American Bird Conservancy’s Save a Place for Birds
American Bird Conservancy Grows GivingTuesday Donors by 51% with GiveGab
Alex Vanderweele Ortman, Director of Marketing & Analytics, and Kelly Wood, Membership Director at American Bird Conservancy share how working with GiveGab allowed them to take their GivingTuesday efforts beyond a single form with a comprehensive Giving Day campaign, resulting in a 20% increase in dollars raised, and 51% increase of donors from their 2020 campaign.
Background:
American Bird Conservancy (ABC), founded in 1994, is a national organization whose mission is to conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. Their strategic framework takes a comprehensive approach to conservation which includes capacity building, working with policymakers to protect habitats, and putting a halt to extinctions through leading advancements in science.
ABC’s initiatives resonate deeply with many individuals who show their support by donating through its membership program. These contributions allow the conservancy to continue its critical work and in turn, members are given opportunities to learn about the birds they are helping protect through ABC’s weekly email series and magazine, and more.
To collect and manage incoming donations and memberships, The American Bird Conservancy utilizes EveryAction’s CRM and digital marketing tools. With EveryAction, ABC can collect contributions directly on the site allowing members to easily give one-time or set up monthly gifts alongside messaging that clearly defines the impact of each donor. Since adopting the EveryAction platform in January 2021, the conservancy has raised over $24.6 million to help protect wild birds and their habitats.
With support from EveryAction’s tools, ABC started to engage its community of supporters more through digital fundraising and email marketing campaigns.
“Over the past few years, we have really expanded our digital online fundraising efforts and through that, it's been very effective for the financial health of the organization. We've been trying to really grow our number of members and supporters and our general Membership Program.”
—Kelly Wood, Membership Director at American Bird Conservancy
Growing GivingTuesday Efforts
As part of its fundraising strategy, American Bird Conservancy launched an annual GivingTuesday campaign to raise awareness and support for its mission. By leveraging this globally recognized day of giving, ABC had the opportunity to reach new donors and showcase its efforts to a wider audience.
"Our past few GivingTuesday campaigns were pretty significant fundraising events for the organization, and we began adopting best practices.”
—Alex Vanderweele Ortman, Director of Marketing and Analytics at American Bird Conservancy
In previous GivingTuesday campaigns, large outreach efforts were centered around bringing donors and members to give through a single form on their site. During their 2020 GivingTuesday campaign, prior to hosting a formal Giving Day, the American Bird Conservancy raised $101,000 in support of its cause from 1,000 donors.
After seeing notable growth within its GivingTuesday campaigns, ABC was eager to accelerate this trajectory with a creative and engaging solution that amplified its mission.
By tapping into GiveGab’s expertise, American Bird Conservancy’s team found the tools needed to go beyond a single form by creating a comprehensive GivingTuesday campaign that would accelerate growth and drive engagement.
"GivingTuesday is becoming more important than any other day for digital fundraising and I think we hadn't been able to really meet that moment, until last year with GiveGab."
— Alex Vanderweele Ortman, Director of Marketing and Analytics at American Bird Conservancy
Save a Place for Birds
American Bird Conservancy signed on to host its inaugural Giving Day, Save A Place for Birds, with GiveGab for GivingTuesday 2021.
The team was excited to explore this new digital fundraising initiative, recognizing all the potential that came with running a robust campaign dedicated to their GivingTuesday efforts.
Alex and Kelly walked us through some components of their Giving Day that helped drive engagement, reach new members, and break fundraising records!
Giving Day Tactics & Technology
Hosting a Giving Day allowed American Bird Conservancy to create a dedicated microsite to drive donations during their GivingTuesday initiative. In previous years donors gave through a form housed on their website. While this tactic is very effective for year-round fundraising initiatives, ABC was excited to direct their efforts towards a dynamic site branded for their Save a Place for Birds campaign on GivingTuesday.
Having an option for donors to give through PayPal was essential for American Bird Conservancy, as this was the preferred method of giving for a majority of their current donor base.Impact:
The Giving Day was successful in reaching both longtime supporters and new donors! In just 24 hours, Save a Place for Birds raised $121,034 through the generosity of 1,514 donors. This was a 20% increase in dollars raised, and a 51% increase in the number of donors compared to the results of their in-house 2020 GivingTuesday campaign.
“2021 was our most successful fundraising year by far, especially at the types of donor levels who give online. The messaging and marketing of Save a Place for Birds contributed to 1,000 new Members.”
—Alex Vanderweele Ortman, Director of Marketing and Analytics at American Bird Conservancy
The influx of new members to ABC is critical to their continued work in protecting wild birds and their habitats. Through integration between GiveGab and the EveryAction platform, ABC can continue fostering relationships with these donors across channels and convert them into longtime supporters, based on the data that rolls up reliably and conveniently into their CRM.
When asked if the American Bird Conservancy's team had any final advice to similar-sized organizations considering hosting a Giving Day with GiveGab, Alex shared:
“Take into consideration the time that it takes to run a campaign. Give yourself time to launch and manage an effective campaign and reach out to other fundraisers who have run Giving Days that can offer best practices.”
—Alex Vanderweele Ortman, Director of Marketing and Analytics at American Bird Conservancy
At GiveGab, we recommend planning your Giving Day 6-9 months in advance to ensure you have time to set yourself and your fundraisers up for success. It is important to give yourself enough lead time to develop a marketing strategy that will bring new and returning supporters to your branded microsite.
We also agree with Alex that it is beneficial to reach out to fellow Giving Day leaders for advice and support. Through GiveGab’s expansive Giving Day Leaders Network, you'll be able to connect and learn from organizations like yours running these high-impact digital events!
Save a Place for Birds 2021 Results
1,514
Donors
$121,034
Raised
$77
Average Online Donation
4.8
Donors per P2P Champion
$23,246
Total Raised via PayPal
86.7%
Fees Covered by Donors
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