Challenge

The NRDC understands the importance of storytelling when educating the public and building support for environmental policy. In order to safeguard the earth as one of the largest and most influential environmental advocacy organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council needs to communicate effectively, understand the data they collect, and drive more traffic to their website.

Story

By visualizing data and driving traffic to their website, the NRDC is able to raise awareness for environmental concerns that affect us all. When the NRDC wants to tell their story, Google for Nonprofit tools help them every step of the way.

The NRDC uses Google Maps and Google Earth to increase their advocacy potential by visually showing their environmental concerns in a much more powerful and understandable way.

And when the NRDC uses Google Workspace to spread their organization's message, Google Analytics helps them figure out the impact their message is having. YouTube has been a valuable platform for them to get images and videos about key issues out organically. They also use Ad Grants to help make sure that they’re getting maximum visibility for what they’re doing.

“During the first weeks of the Gulf oil disaster, NRDC used the YouTube channel to [show] compelling images … One video that we launched, ‘Yours Truly, BP,’ had over 100,000 views without any paid marketing.”

Kim Ranney, Content Marketing Director, NRDC

Impact

The NRDC’s use of Google for Nonprofit tools has been instrumental in delivering their message to existing and new audiences. Google Ads has driven 7.7 million visits to their website and counting, which is the equivalent of $5.3 million in advertising value.

Through compelling visual storytelling, NRDC aims to educate, inspire and engage new audiences; they use their YouTube channel to reach as many people as possible. After the Gulf Oil Spill, a video featuring images of people and wildlife impacted by the disaster resulted in over 100,000 views without any paid marketing.