ActionAid Australia

To diversify fundraising revenue streams and continue creating strong women leaders globally, ActionAid Australia piloted their new peer to peer event, the Strong Women Challenge, in 2017. Based on insights from peer organisations, the team devised a 21-day fitness endeavour where participants complete a strength-building regimen while encouraging donors to sponsor them and support women’s rights.

With only a small turnaround time for the campaign, the team conducted participant acquisition solely through internal lists and Facebook advertising. They focused on recruiting women because gender-agnostic challenges often attract 80%+ participation by women.

The team ran a small pilot (breakeven budget: $20,000) to provide evidence to ActionAid’s Board for increased future funding and to equip staff with insights to increase registrations, fundraising and impact in future challenges. With a CPA of $15.87 instead of the budgeted $75 per registrant, they recruited nearly four times as many people as planned.

Increased registrations and lower acquisition costs resulted in an ROI of 4.63 instead of the budgeted breakeven budget. The team then launched the 2018 Strong Women Challenge in Australia with more investment and higher revenue targets. ActionAid Australia will now organise this challenge annually, believing it will be a vital future revenue source for its work.