How I Built a Multi-Channel Digital Acquisition Engine for the League of Conservation Voters
Directing an $800K+ annual media budget across 17+ channels — building a high-volume, cost-efficient lead generation and donor acquisition program that grew LCV's membership pipeline, reduced CPA, and increased giving through strategic funnel integration.
$800K+
annual media budget directed across 17+ channels
$1.30
Average lead gen CPA — as low as $.90 on top creatives
25%
Increase in giving through petition-to-donate automation
Introduction:
The League of Conservation Voters is one of the country's most powerful environmental advocacy organizations — running electoral, legislative, and grassroots campaigns that shape climate and conservation policy at the national and state levels.
Their digital acquisition program is the engine that powers it all: finding new supporters, converting them into members, and moving them toward becoming recurring donors who fund the long-term work.
I direct LCV's digital acquisition and growth marketing program — owning the strategy, budget allocation, channel mix, creative direction, vendor relationships, and performance benchmarks across an ecosystem of 17+ paid media channels.
The work spans two distinct but integrated programs: lead generation (petition-to-email acquisition) and donor acquisition (direct response fundraising and recurring donor growth).
Background:
When I came into this role, the acquisition program was functional but not optimized. The targeting approach leaned heavily on list rentals—a method that produced leads, but not the right kind. List rental audiences are passive by definition: they haven't raised their hand for LCV specifically, which means lower intent, lower conversion, and higher long-term churn.
The strategic shift I pushed for — and ultimately drove by switching vendors when the previous one wouldn't execute it — was moving from list rentals to interest-based targeting.
Finding people who were already engaged with environmental issues, conservation content, and civic participation, rather than renting access to people who happened to be on a list. That shift changed the quality of everything downstream: better leads, better conversion, better retention, better revenue.
Before
List rental targeting — passive, low-intent audiences
Limited channel diversification
No petition-to-donate automation
Vendor unwilling to evolve strategy
After
Interest-based targeting — high-intent, mission-aligned audiences
17+ channels across upper and lower funnel
Automated petition-to-donate flow driving 25% more giving
New vendor partnership enabling full strategic execution
The channel ecosystem
One of the defining features of this program is its channel breadth. Rather than concentrating spend in one or two platforms, I built and manage a diversified media mix that covers the full funnel — from brand awareness and upper funnel reach, to direct response and conversion.
Social
Paid social media ads
Facebook, Instagram, and beyond — core acquisition and retargeting
Out of home
Digital billboards
Targeted OOH in key geographies for awareness and credibility
Creators
Influencer marketing
Authentic creator partnerships amplifying the mission to new audiences
Search & video
Google & YouTube ads
Search intent capture and video-first awareness at scale
Audio
Podcast & audio ads
Intimate, trust-forward format reaching engaged listeners
Gaming Platforms
gaming ads
Reward-based gaming placements targeting the recurring donor program
Retargeting
CROSS-CHANNEL RETARGETING
Re-engaging warm audiences across platforms who have interacted with LCV but haven't yet converted.
Display
Programmatic display
Broad reach across the open web — brand presence and retargeting
Partnerships
Civic Shout & Daily Kos
Civic-aligned partner placements reaching pre-qualified progressive audiences
Streaming
CTV / Connected TV
Reaching cord-cutters in living rooms with mission-driven video
Newsletter
Newsletter ad placements
Trusted inbox placements in mission-aligned publications
Yahoo & Gmail ads
In-inbox display reaching users at the moment of attention
Program one: lead generation
Petition to pipeline
$1.30 average CPA — as low as $.90
The lead generation program is built around a simple but high-performing model: targeted ads drive potential supporters to a petition, the petition converts them into email subscribers, and an automated follow-up sequence moves them toward a first donation. We own, optimize, and measure every step of that journey.
Lead gen CPA holds steady around $1.30 on average, with top-performing creatives bringing it down to $ 0.90 per lead. Getting to those numbers required continuous creative testing, audience refinement, and a willingness to be tactical about what's working versus what feels good. The creative that performs isn't always the creative that wins in a boardroom—and the discipline to tell the difference is what keeps the program efficient at scale.
Integrating an automated petition-to-donate follow-up sequence was a major unlock. Rather than treating petition signers as list members and moving on, we built an automated email and engagement flow that moves new subscribers toward their first donation, resulting in a 25% increase in giving within one year of implementation.
Program two:
donor acquisition & fundraising
Growing the pipeline
Acquiring new donors — including high-level annual funders
The donor acquisition program runs in parallel with lead gen but with a different objective: moving people directly from ad to donation, with a particular focus on acquiring new recurring donors and high-level annual funders who contribute significantly to long-term revenue.
I built and scaled a donor pipeline strategy using targeted ads and lookalike modeling — finding people who looked like LCV's best existing donors and reaching them with creative and messaging calibrated to where they were in their relationship with the cause. This is where interest-based targeting made the biggest difference: finding people already predisposed to give, rather than trying to convert cold audiences from scratch.
The creative strategy is mine end to end — the platform placement decisions, the messaging angle, the alignment with LCV's organizational voice and stance, and the positioning of each ask. I determine what gets said, where it runs, and why. From there, I work with our vendor firm to translate that strategy into the actual visual creatives and copy for each platform — ensuring that what gets built matches the brief and performs in context. We treat every campaign as a testing opportunity. What we learn from one informs the next, and the program gets smarter over time — not just bigger.
Membership funnel — from ad to advocate
How a stranger becomes a sustaining LCV member
Membership isn't just a revenue stream — it's the foundation of LCV's long-term organizing power. Every new member who joins the ecosystem is a potential donor, volunteer, advocate, and ambassador. Building a membership funnel that works means thinking about every touchpoint from the first ad impression to the moment someone becomes a monthly sustainer.
Awareness & discovery
The ad — meeting people where they are
The membership journey starts with a paid ad — on social, in a newsletter, on a podcast, or through a partner placement. The creative is calibrated to the channel and the audience: what works on TapJoy for a gaming audience is different from what works in a Civic Shout newsletter placement.
Interest-based targeting ensures we're reaching people already predisposed to care — not cold audiences who need to be convinced the issue matters before they can be convinced to act.
Nurture & engagement
The email pipeline — building relationships over time
Beyond the initial onboarding, new members enter LCV's broader email program — receiving issue updates, campaign alerts, action opportunities, and targeted fundraising appeals.
The data captured at sign-up (which issue they cared about, which ad brought them in) informs how they're messaged.
Segmentation ensures that what someone receives feels relevant to why they joined — not generic broadcast communications that erode trust over time.
Conversion
The petition — a low-friction entry point
The primary conversion mechanism is a petition — a clear, issue-specific call to action that gives a potential supporter a meaningful way to participate without immediately asking for money.
Petition sign-ups capture the email address, expressed issue interest, and baseline engagement data that powers everything downstream.
The petition is the door — and it's intentionally easy to open.
Conversion to donor
First gift — moving from member to financial supporter
Through a combination of issue-based appeals, campaign moments, and strategic fundraising asks, engaged members are moved toward their first financial contribution.
The ask is calibrated — not leading with a major gift, but finding the entry point that converts and establishes the giving relationship.
A first gift, even a small one, fundamentally changes the member's relationship with the organization.
Immediate follow-up
Automated onboarding — the first 72 hours
The moment someone signs a petition, an automated sequence begins. The first 72 hours are critical — this is when intent is highest, and the connection to LCV's mission is freshest.
The onboarding series introduces the organization, reinforces the issue they signed up for, and presents a first donation ask — sequenced to feel like a natural next step, not a hard sell.
This automation drove the 25% increase in giving by turning a list-building moment into a giving moment.
Recurring giving
Monthly/Annual sustainer — the long game
The highest-value outcome in the membership funnel is converting a one-time donor into a monthly sustainer — a recurring contributor whose predictable, compounding revenue powers LCV's long-term work.
Specific channels (including gaming/TapJoy placements) are targeted specifically at recurring donor acquisition, reaching audiences where reward-based engagement models align naturally with the sustainer ask.
Growing the sustainer base is growing the organization's financial foundation.
Results & Impact
BUDGET MANAGED
$800K+
Annual media budget directed across 17+ channels — allocated strategically based on performance, audience, and funnel stage.
PIPELINE GROWTH
Scaling
High-level annual funder acquisition, growing sustainer base, and a membership funnel that compounds over time.
CHANNEL BREADTH
17+ channels
From gaming ads to CTV to influencer partnerships — a diversified media mix that reaches mission-aligned audiences everywhere they are.
LEAD GEN CPA
$1.30 avg
Steady average CPA with top creatives performing as low as $.90 — achieved through continuous testing and audience refinement.
GIVING INCREASE
25%
Increase in giving within one year of implementing the petition-to-donate automated follow-up sequence.
STRATEGIC SHIFT
List → intent
Moved program from list rental targeting to interest-based acquisition — improving lead quality, donor retention, and long-term value.
“The goal was never just cheaper leads. It was building a system that finds the right people, brings them in with intention, and gives them a reason to stay and give for years.”
Conclusion
The LCV digital acquisition program is what happens when paid media is treated as an organizing tool — not just a lead generation mechanism. Every channel decision, every creative test, every automation integration was made with one question in mind: does this bring the right people closer to this mission, and does it give them a clear path to deeper involvement?
The 25% increase in giving, the sub-$1.30 lead gen CPA, and the growing sustainer pipeline are outcomes of that discipline. But the more important outcome is structural: LCV now has a multi-channel, full-funnel acquisition ecosystem that gets smarter with every campaign — one that can scale without sacrificing quality, and that treats every new member as the beginning of a long-term relationship, not a line on a spreadsheet.