3 simple steps to get those signatures, contacts and donors
3 simple steps to get those signatures, contacts and donors
CZ's style
CZ's style
Embedded Files
expectations
expectations
Czechia has now almost 80k ECI signatures. Svoboda zvířat, the Czech organization responsible, is now five times bigger then it was before launching this animal testing ban campaign in September 2021. Down below you will not only find out *why*, but also *how* to make something similar happen within your country as well. A practical "best practice" guide for raising awareness, getting signatures, collecting contacts and raising funds via single and regular donations.
What you will find here as well?
How-to guide to improve your signature collecting efforts
Recommendations on how to finance your campaign
Video and website creation tips
Svoboda zvířat
Svoboda zvířat
May 2021
May 2021
Supporters
Email - 33 501
Facebook - est. 35 000
Instagram - est. 5200
Regular donors
Count - 145
Sum - 1 422 EUR / month
January 2022
January 2022
Supporters
Email - 180 749 (▲▲)
Facebook - est. 42 000 (▲)
Instagram - est. 31 800 (▲▲)
Regular donors
Count - 1 140 (▲▲▲)
Sum - 8671* EUR / month (▲▲▲)
* additional 3-4 full-time equivalents can now be employed because of the increase in regular donor income
core principles used
core principles used
In growth we trust
In growth we trust
(collect contacts and donations, ask for regular donations)
Smart (re)investments
Smart (re)investments
(allow every single donation after signature to be used into getting more signatures)
Getting outside the comfort zone
Getting outside the comfort zone
(real cooperation with influencers and professionals - website and video)
I - what happened in Czechia
I - what happened in Czechia
a1) getting the cash
a1) getting the cash
Goal: to get donations from existing supporters in order to finance the campaign
Result: fundraising campaign focused on existing supporters raised 31 419 EUR
composed of 1491 donations
from 33501 email supporters, 999 donated
additional 352 new donors gained from social
income 0,94 EUR per email contact
Timeline
June - teaser emails
Teaser 1 - Mouse ; Teaser 2 - Rabbit ; Teaser 3 - Cat ; Teaser 4 - Monkey
July and August - campaign emails + social promo
Emails:
Day 1 - Phase 1 ; Day 2 - Phase 2 ; Day 5 - Phase 3 ; Day 19 - Phase 4 ; Day 36 - Phase 5 ; Day 54 - 3 days remaining
Social:
Day 13 - Dog ; Day 19 - Pig ; Day 27 - Monkey ; Day 34 - Monkey II ; Day 54 - Testimonial
a2) Spending the cash (website)
a2) Spending the cash (website)
Website features:
ECI EU form iframed (so the user can confirm signing the ECI and can continue the flow fundraising)
csv export of data + UTM parameters scraping (so different sources are linked to contacts and donations for details evaluation and decision making)
prefilling forms (so better conversion rates for existing users)
integrated donation process (so the user stays on website)
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showcase video of another iteration of this website (more info here)
b) launching the web (without video)
b) launching the web (without video)
https://zapokusybezzvirat.cz/
https://zapokusybezzvirat.cz/
Goal: to "soft" launch the campaign officially in order to test the waters (and possibly tweak the website to get new leads, donors and signatures)
Result: total 5010 confirmed signatures together with 5353 new leads and 6 044 EUR in donations
2326 confirmed signatures out of 33501 email supporters totaling at 4 123 EUR
2684 confirmed signatures out of 5353 new leads totaling at 1 921 EUR
income 1,77 EUR per confirmed signature for existing supporters and 0,72 EUR for new supporters
Timeline
September - launch emails + social promo
Emails:
Day 1 - Monkey ; Day 2 - Dog ; Day 3 - Mix ; Day 9 - Gif
Social:
Day 2 - Monkey ; Day 2 - Dog ; Day 4 - Rabbit ; Day 6 - Pig ; Day 7 - 100k ; Day 14 - Monkey ; Day 29 - Rabbit ; Day 35 - Mexico ; Day 38 - Dogs
c) launching the video (after testing the web)
c) launching the video (after testing the web)
Goal: to "hard" launch the campaign officially in order to reach new audiences
Result: total 63356 confirmed signatures together with 117 492 new leads and 36 630 EUR in donations
52% registered leads confirmed their signature (similar both for new and existing supporters)
for new supporters, the income is 0,53 EUR per signature (or 0,27 EUR per registration)
Timeline
October - launch emails + social promo
Emails:
Day 1 - sign ; Day 1 - share (for supporters with signature) ; Day 3 - drastic ; Day 4 - regular conversion
Social:
Day 0 - Instagram and Facebook ; Day 3 - Monkeys ; Day 8 - Dog ; Day 13 - Monkey ; Day 18 - Making off ... and much more
Influencers (number of followers in brackets):
video's director (2k) ; @notsofunnyany (292k) ; bennycristo (802k) ; dewii.veg (86k) ; dominikabymova (7k) ; jana_strykova (11k) ; olga.plojhar (22k) ; veronikacermakmackova (38k)
d) ongoing campaigning
d) ongoing campaigning
Goal: to develop a sustainable promotion strategy in order to continue getting signatures
Result: total 15085 confirmed signatures together with 24 115 new leads and 46 373 EUR in donations (up to January 2022)
63% leads confirmed the signature; 5,6% confirmed signatures donated single donation + 1,3% started regular donations (conversion emails have been sent)
because of single donations after signature, you can spend up to 1,8 EUR per confirmed signature (1 EUR per registration)
Timeline
November, December, January - mostly social and ads
Social:
Can be found on Instagram and Facebook
Ads:
🔽 down below 🔽
This add worked:
Headline: HELP STOP CRUELY LARGE BREEDERS
Mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, but also dogs or monkeys. All these animals have to endure enormous suffering in experiments in European laboratories. According to statistics from 2018, published by the European Commission, over 11,000 primates were abused in just one year. Most of them are baby monkeys that have been forcibly uprooted from the African and Asian wilderness and placed on terrible monkey farms.
Do you agree that we have to stop this? Donate by signing to bit.ly/Za_pokusy_bezzvirat and help end animal experiments.
We Animals Media / Jo-Anne McArthur - The photo comes from a large macaque farm in Laos.
This add somehow worked:
Headline: SCIENCE IS TO SERVE LIFE, NOT TO DESTROY IT!
Today is European Day of Humanities. However, what happens in laboratory experiments has nothing to do with humanity!
Join bit.ly/Veda_ma_slouzit_zivotu and contribute your signature to the more humane science and better life of millions of animals. Why? Because animals deserve more compassionate treatment!
This add didn't work:
Headline: YOUR HUGE INTEREST IS BEGINING TO CHANGE THE FATE OF ANIMALS FROM LABORATORIES!
Thanks to him, the State Institute of Public Health has issued a statement stating that it is working on experimental methods that will enable the full replacement of animal tests. "The established alternative methods are not used by any laboratory animals, their accuracy is in many cases better due to the use of human cells and tissues. We want to phase out all animal testing with new alternatives. In the end, we will save the lives of hundreds of animals a year in our center alone, ”explains MUDr. Dagmar Jírová, CSc., Head of the Center for Toxicology and Health Safety.
Join the initiative that makes sense.
Sign www.ZaPokusyBezZvirat.cz and turn animal lives for the better!
We thank SZÚ for their activity.
Follow-up:
Big media interview (audience size 270 000 - 400 000 viewers/readers)
print (pdf) in Czech version of big issue (17 000 readers - target audience)
print ads in metro ▶️
Data:
Svoboda zvířat still has almost 50k EUR to spent in order to get signatures
But the more it spends on promotion, the more signatures comes and the more money is to be spent on promotion... a vicious circle 🤸♂️🤸♀️
(Word cloud generated from donor's messages left after donating on http://zapokusybezzvirat.cz/)
II - lessons learned
II - lessons learned
a) you can get the cash needed from your current suPporters
a) you can get the cash needed from your current suPporters
Why?
to get donations in order to pay for campaign expenditures (website, video, promotion)
to show a convincing story of setting the goal - making effort - being successful
to (re)engage your supporters in the campaign
How?
set a launch date for a "final push" of the campaign sometime in the future
construct your "amount needed" in such a way so you can use milestones and at the beginning only communicate the first milestone (website and prep); then push for second (video and influencers) and third (internet-wide promotion)
create multiple emails and social posts as needed to reflect different phases; make sure you are making a big deal out of reaching milestones
Example?
I want to start the "final push" on May 1th
My FR campaign will therefore start on April 4th with an end date on April 27th.
My milestones are 4000 EUR for "web and preparation", then plus 5000 EUR for "video and supporting materials" and then possibly 6000 EUR for "promotion". I will always make sure not to mention there are more milestones coming.
I will prepare multiple social posts and emails asking people to donate (at least 2 asks a week). I will make sure I have social posts and emails ready every time I am reaching a milestone.
In my journey after a donation, I will try to convert every single donor to regular and I will also ask every single donor to ask his friends, colleagues and family to donate as well.
b) you can get more money for promotion just by unleashing your supporters onto your web
b) you can get more money for promotion just by unleashing your supporters onto your web
Why?
to get more signatures
to get donations in order to invest more into promotion (which gets you more signatures, which gets you more donations, which allows you to invest more into promotion, which gets you ...)
to get your momentum started and therefore to be able to tell a convincing story about the campaign
How?
have a website that collects contacts, asks for donations and redirects people to ECI
make sure everybody knows their donations after signing ECI will be used to get more signatures
send all your supporters onto the website as often as possible
Example?
My "final push" starts on May 1th. I make sure I have website ready at least 7 days before.
On launch day and in the week after I do multiple emails and social posts asking people to sign ECI while linking them to my site.
I am asking all the people who signed to not only share that they signed, but also to donate in order to get more people in.
c) You need something real good in order to reach outside your normal audience...
c) You need something real good in order to reach outside your normal audience...
Why?
to reach broad audience and get new contacts
to create a peak point in your campaign so it seems more legit and trustworthy
to use other people's platforms aside your own (unleashing influencer power)
How?
have an authentic video full of influencers crying in front of camera
make sure those influencers are emotionally invested in the campaign so they will actively promote it throughout THEIR platforms
get a proper director and don't be afraid to invest a little
reach out to (ideally) all relevant influencers in your country and ask them to promote the campaign and video even if they don't appear in it; always make sure they know who already agreed to promote it as well
invest as much as possible into promotion right away in order for the video to "reach the sky" and to become a story of the week that no one can ignore
Example?
May "final push" starts on May 1th. It works for me to launch the video on May 11th.
At least on April 1th, but ideally much sooner I will reach out in and out side of my networks in order to get a director. I have a meeting, show him/her the video and get him/her onboard.
At least on April 1th, but ideally much sooner I will reach out in and out side of my networks in order to get influencers onboard. I have meetings with them, show each one the video and get each one onboard.
After shooting the video, I do make sure to actively develop relationships with my influencers so they are ready to promote the hell out of the video both on my and mainly their socials.
On launch day, I can't breathe or even close my eyes until my chosen influencers post the video on their socials. In the meantime, during the day 0 and onwards, I am restlessly writing to all reachable influencers and I am asking them to promote the vid on their platform with their audience.
After my video is public, I immediately start investing as much as possible into its promotion on social.
d) investing in ads creates a self-sustaining machine
d) investing in ads creates a self-sustaining machine
Why?
to finish the campaign on a high note with a great success story that will engage your current supporters, get you new ones and most importantly makes your organization stronger and better prepared for future to come campaigns
to make sure your country can get as much signatures as possible
How?
create a capacity in your organization to continuously invest unusually high amount into promotion on socials
create a capacity in your organization to continuously report fundraising income from signatures so you can evaluate the success of your ads
invest more money into better ads, get more income, repeat...
Example?
After things calm down a bit with the campaign and video launch, I will start promoting the campaign sustainably.
I will create 6 ads, give them budget of 200 EUR each and let them run for couple of days. Afterwards I will evaluate and tweak.
I will create more ads based on my findings and increase the budget. I will evaluate once more and repeat.
III - what now? recommendations
III - what now? recommendations
a) (optional) get the money
a) (optional) get the money
Fundraising is awesome. The case study above is proven and there are things you can just copy and paste.
That being said, maybe you have enough capital to start right away.
⚠️ for more info please contact Jiri at jiri.krupa.kfp@gmail.com
B) campaign like the world is gonna end
B) campaign like the world is gonna end
create a plan full of action points, deadlines, peaks and courage
get the website (http://zapokusybezzvirat.cz/ is available for localization into your language)
get the video (the concept is free for you to copy, adjust, steal or improve it)
get your influencer list ready
get your ads working, prepare (steal!) content
get your emails ready, prepare (steal!) content
get your socials ready, prepare (steal!) content
⚠️ for more info about the website and/or campaign advice please contact Jiri at jiri.krupa.kfp@gmail.com
⚠️ for more info about the video, influencers and ads please contact Jol at jol.haisman@gmail.com
IV - bonus section
IV - bonus section
A) Useful questions for you
A) Useful questions for you
how does my timeline look like from now till August 2022 (end of collection of signatures)?
how will I get as much as possible supporters into my website?
how will I reach out and attract as much as possible influencers to promote what I want them to promote?
how will I make sure the video "breaks through" and gets all the attention it deserves?
how will I work with all the contacts in order to grow my organization?
B) Bulgarian version
B) Bulgarian version
New organization: Невидими животни (Invisible Animals / Nevidimi Zhivotni)
In 2 days: 3k signatures (30%) on the ECI --> 28k signatures (>200%). Bulgaria is now 2nd by signatures per capita (250%) in the EU, fifth by absolute amount (31k).
The organization also got:
50k emails (up from 1.2k).
5.4k Instagram followers (up from 160)
2.5k Facebook followers (up from 650)
1.9k TikTok followers (up from 0)
458 single donors for 3,8k EUR (up from 0). 0.15 EUR donations per signature, 2% conversion rate (signed ECI -> donated)
40 regulars, 165 EUR / month (up from 0)
Making the video:
Contacted >100 influencers, 9 agreed (total follower count: ~931k on Instagram and ~742k on Facebook. Bulgaria has ~7 million people).
Did not use graphic footage in the video at all; all influencers were asked (and agreed) to share the video, right after they were shown / filmed reacting to the investigation footage;
Video narrator is one of the influencers in the video. Here is the script;
Here's the message for contacting influencers;
Here's the English script of the narrator in the investigation video;
This is the Excel sheet for contacting influencers
Green - most likely to agree, were involved in animal projects before;
Yellow - had most followers;
Red - least likely to agree, weren't very suitable for the project;
light blue - said yes to this project;
This -- step-by-step plan for producing the video;
Media:
TV interview while producing the video -- live broadcast from the studio with a journalist interviewing two of the influencers as they sob and cry (just finished watching the investigation);
+1 radio interview after publishing;
Media generally weren't interested. Could be because video was published right before 1-week national holidays;
Ads:
Use Facebook/Meta Pixel for targeting and ad optimization: 1) Target a Lookalike Audience based on people who have already signed the ECI, based on data from the Pixel + the email list. Exclude people who have given their email, signed the ECI or donated. (Right now for BG it's not worth retargeting people who gave email but didn't sign ECI). 2) Optimize for conversions -- signing the ECI.
Costs: 0.25 EUR per ECI signatures without VAT (so far ~1k EUR invested). Site gives back ~0.15 EUR donations per signature.
Website:
Bounce rate on landing page: 49% (86k users, 44k sign-up events);
45% of people who gave their email do not sign the ECI;
26% of confirmed signatures were thanks to the automated reminder/transactional emails;
2% of people who sign ECI donate, average was 0.15 EUR per signature; (Why people don't donate as much as in CZ: A lot of people said in emails and comments that they don't know who we are, don't know who their money will go to, don't know what the money will be used for --> don't want to donate. Organization was new and unknown, people don't know our faces, Internet is full of fake NGOs that steal your money --> people don't trust us. Another reason could be that BG people have a median monthly income of 400 EUR, CZ have 2900 EUR, less disposable income in BG, fewer and smaller donations.)
Emails:
~14–18% open rate on newsletters;
C) website features checklist + the offer (httpS://zapokusybezzvirat.cz/)
C) website features checklist + the offer (httpS://zapokusybezzvirat.cz/)
collects contacts and allows you to export csv
saves ?utm_source (so you can evaluate your ads effectiveness)
sends transactional emails
asks for donations and sharing
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Price for localization approx. 1320 EUR.
The budget including:
Inserting new texts on the web
Production of texts that are embedded on the website as an image
Tuning the template so that the texts do not overflow and fit correctly (different languages will have texts of different lengths in the same places, this needs to be manually tuned each time)
Inserting translated texts into all automatically sent emails
Connection to the payment gateway of each country
Launching of the website on server of the non-profit organization
Commissioning of sending emails (if a person does not complete a signature, they will receive 3 emails asking them to complete it)
“Debugging” and testing of all functionality
D) All data by months
D) All data by months
E) about Jiri - krupajiri.org
E) about Jiri - krupajiri.org
does provide consultations and is most probably able to help you get more supporters, donors and activists
has an website listing current and former clients (and also has a LinkedIn profile)
will be happy if you will get in touch about anything related mobilization, engagement and fundraising - consulting@krupajiri.org
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