Work can really feel like a grind when the effort doesn’t pay off. But in nonprofit marketing, it’s hard to change a plan when it’s still bringing in results — even if they’re less than desired. But as fewer emails are opened and clicks are harder to find, there’s only one option left. Nothing’s going to come from nothing.
Sarah Garriepy is the Marketing Supervisor for Beverly Bootstraps, a Massachusetts-based organization serving families and individuals from 5 cities and towns on the North Shore of Boston, who are seeking assistance on their path to self-sufficiency.
Sarah says it like this: "Our mission is really to make people self-sufficient. The goal is to start working with people and really stick with them from beginning to end — not just meet their immediate needs now, but give them the tools they need to become self-sufficient."
Beverly Bootstraps was in the middle of a transition between Executive Directors when the Director of Development stepped down. Feathr was a relatively new program for Beverly Bootstraps that Sarah needed to navigate. Signing up for Feathr Pro was essential. Having a dedicated representative to work alongside and help make Sarah’s Giving Tuesday plans a reality was key.
"In the past, we had never done ads before other than a few on Meta,” Sarah said. “Our campaigns were a very standard series of emails the day before, a couple the day of, and social posts in between."
But sometimes change is exactly what the doctor ordered.
A match made in heaven
Sarah’s first step was designing a campaign that would stand out from the rest. Her new Executive Director helped secure a donor willing to match gifts up to $10,000 to lift the sails for the whole campaign.
Knowing that their audience was being bombarded with ads all day long, Sarah wanted to try simplifying their calls to action. And with Feathr, she now had a way to measure what worked and what didn’t.
She said, "In Feathr, we were able to see who was clicking, and if they clicked but didn't donate, we could follow up with an email. Even the thank you email at the end became automatic — it was really easy to know who had triggered that conversion pixel and donated."
Beverly Bootstraps originally switched from Constant Contact to Feathr to gain new email capabilities. But this was certainly a win-win situation. They found new capabilities, but they also were now seeing all their marketing campaigns working together in real time.
In Feathr, Sarah brought email, digital and social ads, and detailed reporting all onto a single platform. And though her initial draw was to increase capacity, especially in email, she found that the insights gained were where the investment really paid off.
The payoff
For an organization like Beverly Bootstraps, it isn’t really about the money at all; it’s about the people who you can help. But the reality is that you can help many more people when marketing campaigns bring in more donations.
“Giving Tuesday occurred just after the government shutdown and the SNAP crisis,” said Sarah. “Both hit the communities we serve hard. In the last two weeks of October, visits to our Food Pantry rose by more than 20%, and our two Refrigerated Food Locker locations were full every day. We heard from families who had been able to stretch their budgets with SNAP, but were suddenly struggling to put food on the table. What started with a single donor’s generous offer ultimately brought in almost $40,000 for families in their time of need.”
"Our donors responded to our campaign, donating $19,000. When our match donor heard, they increased their match, bringing our total to $39,000. People really respond when they know their gift is being multiplied."
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
All the insights gained today aren’t just for the campaigns currently running. It’s all about the long view. It takes time to build deep relationships, and that’s exactly what nonprofits do when they ask a neighbor for a donation.
Beverly Bootstraps, though they’re happy with the 2025 campaigns, think 2026 will be even brighter.
"Five and a half years ago, we were going into each email and pulling out data and going onto Facebook to pull reactions,” Sarah said. “Now I create a flight, print my report, and it's all right there. Instead of having to cherry-pick each KPI, it's done for me."
Sarah is looking ahead to future campaigns to be even more successful.
She said, "Hunger isn’t a one-day problem — it's year-round. We really can't just rely on end-of-the-year donations. Now with Feathr, I'm looking forward to geofencing and expanding our audience. I know there are more people who care and want to help. They just need to hear from us."
