Achieving 88% donor retention rate with Akashinga

Akashinga's unique multi-pronged approach to conservation needed a donation strategy to match. But with a less-than-secure donation page that didn't offer tools to capture recurring donors, a change was needed to grow its sustaining donor base.

About Akashinga

For more than a decade, Akashinga, formerly the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), has empowered women as community leaders to protect wildlife and the critical wilderness landscapes they call home. It provides boots-on-the-ground support for 50+ conservation programs across rural Africa while stimulating local economies and creating a space for gender equity.

The challenge: expanding the donor base

The timing was critical. A National Geographic documentary was to premiere that followed Akashinga and Africa’s first armed, all-female, plant-based anti-poaching unit that not only supports local communities but is revolutionizing the way animals are protected.

The publicity that would accompany the documentary made the creation of a new website a necessity. With the revamp of its site, Akashinga needed a best-in-class donation platform to:

• improve and legitimize the online donor experience
• expand their donor base
• be implemented easily and quickly
• accept multiple international currencies and payment methods

The solution: An intelligent platform that makes giving easy

While fast-tracking Akashinga's new leaner, cleaner website, the team researched fundraising platforms optimized for online giving. Fundraise Up seemed “leagues above everything else,” says Erin.

With the ability to process 200 real-time transactions per second, Fundraise Up is built for high volume giving events. “I have used hundreds of pieces of software over the last decade, and it's rare to see support like what your team has,” says Erin. Plus, the platform's 99.9% uptime assured Akashinga they're prepared for the increased exposure from the Nat Geo documentary.

Fundraise Up’s solution gave Akashinga:

• Simple, smart, enterprise-grade technology.
• A streamlined donation flow that increases conversion and donor retention.
• A mobile-friendly format that inspires action.
• A variety of payment methods including digital wallets and 135+ currencies.

With the help of the Fundraise Up success team, Akashinga was able to launch a new website with an optimized donation platform in time for the documentary premiere.

The results: more donors and revenue just by switching platforms

Akashinga's switch to Fundraise Up saw immediate results. In fact, the Donate Button on the header of Akashinga's website alone saw a 41.6% increase in conversion.

Even better, Social Proof — a Fundraise Up call-to-action Element which displays real-time notifications about recent donations — generated a 45.2% conversion rate.

"Our use of Social Proof generated us an extra five grand and that took me like two minutes — I think literally two minutes to implement." says Erin.

In addition, Akashinga earned an average of 145 recurring donors per month in the first half of that year, with March seeing this number grow to 274, and an all-time retention rate of 88.2%.

With this level of growth, Akashinga was able to turn its attention to more unique fundraising opportunities. They launched the Own a Story campaign which offers supporters the chance to purchase unique items to fund their goal of training 1,000 female rangers.

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