Location
Bellingham, Washington
Sector
Environment & Animals

Non-GMO Project (NGP) is a mission-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to building and protecting our non-GMO food supply. The nonprofit, founded in 2007, provides rigorous monitoring and tracking of GMOs and research and education for consumers, verifying and assuring them of non-GMO choices through its trusted Butterfly mark on more than 100,000 food labels. In 2021, the organization embarked on developing a philanthropic program for the first time in its history.

In 2021, the organization had 1 million Facebook and social media followers—an unprecedented number for a nonprofit. Because NGP had a small existing donor pool, the organization wanted to convert as many of those followers as possible into donation leads and so decided to mount a warming and lead generation campaign.

“The Non-GMO Project was able to incrementally and strategically build our donations program essentially from scratch. While we had extensive contacts, our list of potential donors was outdated and inactive. BWF was a great complement to our internal, highly creative but inexperienced team. We had big ideas but lacked the expertise and the insight to operationalize them. This effort was successful because BWF understood and affirmed our creative ideas but brought pragmatic experience and project management skills to the effort.”
Hans Eisenbeis
Director of Mission and Messaging • Non-GMO Project

As their partner, BWF provided a digital lead generation strategy and counsel to guide them through the process. The campaign commenced on Earth Day and included targeted outreach to 100,000+ Facebook followers with a video link to a customized landing page. Those who viewed the video were then served the option of entering a drawing for a Rad Power Bike in exchange for their email and mailing addresses. Some 2,800 leads were generated through the bike promotion on Earth Day.

After the lead generation campaign, Non-GMO Project launched into a digital warming and lead nurturing campaign. In addition to the strategy for the campaign, the organization received customized email content targeted to specific audiences based on their affinity to the organization and advice for the staff handling the implementation of the campaign. The campaign ran from July through August and included specific calls to action to inspire readers to follow the organization on social media, read blog posts, and watch the Butterfly Effect video, among other digital content.

This effort allowed Non-GMO Project to achieve two important goals. First, NGP laid a foundation for building its donations program through innovative digital techniques such as lead generation and digital warming. And more importantly, the effort helped to create a culture of philanthropy for the growth and diversification of philanthropic revenue at NGP.

Ultimately, 3,000 new leads were generated with strong engagement statistics during the digital warming phase, matching those of NPG’s other marketing efforts. This innovative digital lead generation and nurturing campaign led to three others in 2021 that all served to advance NGP’s mission and inspire donors to support the organization philanthropically and personally through the food choices they make.