01The challenge
In the UK, inequality is rising. Millions are struggling with low incomes, poor housing, cuts to services, debt and financial insecurity. ACORN, the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now, has been building the power of communities to win social change for 45 years, and today has more than 130,000 members on 4 continents.
ACORN, the UK community union, came to SmartRaise for an online fundraising platform that would work with its grassroots community organising membership model.
02The solution
ACORN uses a distributed network of organisers on the ground to sign up donors, often in person or on the doorstep, so the online payment process had to be fast and super easy.
- Custom branded donation pagesOrganisers sign up donors directly on their smartphones and tablets, using pages in ACORN's own branding.
- Real-time CRM dataWith SmartRaise connected to NationBuilder, data flows straight into ACORN's database. The team builds ladders of engagement for retention, targets email communications and manages supporter contact better.
03The results
ACORN knows that regular giving is key to building any lasting movement. Keeping existing donors is easier, and takes fewer resources, than finding new ones. So a key success factor was letting donors give by Direct Debit, one of the most popular and trusted ways to manage regular donations in the UK.
ACORN's previous solution relied only on credit and debit cards. That proved unsuitable because of high failure rates for regular donors, and high processing fees. Problems like expired cards gave affected supporters a poor experience and made them more likely to lapse.
With online Direct Debit through SmartRaise and GoCardless, churn can fall from 5–10% on cards to as little as 0.5%.
It has been a real pleasure working with Stuart and the team at ACORN, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow this important campaign.
“It's a super-fast, simple, efficient way of engaging donors and members.”
