Atlanta Humane Society Exceeds Day of Giving Goals With the Help of Classy for Salesforce

Mission

To improve animal welfare in the southeastern United States by providing quality animal services

Challenge

Create a clearer view of donor data to appropriately segment and send effective personalized communications

Solution

Through segmentation and personalization, supported by the Classy for Salesforce integration and Fíonta, Atlanta Humane raised $100k over its goal during this year’s Day of Giving period

“Nobody compared to Classy when it came to functionality and usability.”

– Lauren Shoff, Former Digital Fundraising and Marketing Manager

Atlanta Humane Society Day of Giving 2023 Results:

$100k

raised above the goal

$78

average donation size

25

separate emails sent to database contacts

The Atlanta Humane Society is a no-kill animal shelter that has been providing shelter, adoption services, veterinary care, and community outreach to the Atlanta metro area for 150 years. Over 126,362 animal care points have been provided, 27,787 people have been connected with resources to care for their pets, and 5,484 animals have been adopted.

Finding a Comprehensive Fundraising Platform

Atlanta Humane was previously using separate, incompatible CRM and online fundraising tools, which left valuable data isolated on each platform, and every small change became a big hurdle that required customization and manual work to perform basic functions.

In 2021, the Atlanta Humane team, having already decided to switch to Salesforce, made the choice to go all in with Classy after learning about Classy’s robust Salesforce integration. Their impressive experience that same year using Classy’s peer-to-peer program, which brought in a large portion of funds during their annual Day of Giving period, was the clincher.

Migrating Donor Data to Classy and Salesforce

In 2022, Atlanta Humane started working with Fíonta, a Salesforce Nonprofit Partner, that works with nonprofits to maximize impact and streamline operations with Salesforce.

With the migration to Classy and Salesforce planned for summer 2022, Atlanta Humane and Fíonta worked together to decide which fields to map to make their data actionable. From the decision process to the data migration process, the entire undertaking took just about 1 month.

We worked with Fíonta and Classy’s migration team to move all of our monthly donors over which was an incredibly seamless process.
Lauren Shoff
Former Digital Fundraising and Marketing Manager

Syncing Data from Salesforce to Marketing Cloud Account Engagement

A few of Atlanta Humane’s main goals of the data migration were to clean up their data, remove duplicates, and capture a full picture of their donors for reporting and personalized communications.

For instance, they wanted to see more than just all monthly donors. They wanted to see if a particular donor who gave monthly also created a peer-to-peer campaign on Day of Giving and recently adopted a pet so that they could communicate with the donor personally tailored to their activities and interests.

Telling the Right Stories at the Right Time

Having all donor information in Salesforce and MCAE means the Atlanta Humane team can create segmented lists to better engage and communicate with adopters, volunteers, and donors.

For example, recent dog adopters receive a series of automated emails containing helpful tips and resources for new pet parents, while foster caregivers receive information about animals in need of foster homes. The team can also set up different donation pages that target the previous gift level, or the amount that a donor gave last year to the same campaign.

By leveraging the power of segmentation and personalization, supported by Salesforce as the source of truth, Atlanta Humane can deliver timely and valuable emails, fostering an ongoing, meaningful relationship with their supporters.

Atlanta Humane Donation Page — Day of Giving 2023 Donation Page

Big Things Ahead for Atlanta Humane

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Atlanta Humane Society. For its annual Day of Giving, the fundraising goal was far exceeded by more than $100k.

The Atlanta Humane team is dedicated to finding new ways to test and improve. Throughout the year, direct mail campaigns are aligned with digital campaigns, making it a great opportunity to make minor adjustments. This could be shortening donation form length, showcasing different types of images of animals, or refreshing stories they’re telling.

Now that the team has a seamless connection between their fundraising platform, CRM, and email marketing tool, it has never been easier to dig into the data, segment supporters, and grow relationships with donors with the right interactions.