Keeping local news in front of the community it covers
Voice of OC has used a fully utilized Google Ad Grant (and, since 2024, targeted Meta campaigns) to put Orange County’s nonprofit newsroom in front of readers exactly when they’re looking for local news, and turn them into subscribers and donors.
The story
The Challenge
Voice of OC came to Elevation with an established digital presence and a strong community mission — but local journalism competes for attention against national outlets with far bigger budgets. Their goals were clear: increase high-quality site traffic from people interested in local government, policy, and accountability; boost newsletter subscriptions through targeted campaigns; and align social, organic, and paid advertising under one unified digital strategy, all on a nonprofit’s budget.
Our Approach
News doesn’t sit still, so the account couldn’t either. We designed a two-pronged strategy. Google Ad Grant for visibility: using the $10,000/month in free Google Ads funding the grant provides, we built keyword-driven search campaigns to position Voice of OC as the go-to source for civic news in Orange County: evergreen campaigns covering core topics and geographic beats, plus a Current News campaign refreshed continuously with new ad groups anticipating which stories will draw search traffic. Meta ads for conversion: paid social campaigns on Facebook and Instagram convert casual readers into subscribers and donors, optimized for newsletter signups. The engine behind both is ongoing collaboration. Voice of OC shares a steady stream of new stories and community updates, letting us refresh ad content weekly and capitalize on trending topics.
Why It Worked
Most Ad Grant accounts are set-and-forget — and it shows. Treating the account like a newsroom, with fresh ad groups built around each week’s stories on top of an evergreen foundation, kept quality scores high and the grant fully spent. Pairing that broad, grant-funded visibility with Meta campaigns focused on one conversion goal turned new readers into the subscribers and donors that keep independent local journalism running.
The Results
Ad clicks from Q4 2024 through Q1 2025, a 32.6% increase over the previous period
Click-through rate, up 43.8% — well above Google’s 5% minimum for keeping the grant active
Average monthly ad spend of the $10,000 grant, a 273% increase in utilization. Most nonprofits struggle to spend even half of that free advertising
New newsletter subscribers, with the Ad Grant the second-largest source: 1,134 in Jan–Mar 2025 vs. 551 the prior quarter, a 106% increase
In donations from readers who arrived through Ad Grant campaigns
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