As we close out Q1, it’s time to reflect on the performance of Facebook fundraising challenges over the past three months. At GoodUnited, we monitor challenges for performance and optimization opportunities 2-3x a week, every week. So, there are a lot of improvements and learnings that happen over the course of a month, and they happen fast. But, the more important analysis we do is in a retrospective each month and quarter to ensure we're carrying learnings forward and this quarter is no different.

Q1 featured standout successes, unexpected underperformers, and key learnings that will shape future strategies. Below, we break down what worked best, what didn’t, and what optimizations helped (or didn’t) along the way.

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Top Performing Challenges

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Best Challenges

•  Challenges with an Optimized UX: In Q1 we've tested optimizing a supporter's UX by device. This optimization greatly improved efficiency because we were able to segment the audience and ensure every supporter would have the most frictionless experience possible.

• Outdoor and Open Miles: Outdoor-based challenges and DIY or Move style challenges continued to show strong engagement and fundraising results. This was especially true for moderate mileage challenges (40-70) because the open activity and more difficult distance provide a nice balance between challenge and accessibility.

• Strong Performance for Orgs Returning After a Break: Challenges hosted by organizations that hadn’t been in market in a few months saw reduced acquisition costs and higher engagement, reinforcing the supply-demand balance within verticals.

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Best Mission Areas

• Socially & Politically Relevant Causes: Reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights organizations performed well, likely due to their relevance in current political conversations. We were even able to get a quick-launch challenge in market for a small LGBTQ+ organization who saw their supporters rally given the opportunity to support on social.
  If you believe the current political climate is impacting your organization's mission, we'd love to chat and understand if GoodUnited's Challenges and direct messaging platform could help you reach your supporters when you're needed most.

• Veteran Support Orgs: In the last two years, veteran support organizations have scaled their efforts in social fundraising. Many saw variable performance over the last year, but in revisiting their goals, budgets, and strategies for 2025 we're helping them see more consistent results, regaining efficiency and providing their supporters with their ideal opportunities to support the causes they care about most.

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Underperforming Challenges & Learnings

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Challenges that Struggled

• Holiday Hangover Timeframe: While December is always a tough time for fundraising with all the competing end-of-year asks and competition for hard-earned dollars, the intense push for giving in the last quarter of 2024 spilled over into weaker-than-expected performance in January as well.
  
  • ✅Learning:The organizations that were less affected by this timing had 1) not run in a while and 2) low ad spend, so this timing will be a consideration as we nail down late-2025 and early-2026 challenge strategies with our customers.
• Changing Incentive Strategies: Challenges with underwhelming incentives (like magazines and stickers) did not see expected engagement boosts, reinforcing the need to be selective when using incentives.
  
  • ✅Learning: While sometimes niche organizations can drive strong fundraising with unique items, perks like t-shirts and shoelaces traditionally perform best.
• Challenges Without Strong Physical Activity Components: In an attempt to reach an audience not motivated by the physical component of traditional challenges, one organization requested to run an A/B test of a traditional activity and a challenge simply focused on fundraising.
  
  • ✅Learning: The fundraising challenge saw lower costs but much weaker fundraising performance compared to the traditional challenge activity, reinforcing the idea that a unifying physical activity is key to a challenge.

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Key Optimizations & Results

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What Worked?

• Messenger Automation Follow-Up via Lead Form Opt-In: With legal requirements changing for SMS programs, we have decided to focus our efforts on direct messaging in-channel rather than using SMS retargeting, making this optimization even more important. We provide the opportunity to opt-in to Messenger from the lead form and then follow up with leads in Messenger with a pertinent CTA related to the challenge. The best part is, we can optimize the first follow-up based on a specific challenge's weakest metric (subscribers, fundraising, group conversion) or a non-profit's unique goals.
• Device UX Optimization: This strategic ad spend distribution between devices was a major win and will continue being tested in future campaigns.
• Advantage+ Targeting: Based on demographic analysis during lead generation, this was a helpful optimization for stabilizing CPL without negatively impacting fundraising performance. More testing is needed, but early results are promising.
• Extending Lead Gen into Activity Month: To maintain engagement throughout the challenge month, we tested extending lead generation into the activity month, monitoring for efficient spend while allowing fresh participants to join the challenge at that crucial timeframe for building momentum. This was especially helpful for challenges that saw strong lead generation performance and increased ad spend to capitalize on the strong performance.

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Final Thoughts

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Despite a challenging start to the year, challenges are now progressing normally—if not better than usual. February and March saw a 📈 300% ROAS average, and April Challenges are off to a hot start as well at 250% already. Strategic optimizations and a keen understanding of participant behavior can drive strong fundraising outcomes, especially with our Professional Services team on your side!

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Going forward, the focus will be on:

1.  Refining the optimized device UX to maximize audience reach.
2.  Improving early loss detection to optimize toward efficient spending sooner.
3. Building on direct messaging follow-up to ensure participants are supported in reaching their fundraising goals.

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With these insights in mind, we’re positioned to drive even stronger results in Q2! 🚀

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