Creator / originator

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home / Fundraising Initiative Limited.

Summary / objectives

To improve the charity’s door-to-door and private site campaign on an ongoing basis to ensure that they perform to their highest ability.

Background

Established in 1860, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home aims never to turn away a dog or cat in need of help. They reunite lost dogs and cats with their owners through their lost dogs and cats helpline, or care for them until new homes can be found, giving them shelter and the highest standards of veterinary care.

In 2010 Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (BDCH) started their door-to-door acquisition campaign and since then have seen acquisition of regular givers triple. In 2012 results were boosted through the launch of an innovative mobile optimised face-to-face fundraising programme. This uses a front-end iPad App in combination with mobile validation technology to create a seamless, fast, accurate and secure donor acquisition service.

This is more than just introducing an iPad to fundraising to simply show potential supporters a charity’s website. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home worked closely with their agency, Fundraising Initiatives Ltd (FIL) and have developed an entire mobile-driven service from the conversation with the donor (front end) to FIL’s back-end processing stystem, to delivering a new and validated warm donor base to the charity. Financial details of donors are submitted electronically, leaving no trace on the iPad and no paper trail, making the service highly secure as well as efficient.

The Home was one of the first charities to sign up to the service and to introduce iPads into their face-to-face activity; they saw an immediate improvement in data capture. Once supporters have made the decision to commit and enter their details on the iPad, the service enables immediate sign-up activation and data validation, automatically checking postcode and address details while the fundraiser is still with them.

This hugely valuable process has eliminated the data entry errors that have historically been a problem with paper-based handwritten forms, and means processing the details of new supporters can begin for Battersea in real time, enabling that vital first donation to be collected and the launch of a retention programme almost immediately.

The campaigns and distribution of volume have been carefully planned across door to door and private site fundraising. The results are compelling: combined with the interactive, engaging training, improved technology, data capture, donor communications, and relationship development, there has been a significant impact on the volumes fundraisers are signing up. Having invested in door to door and private site fundraising with FIL, and proving that it works as a strong income stream for the Home, the volume of donors being recruited in 2013 has increased by more than 50% of 2012’s targets.

Additionally, and contributing to the campaign planning, the improvements made have led to dramatic improvements in attrition. In a year-on-year comparison, attrition for no shows has dropped from 24% to 19%, and month one decreased from 13% to 9%. With increased volume, this decrease in attrition means a significant increase in income for Battersea.

FIL is not just a service provider and technology innovator. It is a true partner. Both parties share an equal passion for the cause and for the sector. FIL pro-actively engage with the Home, and this year launched a three-year corporate partnership programme with the charity, as well as making Battersea Dogs & Cats Home its Charity of the Year.

Constantly striving to improve, with strong account management, FIL and Battersea work side by side to ensure fundraisers feel valued and part of the Battersea family. FIL has ensured that through its innovation in technology and its skill in providing all all-round service, that the charity’s fundraisers have the materials and knowledge they need to enable them to represent it transparently and passionately, which has all led to this impressive improvement.

It is an incredibly strong and resilient partnership, continuing to develop and grow, and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is proud and pleased to be so closely working together with FIL to ensure the success of its campaigns.

Special characteristics

The use of the iPad enables face-to-face fundraisers to present potential supporters with a short video, giving the fundraisers a way of providing people with an immediate and compelling connection to the charity’s work and increasing engagement

On the retention side, in 2013 BDCH developed prompt follow-up donor communications, using the information captured through the iPad. The team at the Home and FIL Battersea team developed a warm welcome email that is sent to the donor at the moment of sign up through the iPad, with the objective of maintaining the energy and positivity of the experience they have had with the fundraiser.

All the fundraisers involved are aware that they are representing the charity through Battersea’s training sessions and visits to the Home. They know that they are representing it and everything it stands for with every intereaction they have and they care passionately about representing the Home honestly and transparently. 

Results

The campaigns and distribution of volume have been carefully planned across doo-to-door and private-site fundraising. The results are compelling: combined with the interactive, engaging training, improved technology, data capture, donor communications and relationship development, there has been a significant impact on the volumes fundraisers are signing up. Having invested in door-to-door and private-site fundraising, and proving that it works as a strong income stream for the Home, the volume of donors being recruited in 2013 has increased by more than 50 per cent of 2012’s targets.

Additionally, and contributing to the campaign planning, the improvements made have led to dramatic improvements in attrition. In a year-on-year comparison, attrition for discontinuted payments has dropped from 24 per cent to 19 per cent and month one decreased from 13 per cent to nine per cent. With increased volume, this decrease in attrition means a significant increase in income for BDCH.

Merits

It is a campaign using innovative and well-planned use of ‘mobile’ technology.