How They Raised It: $12k in 10 days
There are a million routes to raising $10k.
Whether you have a donor who can write you a $10,000 check on the spot or you have an army of donors who give to you in $5, $10 and $20 increments. Maybe it’s a combo of it all!
The bottom line: it’s possible!
Today, I wanted to highlight the amazing Mackenzie who runs fundraising at The Little Red Dog. You can watch more about her and their uber successful virtual fundraising event here.
Truth be told, it was when I was watching Mackenzie run a recent campaign to fund 42 emergency rescue pups that inspired the $10k in 10 Days Challenge.
For context: The Little Red Dog is small, but mighty! They are volunteer run and their average donor gives at the $25 level. While they are established in the dog rescue community and have built an incredible program - they do not have a pipeline of major donors stacked up.
But back to these 42 rescue pups - 5 mothers and 37 puppies (I know!). It was an emergency situation requiring everything from medical care to food and supplies. Because there were so many puppies with weak immune systems - it was literally a do or die moment.
So, The Little Red Dog went to work - they raised over $12,000 in just 6 days….20% over their original $10k goal.
Because Mackenzie is a former Campaigns that Convert student (and a very good one!) she knew exactly what to do. Here are some of the tips she shared with me that worked extra well for pulling this effort off (and things I will be sharing with you in the challenge):
Mission: Mama Dogs Stats
Goal: raise $10,000 as quickly as possible to cover vet bills for 5 moms and over 37 puppies already saved.
Result: $12,000 raised in 10 days
Total number of donors: 175
New donors: ~98
Biggest gift: $2,000
Average gift amount: $57 (taking out the $2,000 major gift)
Emails sent: 2 (with re-sends to non-openers the following day)
Social posts: 4
Story posts: too many to count ;)
Impact: “Sharing what (specifically) $10k will do for your nonprofit and how will you show it while you’re asking is really important. Make sure what you’re raising money for is something that you can show and not just tell. Some examples: stories from past recipients, the actual dogs you’re trying to save, the family you’re trying to help buy a house for, the mamas that need diapers, etc. For us, showing the specific mom dogs we were helping and the bad conditions they were in with cute updates of the puppies was key. Oh and giving it a name helped too, ours was Mission: Mama Dogs. Our campaigns are usually ‘missions’ because that ties in with our branding of breaking pups out of the shelter.”
Get Your Mind Right: “This is a big one for me personally because I feel bad asking with a desperate urgency like this, but the need forces me to push harder and ultimately that’s why this worked (and has worked in the past). I decided we did not have to look desperate – this was an opportunity for supporters to help save lives in real time and literally see who they’re helping. You can’t be scared to send another email or post another IG story. People need to see something 7-11 times before they take action and if you’re worried about losing email subscribers or followers, then those people aren’t your ideal supporters anyways. I had to remind myself, “these people love us and want to help us save lives, but they’re busy and missed our last email” vs “If I send another email with an ask, they will hate us and we’ll look desperate.”
Putting it out there: “For us, email always converts way higher than the social posts and I was so busy I didn’t even do an actual IG post until a day or two after the first email was sent. *gasp!* However I did prioritize posting to our stories in a fun, engaging way with donor shoutouts and specific goal posts ie: can we raise $1,000 today specifically for Sunshine and her puppies? Ultimately, that worked really well. We had the most Instagram conversions since Home for the Holidays. So obviously an actual feed post is a must, but stories should be prioritized if you’re busy and that’s where your audience is because it has more reach and easier to engage.”
The power of social credibility: “Yes – this was huge and mostly on our IG stories. I would literally just screenshot the recent donor donation from GiveLively and post it on our stories and it works evvvvvvvery time like a charm. People like to see their names shown and it definitely pushes new donors to jump in. I think adding things like “Joe Smith donated towards our last litter in March! Thank you Joe for helping us save another mama in need!” or “Julie adopted a puppy last December and is now paying it forward by helping these puppies!” That last one was HUGE. After I did that the first time, multiple other adopters donated within the hour. It made them realize “Oh..someone helped save my baby by making a donation and now I want to do that for someone else.”
Gratitude: “Gratitude doesn’t have to be perfect or crazy special…you just have to do it. Since this campaign was not planned and I was going on vacation, the volunteer team sent immediate email thank yous to bigger donors and I spent one day in the middle just posting good news and thanking supporters on social media. If someone we knew donated, I immediately DM’ed them thank you. If someone commented that they donated on a post, I commented back with a thank you. I did make it a priority to post some type of thank you on our IG stories every day, no matter what. They weren’t my best work, but showing up and getting it done clearly made the difference.”
Final Push: “We passed $10,000 by day 6, but we didn’t stop asking and ended up getting another $2,000.” The point? Move the goal post if you hit your goal early.
Other highlights to keep in mind:
The first email was sent out on June 4th, Friday morning (which we usually would never send a Friday fundraising email, but that’s just what happened) and resent to non-openers Saturday morning. By Saturday night we were at nearly 50% of our goal! That’s huge, but then there was a lull – by Tuesday, we were only at $5,600. On Tuesday night I sat down, created a long post with a clear ask, and started posting as much as I could on our stories – fundraising updates, donor shoutouts, and new photos of the moms and puppies with why they need help. “$1,000 was raised on Tuesday night” just from that one post + story shoutouts! Crazy. Wednesday morning another email was sent out with updates and at least 3 asks + continued IG stories. We hit $10K by Wednesday afternoon!!! Literally as I arrived in Palm Springs.
We got lucky and our friend from iheartdogs.com asked if we wanted to include any adoptable dogs in their monthly email. We asked if we could push this fundraiser instead and they said yes. This was sent out on Saturday June 5th and that’s why our new donor rate was higher. Their email contributed about $1,000.
If people can’t donate, ask them to share a specific post to their IG stories or send to a friend. People feel bad when they can’t donate but want to help, so give them another way to help.
We usually send out 1 email newsletter every week with what’s been going on. Last week’s email only focused on this fundraiser with updates on the moms and their puppies and multiple, clear asks.
Showing where specific donation amounts will go always helps – $10 pays for a microchip.
I didn’t show my face once because I was mega busy, even though I feel like that always helps. So I tried to make up for it with as many pics/video updates of the moms and puppies that I could. I wanted people to see that their donations were literally helping these litters.
In the emails, I made the asks specific: 'Will you donate $25 today to ensure mama Caramel and her newborn puppies get the medical care they need?’ or ‘Can you donate $25 today to cover the first round of vaccinations for one of Brielle’s puppies?' I noticed more people than usual donated $25+ and I think it’s because of that. Usually I don’t put a specific dollar amount or I’ll do $5 or $10, but this time I was consistent with the $25 in the emails. Social media I stuck to $5 or $10 asks.
I told the story of what we were doing multiple times on our IG story – once a day if I could. You can’t assume everyone saw your last post or email + we were getting new followers. Even if they DID see a previous post or email, reiterating why we were raising money will help lock it in. You also have to remember that no one understands what goes on BTS, besides you. Keep it at a low reading level and pretend like every day someone is asking “I just found you – why are you raising money again?”
I strongly believe that it’s now easier for me to reach fundraising goals for any campaign because of the work I’ve put in over the past 1.5 years to GIVE to our supporters. I’m constantly asking myself “what value can I provide today to our supporters? How can I make their day?"
I mean….isn’t this run down INCREDIBLE?! A ginormous shout out to Mackenzie and the folks at The Little Red Dog for not only meeting your goal, but doing it with gusto. All 42 dogs will get healthy and find their forever homes because of YOU!
A big thanks to Mackenzie for writing all of this out. To learn more about The Little Red Dog, you can visit their website at: thelittlereddog.org or find them on Instagram.
If you want support to raise your next $10k - join me for free July 12-22nd for the Raise $10k in 10 Days Challenge. Together, we are going to raise your nonprofit some serious money!