Our First Full Year.
Vehicle Donations Up 57%.
Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada is a nonprofit whose recovery programs are funded in large part by donated vehicles and its thrift stores across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario. In 2024 ATC brought AdEasy in to grow its vehicle donation program.
In 2025, our first full year running the ads, the program grew from $1.4M to $2.2M. ATC’s goal had been 10 to 20%.
Vehicle donation program revenue, $1.4M in 2024 to $2.2M in 2025, against a goal of 10 to 20%
Calls from Google Ads in 2025, our first full year running the ads
Monthly calls from Google Ads, from 25 in January 2025 to 99 in November
Link clicks from Meta ads in 2025, on 6.7 million impressions
Program revenue from ATC’s published financial statements. Calls are Google Ads “Calls from ads”. Link clicks are from Meta Ads.
Every Car Funds
Someone’s Recovery.
We first sat down with ATC’s CEO in May 2024. ATC picks up donated vehicles for free, then safeties and sells them, sends them to auction or sells them for scrap. Every vehicle is appraised so the donor gets the best tax receipt possible, down to the gas left in the tank. The money helps pay for ATC’s programs.
The vehicle donation page was one short page on a big website. Our September 2024 audit found a donation form that was hard to read, a mobile site that took close to five seconds to load, and search rankings built mostly around the thrift stores.
The plan we proposed was simple: give vehicle donations a proper home, tell real stories from the program, and run campaigns across ATC’s whole region.
Ads in Every Market.
Stories in Every Ad.
People donate a vehicle for two reasons: they want it gone, and they want it to do some good. The campaigns were built to reach both kinds of donor, in every town ATC serves.
Google Search for Ready Donors
Search ads for people already looking to donate or get rid of a vehicle, across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario. Calls from those ads nearly quadrupled between January and November 2025.
Meta for Everyone Else
A winter car donation campaign for new audiences across the region, plus remarketing to people who had already visited ATC’s site. In 2025 the Meta ads were seen 6.7 million times.
Stories From the Program
The ads that worked best told real stories about people whose lives changed at ATC. A winter donation video featured Winnipeg radio personality Hal Anderson.
A Report Every Month
One monthly report for ATC’s team with calls, clicks and spend by campaign, and since 2026 a weekly campaign check so problems get caught in days, not months.
The Goal Was 10 to 20%.
The Program Grew 57%.
ATC’s published financial statements show the vehicle donation program bringing in $1.4M in 2024 and $2.2M in 2025. That’s 57% growth in our first full year running the ads. ATC’s CEO had set a goal of 10 to 20%.
Ads didn’t do it alone. ATC’s own team answers the calls, picks up the vehicles and gets each one the best price. What the ads did was keep the phone ringing: calls from Google Ads grew from 25 in January 2025 to 99 in November, and Meta ads drew 57,546 link clicks over the year.
calls from Google Ads in 2025
Meta ad impressions in 2025
Meta link clicks in 2025
Source: Adult & Teen Challenge of Central Canada published financial statements (vehicle donation program revenue, 2024 and 2025), ATC Google Ads and Meta Ads, January to December 2025. Ad spend is media only.
Blocked by a Google Policy.
Back by April.
Early in 2026, Google started treating ATC’s donation ads as addiction services ads, because the pages they sent people to also described the recovery programs. Calls from Google Ads fell to 10 across January, February and March.
ATC built a page just for vehicle donations, we moved the ads to it in April, and Meta kept running the whole time. Calls came back to 70 in April and 66 in May. In October, Google Ads brought in 77 calls, the most since November 2025.
calls from Google Ads in January to March 2026, while the ads were restricted
calls in April and May, after the ads moved to the new donation page
calls in October 2026, the most since November 2025
Planning the Spring
Push Now.
Spring and fall are the busiest seasons for vehicle donations. At our October 2026 planning meeting, ATC and AdEasy aimed for an April launch of the next round of campaigns, with these pieces in place first.
A Shorter Donation Form
Today’s form is long. The plan is a short first step (name, email, phone and vehicle type), with ATC’s team following up for the rest.
Every Step Tracked
New tracking will show the whole path, from visiting the donation page to starting and submitting the form, so we can see which ads bring in donors.
New Stories on Video
New videos will follow a donated car into ATC’s shop, where program graduates train as apprentices on the way to Red Seal certification.
Thunder Bay’s New Shop
ATC bought a building for its first vocational shop in Thunder Bay. A local awareness campaign will use photos and footage from the new space.
