Who doesn’t want to show off a shiny 4:1 Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) from your latest campaign?  Your CFO is probably already dreaming about next quarter’s numbers.

What idiot fundraiser would argue against channeling dollars to the higher ROAS activities?  This idiot.

Here’s what everyone’s addicted to:

• Paid Search Brand Terms: 8:1 ROAS (Translation: Paying Google to talk to people already looking for you)
• Meta Custom Audiences: 6:1 ROAS (AKA: Following your existing donors around the internet like a needy ex)
• Google Display Retargeting: 5:1 ROAS (Look, if they haven’t donated after seeing your ads 47 times…)
• Co-Targeted Audiences: 4:1 ROAS (Fighting with other nonprofits over the same donors like it’s the last slice of pizza)

What gives?  ROAS is an efficiency metric, not an effectiveness one.

• Efficiency = How well you convert existing demand (dollars out per dollar in)
• Effectiveness = Actually growing your donor base and total impact

Your 4:1 ROAS might look great on paper, but it’s telling you nothing about:

• How many total donors you could reach
• Whether your donor base is actually growing
• If you’re building sustainable giving relationships
• The 95% of potential donors you’re mostly missing

There are two fundamentally different jobs in fundraising, and we’re incorrectly measuring both with the same metric.

Harvesting (Direct Response)

You’re gathering crops that are ready right now. Everyone’s using fancier equipment, better targeting, more sophisticated tools – but we’re all still picking from the same limited field of ready-to-give donors. Sure, your ROAS looks great when you’re harvesting ripe fruit, but you’re not creating any new trees.

Farming (Brand Building)

This is about planting seeds, nurturing growth, and expanding your productive acreage. It takes longer, requires patience, and looks less impressive on your quarterly metrics. But you’re actually growing something sustainable instead of just getting more efficient at picking the same field clean.

What Actually Works: A Practical Guide

Budget Reality Check

• Keep your high-ROAS tactics but cap them at natural volume limits
• Do incremental lift test – simple version is turn it off, see what happens to total revenue after X months.
• Invest 25-35% in brand building – yes, really
• If you’re not uncomfortable with the brand investment, you’re not investing enough

Metrics That Matter

• For Direct Response: ROAS (but with volume targets), CPA, response rate
• For Brand: Share of voice in your cause area, share of branded search, aided/unaided recall
• Overall: Net donor growth

Making Brand Ads Work

• Dominate the frame with your logo – small logos don’t create memory structures
• Hammer home your category link (e.g., “X for conservation,” “Y for disaster relief”)
• Use consistent visual assets – same colors, fonts, imagery style
• Buy enough weight – light CPM schedules don’t work
• Tell stories about who gives, not just who receives

Getting Started

• Pick one market for brand building – you need weight over breadth
• Set realistic caps on your high-ROAS tactics based on – ideally – incremental lift test (turn off, see what happens total rev)
• Create separate reporting for brand vs. response – different jobs, different metrics
• Plan for 12+ months – brand building isn’t a quarterly play

What to Tell Your Board

• “Our 8:1 ROAS sounds great, but it only works for 2% of our donors”
• “We’re spending more each year to reach the same donors”
• “Our competitor’s brand building is making our direct response less effective”
• “We need to invest in future donors, not just convert existing ones”

You can’t retarget your way to transformational growth. Yes, your brand campaigns will show lower ROAS than retargeting. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature and proof they’re doing a different job.

Kevin