Paid advertising reaches your audience where they are, when they're most receptive to your message, with a message that resonates with them. For many nonprofit and public sector organizations, this means hyperlocal, community-level strategies.

And when vulnerable patients are being misled, placement becomes even more critical.

Outside of my work with Reach, I volunteer on the board of the Rhode Island Abortion Fund (RIAF), which provides funding to Rhode Islanders who need abortion or contraceptive care but cannot afford the cost. You may think that in a solidly blue state like ours, it's easy for patients to find abortion care when they need it, and for many people, that is true. Unfortunately, our state has more crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) than legitimate surgical providers (source).

CPCs are typically faith-based organizations that present themselves as medical facilities but exist primarily to dissuade people from having abortions, often using medically inaccurate information and psychological manipulation tactics. They target pregnant people of lower socioeconomic status or without health insurance with claims of free pregnancy testing and ultrasounds.

Mother of Life Center is one of these crisis pregnancy centers. The center appears in search results when patients look for abortion care in our state, but when they arrive, they're met with anti-choice lies and religious rhetoric (source). Their logo also looks deceptively similar to that of Women and Infants Hospital, one of Rhode Island's two surgical abortion providers located less than two miles away.

Working in my volunteer capacity with RIAF, my strategic solution was to place a paid advertisement at the bus shelter just steps from Mother of Life's doors. The simple message, presented in both English and Spanish—"Do you need help paying for your abortion?"—is clear and attention-grabbing. It includes a QR code linking to RIAF's website with information about legitimate abortion providers and how to access funding.

This campaign exemplifies how strategic, hyperlocal advertising can serve as a powerful tool for organizations working within limited budgets. By placing our message exactly where vulnerable patients encounter misinformation, we're creating a bridge to legitimate health care when people need it most. The beauty lies in its simplicity: the right message, in the right place, at the right moment, can be life-changing.

For nonprofits facing similar challenges, this demonstrates that effective outreach doesn't always require massive budgets or complex campaigns. Sometimes, the most impactful work happens at the hyperlocal level, where we can meet our communities exactly where they are and provide the support they're seeking.