For 40 years, Fulfill Food Bank has been working to end hunger and address systemic barriers to self-sufficiency and well-being in Monmouth and Ocean Counties of New Jersey. The organization provided more than 14 million meals last year through their network of 300 food pantries and soup kitchens. Beyond food distribution, Fulfill offers programs such as benefit and healthcare service enrollment and culinary training to better address the challenges faced by people in those communities.  

The Situation

Faced with a perfect storm of funding cuts, inflation, and economic uncertainty, Fulfill Food Bank – like others across the nation – is being confronted by an unprecedented crisis. Recent reductions to vital U.S. Department of Agriculture programs already strained Fulfill’s limited resources and resulted in the loss of 150,000 pounds of food deliveries. At the same time, proposed $290 billion cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, school lunch and summer food assistance programs, and other nutrition benefits threaten to push more families toward hunger. 

Fulfill responded to these compounding pressures with strategic communications about the immediate impact of these cuts and successfully leveraged Allegiance Group + Pursuant’s proprietary GivingDNA audience data to segment donors by political affiliation.  

The Work

Although fighting hunger is a bipartisan issue, the funding cuts that impact hunger relief efforts can be a polarizing message. GivingDNA allowed Fulfill to segment previous donors by their political affiliation and serve tailored messages that align with their ideology.

GivingDNA allowed Fulfill to segment previous donors by their political affiliation and serve tailored messages that align with their ideology.

• Paid social campaign to amplify an urgent “first wave” appeal targeting three GivingDNA groups:
  – Retargeting self-reported Democrats
  – Retargeting self-reported Republicans/Independents/unaffiliated voters
  – Prospecting Meta donor lookalikes/charitable donors over 35 in Fulfill’s service area
  

• Segmented “Hard” and “Soft” Messaging
  – Democrats received a “hard” message focused on the impact of USDA cuts
  – Republicans/Independents/Unaffiliated/Prospects received a “soft” message focused on the impact of unexpected funding shortfalls
  – All audiences received messages focused on rallying community support with a value proposition.

The Results

• The $37.86 average cost per acquisition was the lowest CPA for any paid social campaign Fulfill has run, nearly 151% lower than the industry benchmark of $95
• Prospects were the top performing audience, generating 44% of the gifts with a $28.70 CPA
• Republicans/Independents/Unaffiliated Voters audience produced the highest average gift ($104.29)