Insight

Transforming Digital Fundraising and Building Sustainable Income for the UK’s First Farm Animal Sanctuary

Like many charities, The Farm Animal Sanctuary first approached us during a time of crisis. Founded nearly 40 years ago near Evesham, it was the UK’s first sanctuary dedicated to rescuing and providing lifelong care for over 600 neglected and abused farm animals.

Despite its history and dedicated supporter base, its digital fundraising and marketing efforts were outdated, limiting their ability to scale donations, grow predictable income, and engage new supporters.

Their website lacked strategic direction, and their fundraising infrastructure was fragmented across third-party platforms like Enthuse, meaning they had no real ownership of donor data, limited tracking, and high platform fees.

The sanctuary needed a complete transformation – moving away from ad-hoc crisis fundraising to a long-term, data-driven strategy that would provide stability and growth.

Strategy

Our approach was focused on turning The Farm Animal Sanctuary into a fully digital-first fundraising organisation. This meant:

  • Website redevelopment & donation infrastructure overhaul
    • Migrating away from third-party fundraising platforms to a fully integrated
      eCommerce-style donation system.
    • Redesigning the website for user experience and conversion, ensuring every visit had a clear path to action – whether
      donating, sponsoring an animal, or booking a visit.
    • Integrating a structured sponsorship model, making it easier for donors to engage
      with and support individual animals.
  • Advanced donor engagement & income stream development
    • Implementing a full donor segmentation strategy, creating distinct user journeys for new supporters, regular
      donors, and high-value givers.
    • Launching automated email marketing campaigns via Brevo (formerly Sendinblue),
      including:

      • Welcome sequences for new donors.
      • Re-engagement campaigns for lapsed donors.
      • Subscription renewal and upsell flows.
    • Setting up custom integrations with Donorfy (a leading CRM for charities) to
      centralise donor data, track engagement, and manage long-term donor relationships.
  • Data-driven marketing & advertising growth
    • Executing a full Meta advertising strategy, using:
      • Conversions API for real-time tracking of donation performance.
      • Pixel-based retargeting & lookalike audiences to reach potential donors who mirror existing high-value
        givers.
      • Value-based audience modelling, ensuring ad spend was optimised for recurring donations rather than one-off
        gifts.
    • Managing Google Ads via the Not-for-Profit Grant, ensuring The Farm Animal Sanctuary
      benefitted from up to $10,000/month in free PPC advertising.
    • Promoting events, sponsorships, and shop sales, creating multiple touchpoints for revenue generation.
  • Evolving revenue streams & commercial strategy
    • Streamlining event ticketing and visitor booking, making it easier for supporters to
      attend in-person and virtual sanctuary events.
    • Launching an online shop, adding another revenue stream to support the sanctuary’s
      income.
    • Expanding sponsorship models, increasing both adoption rates and recurring donations.

Delivery

Over the course of our partnership, we have completely revolutionised how The Farm Animal Sanctuary engages with supporters, raises funds, and manages operations.

Website Transformation

We rebuilt the website on a scalable, eCommerce-driven platform, improving donation flows, sponsorships, and overall user experience. We also increased the number of pages and developed richer storytelling and impact pages, giving supporters more reasons to engage and donate.

Complete Digital Marketing & Fundraising Execution

We managed and executed Meta ad campaigns, scaling fundraising efforts through precise targeting and automation. We developed a content-driven email marketing strategy that was fully automated and integrated into donor behaviour tracking. We also designed and implemented Google Ads campaigns through the Not-for-Profit Grant, boosting visibility and engagement at no cost to the sanctuary.

Fundraising & Business Intelligence Optimisation

We built a custom reporting system that integrated website data, donation platforms, CRM information, and social ad performance metrics. We utilized Google Analytics 4 and the Conversions API to achieve full campaign attribution. We also integrated custom Donorfy API solutions, eliminating ongoing platform fees and improving data ownership. Additionally, we developed a scalable sponsorship and recurring giving model, enabling predictable monthly revenue.

Making It Matter

The results of our work have been nothing short of transformational for The Farm Animal Sanctuary:

  • Donation income has increased by 320% since we started working together.
  • Subscription-based giving is up 47%, creating more predictable monthly revenue.
  • Recurring income has increased by 207%, providing financial stability for long-term planning.
  • Single donation income has grown by 666%, proving the impact of an optimised digital fundraising system.
  • Monthly subscription numbers have more than doubled in 2024, ensuring steady future growth.

Most importantly, the sanctuary is no longer dependent on crisis-driven fundraising efforts. With a strategic, scalable fundraising model in place, they now have financial predictability, donor retention strategies, and a fully optimised digital presence that will continue driving income year after year.

 

By applying eCommerce best practices, data intelligence, and cutting-edge digital marketing to the charity sector, we’ve helped The Farm Animal Sanctuary achieve record-breaking growth – allowing them to focus on what they do best: rescuing and caring for vulnerable farm animals.