Mercy for Animals Fundraising Hustle

When I first spoke to Warren from the Mercy for Animals team, we had a really open conversation about what he thought about using peer-to-peer texting for fundraising. He was skeptical, and I couldn’t blame him. As a former Development Director myself, I understood the hesitation to make asks via personal text. Donor relationships are sacred and the thought of texting them can cause some anxiety if you’ve never done it before. In this case, those nerves were settled quickly for Warren by incredibly positive engagement and surpassing their fundraising goal by 50%.

I was someone who didn’t believe that this would work for our organization. I was so thrilled with how things turned out. The comparison between people who pledged vs. those who declined to give was easily 5 to 1.
- Warren Egersheim, Annual Campaigns Manager

Because peer-to-peer texting is a relatively new channel for end of year asks, we wanted to do some testing around sending the ask at different times to comparable donor groups. We launched the Hustle ask for the first group the week of December 18th, and sent to the second group the week of December 25th. The ask before the 25th resulted in gifts from 102 donors while after the 28th resulted in gift from 80 donors. Mercy for Animals hoped to raise somewhere between $5,000-$10,000 through Hustle and was able to surpass their goal, raising over $14,000 to support their work.

Beyond the money that was raised, Warren shared some other thoughts about how he found the experience of using Hustle for the campaign:

It was really great to be able to connect with the donor base and have those positive, tiny conversations. We talk a lot about heavy things, so lighter conversations were a nice change of pace. The Hustle even resulted in a major gift from a new donor through the conversation we had. That never wold have happened with an email.
- Warren Egersheim, Annual Campaigns Manager

Resources are critical for any organization to do their work effectively. Our hope is that fundraising is another way that Hustle can be leveraged to fuel that work. If you have other ideas, suggestions and/or challenges you’d like to share, please feel free to reach out to us!

About Mercy for Animals
Mercy For Animals is dedicated to preventing cruelty to farmed animals and promoting compassionate food choices and policies. They are on the frontlines fighting to protect farmed animals. From factory farms to corporate boardrooms, courts of justice to courts of public opinion, Mercy For Animals is there to speak up against cruelty and for compassion. Learn more at www.mercyforanimals.org