New Internationalist: Audience-focused fundraising

Developing a regular giving strategy

New Internationalist is a leading independent media organisation dedicated to socially conscious journalism and publishing.

Our project began with supporting them to develop a new regular giving strategy with the aim of converting some of their most committed supporters - people who have invested in being a co-owner of the organisation - to become regular givers.

We started with a review of the organisation’s fundraising activity to date, including evaluating recent campaigns, completing a supporter data audit and understanding how different technology platforms (email, donation pages, CRM) were used and integrated. We then ran a strategy development workshop with key staff, covering fundraising best-practice, audience analysis and idea generation for a new regular giving offer.

Using the outputs of the review and the workshop, New Internationalist then took the lead on developing their regular giving strategy with guidance from us. Our support ranged from strategic input into selecting their regular giving offer and tips on supporter email journey design, to advice on how to implement these in an optimised and effective way with the technology and tools available to them.

Creating a crowdfunder communications strategy

Like many organisations, New Internationalist's priorities changed when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. And so, working flexibly as we always do, our project focus changed too.

We supported New Internationalist to launch a new Crowdfunder campaign to raise investment urgently needed to plug the gap in their finances caused by the pandemic and secure the future of their unique, solutions-focused journalism. This included helping to develop the campaign’s communications strategy and key messaging, and support with email journey design, with a focus on personalisation and segmentation based on a supporters’ past level of engagement.

We were also on-hand to review and provide feedback on a range of campaign content, from video scripts and direct mail, to social media posts and emails, to ensure it was response-driven and followed fundraising best practice.

Collaborating to deliver results

Planned and rolled out in just a few months, New Internationalist’s ‘Save Our Stories’ Crowdfunder was a huge success. Over 1,800 people invested in the magazine in under two months, meeting the £350,000 investment target and securing the organisation’s future.

Our collaborative approach had long-term benefits. The New Internationalist team led the project with strategic support from us, meaning staff could build their knowledge with confidence that they were delivering a campaign that would have maximum impact. The team are now back to focusing on their regular giving strategy and we hope to have results to share with you soon.