Testing, testing… Sustainability through efficiency

The RSPCA, the UK’s oldest and largest animal welfare charity, relies heavily on donations - especially during Christmas, a key fundraising period supporting its £140 million annual costs. Their 2024 Christmas campaign aimed to boost income while reducing environmental impact and wasted outreach. Already using sustainable materials, the charity sought to further improve efficiency by targeting only those most likely to donate. Partnering with Herdify, an AI audience targeting tool, we combined RSPCA’s donor data with behavioural insights and postcode-level social influence metrics to identify high-potential areas.

This refined targeting approach helped eliminate low-performing regions from the campaign, significantly reducing waste. As a result, the RSPCA printed 200,000 fewer door drops than in 2023, yet achieved a stronger performance across all key metrics. The campaign raised nearly £210,000 and generated 6,972 donations through door drops alone, with better response rates, higher average gifts, and lower donor acquisition costs.

The success of this pilot marks a major step in sustainable, data-driven fundraising. It provided valuable insights to shape future campaigns and demonstrated how smart targeting can align fundraising success with environmental responsibility. RSPCA now plans to expand this method, including trials with warm and lapsed donor audiences in upcoming phases.