How American Foundation for Suicide Prevention raised over $294,000 with a Facebook dog walking Challenge ​

AFSP is a North American nonprofit and their mission is to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide. They have 73 chapters across the United States and a variety of programs to help meet the needs of their communities. 

The team were keen to run a virtual Challenge to find new supporters but due to the sensitive nature of their mission it was a priority for AFSP to maintain a personal touch. 

By using GivePanel’s tools and following our best practices, AFSP were able to connect with their fundraisers and run a hugely successful pilot campaign. Here’s how they did it.

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 no fundraising platform costs!

AFSP chose to run their first Facebook Challenge as the model allows the opportunity to test at a small scale and low risk. If successful, the team would be able to acquire new supporters, engage them in their mission, increase the number of Facebook donors, and uplift income through Facebook fundraising.

So how did it go? The team achieved a 31% increase in average raised from their regular organic fundraising to Facebook Group Challenge fundraising and were able to collect contact details for over 3,000 ‬fundraisers for this event.

Their success was largely down to their focus on creating a hyper-engaged community that shared personal stories and connection to cause. They found supporters that were new to their cause and therefore were engaging with a whole new audience during the Challenge.

They found that the dog walking model fit them and their supporters and most importantly, they were able to retain the personal connection with their fundraisers despite it being a virtual event.