Disaster Response Campaign for an Ocean Conservation Nonprofit

Prioritize Urgency

• We prioritized urgency and trust with donors to validate Surfrider as the right organization to hold big oil accountable.
• We pushed for progress and speed over perfection so supporters could quickly understand how Surfrider would respond and put donations to work.
• We quickly developed a landing page with the latest, most relevant oil-spill information and asked for donations as soon as possible.

Responsive Multichannel Fundraising Campaign

• Surfrider’s reactive multichannel campaign included paid social ads, email, SMS, and a website takeover.
• We leveraged email and SMS to keep subscribers updated on cleanup and advocacy efforts and paid social media to drive urgent giving appeals.
• On Surfrider’s website, we reinforced the oil spill as a substantial, timely event that requires an immediate donor response.

Revenue & New Donor Acquisition

• In Q4 of 2021, Surfrider acquired more than 2,700 new donors (25% of the individuals who made a gift from October through December), more than any other quarter in the previous five years.
• 2021 Q4 revenue increased by 36% year over year.
  

Responsive Campaign Operating Procedures

• Within 48 hours, Surfrider created its first optimized, disaster-focused landing page to educate visitors about the scale of the issue and convert them into donors.
• The Surfrider team responded so quickly (and so successfully) that the campaign was used as a model for new standard operating procedures when responding to future disasters.

Marketing Channel Growth

• Surfrider grew its SMS subscriber list, allowing them to provide timely updates and ways to engage through volunteerism, advocacy, and membership.
• Across owned, paid, and earned channels, the team built trust with a cohesive message about holding big oil accountable.