ad Campaign.
Google noticed the success of EWC’s marketing campaign and positive community impact, and accepted them into the Grantspro programme.
This new programme gives increased monthly budgets, up to $40,000 / month.
Meckelson also noticed that there were an increasing trend of users visiting from mobile devices.
In response to this, EWC upgraded their website to become mobile-optimised and which lead to even more success.
A Great Non Profit Success Story – The Results
EWC’s great offering, paired with an effective marketing campaign resulted in stellar outcomes.
With the Grantspro programme, they were able to reach 240% more supporters and served an additional 8,000 advice seekers.
They also received an additional 12,000 hours of volunteer service from their seniors.
Furthermore, 15% of their total donations come from users who found EWC through the Adwords Campaign.
Meckelson currently uses the Analytics and Conversion Tracking to keep a close watch on trends to make informed, future decisions.
For example, 71% of EWC’s overall visitors and 65% of advice-seekers come from the Adwords Campaigns alone.
Meckelson attributes the Adwords grant to his Non Profit success story:
“In the absence of our AdWords campaigns, the Elder Wisdom Circle would likely cease to exist. There is no viable advertising alternative for our non-profit that would be as successful.”
– Doug Meckelson, Founder & President, Elder Wisdom Circle
What’s In Store For The Future
EWC has historically focused mainly on the U.S. audience, with most of their senior advice-givers living in North America.
However, they are now looking to expand their mission to other countries and offer this great service to youths, worldwide.
Are you involved in a non-profit organisation? Why not make this into your own success story?
You can find out how to apply for Google’s $10,000 USD / month Adwords grant here.