Scaling donations through community storytelling

One Acre Fund

Sector and focus area

Food systems • Regenerative agriculture • International development • Fundraising • Paid media • Digital campaigns

Context and challenge

One Acre Fund supports millions of smallholder farmers across Africa with financing, training and agricultural services that help families build resilient livelihoods.

To support its year-end fundraising appeal, the organisation wanted to inspire new and existing donors with a campaign that demonstrated the collective impact of giving. The challenge was to stand out during one of the busiest fundraising periods of the year while delivering strong returns across paid digital channels.

Greenhouse was appointed to develop and deliver an integrated campaign that combined compelling storytelling with data-led performance marketing.

Our approach and strategy

Building on One Acre Fund’s “It Takes a Village” platform, we created a digital fundraising campaign centred on the idea that lasting change is only possible through collective action. Authentic farmer stories, documentary-style creative and community-led messaging highlighted the real people behind every donation, creating an emotional connection while reinforcing the long-term impact of supporting smallholder farmers.

Alongside campaign development, we designed and managed a full-funnel paid media strategy across Google Ads and Meta, continuously optimising creative, audience targeting and budget allocation to maximise donations and return on investment throughout the campaign.

Work Delivered

Greenhouse developed the campaign strategy, messaging framework and creative platform before producing campaign assets across video, paid social, display and digital advertising. We planned and managed paid media across Google Search, Performance Max, Display, YouTube and Meta, combining creative testing, audience segmentation and daily performance optimisation to maximise fundraising performance during the year-end giving period.

Outcomes and Impact

The campaign exceeded fundraising expectations, demonstrating the power of combining authentic storytelling with data-led performance marketing to drive meaningful supporter action.

Farmer-led stories and documentary-style creative resonated strongly with audiences, generating widespread awareness while building trust and emotional connection. Alongside driving donations, the campaign significantly grew One Acre Fund’s supporter base through a substantial increase in newsletter sign-ups, creating opportunities for long-term donor engagement.

Performance insights also highlighted the value of geo-targeted fundraising, with US audiences accounting for the vast majority of donations. These learnings have helped inform future international fundraising campaigns and provided a scalable model for future appeals.

Why this work matters

Smallholder farmers play a vital role in strengthening food security, improving livelihoods and building resilience to climate change. Effective fundraising is essential to ensuring organisations like One Acre Fund can continue to invest in the communities that need it most.

By combining authentic storytelling with rigorous performance marketing, Greenhouse helped turn awareness into measurable action – raising significant funds while strengthening One Acre Fund’s long-term donor pipeline and demonstrating how strategic communications can deliver real impact for international development organisations.