How do you make a small charity or arts budget reach further?
By making every pound work harder through sharp targeting and channels chosen on evidence, not habit. We plan and buy media for charities, arts organisations and campaigning bodies. Our Dance For All work with Dance City won Best Low Budget Campaign at the Northern Digital Awards 2026.
Who this is for
Marketing and fundraising teams at charities, arts and cultural organisations, campaigning bodies and social enterprises. If your budgets are tight, your cause matters and every result has to be accounted for, this is work we know well.
Why Route
Because small budgets reward discipline. We make grant funding and Google Ad Grants work alongside paid activity, target precisely so nothing is wasted, and report clearly so trustees and funders can see exactly what their money achieved.
Our experience in the third sector
Third sector and arts work has brought us some of our most-awarded campaigns for clients including Dance City and The Union.
For Dance City, a regional dance organisation, our Dance For All campaign used Google Search, Performance Max and Google Grant activity to return more than 24 times its spend against a target of 10, and it won Best Low Budget Campaign at the Northern Digital Awards 2026. As their senior marketing manager, Alex Dentith, said, the organisation is "constantly looking at ways to make our small marketing budgets work as hard as possible".
For The Union, the international body for the fight against tuberculosis and lung disease, our paid social and search campaign for its global conference brought in participants at more than four times the membership number, work that won Best Digital Marketing Campaign Third Sector at the Northern Digital Awards 2022 and Best Global Charity/Not for Profit Campaign at the Global Digital Excellence Awards 2021.
Related work
Dance City - Google Ad Grant and paid search
24x
Return on ad spend, against a target of 10x
A paid search account run alongside a Google Ad Grant to lift relevance and bookings.
Read the case study
The Union - World Conference registration
4x
Participants against the target, the membership number
A global social and search activation that took the first virtual Union World Conference far beyond its registration targets.
Read the case study
Carents Room - native advertising
15:1
New to established users, August 2025 report
Native advertising and paid search building awareness for a carer-support hub among people who do not yet know they are carers.
Read the case studyCommon questions
Can you help us use a Google Ad Grant?
Yes. For Dance City, we combined Google Grant activity with paid Search and Performance Max, using the grant to extend reach while paid budget covers what the grant cannot, and we manage the account to keep it eligible.
How do you make a small budget go further?
Through tight targeting and evidence-led channel choices. Rather than spreading spend thinly, we concentrate on the audiences and platforms most likely to act, which is how Dance City returned more than 24 times its spend against a target of 10.
Can you report in a way trustees understand?
Yes. We report against the outcomes that matter to your board and funders, in plain terms, so the link between spend and result is clear to people who are not marketers.
Do you work with causes as well as arts organisations?
We do. Our third sector work spans arts and culture with Dance City and global health campaigning with The Union, across fundraising, awareness and event registration objectives.
Stretching a charity or arts budget further?
Call +44 (0) 191 933 7588, email info.route@route.agency, or send us your brief for the quickest response.