It’s probably no surprise to hear that animal welfare is the UK’s most popular cause for donating to charities, confirmed by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) in 2022.
Two years ago, their research estimated that 15 million people chose to give money to animal charities – more than a quarter of the UK’s population, with an average monthly donation of more than £20.*
Of course, things have changed a little since then; the ongoing cost of living crises are impacting everyone’s disposable income, and a shocking 18% of the UK are estimated to be living in poverty. This has hit all charities hard, but perhaps companion animal charities the most; not only are they facing the same rising costs we are all experiencing, they are also faced with a significant increase in the number of abandoned or surrendered animals. So the need for donations for these types of charities in particular has never been more important.
When faced with these challenges, animal welfare charities need to look at the most effective ways to fundraise, and the telephone is becoming more and more popular – which is why we work with such a wide range of animal welfare charities: Woodgreen Pets Charity, OneKind, the SSPCA, Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home to name but a few.
The reason why telephone fundraising works so well for animal welfare charities, is that unlike more traditional methods of one-way communication, the telephone enables our clients the chance to engage with and learn from their supporters, and this is something which they really value.
By talking in depth and in person, the telephone is often the starting point of a much longer term relationship, sometimes from thank you call all the way to a legacy discussion. And similarly, supporters really welcome the chance to talk, and to support what is often perceived as a voiceless and vulnerable group of our society, something which applies to wild and endangered animals as much as it does to our companion animals.
So for this reason, there is rarely a campaign which will perform poorly for an animal welfare charity. In fact, our campaigns for this client group get phenomenal results – often as much as 3% higher outcomes than any other charity segment. That means you can be confident of achieving results, which also means you can be more creative in approach, whether that’s being bold with data selections or pushing the boundaries of what you might do.
But if pressed to answer which telephone campaigns are performing particularly well for animal welfare charities, we would say lead conversion and cash conversion campaigns are returning especially great results – with opportunities for asking for regular gifts, lottery plays, one off donations or event participation – the cost per acquisition on a conversion campaign is lower than ever.
Valex campaigns are also continuing to produce excellent outcomes – especially those using lead generation from an online campaign – the popularity of pin badges shows no sign of decline!
Welcome, thank you, upgrade, reactivation, renewal and challenge events – all these types of campaigns always perform strongly for an animal welfare charity – supporters are engaged, generous and really want to help. And at this time of year, there isn’t an animal welfare charity on the planet not gearing up for a seasonal appeal – why not make it much more impactful with an in person thank you (and a gift aid check)?
So if your traditional mail or email campaigns are falling flat or you are simply looking at better ways to engage with your supporters and improve your CPA, we strongly encourage you to give telephone fundraising a try. Drop us a line here.
*https://www.cafonline.org/home/about-us/press-office/15m-people-donated-to-animal-charities-last-year
