NAMI’s Paid Search and Social Ads Bring in a 52% Increase in Gifts YoY

Mission

To provide advocacy, education, support, and public awareness so all individuals and families impacted by mental illness can build better lives

Challenge

Increase brand awareness and bring in new supporters who support NAMI’s mission

Solution

Establish a trusted partnership with Classy and Revunami to help NAMI reach their fundraising goals

“One of the reasons we switched to Classy was because it offered donors a more streamlined experience; no more clicking through multiple pages to complete a gift. The fields on the donation page are clear, making it easy for our donors to contribute. Since switching to Classy, the number of questions we’ve received on how to make a gift has gone down significantly.”

– Kelly Pavelich, Senior Donor Communications Manager

4.8x

ROI from its evergreen search campaign

52%

YoY increase in gifts

64%

of donation page visitors completed a donation

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI consists of a network of more than 650 local affiliates and 49 state organizations that work to raise awareness and provide support and education to those in need.

A Streamlined Donation Experience With Classy

NAMI found Classy in 2018 while looking for a tool to make the giving process as easy and straightforward as possible. Their team wanted donors to be able to support NAMI’s mission without obstacles, confusion, or process-related questions.

Acquiring New Donors Through Paid and Social Ads

Almost four years ago, NAMI partnered with Revunami, a strategic consulting firm that leverages digital technology to help organizations increase their revenue and see a measurable return on their investment. They collaborated on NAMIWalks with the goal of attracting more participants.

Given the success of the program, NAMI decided to partner with Revunami on all digital marketing efforts and fundraising campaigns.

Revunami has brought increased awareness to our campaigns, funneling people who may be interested in NAMI to our resources and Classy donation pages.
Kelly Pavelich
Senior Donor Communications Manager

Ads are a critical acquisition tool for NAMI. What began as a relatively small effort, consisting of paid ads for specific campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Google, Instagram, and Bing, has grown to include evergreen search ads, which saw a 4.8x return throughout the year, jumping to 9x at year-end. NAMI also added a biannual sustainer campaign, which brought in 355 new donations from paid search and social ads.

NAMI segments the donor list for each campaign and utilizes Classy’s source codes to track where donations come from and accurately measure results. In 2022, NAMI saw a 15.6% increase in revenue through online contributions through Classy and a 45.5% increase in revenue through Revunami’s paid search and social ads year-over-year.

More Donations = More Resources to Support Mental Health

NAMI recently added Classy Pay payment options to their donation pages, giving donors the option to contribute through PayPal, Venmo, and ACH. Since the transition to Classy Pay four months ago, NAMI has raised $256,000, with 82% of the donors being new to the organization.

NAMI has several goals for the coming years to help meet the growing demand for mental health support, including providing more resources and expanding the NAMI HelpLine hours. The NAMI team is also staying up to date on donor trends to better understand today’s donors’ behaviors and preferences and craft world-class experiences that align with those opportunities.