We are thrilled to announce that Jo Dunsford, Director at Animals Asia, will be one of our guest speakers at Loyalty Day 2022. Below, Jo shares how fostering a collective approach inspires loyalty at Animals Asia.
How fostering a collective approach, internally and externally, inspires loyalty at Animals Asia
Animals Asia is devoted to improving animal welfare across Asia, and in particular to ending bear bile farming. Founded in 1998, the nonprofit has been rescuing bears since 1994, with award-winning bear rescue sanctuaries in China and Vietnam, and has been building a devoted and loyal supporter base ever since.
Here Jo Dunsford, Director for Animals Asia, shares some their approach.
If you could boil down how to grow supporter loyalty within a charity, I would say treat donors as part of your team and show them how their support is making a direct difference to your mission.
But if it was that easy, this blog would end at around 50 words.
Of course, it is about so much more than that. It takes hard work and commitment from all sides to create a collective spirit. At Animals Asia, we call this our ‘special sauce’.
I had my first taste of this on my very first day at the charity, seven years ago. As soon as I started, I began getting friend requests on Facebook from supporters of the charity.
At the time, I politely rejected them as it was the standard professional thing to do. But after a few months, I realised this was actually perfectly natural as I was now part of this very special community, one made up of staff and supporters all working together, galvanised behind a clear and common mission.
This approach extends into our fundraising – with one streamlined programme across our five key markets, and into how we communicate more generally with our supporters.
As a result, we know that donors feel empowered and included. They tell us how accessible we are and how we take things on board and respond when they give us feedback.
So, when we worked with About Loyalty and came out on top in their loyalty scores, I wasn’t surprised, but still delighted that what we knew, and felt, had finally been proved.
But we want to go further. It’s one thing encouraging donors to join us every step of the way. It is quite another showing them how their support is really making a difference.
Our big challenge now then is working out how to get even closer to our donors.
While our streamlined, collective approach works well for us, would marketing our appeals differently in Australia to the United States, for example, work better?
The only way to know for certain is to test the market. So, over the next year, we will begin to segment our standard global approach for the first time, trialling tailored programmes that fine tune our messaging depending on where our audience is based across the world.
It will be intriguing to see if this makes a difference in terms of donations. But it is also another demonstration of how we want to listen to our donors every step of the way. They are part of our team.
We’re now looking at our strategy for next year and we want to bring our donors into this conversation too, in the same way as we would bring in our comms or planning teams.
Fostering a collective approach in this way has been transformational for us and will add to the ‘special sauce’ in any charity.
Jo Dunsford is Director for Animals Asia US. She is speaking at About Loyalty’s Loyalty Day on Thursday 17th November. Book your place on the free webinar here.
If you haven't already, be sure to register your free place at Loyalty Day 2022, being held online on Thursday, 17th November, from 1:30 - 4:30pm GMT. Our high-energy afternoon of rapid-fire talks will be bursting with insight and lively discussion.
Sign up now for free and bring your questions on the day!