A full-funnel digital campaign introduced a new generation to a year of service — and delivered applications far beyond target and under budget! Here’s what any organization that recruits at scale can learn from it.
Every year, City Year takes on a quietly enormous task. As a national service organization, it places hundreds of young adults — its Corps Members — into schools across the country, where they help students grow academically, socially, and emotionally. But before any of that work can begin, City Year has to do something just as hard: run a recruitment campaign that convinces a new generation of 18-to-24-year-olds to sign up for a year of national service.
Lately, that’s only gotten tougher. Reaching young adults has become more competitive and more expensive, and City Year needed to hit its recruitment goals across 29 markets at once — without blowing the budget. So the organization came to Carl Bloom Associates with a clear ask: reach more people, drive more applications, and finally understand what actually works.
If your organization recruits at scale — across cities, chapters, or seasons — that ask probably sounds familiar. Here’s how the program came together, and the four lessons that apply far beyond any single client.
Meeting people where they already are
Rather than leaning on one or two familiar platforms, we built a full-funnel program designed to do two things at once. At the top of the funnel, awareness campaigns introduced City Year to brand-new audiences with video and storytelling. At the bottom, conversion campaigns re-engaged interested candidates and guided them toward a completed application — at the lowest possible cost.
That program ran across six platforms — Meta, Google and YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, and streaming TV — each chosen to reach the audience in a different corner of their day. The mix did exactly what it was meant to: it lowered costs, reached audiences a single-platform plan would have missed, and reduced reliance on any one channel. It’s an approach that reflects where young adults actually spend their time online — spread across many platforms, not concentrated on one.
342% of recruitment goal · 29 / 29 markets above goal · 6,616 applications
Stories, not sales pitches
The creative is where the campaign really came alive. Native, creator-style video — the kind people actually choose to watch — did the heaviest lifting, reaching young audiences who use platforms like YouTube and TikTok daily far more efficiently than traditional advertising.
What resonated wasn’t a hard ask. It was purpose. Messages about opportunity, growth, and the simple question of what comes next after graduation consistently outperformed everything else — a pattern that tracks with research showing this generation wants work that helps others and makes a difference. And the shorter and more direct the message, the better it did.
A recruitment campaign that won in every market
The headline number — 342% of goal — is striking on its own. But what makes it meaningful is that it wasn’t carried by one or two breakout cities: every single one of the 29 markets cleared its target. In total, the program delivered 6,616 applications against a goal of 1,936 — and came in roughly $40,000 under budget, at a $32 cost per lead (and as low as $15 in the best markets).
That last part matters as much as the first. For any organization recruiting across multiple markets, the hard problem isn’t winning in one place — it’s winning everywhere, efficiently, at the same time.
What we’ll carry forward
A campaign like this leaves behind more than a set of numbers. It leaves a playbook. Four lessons stood out — and they shape how we approach recruitment for every mission-driven organization we work with.
1. Diversify the channels
Going beyond the usual platforms lowered cost and reached audiences others miss.
2. More creative wins
More videos, more stories, and more options consistently improved performance.
3. Lead with purpose
People responded to opportunity, growth, and the question of what comes next.
4. Keep the message simple
Short, direct lines and a clear next step beat long explanations every time.
The bottom line
By pairing data-driven advertising with genuinely compelling storytelling, City Year didn’t just meet its recruitment goals — it exceeded them everywhere, and built a stronger foundation for the years ahead. For the students waiting in classrooms across the country, that’s the result that matters most.
And the approach behind it isn’t unique to national service. With tens of millions of Americans serving and volunteering each year, any organization that needs to fill a lot of positions, in a lot of places, on a budget can run recruitment the same way: full-funnel, multi-platform, story-driven, and measured every day.
Recruiting at scale? Let's find your 342%.
Carl Bloom Associates helps mission-driven organizations recruit more people, in more markets, for less. Start with a free recruitment audit — we’ll show you where the biggest gains are, no obligation.