How Nonprofits Can Use Meta’s Andromeda to Boost Ad Performance

TL;DR

• Meta’s new ad delivery algorithm, Andromeda, reduces manual control and rewards automation.
• It favors broad inputs over rigid segmentation in both targeting and creative.
• Open targeting and Advantage+ targeting expansion are driving strong performance.
• Structuring your ad sets into Hot / Warm / Cold categories can help the algorithm learn more effectively.
• You’ll need at least 5 highly unique creative variants—diverse in format, message, and visuals—for best results.

What Is Andromeda?

Andromeda is Meta’s next-generation AI-driven ad algorithm that decides how ads are delivered. While AI has been baked into Meta’s ad systems for years, Andromeda represents a major evolution in how the platform thinks and acts.

It was designed to optimize more holistically, breaking down rigid silos between audience segments and creative combinations. Instead of working within manually set parameters, Andromeda favors broad inputs and then figures out the most effective combinations on its own.

This means:
➡️ Less manual control.
➡️ More automation.
➡️ Greater reliance on Meta to “pull the right levers.”

For nonprofit marketers and fundraisers, this is a seismic shift, and a major opportunity.

What Does Andromeda Mean for Nonprofit Advertising?

1. Targeting: Shift from Precision to Breadth

Before: Marketers often built Meta campaigns with highly segmented audiences—separate ad sets for each CRM list, site retargeting pool, and lookalike list.

Now: Meta prefers consolidated targeting pools. You can now add five or ten lookalike lists or retargeting audiences in a single ad set, rather than separate ad sets for each. This gives Andromeda more data to learn from, and more flexibility to optimize delivery in real time.

A key tool powering this approach is Advantage+, Meta’s targeting expansion feature. With Advantage+ on, Meta can go beyond your specified audiences to find others with similar behavior or intent.

Even more flexible? Try open targeting, where the only inputs are age and location. This allows Meta to identify your audience from scratch based on campaign performance, not guesswork.

Hot, Warm, Cold Targeting: A Useful Setup

Segmenting your ad sets by intent rather than by list or behavior alone can help Andromeda learn and scale more effectively:

• Hot: Past donors, donation page abandoners, repeat supporters.
• Warm: Website visitors, social followers, email openers.
• Cold: Lookalike audiences, interest-based, open targeting.

The long and short of it: Try letting go of some control. In many cases, performance improves when you trust Meta to do more of the optimization.

In working with our Media Cause partners, we’ve been testing these broad targeting structures and have seen various client wins so far during the End of Year season.

• During the week of Giving Tuesday, the top-spending ad sets for each of World Central Kitchen’s main fundraising campaigns used Open Targeting with Advantage+ turned on. These ad sets drove ROAS that was competitive with more selective targeting strategies, while allowing the organization to scale tremendously–ultimately driving 40% of donation revenue and exposing WCK to new, untapped audiences. And, the results were impressive. With Andromeda-optimized targeting and creative in place, we generated huge scale for WCK that allowed us to generate ~600x more Meta revenue on GivingTuesday this year compared to last year (yes, about ~600x more, a 5870% increase YoY!).
• As we prepared our End Of Year fundraising structure for IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), we first launched a typical ad set breakdown that was separated by various retention lists, low-funnel conversion pools, and prospecting segments. We saw slow performance with this structure in early November, and saw an immediate improvement when we adjusted targeting segments to a more Andromeda-friendly setup. These optimizations allowed us to generate 117% more Giving Tuesday revenue from Meta in 2025 compared to 2024, with just 38% more spend.

2. Creative: Unique, Varied, and Built for the Algorithm

As Meta reduces your targeting controls, it’s leaning harder on your creative to reach the right people. That means it’s no longer enough to run a few ads with small variances across each ad. It’s important to Meta more heavily varied options to choose from.

Meta wants:

• At least 5 completely unique creative variants
• Multiple formats: static images, long videos, short videos, carousels, and for some advertisers, story/reel-optimized creative
• Distinct messaging: Different visuals, headlines, hooks, and tone across ads
  There has been chatter in the marketing industry claiming that Meta now needs dozens of ads in order to perform. However, we’ve found that organizations can perform well with just a few creative options (5+ ads), as long as they are each unique.

Why This Matters

Andromeda works by pairing the right creative to the right user at the right time. If you give it 10 variations of a very similar ad, it doesn’t have enough to learn from. But if you give it truly distinct messages and formats, it can test, optimize, and deliver more relevant results.

You don’t need 20+ creatives. Just make sure the ones you do have are truly unique—not just tweaked versions of the same concept.

How to Adapt Your Meta Strategy

If your nonprofit is investing in paid social, here’s how to start embracing Andromeda:

1. Rethink Targeting:

• Combine segmented audiences into broader ad sets
• Use Advantage+ in at least one ad set per campaign
• Test open targeting—especially for donor acquisition

2. Rebuild Your Creative Strategy:

• Start with 5+ unique creative concepts
• Use multiple formats: images, video, carousels, and stories/reels
• Align each creative to a different message or audience persona

3. Organize Campaigns by Funnel Stage:

• Hot: High-intent retargeting (e.g., cart abandoners, past donors)
• Warm: Social engagement, site visits, email openers
• Cold: Prospecting using multiple lookalike lists in one ad set, interest targeting with Advantage+ turned on, and/or open targeting

Final Thoughts

Andromeda marks the most significant shift in Meta’s ad delivery approach in years, prompting a mindset change from hyper-segmentation to strategic trust in automation. Nonprofits that embrace this evolution are already seeing stronger results and greater scalability.

We believe this algorithmic evolution represents a new opportunity for nonprofits to reach more supporters, drive more donations, and connect with their mission-aligned audiences—without getting stuck in the weeds.

If you need help adjusting your Meta campaigns for Andromeda, request a consultation to learn how Media Cause can help your nonprofit test, learn, and grow through smarter digital campaigns.

Related reading:

• Effective Audience Targeting for Nonprofits [PDF Download]
• Your Guide to Social Media Advertising for Nonprofits
• Top Advertising Tips for Nonprofit Organizations