Finding mission-aligned donors is one of the hardest challenges for civic organizations, especially those working to bridge political divides. The mission may be urgent, the cause deeply human, but without the right engagement strategy, even the most inspiring campaigns risk getting lost in the noise.

For Civic Health Project, an organization dedicated to reducing toxic partisanship and strengthening civic norms, this challenge was especially clear during the annual National Week of Conversation hosted by Conversations.us, an online campaign powered by the 500+ partner organizations in the Listen First Coalition. 

The event invites Americans of differing political views to seek each other out, talk across divides, and rediscover the art of dialogue. Yet in a time when attention spans are short and skepticism runs high, reaching new supporters who genuinely care about constructive conversation requires more than a traditional ad or email blast.

They needed a different kind of engagement: one rooted in curiosity, not click-through rates.

A Smarter Way to Spark Dialogue

That’s where GoodChat came in. Together, we designed a campaign that used an  interactive, consent-driven conversational survey powered by a chatbot to invite people into meaningful conversation before asking them to take action or sign up to support.

Instead of pushing a message, we posed thoughtful questions - about political division, on how to span the political divide, and what it means to disagree well. Through a dynamic, multi-question survey experience, participants explored their own perspectives while learning about opportunities to connect through bridge-building initiatives like National Week of Conversation.

This wasn’t just data collection. It was an exercise in listening at scale.

What Happened When Conversation Led the Funnel

With just $1,700 in Meta ad spend, the campaign delivered results that outperformed industry benchmarks across every stage of the funnel:

• $3.53 cost per conversion
• 482 survey starts
• 32% landing page conversion rate (vs. industry avg. 6–12%)
• 61% completion rate (vs. 42% industry avg.)
• 48% opt-in rate
• 140 email opt-ins
• 49 high-intent donor opt-ins

That translated to a $12.14 cost per lead and just $34.69 per high-intent donor—roughly 2.5–4x lower than standard nonprofit acquisition costs.

But the real success wasn’t in the numbers alone. It was in the quality of engagement. Forty percent of participants expressed an interest in donating. Nearly one in five went further and opted-in and indicated intent to donate.

These weren’t passive subscribers. They were individuals motivated by shared civic values, ready to act.

From Curiosity to Commitment

The campaign’s strength lay in its design. Each touchpoint - ad, landing page, and survey - was built around clarity, empathy, and flow.

• Targeted social ads reached civic-minded audiences with creativity that invited participation, not persuasion.
• A custom landing page provided context, trust, and a clear next step.
• An interactive chatbot transformed static forms into a guided dialogue, surfacing authentic interest and segmenting high-intent participants for deeper engagement.
• Personalized CTAs matched respondents with organizations aligned to their values, turning curiosity into connection.

The experience felt more like a conversation with purpose than a campaign with an agenda and that difference showed in the results.

What It Means for Civic Engagement

For organizations like Civic Health Project, success isn’t just measured in clicks or conversions - it’s measured in connection. The National Week of Conversation proved that when outreach respects people’s time, voice, and agency, participation deepens.

By meeting audiences where they are, GoodChat helped Civic Health Project and the Listen First Coalition demonstrate a new model for engagement: one that turns conversation into community, and community into collective action.

Civic health depends on the same principles that build any relationship: listening, trust, and shared purpose.

The Takeaway

GoodChat’s chatbot-led campaign transformed civic curiosity into donor activation—achieving up to 4x lower acquisition costs than traditional outreach and delivering 35% high-intent leads ready to give and engage.

For nonprofits working to strengthen democracy, the lesson is clear: meaningful engagement isn’t about reach. It’s about resonance.

Read the full case study here»