Long-term collaborations are the key to sustainable impact. Our partnership with ActionAid UK is a prime example of how ethical, high-quality face-to-face fundraising can fuel change for some of the world's most vulnerable communities.
By utilising private site fundraising, conducting door-to-door outreach and implementing strategic donor acquisition, we have assisted ActionAid in engaging with numerous dedicated supporters, enabling them to continue their mission to combat poverty and injustice globally.
Building brand recognition through long-term fundraising partnerships
Something special happens when a charity and a fundraising agency work together over the long term. Brand recognition grows, messaging becomes stronger and donor engagement deepens.
We aim to establish enduring partnerships with the charities with which we collaborate. Longer-term collaborations result in our internal fundraising team and effective subcontractor campaigns enhancing public visibility, ensuring donors fully comprehend and resonate with their mission.
Why long-term partnerships matter in Fundraising
In today's fundraising landscape, one-time interactions are not enough. The most effective fundraising partnerships are built on:
✔ A deep understanding of the charity's mission from fundraisers. When they have worked with a charity over time, they can tell its story authentically and passionately.
✔ Long-term face-to-face fundraising builds trust between fundraisers and the public, creating more meaningful supporter connections.
✔ A fundraising team with a charity for a while knows how to align with its evolving campaigns and priorities. The result? Consistent messaging across campaigns.
For ActionAid, this long-term approach has ensured continued growth in donor support, allowing the organisation to expand its humanitarian efforts and fight global inequalities.
How Zen Fundraising supports ActionAid's Mission
Face-to-face fundraising remains one of the most powerful ways to connect charities with long-term donors. Zen's high-quality private site, street, and door-to-door fundraising campaigns ensure supporters feel educated, inspired, and engaged when signing up.
We take an ethical, donor-first approach, ensuring every interaction is a positive experience. That's why our fundraising teams focus on storytelling that inspires action – rather than pressure tactics. We use real success stories to showcase ActionAid's work.
We ensure donors understand how their contributions are spent and boost retention rates through our Recurring Card Payment (RCP) system, reducing attrition and increasing long-term impact.
Data-Driven decision-making with CACI InSite:
At Zen Fundraising, we don't just rely on instinct. We use data to drive success. By investing in CACI's InSite platform, we have more effectively enhanced site selection for private site fundraising and target door-to-door fundraising efforts. The demographic data and predictive models provided by CACI help us identify the best fundraising locations to reach high-quality donors.
It also helps us and our charity partners understand donor characteristics and giving behaviours, therefore improving fundraiser placements and campaign strategies. This level of data intelligence means our ActionAid fundraising efforts are more efficient, effective and impactful.
Where are ActionAid's supporters making the most impact?
A significant portion of ActionAid's income comes from committed giving, which includes donations from Child Sponsorship, The Next Step, and other regular contributions. In 2023, committed giving alone raised £25.9 million, proving how important long-term donor relationships are to sustaining ActionAid's work.
Because of this, our Face-to-Face Fundraisers focus on quality over quantity, ensuring that every new donor understands the long-term impact of their contributions.
With 73% of its expenditure on humanitarian and development programmes, ActionAid is constantly working to support women and girls in crisis. In 2023, their initiatives included:
✔ The Women-Led Alternatives to Climate Change in Cambodia (WLACC) project, training nearly 300 farmers in sustainable agriculture.
✔ Installing water pump systems to help 58 farmers in Pursat combat drought and improve food security.
✔ Providing emergency aid during the Türkiye-Syria earthquake, supporting women-led organisations in affected areas.
✔ Campaigning for systemic change to ensure that governments and corporations are held accountable for poverty, gender inequality, and climate injustices.
Through Face-to-Face fundraising, Zen helps amplify these key messages, ensuring the public understands how their donations drive both immediate relief and long-term changes. With every conversation our fundraisers have, we bring these real-life stories to the public, ensuring donors see the tangible impact of their support.
Why the Zen Way works
Doing things the Zen way means we take a quality-over-quantity approach to our charity partnerships. Maintaining a smaller client pool ensures that every campaign receives dedicated attention and a tailored strategy. How this looks? More time spent on refining messaging, more time on optimising donor engagement and more time ensuring fundraisers are fully equipped to represent each charity’s mission with excellence. Our close-knit approach allows us to adapt quickly, provide deeper insights and maintain the highest fundraising standards. Here are some key processes we implement to ensure each campaign reaches its full potential.
✔ We prioritise compliance, ensuring every fundraiser represents ActionAid with professionalism and integrity.
✔ We use data-driven insights leveraging CACI InSite for smarter fundraising decisions.
✔ We invest in fundraiser development through twice-weekly new starter training , industry-leading support and regular ''Inspire'' training to refresh, re-align and rediscover the amazing work our charity partners do.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Face-to-Face Fundraising
With a focus on long-term partnerships, ethical fundraising and data-driven strategy, Zen Fundraising continues to drive impact for ActionAid.
As we look ahead, we're excited to continue our work with ActionAid and expand their presence in private site fundraising, door-to-door campaigns and beyond. By staying true to our values and putting donors first, we're ensuring that ActionAid can continue fighting poverty and injustice for years to come.
Thank you, ActionAid, for your inspiring efforts to ensure a poverty-free, equal, just, and sustainable world.
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