Background
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) depends on the public’s fundraising efforts for donations that fund their heroic efforts to save lives at sea. Volunteers make up 95 per cent of the organisation and those crews have helped save the lives of 143,000 people on UK, Ireland and International shores since 1824. It’s much-needed donations that help to fund the best kit, training and support for new recruits. Then Covid-19 hit, and while operations didn’t stop – they were still on call 24/7 – conventional forms of in-person fundraising activities did, and donations dwindled.
Solution
Together with Whistl team, they developed a campaign that targeted the top 8m households, based on a combination of current and new supporters and their propensity to donate. They also helped with the eye-catching creative that featured a visual of lifesavers at sea, alongside clear branding and a powerful, emotional, strongly worded call to action that said: ‘They’re giving everything they’ve got in this crisis. Will you give what you can?’
Results
The results surpassed expectations. The target was exceeded after nine weeks, with £951k raised from 27,716 donations, 45% of those from new donors. That’s a return on investment of £1.29 and a response rate of 0.33 per cent.
