Many NGOs will be familiar with this issue: communication largely takes place within the same bubble. It poses a constant challenge, especially in political campaigning. So how can we reach new people with our messages? And then, how can we win them over as long-term allies?

For Oxfam, as a political NGO in particular, how to reach new people is a question that arises repeatedly and with great urgency. Social inequality is one of our core issues, and once a year, we publish our Inequality Report at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which generates a lot of media attention. However, the central product of the report is a 60-page study – not exactly a crowd-pleaser that is likely to go viral on social media.

The task

So the questions we ask ourselves every year are:

• How can we communicate our complex political work?
• How can we be low-threshold and target-group-oriented?
• How can we generate leads with the help of this product?

We know that we need to reduce the complexity and encourage engagement but that we also need to remain credible. So how do we reach those who find reading a study too time-consuming, and communicate our content clearly and simply?

As a politically active organization, we must not fall into the trap of populism, and as a donation-based organization, credibility is central to our supporters.

So what can we offer beyond the news headline? And how can we encourage people to engage with us on our various channels?

Our answer to this question is usually: we start a petition. But apart from the fact that petitions are time-consuming, the problem remains that we usually address the same audience. And in this case, we only had six weeks to launch the campaign in time for the World Economic Forum.

The path to the product

From the outset, 2024’s campaign was planned as a cross-team project. It could only work if we brought together expertise from our advocacy, campaigning, and communication teams. So first, we set up a strict schedule with clear responsibilities and sign-off loops. This was clearly going to be a sprint.

In search of something new, we placed particular emphasis on attracting new target groups. With the help of user-centred design thinking approaches, we wanted to break away from Oxfam’s academic communication style and be as accessible as possible without coming across as patronizing. We asked ourselves: Which target group do we want to reach? And above all: What are their needs and interests? And how can we create added value for them?

The idea: a children’s book!

Why? Because parents and guardians are perfect match. They’re interested (including politically) in the future of our society and planet, and willing to get involved – but they have little time.

As parents and guardians, they’re also always on the lookout for interesting, high-quality entertainment for children that they can use to spend time together.

This offered an opening for us to simplify these complex issues with a child-friendly presentation. We came up with a little rabbit that encounters various situations symbolizing social injustices and presents solutions for a fairer world.

In book form, titled “Sometimes the world’s not fair”, it presented an opportunity for parents and children to learn together and discuss social injustice.

The campaign set-up

Our goal was to collect email leads (with double opt-in) and phone numbers (through required fields) with the e-book as an incentive. First however, we launched the campaign with a limited print edition at the World Economic Forum in Davos. After this sold out, the campaign continued as an e-book only.

We used advertising to reach people – mainly via paid campaigns on Facebook and Instagram – as well as target group-specific distribution to parents, educators, and design-savvy audiences.

Initial success

The first step of lead generation was extremely successful. The initial print run of 4,000 copies sold out within three days, generating 4,000 leads at a very low cost. Even when considering the total costs (including agency, print, and logistics), the results were significantly better than other lead campaigns.

Oxfam also reached a completely new and significantly younger target group, and achieved a very strong response from both new leads and existing supporters. In addition, we received numerous enquiries from daycare centres, schools, and parents interested in more copies for classrooms and libraries.

Conversion emailing to our newsletter subscribers was also very successful with a high conversion rate to regular givers.

Learning from mistakes

While the quality of email contacts was good, reaching people by phone was less successful. The new contacts were difficult to reach and had little time, leading us to conclude that this channel was not suitable for the target group.

Trying new things

So what next? Our children’s book had clearly struck a chord with a target group that we had previously found difficult to reach. However, in order to turn this into lasting success for us and gain new supporters in the long term, we had to make some adjustments.

Since the children’s book was obviously a very strong incentive, we converted the campaign into a direct acquisition campaign for regular givers. This was implemented with a landing page and an accompanying Meta campaign, and quickly showed an attractive CPO and a constant source of new regular donors. To keep interest high we developed a range of new paid social assets with different approaches, such as user-generated content (UGC).

We also tested the children’s book as an incentive in various other campaigns, as it can be easily combined with different topics, such as cuts in international aid programs. We sent out various conversion emailings to existing supporters, where we were able to achieve an extremely high conversion rate.

Finally, we were able to get a well-known German actress to record the text as an audiobook for us, which we used as part of our Christmas campaign.

In 2025, the campaign won first prize from the German Fundraising Association, and the book has now been adapted internationally by other Oxfam affiliates and published in countries including Turkey, Australia, and the Netherlands.

Lessons learned

• Be bold – trying new things can take a leap of faith but it pays off
• Get your basics right – set out a strict schedule and clear responsibilities
• Take your target group seriously – respond to what you know about them and what their actions tell you
• Don’t be discouraged – every mistake is a lesson you can learn from
• The devil’s in the details – it’s the many elements in a campaign that, together, make the difference

Valerie Senden

About Valerie Senden

Valerie Senden studied philosophy, German language and literature, and English language and literature in Berlin, Potsdam, and Turin, Italy. She has been working for Oxfam Germany in the field of digital communication and marketing since 2019, becoming head of digital communication in 2022 and currently serving as director of public fundraising and marketing (interim).

When global corporations began quietly reversing their diversity commitments, at Finnish civil society organisation Väestöliitto, we decided to make the silence visible with fashion. In mid-2025, we launched a thought‑provoking campaign called the “DEI Turncoats”: a conceptual online store selling reversible ‘turncoat’ jackets resembling the visual identities of companies retreating from their DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) principles. Each jacket visualised how fast values can flip, reminding that equity should never go out of style.

The initiative was created pro bono with communications and branding partner United Imaginations. Together, we set out to confront this worrying global trend that, in Väestöliitto’s view, had received far too little attention in Finland. The message was clear: equity is a human right, not a seasonal accessory.

Background and objectives

Across the world, companies once celebrated for their DEI programmes began scaling them back as political winds changed. In recent years, DEI has become a core component of many companies’ value statements, leading to strategies, working groups and recruitment programmes. Just as quickly, however, these initiatives are now being reduced or cancelled. Yet in Finland, the discussion has remained muted.

For Väestöliitto, whose mission is to advance equality, sexual rights and inclusion both nationally and internationally, this silence was alarming. The campaign set three goals:
1. Raise awareness that DEI is under global threat and that abandoning it cannot be an option.
2. Spark public discussion around corporate responsibility and the moral weight of equity, even when it’s no longer “in fashion.”
3. Reinforce Väestöliitto’s position as a credible, outspoken advocate for inclusion — and invite donations to its international human‑rights work.

Creative idea and execution

At the centre was a conceptual online store selling “turncoats.” The reversible jackets carried two messages:
– Outside: “DEI is out.”
– Inside: “DEI is in.”
The typography and design playfully echoed real‑world corporate identities; close enough to feel familiar, distant enough to stay legally safe. Clicking to add the coat to your cart didn’t lead to a purchase but instead prompted a donation to our international work for equity.

The campaign aesthetic borrowed from high‑end fashion: striking product photography, minimalist layouts and a tone of polished provocation. The idea extended beyond digital:
• Outdoor advertising appeared in four Finnish cities (OTC ≈ 6.6 million).
• Two jackets were displayed in a Helsinki fashion‑store window, stopping passers‑by.
• And in a bold surprise appearance, the DEI Turncoats showed up at the Finnish Fashion Awards, inserting a human‑rights statement into Finland’s most glamorous stage.

Social media activity continued for nearly two months, with the strongest push during the first two weeks. Väestöliitto’s own channels reached over 209,000 people, and influencer collaborations (all pro bono) extended reach by another 85,000. The campaign also ran in Voima magazine, Finland’s largest cultural publication, and achieved 1.01 million earned‑media reach both nationally and internationally.

Results and impact

Advocacy was always the primary objective, with the donation path intentionally symbolic. The campaign generated widespread debate in social media, business circles and mainstream press, questioning how quickly corporations change their stance on equality.

• Social reach: ≈ 510 000 views / 209 000 unique reach
• Influencer reach: ≈ 85 000 (pro bono)
• Outdoor contacts: 6.6 million
• Media reach: 1.01 million
• Media ROI: 1 864×

Väestöliitto gained new credibility and corporate contacts, positioning itself as a fearless, relevant voice for equality  and proving that an NGO can challenge global brands with wit and style.

Learnings

The campaign showed how creative provocation can serve advocacy, when used authentically and in line with an organisation’s core mission. Because Väestöliitto is fundamentally about human rights, equity and inclusion, the campaign’s core message didn’t feel like a “stretch product” but a natural expression of its mission, even though this style of campaigning was new to the organisation.

Still, provocation in fundraising requires precision. It can spark conversation but must not confuse or alienate potential supporters. In this case, the balance worked: controversy invited dialogue, not backlash.

“The campaign wasn’t just about donations,” says Elina Korhonen, Director of International Affairs at Väestöliitto. “It was about credibility. If diversity and inclusion are the first things cut when budgets tighten, what does that say about the real weight of corporate responsibility strategies?”

Sanna Kotiranta

About Sanna Kotiranta

Sanna Kotiranta is an advisor on global communications at Väestöliitto, where she leads and develops the organisation’s global communications. Sanna also supports Väestöliitto’s fundraising especially related to its international work on sexual rights and equity. Sanna joined Väestöliitto in 2018 and has previous work experience in sexual rights from the Finnish NGO field. Sanna has a master’s degree in social sciences, majoring in international politics and a minor in development studies. Sanna is also a sexual counsellor.

In the UK, legacies now raise an annual £4.5bn for charities, providing an invaluable and resilient income stream for organisations of all sizes and across all causes. As a young charity that took over the responsibilities of the state-owned British Waterways however, pre-2022 the Canal & River Trust hadn’t done much in the way of legacy marketing.

Despite this, we had already received a few gifts in wills that were making a difference by funding projects. We could also see that other charities within our cause area were very successfully fundraising for legacies. So, in 2021 – as we approached our 10^th anniversary year – the Trust appointed me as a dedicated gifts in wills manager to help design and implement a legacy fundraising strategy. This appointment saw me focusing on three key areas: increasing the profile of gifts in wills, creating a culture to promote them, and celebrating their impact.

Starting from the beginning – engaging warm donors

With no database of enquirers about gifts in wills at this point, we initially concentrated on promoting legacy giving to our warm ‘Friends’ audience – supporters who give regularly each month. This enabled us to use existing insights to understand what messaging would resonate, and through which channels.

We were able to drip feed our gifts in wills messaging throughout existing communications – including monthly emails and our supporter magazine – sharing pledger stories and case studies. Starting with two pilot events in 2022, we also launched a legacy enquiry events programme, inviting members of our Friends programme to one of our sites to see the impact a gift in their will could make. From small beginnings, we have since expanded this programme, now holding around eight visits a year which have welcomed over 500 supporters so far.

Canal & River Trust event at Hatton Locks

Developing a stewardship journey

We also developed a stewardship journey to go hand in hand with our enquiry programme. This ensures that supporters who are thinking about leaving a gift (or have pledged to do so) are properly acknowledged and kept up to date with our work through bespoke communications and the opportunity to attend three events each year.

Through our events, we’ve taken supporters to the bottom of a drained canal lock, across the longest aqueduct in Britain, and to an underwater room to view the rare Twaite Shad climb our fish ladder and migrate up the River Severn! Supporters often remark that they had no idea of just how much, or the variety of, work we’re responsible for.

When we began this programme, we had 23 known pledgers and an initial goal of doubling this number. However, we quickly exceeded it and have now built up a community of over 200 pledges. Gift notifications have also started to increase, and we’ve seen extra benefits, with some legacy pledgers choosing to also give during their lifetime through major gifts.

Celebrating impact

With gifts in wills making such a difference to the Trust, we take great care to share stories of their impact – both in way of celebration and thanks, and to raise awareness of the importance of legacy giving.

Last year, we produced a gift in wills impact report for the first time, in recognition of our highest ever year of legacy income at £476,750: an incredible rise from around £33,000 back in 2020. The report shares how we’ve used this legacy income, along with stories about our legators through a series of case studies: some with a supporter focus, and others on projects that have been funded. This includes how June’s legacy had repaired vital swing bridges in Yorkshire, and how Barrie’s gift is supporting canal-side woodland to grow in Wiltshire.

Nurturing a culture of support

Creating a culture that supports and promotes legacy giving has been central to our success. When we first started promoting gifts in wills there was very little awareness internally, so we really upped our communications on the topic to help colleagues understand that promoting legacy giving is a priority for the Trust, raise awareness of the positive impact gifts in wills make, and highlight how they can get involved.

To help colleagues feel confident when talking about legacies, we’ve worked with our customer service and supporter care teams to produce briefings for fielding any initial enquiries, and have also launched legacy conversation training. These workshops normalise talking about gifts in wills, explain the language we use when talking about them and encourage people to try out conversations in an informal setting. We’ve had great feedback from colleagues and volunteers so far, and will be continuing to roll these out to a wider audience.

Colleagues and volunteers are now directly helping with our gifts in wills programme. From speaking at an event, signing off an appeal or meeting the family of a legator who has funded a project they are managing, our legacy fundraising has been a truly collaborative effort. We’ve also seen greater engagement from senior managers, and additional investment in the team and programme that has enabled us to employ a further member of staff and increase our marketing and events activity. Engaging colleagues with legacy giving has also inspired some to generously support the Trust with their own gift.

Acknowledging our work, we were also really pleased to win Best Start-up Legacy Programme at the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards in 2024, and to feature in Smee & Ford and Legacy Futures’ recent Legacy Giving Report 2025!

Looking forward – building on success

Thanks to the success of our strategy to date, we’re forecast to achieve our highest ever legacy income for the second time in 2025-26. Our next move is to start marketing to colder audiences, as a lot of our gifts to date have actually come from people we don’t know. One of the things we’re exploring is more digital acquisition, including through Facebook. It’s been an incredible journey so far and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Canal & River Trust behind the scenes event

Key learnings

1. Using already engaged audiences as a starting point

Starting our legacy fundraising journey with a focus on Trust ‘Friends’ enabled us to use existing insights to tell us what kinds of messaging would resonate and through which channels, and to drip feed our gifts in wills messaging – including pledger and impact stories – throughout existing communications.

But with building relationships absolutely key to legacy fundraising, the biggest benefit to starting with a warm audience is that they already exist. With supporters we knew had an interest and longstanding relationship with our work, it was a logical next step to talk about how they could continue their support with a gift in their will, and ensure everything they love about canals is passed on to the next generation.

2. Getting colleagues on board

The greatest asset to our legacy fundraising programme is our wonderful colleagues and volunteers, but when we first started promoting gifts in wills there was very little awareness about legacy fundraising internally. Case studies have been a key engagement tool, as has recognising when a colleague has played a part in someone deciding to leave a gift.

We’ll sometimes be notified of legacies with no immediate obvious supporter history, however when we speak to the executors, they have often known one of our colleagues, and worked with them on projects in the local area. By highlighting the role colleagues have played in our legators’ decision to support the Trust, it enables other colleagues to think about their day-to-day interactions, and the possibility of enabling future legacy gifts.

3. Tapping into the charity’s unique selling points

All charities are different and there is no ‘one size fits all’ legacy programme. Use your legacy fundraising to highlight what makes you stand out, and capitalise on what your supporters love about your work. As a young charity, we had relatively low brand recognition and comprehension about our work and role. When starting our legacy programme, we therefore focused on directly showing the impact supporters can make through an events programme, showcasing current projects taking place and connecting them with our expert colleagues.

Tangibly demonstrating the impact of support has not only led to success in our legacy programme, but has been beneficial for supporter retention and we have seen an increase in regular donations, volunteering enquiries and even major donations.

4. Just go for it!

We started our legacy programme extremely quickly, and didn’t necessarily have every journey, marketing channel or strategy mapped out. But this enabled us to test, find out quickly what worked and to start building relationships with supporters straight away.

So, our biggest tip would be to just go for it and not let hesitancy around legacy fundraising or overplanning hold you back. And most importantly, celebrate the successes in your programme, and thank your colleagues who have helped play a part in them!

Emily Ding

About Emily Ding

Emily Ding has worked in the fundraising sector for a decade with a background in higher education fundraising and heritage conservation fundraising. Emily joined the Canal & River Trust in 2021 to manage legacy fundraising, implementing a strategy focused on raising awareness of gifts in wills, increasing the number of supporters leaving a gift, ensuring their impact is properly celebrated and ultimately growing legacy income for the Trust.

Main image by Bob Jenkin on Pexels; other images shared by Canal & River Trust

In an increasingly digital world, giving donors the best possible online experience is an essential part of a fundraiser’s role.

Like many charities, NSPCC is eager to increase supporter engagement, boost traffic to its product and raise more income from regular giving. To ensure supporters receive a seamless, consistent experience when they want to make a donation, the UK children’s charity has placed a greater focus on using data to drive its digital strategy, with a commitment to continuous testing and optimisation.

The result of this sharper focus on online fundraising has been a rise in supporter engagement, a big increase in traffic to the charity’s donation site, and more regular gifts with a higher average value.

So, how has NSPCC achieved positive outcomes – and how can other charities have the same success?

Project to product: a new approach to digital fundraising

Since 2023, NSPCC has moved away from traditional waterfall project management (where project phases are completed one after the other in a predetermined order) and adopted a product-led approach to developing the journeys on goDonate, the platform it uses to handle online donations.

The charity now puts more emphasis on supporter behaviour and how it affects campaign metrics. The main NSPCC website hosts a number of different services while acting as the starting point for the donation funnel on goDonate.

NSPCC’s priorities for its online donor journey are increasing overall regular donations and the amount of income gained from them. Another key area is increasing traffic to its products, thereby boosting supporter engagement and conversions. A third objective is to gain new donors while also increasing engagement with existing supporters to strengthen those relationships.

Understanding the behaviour of supporters in the charity’s digital channels provides a wealth of user-led data from Google Analytics and other sources. With this data to hand, the charity has been able to rapidly devise and run A/B testing of hypotheses.

Testing is never treated as a one-off. NSPCC runs ongoing trials, allowing it to continuously optimise campaigns and the digital journey.

Understanding the importance of continuous optimisation

Getting the donation journey right is the key to greater engagement and conversions. Industry statistics show that only around one in five users who click the ‘donate’ button on a charity website actually make a donation. While that figure is frustratingly low, it also means that even small incremental gains in conversions can make a big difference. For example, if a charity raised £500,000 in one year through its online donation forms, increasing the conversion rate from 21% to just 23% would provide an additional £50,000 in income.

This highlights the importance of optimisation – and there are several tactics that can be used through online donation platforms to improve donor journeys. Each tiny, testing-driven tweak can make a big difference. From optimised form layouts to frictionless payment options and emotionally resonant messaging, the goal is to make the giving experience as intuitive – and inspiring – as possible at every stage. For example, by tapping into known donor motivations with compelling headlines, copy and imagery. This is an impactful way to build emotional engagement, but it’s vital to ensure all campaign messaging and content is consistent across channels.

Ensuring the charity shows up in the same way across the journey builds trust and transparency, which is as crucial when it comes to online donations as it is in e-commerce. Supporters are reassured they’re still interacting with the organisation they want to give money to because the branding is consistent: they’re in the right place.

How testing led to big donation uplifts through NSPCC’s site

To uncover real-world challenges and opportunities, NSPCC conducted usability testing with small supporter samples. One surprising insight gleaned was that when people were prompted to donate after watching a TV advert, most searched for ‘NSPCC’, clicked the first donate button they saw, and didn’t scroll.

They wanted speed, clarity and emotional connection. However, consistency in imagery, such as using the same photo of a child across ads and donation pages, was key to triggering emotional recall.

Two other successful tests by the charity have made a measurable difference:

• Simplified hero banner – Replacing donation prompts on the landing page with a single, clear call-to-action led to an increase in clickthroughs to the goDonate donation platform of just over a fifth.
• Removing a mandatory attribution field – Eliminating the question, “What prompted your donation?”, which was prone to unstructured responses and offered little insight, boosted conversion by 4%.

These successes prompted the charity to innovate further. NSPCC is now experimenting with new features designed to emotionally connect with supporters, including a ‘giving slider’.

Instead of choosing an amount, supporters can now state how many Childline calls they want to fund. The donation value adjusts automatically, linking gift size directly to impact. Early tests show donors give more when they can visualise the effect of their donation.

Meanwhile, after making a one-off gift, supporters are invited on a ‘thank you’ page to convert to a regular gift with a single click.

Online donation optimisation tips for charities to consider

In a digital world crowded with choices, every second and each click counts. NSPCC’s commitment to data-driven testing, user-centred design and innovative giving options reveals how charities can elevate their online fundraising without huge budgets, but with smart decisions.

The results are a case in point:

• 37% rise in average regular gift value
• Significant uplift in income from the direct debit upgrade campaign platform
• Hundreds of new monthly donors added through a post-donation upsell feature, generating additional annual income

The benefits of testing and optimisation, following a data-driven approach to online fundraising, are clear. Regardless of size or existing revenue any charity can also significantly boost donations through their website. Here are six tips for success.

1. Streamline the journey: Keep donation forms short. Ask only essential questions. Reduce clicks.
2. Use emotional and visual cues: Consistency in imagery and copy builds trust and boosts response.
3. Optimise for mobile: Mobile accounts for 60% of donation; ensure your forms work well on smaller screens.
4. Offer modern payment methods: Digital wallets like Apple Pay and PayPal can significantly boost conversions.
5. Personalise where you can: Personalised donation pages, which display the supporter’s name, for instance, are proven to improve conversion by up to 21%. Delivery via email or QR code are particularly impactful.
6. Test, learn, repeat: With usability studies and A/B testing you can refine your hypotheses and prove what works.

Lee Bellingham

About Lee Bellingham

Lee Bellingham is a digital product manager at the NSPCC, where he plays a pivotal role in enhancing the charity’s online fundraising efforts. With extensive experience in digital strategy and user experience, he is dedicated to improving donor engagement and maximising online contributions for the organisation. At the NSPCC, Lee oversees various projects that leverage data-driven insights and innovative tools to optimise the online donation journey. His expertise in A/B testing and user-centric design has been instrumental in implementing successful strategies that foster deeper connections with supporters.

Vicky Reeves

About Vicky Reeves

Vicky Reeves is founder and CEO of goDonate, an online donation platform supporting UK and global charities. With more than 20 years’ expertise in digital fundraising and the technology that drives it, Vicky focuses on helping charities to maximise online donations through smart tech and exceptional UX. She was a trustee of the charity arm of the British Museum for eight years, helping the organisation to maximise its online fundraising and use technology to drive digital donations. She has been a finalist in the Digital Champion category of the Third Sector Awards, and was shortlisted for the Fast Growth Business Awards Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

A collaboration between the Norwegian Cancer Society and the Breast Cancer Society, the Pink Ribbon Campaign has run annually each October since 1999 to show support with those affected by breast cancer, increase awareness, and raise money for research that could lead to better treatment, longer survival and increased quality of life for everyone who develops it. The most common form of cancer among women, 600 in Norway die from the disease every year – and of course, men can get it too.

To meet these objectives, the core target group for the information campaign is women aged 35+, while for the donor campaign, it’s the country’s entire population, which is just 5.5m people.

Yet from this relatively small audience, millions are raised every year, with 2024 setting a new fundraising record.

The 2024 campaign aimed to raise NOK 50 million (just over €43m); sell 160,000 ribbons – a symbol of support for everyone affected by breast cancer; maintain the campaign’s high level of awareness and knowledge of what the ribbon symbolizes; and achieve 800 media reports during the campaign period.

In fact, it beat the target to raise NOK 67 million (€58m): an increase of NOK 17.3 million from the previous year. The campaign saw 200,000 ribbons purchased, exceeding the target and selling out for the first time in the campaign’s history, and the post campaign survey also showed that it maintained its high level of awareness at 95%, while of those who had heard about the campaign, 96% knew what the ribbon symbolizes.

Participants in the Pink Ribbon Run in Bergen

The not-so-secret secrets of the Pink Ribbon Campaign’s success

So with such a long-running campaign, what’s behind its continued success – and last year’s incredible results?

Marit Sophie Egge, campaign manager since 2005, shares her thoughts:

The Pink Ribbon Campaign has grown from year to year, both in terms of attention and income, and particularly in recent years. There are probably several reasons why we succeed in continually engaging people.

A cause that impacts many

First is the cause itself. Breast cancer affects many. It is a disease that affects one in ten women during their lifetime, but it is not only the woman who gets it who is affected. So are her partner, family, friends and colleagues. When someone you love is affected by an illness, you want to contribute and get involved.

A symbol that people recognize – and exclusive rights
The second thing is the campaign symbol: the Pink Ribbon. It has become very well-known and a symbol that people want to wear to show their support for everyone affected by breast cancer. When Pink Ribbon was first organized in Norway, this symbol was unknown, but over the years it has become well-recognized. It probably also helps that the Pink Ribbon is an international symbol for the breast cancer cause.

Because awareness of this symbol is so high, since 2014 we have had a well-known Norwegian designer create their version of the ribbon. This gives people a reason to buy a new one every year. Last year’s Pink Ribbon was particularly popular, and for the first time “The Ribbon of the Year” sold out.

In addition, we have registered the logo and the word mark “Rosa sløyfe”, which gives us the exclusive right to use the Pink Ribbon symbol in Norway, whereas in many other countries there are several competing ribbons. No one can sell Pink Ribbon products in Norway without entering a collaboration with us. The Breast Cancer Society also has local associations all over the country that participate in the campaign every year, and which are most important as information providers and for giving a face to the cause.

I also think it’s important that Pink Ribbon is a campaign held for one month a year rather than being always-on. We limit campaign activities to October as much as possible, and that way we can create engagement among those who contribute and participate every year.

Working with commercial partners
The third thing is the collaboration with commercial partners. Before I took over as campaign manager, I worked as a project manager for fundraising from the business community at the Norwegian Cancer Society. I saw the potential in the Pink Ribbon concept to get the business community involved and support the campaign. Today, 70% of the income comes from activities carried out by the business community. We mainly collaborate with retail, which means that we reach out with the campaign and our symbol in approximately 2,000 stores across the country.

Cross-channel awareness raising
The fourth thing I must mention is our information work. The Pink Ribbon campaign in Norway is 50/50 information and fundraising. Therefore, our information work is just as important as raising money. Through our collaboration with the business community, we gain much wider reach through their customer magazines, websites and social media, in addition to paid communication platforms. We have our own channels, but we can multiply these tenfold with so many good partners. We also work purposefully to sell stories to editorial media. Important for us in all our information work is that we use real people, women (and a few men) who have themselves been affected and who tell their experiences of being affected.

A solid strategy
To succeed with a campaign, it is important to lay stone upon stone. The Pink Ribbon Campaign today is the result of systematic work over more than 20 years. Our mantra is to do more of and further develop what works and less of what doesn’t. The activities we do in the campaign should create awareness, spread information or raise money. Preferably all three.

Examples of activities we do in the campaign that have proven successful:

We travel around the country and visit the largest places in Norway with a travelling stand: a pink trailer staffed by members of the Breast Cancer Society. They meet people face to face to talk about breast cancer, prevention and early detection and sell the campaign symbol. This is an important information activity as a counterbalance to the rest of the information activities in the campaign, which are mainly digital.

We organize a Pink Ribbon run in six cities and help local organizers with runs in smaller places. In 2024, we had a record number of participants, a total of more than 26,000 people.

We have had clear goals for the campaign and have been true to them. We have also dared to stand in the repetitive rather than throw ourselves around trying to come up with overly creative ideas, but we have nevertheless tried to follow trends and add something new to the campaign that makes it constantly relevant. We have a campaign team with dedicated employees who each have their own areas of responsibility such as a senior communications manager, a project employee responsible for press work, a project employee responsible for marketing work, a project employee responsible for logistics, and a group responsible for cooperation with the business community.

We also measure the effect of everything we do and adjust and adapt measures according to these measurements. It is of course important to communicate to donors how the funds raised are used, and as we use the funds raised for breast cancer research, sharing updates about this is important in our information work.

So in essence, there aren’t any revolutionary, new key factors that make this fundraising campaign so successful. The secret to its success is simply good work over a long period of time!

Marit Sophie Egge

About Marit Sophie Egge

Marit Sophie Egge has led the Pink Ribbon Campaign in Norway since 2005. Under her leadership, the campaign has grown significantly each year, both in scope and funds raised, into one of the largest and most well-known in Norway. To date, it has raised more than 500 million NOK for the breast cancer cause, and was awarded “Campaign of the Year” in both 2023 and 2024, while Marit Sophie was awarded “Fundraiser of the Year” in 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Bergen and a master’s degree in management and leadership from Oslo Metropolitan University. She has extensive experience leading various fundraising campaigns, including the annual TV fundraising campaign and the Norwegian Cancer Society’s annual fundraising campaign.

The Swedish Canine Welfare Association is not eligible for any aid from the state and solely relies on support and contributions from the public. For us, as for many other organizations, the loyalty of our donors is vital for our continued work. How we put their money to use is a constant consideration especially when it comes to new projects that we have not tackled before.

In 2023, there was an addition made to our bylaws, meaning our purpose changed for the first time since the organization was founded in 1908. In addition to our core values, i.e., rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming dogs, we also had to start increasing awareness and understanding of a life with and around dogs, and proactively working to minimize the number of dogs needing our help.

This opened several new doors for us to spread our message and to inform many more people about how wonderful life with dogs can be and how we can help if things do not go as planned. Pro bono campaigns with likeminded influencers were one of the ways we believed we could reach a wider audience, while also being mindful of our donors’ contributions.

Raising awareness through new channels

The Swedish Canine Welfare Association managed to help and care for 831 dogs in 2023: an increase of 45% compared to 2022. What happens in society also affects our dogs and we need to inform and spread knowledge about dogs in general. To reach out, we believe in doing so in creative ways while showing seriousness. The goal of our pro bono campaign was to increase followers and awareness of our organization and of all the benefits of sharing a life with a dog. We decided to try reaching people outside of our target audience through influencers using their social platforms, and through nonpaid collaboration, which creates higher credibility and a genuine feeling.

“I am so happy and proud to work pro bono with The Swedish Canine Welfare Association in their mission to give all dogs a second chance. With my Instagram account of over 1 million followers, I’ve had the privilege of using my platform for a cause like this. All to raise awareness and spread the word about The Swedish Canine Welfare Association’s incredible work. Posting, sharing and engaging contribute to the greater goal of giving these animals the love and care they deserve”, says influencer Therése Lindgren.

In our first campaign we sent out over 100 invitations to a diverse range of influencers who all shared an interest in dogs. In that way, we were able to reach many different target groups. Out of 100, 12 influencers joined the campaign. All made one post on Instagram where they told their followers about their experiences with dogs and informed them about The Swedish Canine Welfare Association. It was especially important that all posts were personal and unique. With many reminders and persistence, we managed to get a media value of about SEK 1 million.

Thanks to that first campaign, it has become easier for us to find more collaborators who want to help spread awareness about dogs who need new homes and canine welfare. In fact, during 2024, our media value from pro bono collaborations with influencers and other media channels reached around SEK 3 million.

It’s been a learning curve. Here are some pointers that we’ve picked up along the way:

Three pointers for successful pro bono collaborations

• Patience, patience and even more patience! Contact a lot of potential collaborators and influencers.
• Keep in mind that it may take time to reach the right type of influencers you wish to work with depending on how well known your organization is.
• Make sure you have plenty of time! Pro bono campaigns take a longer time to both find the right people, to get the yes to collaborate, and to reach the goals for the campaign than with paid campaigns. Expect it to take twice the time it would take with paid collaborations, again with it in mind that it may take a longer or shorter amount of time depending on how well known the organization is.
• Bonus tip and a reminder! Make sure the influencer or collaborator marks the work they do for you as pro bono. It makes it clearer for the donors that the influencer/collaborator is not getting paid to do this and depending on the laws of the country you’re in this may also be important for the influencer to avoid any financial issues.

Linnea Wedenberg

About Linnea Wedenberg

Linnea is responsible for the fundraising strategy, implementations, marketing and campaigns and has been working with The Swedish Canine Welfare Association for six years. During this time, the turnover increased from 40.7 million SEK (2019) to 94.4 million SEK (2023).

Erika Garmelius

About Erika Garmelius

Erika is head of communications and responsible for The Swedish Canine Welfare Association brand. She has been working for the non-profit organization for about five years. During this time, the non-profit organization has increased awareness by 12% compared to last year. In addition, engagement on their social media has increased significantly. As a result of solid work with public relations, the value amounted to SEK 66 million for 2023.

In the spring of 2020, in the middle of a raging pandemic, the Stockholm City Mission began the work of collecting at least 30 million krona (€2.6m), a third of the cost necessary to rebuild and renovate the church of St. Paul.

We faced a huge challenge, and it was also the first time we had undertaken such a large-scale fundraising campaign.

Yet by December 2020, we had raised SEK 45 million (€3.9m)!

How did we do it? Let me take it from the beginning.

The purpose (an excerpt from our Case for Support)

In the heart of Stockholm, at Mariatorget, is St Paul, a meeting place open to everyone and offering a variety of activities. In an increasingly polarized society, with a growing proportion of people living in poverty and loneliness and where many people experiencing homelessness completely lack access to both welfare and security, having a meeting place like St. Paul is extra important.

The idea of ​​a meeting place for everyone was born in 2015 when the Stockholm City Mission took over the church of St Paul. However, the property was run down and needed thorough renovation and rebuilding to create a larger and better space that would open it up to more participants.

Financing

A whopping 90 million Swedish krona was needed to finance the reconstruction. This was funded partly through loans and equity, but we also needed to raise 30 million krona ourselves – and from new donors to avoid parasitising the organization’s annual collection of funds. Did we dare to believe this was possible? At the same time, the pandemic began to gain momentum…

Implementation and success factors

Carrying out such a large fundraising campaign requires many factors to work together. Everyone involved must also be able to set aside the necessary time – and it’s a lot of time!

The purpose and the need

We defined our purpose carefully, with an emphasis on the result we would achieve with the help of the donations we sought. We made it clear that these gifts would make a crucial difference.

Internal conditions

To be successful in a project like this, board, management, employees – everyone, must feel a genuine commitment and contribute to the work.

Our board approved our proposal, and handed the collection task to the management of the Stockholm City Mission. The director (incredibly competent, highly confident and experienced in our issues) was appointed project owner and formed a fundraising group with our major donor team. Each having the specific skills and commitment needed for this task.

External conditions

Four former chairmen with great knowledge of the organization became ambassadors and worked actively to contact potential new donors. Their contribution was extremely important for the final result.

After they had made initial contact, the project owner and myself took over. We also contacted other donors, foundations, companies and private individuals who had potential but had not yet given large gifts. Most contacts were made by telephone and some by mail. If there was interest, we invited them to a meeting on site, or sometimes on Teams. There, they could see with their own eyes what the result would be if we were successful through the architectural sketches and our elaborate presentation.

Kicki Aldrin on a site visit with a foundation that contributed to the appeal

We also received great support from some companies and individuals who contacted potential donors in their own networks.

Donors with potential

Stockholm City Mission annually raises around SEK 200,000 million. This is money used to run our existing businesses.

In other words, we needed to find new donors who had the interest and monetary ability to contribute. Thanks to our close work with ambassadors’ and our own networks, we succeeded very well in this, with donations coming in from major donors, companies and foundations.

Overall, we had around 70 meetings, and about 60% went on to donate to the campaign, showing how important to it is have a long list of potential donors.

Loyalty

In my work with major donors, I always want them to know and feel that their investment is the best they’ve made.

Since the funds for St. Paul came from different categories of donors, I designed specific programmes for each category based on their wants and needs. Let me give two examples.

We knew companies that contributed would want visibility of this – with their customers, employees and other stakeholders – in order to strengthen their brand through their commitment. We produced communication packages that they could in turn use across both their channels and ours.

Regular communication also helped to keep donors up to date with the project. Everyone who contributed received a regular info email during the 18 months of construction. We talked about the different phases of the reconstruction. Pictures and videos were sent along, and as it was a pandemic, we invited people to digital information meetings where they also had the opportunity to ask questions. I had email and phone contact and was available for questions. With the end of the pandemic, digital meetings were replaced by physical meetings on site, which was fantastic for everyone.

Many of our donors have expressed gratitude and joy at being so “close” to the project all the time. Several donors are still giving to other projects.

The new St Paul was inaugurated on December 7, 2022, of course with the presence of several donors.

Artist Stina Wirsén painted a fresco on the large wall in the dining room with the theme “A place for all”. At the top, she has handwritten donor names as a reminder of their commitment.

Two questions:

I have had the privilege of lecturing on this amazing campaign and usually get two questions.

Did the pandemic affect our fundraising?

Yes, for the better. Many of the donors are people high up in business and normally difficult to reach and get meetings with. During the pandemic, more were at home and we had an easier time reaching them.

What would I say is the single most important of all success factors in a major fundraising campaign?

The honest and genuine commitment of everyone working on the campaign. The donor feels that you are passionate about and believe in the purpose yourself. It can be decisive for a yes or no.

The icing on the cake

As well as achieving our target, Stockholm City Mission also won the Swedish Fundraising Association’s “Fundraising Organization of the Year” award in 2020 for this campaign.

Kicki Aldrin

About Christina “Kicki” Aldrin

Kicki is a trained marketing economist and has worked in marketing and communications for many years. In 2007 she took the step to move from the private sector to nonprofit activity. Since then, she has worked in fundraising and is an EFA certified fundraiser. At Stockholm City Mission, Kicki has specialized in major gifts from private individuals and foundations, and is fundraising manager, major donors and foundations.

She loves creating and developing close and long-lasting relationships and always wants “her” donors to feel that they have made their best investment ever.

There is nothing more enticing than having a great idea to fundraise for, because it captures people’s attention. The concept of this project was simple – it was about enabling a community in Malawi to access affordable energy by paying for the solar energy they use at a price cheaper than what they pay for kerosene, candles or torch batteries. This in turn pays for the maintenance of the solar home systems installed on their home.

We called it Light a Village. It’s an approach that takes the risk away from families who would struggle to buy a solar home system in instalments. Giving them away would not be sustainable or scalable. At the beginning it was just an idea based on our observations with communities in rural communities in Malawi desperate to have solar energy to light their home but unable to afford the cost.

Kesilina Chiwoza turning on her SolarAid light

Phase 1: Finding a funder to take a chance

But to turn an idea like this into reality requires funding, so at the outset you need to focus on finding and convincing a funder who is the decision maker ­– ideally an individual. They are more likely to take a risk for an idea that has potential but is unproven. An organisation or committee giving away someone else’s money is less likely to take a risk ­– save them to approach later.

We had a funder in mind. This was the Turner Kirk Trust, which was set up by two philanthropists who knew us well and were, in their words, willing to “fund ideas that might fail”. This sort of funder is very special and can be the catalyst to get things going. They agreed to a donation of £75,000 to implement the first phase of the project – a trial in 500 homes.

Dr Ewan Kirk, the co-founder of the Trust said:

“The SolarAid project was precisely in our sweet spot of an untested and untried high-risk idea which, if it were to work, would be transformative and could then leverage larger pools of capital to solve the problem across a country.  However, for SolarAid to achieve this impact, we needed to give them ‘permission to fail’ in a high-risk project.  Fortunately, the pilot project was highly successful and is helping to create a revolution in providing lighting for all.”

Indeed, the first phase ­­– over the course of a year – went well. Whilst there were problems to overcome as you would expect from a new idea (although we didn’t anticipate the rats chewing through the cables!), plans were made for the second phase.

Phase 2: Attracting support to scale up the project

To get to this next stage, we needed funders who could make a decision reasonably quickly ­– within a few months. We needed to raise £240,000 to scale the project up to 2,500 homes. The Turner-Kirk Trust generously agreed to put up a match ­– leaving us a target of an additional £120,000 to raise. We identified funders ­– a mix of individuals, trusts we had good contact with and a corporate. Ten funders were secured within five months, each giving between £10k to £20k. Not one of our existing funders turned us down and the match funding proved to be highly attractive. We also attracted a trust who had never given to us before. These funders loved the idea but in addition, because we’d already trialled it, we now had content we could show them – photographs, case studies, and initial data showing promise. This was enough to convince them.

Phase 3: Achieving the biggest fundraising target yet 

For the third and final phase we needed to raise over £600k. This would require grants or donations of £50k or more (any less, and it would just take too long to raise the total, and require too many funders). The advantage was that we had evidence from the data on delivering the first two phases that was critical to secure support from funders at this level. We began engaging potential funders for this phase shortly after the start of the first one as we knew it would take time. We developed a pipeline and gave each opportunity a % chance of success ­– we filled this pipeline until the total (including a weighted % chance) exceeded our target of £600k. So a £100k application with a 20% chance was logged as £20k. This way we weren’t dependent on opportunities that might deliver a significant grant but where we had a small chance of getting it.

The percentage chance we assigned was much higher where funders effectively invited us to apply. These opportunities were indeed where we succeeded, versus applying for highly competitive “open calls” or speculative applications.

We secured nine funders with an average grant of £67k. Some from the previous phase continued to give too. An individual who gave £10k to phase two insisted on a donation of £15k to phase three. A corporate, the energy company EDF Renewables, who donated £20k stepped up their support to £60k (£20k for each solar project they delivered in the UK).

Our largest grant came from combining forces with two other enterprises, based elsewhere in Africa but working on a very similar concept. By working together we could share learning, which this made the proposal more interesting to the funder we approached – the Dutch postcode lottery DOEN. DOEN in turn introduced us to another foundation, the Swiss-based Good Energies Foundation, who they often collaborate with. A grant of €675k was secured, split between us and the two other solar enterprises.

Ethel Botomani sewing under a SolarAid light

Looking ahead to 100% solar energy access

All in all, just shy of £1 million was raised to deliver the Light a Village project in Malawi. Within a year we expect to reach all 8,813 households in the community. 100% access! That’s a first! The Malawian government wants to scale this at a district level which will be about eight times bigger. As they say in the film Jaws: “we’re going need a bigger boat” and a different funding strategy for this phase. One that incorporates this as a scalable business model from the outset, attracting subsidy and investment rather than relying on just philanthropy.

After that, the ambition is for it to be scaled nationally. We believe it could directly benefit 10 million people in Malawi alone ­– and adapted to be applied elsewhere across sub-saharan Africa.

Last words

So if your organisation has an attractive idea that has potential, break it down into stages that are attractive to different types of funders based on the level of risk they will take. That way you can focus your time on the relevant donors at each stage and prepare the ground for what you will need to persuade other funders down the line.

Insights from fundraising for Light a Village

Richard Turner

About Richard Turner

Richard Turner worked as a chief fundraiser at SolarAid for 2011 to 2016 and returned as director of fundraising in 2021. He has 35 years of experience as a fundraiser at Oxfam, Farm-Africa, FFI and ActionAid UK, as well as consulting and delivering fundraising training for charities with Alan Clayton Associates. He is a trustee of SOFII and on the advisory board for IFC.

At Action Tutoring, we don’t have a huge team working on corporate partnerships, but it’s led and driven by a lot of passion, determination and resilience! We truly believe charities cannot do it alone; to create change, businesses and charities must work together. You bring different strengths and resources to ‘the table’ ­– and that’s what drives positive transformation.

In summer 2023, we were announced as QBE Foundation’s new Community Partner. The charitable arm of a leading global insurance group, QBE Foundation pledged over £1.5 million to us across a three-year partnership, running until 2026.

A shared focus

They had a focus on ‘inclusion’, and that’s what we’re all about: ensuring disadvantaged pupils can access opportunities such as further education, employment and training. They had a refreshing approach to philanthropy, wanting to move beyond funding alone and really dive into our mission.

Agreed outcomes

As such, our partnership is focused on four key outcomes:

• Increase Action Tutoring’s geographical reach, with an ambition for 30% of our delivery to be based outside our current urban hubs by 2026, with a particular focus on overlooked rural and seaside communities.
• Grow the number of pupils we support each year to 10,000 in 2027.
• Drive our impact by empowering our pupils to match the national average pass rates for all pupils in English SATs and GCSEs, helping to reduce the attainment gap.
• Advocacy for tutoring support for disadvantaged pupils.

Working together

QBE Foundation is helping us move closer to these ambitions in a number of ways; they regularly encourage their colleagues to volunteer as tutors, connect us with potential useful contacts, and provide opportunities to visit their regional offices and deliver presentations to their teams both virtually and in-person. They also help us raise awareness of educational disadvantages through blogs, social media campaigns, videos, case studies (even supplying teams and resources to help us go into schools and conduct pupil and tutor interviews), provide us with office space, and engage their employees with fundraising challenges throughout the year.

As our partnership has progressed, we’ve developed the aims we want to achieve. For example, we started out with a handful of QBE colleagues volunteering as tutors; but as engagement grew, we set a target to get 10% of their UK colleagues as volunteers. We co-designed a strategy to ensure we were clear in our mutual ambitions and aligned on how we would achieve them, and what success would look like.

Maintaining close contact

We have regular catch ups and always look for ways to improve what we’re doing and how we do it. We ensure our connection goes beyond just our philanthropy team and their Ttustees – our marketing teams are connected, their colleagues know our programme delivery team through tutoring weekly, and their senior leaders have visited schools to see our programmes in action. Their Foundation Chairman even joined our annual team day to talk to our 70+ staff team about who they are, what they do and why they chose Action Tutoring as a partner, which is great for engaging our team in the partnership more deeply (especially when we’re all based across England).

Real partnership

They’re also helping us shape our thinking and strategies to some of the key business ‘challenges’ we’re facing, such as their Executive Team spending a whole day with our SLT to consider how to tackle developing more fruitful partnerships, enhance our approach to sustainability and refine our staff development offer. They really want to see us succeed as a charity and encourage other corporations with our work too; they have a very collaborative approach to the partnership and an aspirational ambition to do all they can to help as many children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve academically and take their next step in life.

A key highlight was when a video QBE Foundation made about us was shortlisted as a finalist in the Corporate Cause category of the 2024 Smiley Charity Film Awards. The film was created to increase engagement and awareness across QBE colleagues and regional offices by highlighting the educational disadvantage and the solution we offer.

We love working with QBE Foundation. We have a few years of our current partnership left, but hope to extend it. We’re doing great work together and have the potential to support even more disadvantaged young people to achieve.

Sharing key learnings
Organisations often have limited time or resources, or both – so it’s critical to ensure you’re in alignment with a potential partner. As a charity it’s tempting to try to drive a partnership, even if it’s not suited to your mission – but that business could be providing critical support to a charity they have deeper synergy with ­– and your ideal corporate partner could be closer than you think. So really review the opportunity: is it right for your charity, and is it right for right now?

It’s also important to remember it’s a partnership; show your partner the impact you’re having together and take them ‘on the journey’. If things are challenging and you’re facing hurdles, tell them! It’s much better to work towards solutions together. Communication is key!

Hannah O’Neill

About Hannah O’Neill

Hannah O’Neill is the head of philanthropy at Action Tutoring. Having been with the education charity for over seven years, Hannah first spent 3.5 years in direct delivery, coordinating the charity’s tutoring programmes across Liverpool, where she’s based, before moving into partnerships and fundraising. She now leads the charity’s philanthropy team to drive fruitful, sustainable and transformational corporate partnerships, whilst overseeing all fundraising activities and initiatives.

In Poland, the Empowering Children Foundation has operated Helpline for Children and Youth in Poland for 15 years, with specialists answering over 50,000 calls a year from children in need of help. Providing this professional assistance however requires several million Polish zlotys annually (with 1 million zlotys equal to around 235,000 euros).

Bold decisions in difficult times

During the initial years of operation, around 50-60% of the helpline’s budget was financed by the Polish government. Later, this support decreased to just 5%, and then in January 2022, the PiS government unexpectedly decided to withdraw its support altogether, creating a crisis situation for the helpline staff. In response, the organization decided to appeal to the Prime Minister through a petition published on its webpage, requesting an explanation for the withdrawal of its support. It was a risky decision, with such a public confrontation running the risk of all government funding being suspended. Nevertheless, the critical situation forced the organization to take action, and it published the appeal the day after the news broke.

The petition

Widespread response thanks to Instagrammers

Widely covered in mainstream media – radio and television – the petition gained significant interest. But it was after popular influencers became involved, including bloggers from Make Life Harder, a profile followed by 1.5 million people on Instagram, that things really took off. After they published a post, a massive movement began, and a wave of signatures followed, topping 100,000 within a few days. A fundraising campaign was also launched on one of the crowdfunding platforms, zrzutka.pl, by an entrepreneur associated with Make Life Harder. People immediately started donating. The organizer himself said that the result exceeded his wildest expectations: “I sat and refreshed the page time after time, watching the amount grow each time. It was incredibly beautiful!”

The crowdfunder

Ultimately, the equivalent of over 470,000 euros were raised, with more than 40,000 people donating to support the helpline. This alone was a great success, but it wasn’t the end.

Telemarketing as a continuation of the campaign

Out of the 100,000 people who signed the petition, over 40,000 left their contact information in the form of a phone number – an optional feature in the petition signing form. Within a few days, the Foundation launched a massive telemarketing campaign. A call centre, experienced in fundraising campaigns and already working with the Foundation, undertook its execution, making it possible to start the campaign quickly.

The telemarketing team consisted of 8 people, all trained in knowledge about the helpline, the Foundation’s operations, and with the latest statement from the board regarding the appeal to the Prime Minister. They contacted people who had signed the petition, asking them to consider providing regular monthly support to the Foundation by setting up a direct debit for a fixed amount. Almost 2,000 people (5% of the entire database) agreed to this form of support.

Donors were asked to contribute a minimum of 8 euros per month, ultimately generating income of around 16,000 euros for the organization, or over 190,000 euros annually. Together with the funds raised from the campaign, this amounted to 660,000 euros. It was enough to enable the helpline to safely continue its operations. Additionally, the communication cycle about the Foundation’s actions resulted in further donations to other Foundation appeals. Some of those contacted also participated in a campaign asking people to allocate 1.5% of their taxes to the organization – one of the options available in Poland and the Czech Republic as part of annual tax settlement arrangements.

Factors for success

Building the organization’s image and social capital

As well as providing financial resources, the petition contributed to building a large base of people supporting the Foundation, increasing its recognition among various recipient groups it had not reached before, and establishing itself as an expert authority in helping children at risk of violence. All of this was possible thanks to the organization’s experience gained through previous actions on a much smaller scale. The situation necessitated an immediate response, and in these circumstances, it would have been impossible to build the mechanisms for petition signing or find subcontractors for telemarketing campaigns without prior experience.

Professional database

A significant role was played by a professional CRM solution (Salesforce) integrated with the petition signing form, and the call centre had a developed process for sharing and updating data. The fundraising team had real-time access to current reports and campaign progress. The system was also configured to automatically register anyone who signed the petition and send them an email thanking them and proposing regular support.

Involvement of the PR team

The preparedness of the communication team was also crucial; they swiftly prepared a crisis statement, maintained ongoing contact with the media, and handled all enquiries. Those prepared for media appearances were the chairperson of the board and the coordinator of the helpline. If communication had not been handled so efficiently, the organization might have faced not only a financial crisis but also a reputational one.

5 key principles of crisis response campaigns

1. A previously tried and tested call to action, for example: sign a petition, make a donation or send an SMS, with a direct and easy to understand message. During such campaigns, everything happens so quickly that there is no time for learning on the go or for a comprehensive response to errors.
2. A prepared statement on the organization’s official position and fully briefed employees whose role it is to speak to the media – all media contacts should be directed to these individuals. One unprofessional or unguarded statement can have a very negative and lasting impact on your organization’s image.
3. A readiness to capitalise on the response, from supporters and donors, as well as influential individuals with large audiences. In times of frustration, people want to feel that they can do something. This is energy and motivation that must be utilized.
4. An awareness that crisis response mobilizes the entire team, and may require more commitment than the anticipated work time. It is important for employees and volunteers to feel appreciated and have clear information about both expected involvement (“Be prepared for media/donor contacts, even on weekends”) and compensation for overtime.
5. Ability to leverage the image potential and social engagement built during the crisis. Follow-ups, updates on the current situation, or information about campaign progress are invaluable and can generate greater revenue than the campaign itself. For Empowering Children Foundation, the readiness of the team, both in terms of tools and operations, enabled the swift and effective implementation of the campaign, ultimately saving the helpline.

Being prepared to respond to a crisis is a significant challenge and a test of an organization’s and team’s performance – but it can yield spectacular results.

Magda Sadłowska

About Magda Sadłowska

Magda Sadłowska is a fundraiser and manager with 20 years of experience. As a board member, she was responsible for building financial security as well as PR and communication at the Empowering Children Foundation; previously, she managed the fundraising team at Amnesty International. She trains and supports NGOs in creating communication and fundraising strategies and plans. Together with Enxoo sp. zoo, she creates dedicated NGO solutions for digitalization and automation of activities.

Main picture by Cheryl Holt on Pixabay