No matter the season or what’s in the news, there are always people in need of medical resources. But nonprofits that provide those resources receive most of their donations during moments of increased public attention like natural disasters.
Once the public attention wanes, said Tony Morain, VP of communications at humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief, “so does interest in what we’re doing.”
Direct Relief specifically focuses on bringing medical aid, including doctors, clinics and medicine, to people and communities facing poverty. The company has earned a reputation for being “highly effective,” according to Morain, but part of that efficacy comes from putting minimal spend toward advertising and raising awareness.
Staying top of mind year-round for audiences who are inclined to make charitable contributions is an ongoing challenge for Direct Relief. But a recent campaign it ran in partnership with end-to-end programmatic platform Nexxen proved that the organization could increase its marketing effectiveness by targeting – and retargeting – likely donors, as well as past donors, even when there are no major disasters in the headlines.
In late 2025, Direct Relief launched a campaign to bring more awareness to its goals, specifically within the L.A. market, and to remind people that medical aid is always a necessity. The audiences Nexxen built specifically for the campaign using first-party data outperformed the off-the-shelf third-party audiences available in Nexxen’s DSP. And it gave Direct Relief a new model for more consistent fundraising throughout the entire calendar year.
