Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity | Fundraising with paid social

During the pandemic, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity developed wellbeing spaces for nursing staff to decompress after a long shift, access psychological support, seek advice or simply take a break. It was mine, and the team at Opens’ task, to find new donors to fund this vital work.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ had a great case for support – the general public understood the need to support frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic. They had an income target, but only had a limited budget to work with – so we had to devise a campaign plan that would not only reach their ready to give warm audience, but also convert cold audiences who didn’t know the charity.

By digging into analytics, CRM and Facebook data I determined that Guy’s had a loyal warm audience who were ready to give. They just needed to be asked in the right way, with a clear message and case for support! This analysis, along with further desk research, suggested that because Guy’s predominantly serviced the area it was located in, those most likely to give to Guy’s were located in the Greater London region. Those who had previously interacted with the hospital – either as a patient or family – no matter where they lived, were also likely to give.

To maximise a limited media budget I elected to use Facebook and Instagram. I set up one campaign for the warm audience so budget could be managed seperately – as I anticipated a much lower CPA. I then set up a separate conversion campaign for cold audiences, and utilised campaign budget optimisation to let the algorithim do it’s thing! The campaign had multiple ad sets, each targeting a different cold audience. These included a range of lookalike audiences, and broader cold audiences targeting those 25+ in the Greater London area. I utilised different messaging for warm and cold audiences to maximise engagement. It was also important to limit the number of ad sets, and avoid the budget being spread too thin.

To help convert the warm audience, the campaign plan also included direct mail and email. Creatively, I briefed the team to keep the campaign as human as possible, using Humans of New York content as inspiration. We also needed the ask to be direct, and make it clear that donations would be utilised to fund a space for staff wellbeing, and outline why that was important. “Space To Be” was the chosen concept. It showcased real stories from hardworking frontline staff – highlighting why they needed ‘space to be’ alone, to be themselves or to be around a network of individuals who could give them the support they needed.

With the help of matched funding, the campaign smashed its fundraising target in just three days!

Guy’s were able to develop multiple wellbeing spaces for staff, which were hugely beneficial