The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina is among the largest hunger relief networks in the United States, working every day to provide food to people in need across 34 counties while advancing long-term solutions to end hunger in their communities.
Northern Illinois Food Bank empowers neighbors in 13 counties, providing nutritious food and resources with dignity, equity, and convenience, and distributing 250,000 meals every day.
Philabundance is the largest Feeding America hunger-relief organization in the Philadelphia Region. Founded in 1984, the nonprofit rescues surplus food and distributes millions of pounds of groceries annually across nine counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.
Together with AGP, these organizations are working to expand their reach by engaging new audiences and advancing solutions to food insecurity challenges.
$38.54 CPA
delivered through recipe ads, beating Meta benchmark by 12%+
$2.43 ROAS
outperformed traditional Summer Hunger ad creative
12.6% CTR
for recipe ads was 2.5x higher than Summer Hunger ads
The Situation
Digital advertising had become a primary driver of new donor acquisition for food banks, but prospecting efforts were largely limited to traditional audiences already aligned with hunger relief messaging.
AGP saw an opportunity to expand beyond these expected segments by leveraging existing partnerships with local restaurants who had previously supported food bank events and asking them to create custom recipes to reach new audiences on social media, specifically foodies, cooking enthusiasts, and dining aficionados who share a natural connection to food but may not yet be engaged with the mission.
The challenge was to connect with these audiences in a way that felt relevant and engaging, rather than relying on standard fundraising creative.
The Work
AGP partnered with three food banks to build Paid Social campaigns that integrated recipe content from local restaurants into their Summer Hunger appeals.
Each campaign featured exclusive recipes from well-known local chefs and restaurants, designed to appeal to food-focused audiences and encourage engagement based on shared interest, not just charitable intent. These assets were deployed across Paid Social channels and targeted to prospect audiences beyond traditional food bank segments.
By leading with content that felt useful and culturally relevant, the campaigns created a natural entry point for new audiences to engage with the food bank’s mission and take action.
Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina
Chef Cheeti Kumar, Chef & Owner of Ajja in Raliegh, NC
Northern Illinois Food Bank
Chef Leonel Montiel, Stockholm’s Restaurant in Geneva, IL
Philabundance
Chef and Owner, Evan Snyder, Emmett in Philadelphia, PA
Results
The recipe-driven campaigns significantly outperformed traditional prospecting creative across all three food bank partners.
Recipe ads exclusively targeted prospects, generating a $2.43 return on ad spend and significantly outperforming traditional food bank creative with acquisition audiences. Ads produced a $38.54 cost per acquisition, which is more than 12% lower than the industry benchmark and is remarkable for prospecting campaigns outside of December. Recipe ads also delivered an excellent 12.6% click-through rate and a $0.44 cost per click, both more than 2.5 times stronger than standard Summer Hunger creative.
In addition to improved efficiency and engagement, the campaigns acquired hundreds of new-to-file donors and expanded each organization’s reach to audiences who may not have otherwise engaged with traditional food bank messaging.
“Partnering with local restaurants to share exclusive recipes is a great way to connect local foodies with the Food Bank and reach new donors. Our local food scene is legendary, and this campaign has allowed us to expand our traditional prospect audiences and engage with local businesses.”
Kendra paiz
Director of Annual Fund, Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina
