All Clear Foundation (ACF) connects first responders with vital wellness resources that will improve their lives and mental health.
As a relatively new organization, ACF’s existing network of donors was very small. In order to build their email list, we launched a Facebook Ads campaign to encourage prospects to sign a pledge of support for first responders. To incentivize prompt action, every new signer unlocked $1 that would go straight toward ACF’s mission to scale up its work of bringing lasting wellness solutions to EMS workers and all first responders By signing the pledge, these action-takers demonstrated an interest in All Clear Foundation’s vision and joined ACF’s email file as a new subscriber.
The goal of the campaign was to drive pledge signatures (aka to capture new leads) from prospective donors.
Prior to launching the pledge signature campaign, we found that 82% of All Clear Foundation’s email file comprised the beneficiaries of their programs – first responders themselves. For this reason, very few supporters existed within their email file. The pledge campaign aimed to add potential donors onto ACF’s list, with the future goal of converting these leads into long-term givers.
In order to reach potential donors, we launched an Interest-targeted campaign on Facebook, targeting a variety of topics including: related organizations (like Wounded Warrior Project), mission-related topics (like mental health awareness), content about first responders (such as the Chicago Fire TV Show) and charitable giving broadly.
We chose to advertise on Facebook due to the platform’s proven track record for efficient lead generation.
To determine which type of imagery and messaging resonated best with supporters, we tested two ad variants: one that was more emotive, and one that was more urgent. The urgent ads performed best, so we paused emotive ads and continued to iterate off of the existing urgency ads.
Ads also featured messaging emphasizing the fact that $1 would be donated by an anonymous supporter for every signature received.
We leveraged a hyper-targeted campaign on Facebook, as well as a detailed testing strategy that included testing several messaging themes and ad units.
Audience + Messaging Testing
Tested two creative themes, both highlighting a $1 donation for each signature.
Winning Theme (Urgent):
Between the two “Urgent” images, the Firefighter image performed best.
Upon adding their name to the pledge, folks were redirected to a thank you page featuring donation form content, which expressed deep gratitude for the supporter’s recent action and made a succinct case for support to generate crucial funds for ACF’s work. This “daisy chain” tactic is an effective method of raising passive fundraising revenue, particularly during moments of cultivation and engagement.
Immediately, all pledge signers also were served a thank you autoresponder email that requested participants share the pledge with their network of friends and family across their social channels.
Additionally, subscribers that were new to ACF’s email file by way of the pledge action then received a custom-tailored welcome series that acknowledged their recent show of support and prompted them to get more involved. Welcome series email content contained a supporter survey, an additional action request (tell Congress to support a National First Responders Day), and a direct donation ask, all of which sought to get these recent supporters more engaged with ACF’s mission and work.
