Case study

We had great fun doing this project. Who knew that raising money for animals can be so enjoyable?

We are hugely indebted to Jiří Krupa, Akvilė Jurevičiūtė, Getter Musting, Martina Neradová, Matěj Fišer and other fundraisers from the group “United Fundraisers International: Christmas Brigade” (now known as “GIG”). Many aspects of this campaign were inspired from our colleagues abroad, and its success would not have been possible without them.

If you have any questions or feedback about this case study, contact Alise Redviņa: alise.redvina@dzivniekubriviba.lv 

Overview 

Results

• 411 new regular donors* (including 62 people who upgraded their existing regular donation), bringing our total regular donor count to 973;

• €46 543 in 12 months income (including €7 550 from the matching fund) 

*A caveat to consider: our previous experience tells us that around 10% of these people might drop off after the first month already. We will know precisely in March 2025.

Sources of all regular donations

Core principles used

Ask only regular donations

(We did not mention an opportunity to donate single)

Major donor involvement

("Only in December your donation will be doubled")

Approaching from warmest contacts to coldest

(ex regular donors and volunteers → existing regular donors and most active email contacts → general mailing list → social media followers →  Latvian public)

Communicating the success of the campaign whenever possible

(“I can’t believe that already a 100 people have become animal heroes. Join them”)

Small, incremental goals that increase along the way

("12 more people are needed to reach 50 donors")

Time pressure points

“Only 2 days until the start of the campaign.” “48 hours until the campaign goes public.”

Phases with different fundraising goals

“The resources for campaign websites have been collected. Now you can ensure the making of effective social ads that will allow many more people in Latvia take action for animals."

What we did

1. Ensured that some people have joined even before we launch the campaign to most active mailing list contacts

It's incredibly important to not start the campaign with an empty progress bar, so we decided to invest effort to start off strong. Initially some people from the office joined. Then we also: 

1.a. Secured a matching fund

Most of our matching fund came from 1 big donor. We also sent an email for other biggest supporters but from that we only got additional €550. It probably would have been better to call them. 

1.b. Organized a call-a-thon to the very warmest contacts

Our organization does not have a telefundraising department so we did a call-a-thon involving 4 office members and 4 volunteers. The call-a-thon was very fun and very successful, leaving everyone in good spirits. We even got 1 donor of €100 a month!

To prepare, we sorted our contacts and made a list where the contacts on top were people who had been regular donors in the recent past, with bonus points if they had also done some actions for animals. The list descended according to the sum that was donated (e.g. an ex donor who used to give €50 a month was above someone who gave €10 a month). 

The core message: 

“We are asking you to join before the campaign has even started because you are one of our closest supporters and your donation will inspire others to join.”

Each caller got around 30 contacts to call over 1 day. The most successful caller turned out to be a volunteer who had only very recently joined Dzīvnieku brīvība, getting 11 regular donors. 

1.c. Sent private messages to volunteers

We used a tool called WattSender to send private WhatsApp messages to volunteers, also posting pledges in group chats. This year, we did not have good results with this – volunteers who weren’t regular donors yet did not choose to participate.

2. First, launched the campaign to warmest contacts on our mailing list 

Out of our 45k contacts we made a segment of about 30k most active ones: ex reg donors, single donors, people who have taken actions and people who just have a high open rate. We also included existing regular donors in this phase but they were in a different segment and the emails were adapted to them.

The core message: 

“You are one of the special people who are getting this message, others don’t know yet.”

“Your donation will inspire others to join when the campaign goes public.”

3. Focused on communicating success and urgency, not stories of animal suffering

We often repeated this core message in different ways: “Unbelievably many people have already joined but chickens still need your help now”. Along with emphasizing success, it was important to also clearly communicate that the supporters help is still very much needed.  

The time pressure points we used: 

1. Join now before the campaign starts (in the call-a-thon)

2. Join now before the campaign goes public 

3. Join now until the end of December

4. The deadline is extended, you have 2 more days to join, use your last chance

We also had a countdown timer on our website which we changed to each deadline. 

We also sent a few emails that included stories about animals (this, this and this) and their results were good but not as good as emails that focused on success + urgency. 

4. Used “phases” for different fundraising needs

Here’s the phases we used to divide the goal in smaller goals and create momentum, as they were quickly achieved.

Phase 1: campaign preparation

Phase 2: development of campaign websites

Phase 3: development of social ads

Phase 4: drafting the legal proposal

Phase 5: organising animal protection events and actions 

5. Sent a lot of emails

The more you communicate about something, the more important it becomes in the mind of the supporter. The more people become donors. 

Regular donors got 5 fundraising emails in 20 days.

Non-donors got 16 emails in 22 days. 

Each email included the option to unsubscribe from this campaign only, not from the general list. So anyone who was unsatisfied with so many emails had the option to stop them anytime, without leaving the organization entirely. 

6. Sent reminders to people who pledged donations but did not pay

We encouraged people to donate by bank transfer. When people set up a regular donation in their bank, the first payment only comes the next working day. So initially they could pledge that they’ve set up the donation. When some pledgers did not pay in a few days’ time, we sent them a reminder email. At the end of the campaign we also sent and SMS + email reminder. The SMS was sent with a tool  SA Group Text Lite.

SMS text sample: 

“Hello Anastasia! This is Aivars from Animal Freedom. Thank you for pledging to donate to the cause of freeing chickens from cages in Latvia! Unfortunately, we can't find your donation! We emailed you how to complete the payment – please take a look. Thank you for your support!”

From each email reminder, some people finished the donation. 

We got 15 regular donors from the SMS + email reminder. 

Emails

Most successful emails before the campaign went public:

• Your opinion is needed, please reply – 28 new donors, (23 upgrades from a similar email to regulars)

• Only a few people are getting this message – 29 donors

• Less than 39h left 😮 The animals need you – 23 donors

Most successful emails after the campaign went public:

• [38 HOURS LEFT] Your support is important – 27 donors

• [URGENT] I had an incredible phone call – 26 donors. In this email we communicated that the matching donor will add €2000 more to the campaign if 22 more people will join to get to 350 until the end of the day. 

• Last letter – 26 donors. 

Least successful emails:

• Something incredible is happening now, join – 7 donors. Not sure why this one flopped.

• I did not expect to write to you today – 6 donors. Too unclear, takes a lot of effort to understand.

• [14 HOURS LEFT] This is a letter for you – 6 donors. This one had a much lower open rate than other letters, so probably the subject line is weird.

• My answer to the question – 7 donors. Email about the deadline extension for 2 more days. 

📍 Links and results for all emails can be found here. 

Social media posts

The most successful posts turned out to be ones with only a very short text and no photo.

Best posts on Facebook: 

• Deadline extended – 5 donors

• 22 missing to 250 – 3 donors 

• 1 missing to 250 – 3 donors

Worst post on Facebook: 

Launch: become an animal hero! – 1 donor, despite a boost of 100€

📍 Links and results of all SoMe posts can be found here.