How dedicated group engagement resulted in a high average raised per fundraiser for an Irish charity

LauraLynn saw success with a 2021 280,000 Steps in February and looked to repeat the same results a year on.

Key results

Driving impact, making a difference

Having joined GivePanel as one of our first customers, LauraLynn is no stranger to a Facebook Challenge and has trialed various formats, having run their first one in 2019. The LauraLynn team saw success with a 2021 280,000 Steps in February and looked to see if they could repeat the same success in 2022. 

By enlisting the support of GivePanel’s Managed Services team and focusing on quality group engagement, LauraLynn managed to raise over €160,000 and achieved an average raised of €175. 

Here’s how they did it.

Set the scene

Who is LauraLynn Children’s Hospice?

LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, provides palliative care and support to children with life-limiting conditions and their families from all across Ireland.

Their five pillars of children’s hospice care are:

1. Direct Care
2. Family Support
3. Symptom Management
4. End-of-Life Care
5. Bereavement Support

The challenge

280,000 Steps in February

A Facebook Challenge is a virtual event that runs solely on Facebook and leverages the power of social networking through ads, groups and fundraisers. This means: 

• Lower acquisition costs
• More fundraisers
• And a chance to meet supporters where they already are!

Facebook Challenges allow LauraLynn to reach and connect with large audiences that wouldn’t be possible through large events. In this challenge alone, LauraLynn collected over 2,500 supporters’ contact details to add to their supporter database.

The format also makes their fundraising more inclusive and flexible and opens up their Challenges to all abilities, and through testing various challenge formats, LauraLynn has found Challenge concepts that work for them and their supporters.

But how did LauraLynn encourage active fundraisers? Here are their four top tips for moving supporters off that zero dollar bottom line:

1. They repeated a Challenge format of 280,000 Steps in February which they knew had previously engaged their audience and achieved positive results. 
2. LauraLynn trialed a different way of acquiring Instagram users and found it beneficial to their Facebook Challenge acquisition strategy.
3. They created engaging content for the group including video messages of how to set up a fundraiser.
4. LauraLynn worked with GivePanel’s Managed Services team to produce a messaging strategy to help steward fundraisers throughout their journey.

The GivePanel difference

Meeting supporters where they are

For their 2022 280,000 Steps in February Challenge, LauraLynn enlisted the support of GivePanel’s Managed Services team to assist with their stewardship and data management. The support included: 

• Developing a messaging strategy for LauraLynn’s supporters appropriate to the event stage and their progress by using a “Welcome Message”, “Zero Message” and a “Top Fundraiser Message” to specific segmented fundraiser groups
• The creation of all content for on-page messaging
• Management and delivery of on-page messaging to all Active Fundraisers taking part in the Challenge, including labeling and internal coding 
• Daily management of Event Attribution for all non-attributed Fundraisers by name checking the Facebook Challenge group and assigning Fundraisers in GivePanel records
• Regular statistic reports throughout the Challenge
• An end of Challenge wrap-up report

Final thoughts

Top tips from LauraLynn

• Focus a LOT of time and energy on engaging your Facebook group and don’t forget to thank your fundraisers throughout! 
• Make sure you have the time and the ability within your team to run a Facebook Challenge before getting started!
• Use GivePanel’s expert Managed Services team to deliver a winning stewardship strategy to all active fundraisers.