It would be easy to think that fundraising will become extremely difficult over the next few months, due to Covid-19. Many charities are already scaling back campaigns and activities in this uncertain time.

But whilst we expect to see channels like face-to-face hit very hard, digital fundraising has the potential to step up here and fill at least some of the void. 

Facebook, as ever, should be central to this. 

Here’s three reasons why you should be thinking about how to use Facebook advertising for fundraising during this crisis:

1. Screen time

As restrictions are placed on our lives and we’re becoming more isolated and working from home, we expect to see people spending more time in front of a screen. 

People are already spending a lot more time scrolling through their newsfeed on Facebook, as it’s a major source of news and information. 

This increases your opportunity to reach your audience.

2. Bargain prices

As a result of screen time,...

Following the demand for places in our clinic last year, we’re now offering a series of free, specialised clinics in March and April for charities who want to understand how you can improve your lead generation and conversions through Facebook advertising, and smash your targets in 2020.

Book your free 60 minute 121 consultation with our Director and Facebook fundraising expert, Chris, in one of the following clinics, which will be held over zoom (video call): 

• Back To Basics: Mon 16th March (SOLD OUT)
• Getting Your House In Order For 2020: Tues 17th & Wed 18th March
• Environmental And Animal Charities: Mon 23rd & Tues 24th March
• Health Charities: Mon 30th & Tues 31st March 
• Irish Charities: Mon 6th & Tues 7th April

We've worked with charities across the world to achieve incredible results through Facebook ads, and we want to share what we know with as many good causes as we can. 

Find the clinic that’s right...

Facebook is changing how you set up ads. At the end of February, Campaign Budget Optimisation will be compulsory. This change is BIG and it will have a huge effect on the results of lots of charity's ad campaigns. Don't get left behind - we want every charity to be ready for this change. Book a free call with us to look at how you can prepare. 

How is Facebook changing the way we set up ads?

The first of many changes that Facebook will make to its advertising platform in 2020 is CBO (Campaign Budget Optimisation). And it’s coming this month.

This isn’t one of those small changes in the background that you can avoid. This one is BIG.

CBO has been around for a while as an option, but as of the end of February, this will be the only way you can buy your ads. You will no longer be able to set your budget at ad set level.

This is a massive change, as it will require you to structure your campaigns in a different way in order to achieve the same results, or...

Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) joined the RAISETHRU 12 week programme in 2019. Their campaign, to ban the use of cages in the UK, is still running.

Here, Jennifer Balloch, Supporter Movement Manager at CIWF, talks to us about the success of their campaign sofar and how they’ve found the programme.

So you’re three months into your campaign, how are the results looking?

Our cost per leads are looking good. We started at 26p for an opt-in, a fantastic rate, and the average is £1.73.

We’re converting at a rate of 3.35% - this is just the people who donate straight away, so it doesn’t include people who convert later on through another source. 

The average gift from those who convert is £4.15/month. We’ve got 70,000 leads and 2,328 donors (and counting!).

Amazing. And how have you found being part of the RAISETHRU programme?

It’s definitely given me more insight into how to run a successful campaign. Previously we just dipped our...

The background

ActionAid Ireland joined the RAISETHRU 12 week programme in 2019. They asked for RAISETHRU’s help with their 2019 summer campaign, which aimed to acquire leads through petitions. 

The challenge

ActionAid Ireland had previously run Facebook campaigns but had difficulty generating leads that they could convert to meet their income targets. This was their main challenge, and they had an ambitious target of a projected income of $33,000 over five years. 

“We had run campaigns which were successful in building engagements with posts, but not with acquiring new leads for regular donors and cash givers.”

- Lady Nina Jerez, Digital Campaign Executive, ActionAid Ireland

The solution

ActionAid Ireland went through RAISETHRU’s four stages of support throughout their campaign.

First, was the foundation stage. RAISETHRU worked with ActionAid Ireland to look at the strategy behind their campaign and how they planned to generate leads. 

The...

ActionAid Ireland joined the RAISETHRU 12 week programme in 2019. They’d previously run Facebook campaigns which were successful in building engagements with posts, but not with acquiring new leads for regular donors and cash givers. They asked for RAISETHRU’s help with their 2019 summer campaign, which aimed to acquire leads through petitions. Here, Lady Nina Jerez, Digital Campaigns Executive at ActionAid Ireland, shares 9 reasons why she’s pleased they joined the programme.

1. RAISETHRU gave us structure when they helped us plan our campaign. Together, we looked at the strategy behind the campaign and how we planned to generate leads. 
2. We received twice-weekly support whilst developing the strategy and executing the campaign, including direct tactical support where needed. It was really nice to have that support from Chris. He’s always available, so we’re really happy with that.
3. We learned a lot about the technical side of running Facebook ads,...

At RAISETHRU, our mission is to raise understanding of Facebook advertising and skill level within the charity sector. We’ve worked with over 100 charities from across the globe - but we want to reach more of you. 

That’s why we’re hosting a free virtual clinic in November for any charities* who'd like to find out more about how to scale donor acquisition through Facebook. 

The clinic  will be held over Zoom (video call) and each session with last for 50 minutes. You can book any free slot from 9am to 6pm on Monday 18th & Tuesday 19th November. Once they're gone, they're gone! 

To book your free call, grab a time in Chris's calendar now. 

You'll have the benefit of a free consultation with a Facebook advertising expert without having to travel away from your office.  

You’ll have full access to the knowledge and skills we use to help charities achieve huge success on...

Pancreatic Cancer UK (PCUK) joined RAISETHRU’s 12 week programme in 2018. Within a few months, they’d completely transformed their fundraising programme and skyrocketed their number of contactable supporters and regular donors.

Here’s how....

The Background

PCUK came to RAISETHRU via a free strategy session after viewing a webinar. They’d done a little bit of work on Facebook Ads previously, but hadn’t seen any real volume of conversions.

 The potential for a lead generation to regular giving conversion campaign was quickly identified and it was clear that PCUK were perfect for the RAISETHRU Facebook Fundraising Accelerator Programme, so they decided to join up.

The Challenge

"We knew what we wanted to achieve but we didn't quite know how to get there"

- Julie Roberts, Head of Mass Market Fundraising PCUK

PCUK needed new regular givers, but they didn’t want to rely on traditional methods of acquisition. They’d realised...

If you upload your supporter data to create custom audiences it is now something that can be seen by your target audience. This change is part of Facebook’s efforts to shed more light on how user’s data is used by advertisers.

When a Facebook user sees an ad from your charity and they click on the “why am I seeing this” option in the menu they can currently see things like “xxx charity wants to reach people aged between 25 and older who live in the United Kingdom”.

When the new changes are introduced the user will be told why the advertiser is targeting them but also who has uploaded their data. This point is important for charities who use an agency to buy their Facebook ads and may also use them to build custom audiences.

Here’s an example of what it will look like.

If you’re not uploading data in order to create custom audiences then this shouldn’t be an issue for you. If you are then you will need to be...

 With Giving Tuesday upon us, we have jotted down 19 top tips in easy-to-print format to make sure your Facebook Ads work hard for you! These are based from working with over 60 charity clients on our Digital Fundraising Mastermind

#1 - Don’t Use Your Personal Profile Ad Account, Make Sure You’re Using Business Manager

If you haven’t already, create a business manager account for your organisation. The main reason to do this is if you are running ads from a personal account and Facebook shut down your account (which happens!) then you will still be able to run ads. This will centralise access to your advertising accounts and Facebook pages. It will also separate your employees personal Facebook profiles from what they do for your organisation. There is no longer any need to have a separate Facebook profile for work. You can set permissions for your employees to access your ad account and pages and maintain important business information such as payment...