What is Meta’s Andromeda update, and how can charities make the most of it?

What is Meta’s Andromeda update?

Andromeda is Meta’s AI-powered ad retrieval system, designed to help Facebook and Instagram decide which ads to show users faster and more accurately. In simple terms, it's how Meta has developed its understanding of what ads are performing well and should be placed higher in the auction.

Traditionally, advertisers relied heavily on manual targeting of core interests, however, Meta has been rapidly removing these options from the platform. Whilst Meta still uses audience signals, Andromeda gives its algorithm far more freedom to decide who’s likely to respond based on behaviour, context, and engagement patterns.

Rather than relying heavily on manual audience targeting, Meta increasingly wants advertisers to provide strong creative, accurate conversion data, and enough flexibility for its systems to optimise delivery automatically.

For charities, this represents one of the biggest changes to paid social advertising in years.

Does audience targeting still matter for charities?

Yes, but probably less than it used to.

Many charities have historically relied on highly controlled audience targeting to maximise limited budgets. But Meta’s AI systems are becoming increasingly effective at identifying likely converters without relying solely on rigid interest targeting.

First-party data still has a key role to play, but charities may not need to rely on highly granular audience targeting in the same way they once did. In some cases, heavily segmented campaigns can limit Meta’s ability to optimise effectively, while broader audience approaches give the algorithm more room to learn and improve performance over time.

Is creative becoming the new targeting?

Increasingly yes, and this is one of the biggest shifts charities are noticing.

Meta’s systems now analyse creative elements such as imagery, video content, messaging, captions, and engagement patterns to help determine who may respond positively to an ad.

In practice, this means creative now plays a much bigger role in determining who engages with an ad, making message relevance more important than ever.

The organisations likely to perform best are the ones telling stories that truly connect with people and clearly communicate why their cause matters. This is particularly significant for nonprofits, because charities often already possess one of the most valuable assets in modern advertising: meaningful human stories.

But increasingly, Meta’s systems are rewarding creative diversification rather than multiple versions of the same ad. Small tweaks to colours, copy or calls to action are often no longer enough to create meaningful differentiation.

Instead, charities should think about developing distinct creative approaches designed to resonate with different audiences and supporter motivations. One supporter may respond to urgent impact-focused messaging, while another may engage more with stories centred around hope, community or long-term change.

Using audience personas can be a helpful way to shape these creative approaches. Rather than building campaigns around a single “average” supporter, charities can develop a range of messaging styles, formats and storytelling angles that reflect the different reasons people choose to engage with a cause.

What does this mean for charity campaigns?

Fundraising campaigns

Fundraising campaigns may benefit from broader audience exploration alongside stronger creative testing.

Instead of relying too heavily on niche targeting, charities should explore different emotional angles and supporter motivations, whether that’s urgency, hope, long-term impact, or community.

Varying creative approaches can help charities better understand what resonates most strongly with supporters and drives meaningful action.

Awareness campaigns

For awareness campaigns, creative “stopping power” matters more than ever.

If users scroll past content quickly, Meta receives weaker engagement signals. Strong visuals, clear messaging, and immediate relevance are becoming even more important to campaign performance.

Recruitment and volunteering campaigns

Volunteer and recruitment campaigns may also benefit from more varied messaging approaches.

One person may respond to the opportunity to build experience, while another simply wants to feel part of a community or support a cause they care deeply about. Testing different creative angles can help Meta better identify which audiences are most likely to engage.

How should charities adapt their Meta ads strategy?

1. Simplify campaign structures

As Meta automates more delivery decisions, overly complex account structures may become less effective.

Many charities could benefit from:

• fewer audience segments
• more consolidated campaigns
• broader targeting approaches
• giving Meta’s optimisation systems more flexibility to learn

2. Invest more in creative testing

Creative testing is becoming increasingly important to campaign performance.

That doesn’t mean producing dozens of completely new campaigns every week. Instead, charities should focus on regularly testing different:

• messaging angles
• imagery and video
• calls to action
• formats

Rather than making minor tweaks to the same ad, charities should focus on testing different creative approaches. Meta’s systems are increasingly designed to identify and prioritise distinct creative concepts, formats and messaging angles rather than near-identical variations.

If using Dynamic Creative or Flexible ads, Meta allows up to 10 images/videos. However, testing 3–5 different creative approaches could be more valuable as too many similar creatives will dilute learnings.

3. Strengthen tracking and conversion data

Meta’s AI systems rely heavily on accurate conversion signals to optimise effectively.

That makes strong measurement infrastructure increasingly important, including:

• Meta Pixel implementation
• Conversions API setup
• accurate event tracking
• clear campaign objectives

The stronger the data signals Meta receives, the better its systems can understand and optimise towards meaningful outcomes.

4. Make better use of first-party data

As privacy changes continue to reduce third-party tracking capabilities, charities should focus on strengthening their own supporter data strategies.

That includes:

• growing email databases
• improving CRM integration
• building engaged remarketing audiences
• connecting supporter journeys across channels

First-party data remains one of the most valuable assets nonprofits can own. Catch up on our recent webinar for more information on this topic.

Final thoughts

Meta’s Andromeda update reflects a wider shift happening across digital advertising. Platforms are increasingly automating delivery while placing greater emphasis on creative quality, audience signals, and relevance.

For charities, that may require some adaptation, but it also creates opportunities. The organisations most likely to succeed won’t necessarily be the ones with the biggest budgets or the most complex targeting strategies. They’ll be the ones creating campaigns that connect with supporters through strong storytelling, audience understanding, and relevant creative.

While Meta’s tools may be changing, the fundamentals of good charity marketing remain the same: understanding your audience, telling meaningful stories, and creating campaigns that resonate with people.

As we continue testing these changes across our own client work, we’ll share more insights, learnings, and examples of what’s working for charities in practice.