How AFC raised over half a million dollars to help LGBTQ+ homeless youth + increased fundraiser activation rate

The Ali Forney Center (AFC) is a nonprofit organisation that helps LGBTQIA+ young people experiencing homelessness.

1 in 5 children in the US go to bed hungry, and there are currently no federal programs or policies designed to protect LGBTQIA+ homeless youth in the US. Committed to saving the lives of LGBTQ+ young people, the Ali Forney Center is committed to protecting them from the harms of homelessness and empowering them with the tools needed to live independently.

The Challenge

AFC were facing a challenge in raising funds to support their programs. Having never done any formal peer-to-peer fundraising, they weren’t sure what the performance would be and how much it would raise.

Pricing

They needed a solution that didn't require a huge investment or lock them in. After a lot of Google Search and review sites, that's when they turned to Raisely.

Customisation

”When I began looking for a peer-to-peer fundraising platform for our inaugural dance-a-thon, event-specific customization and branding were essential features in my search. Raisely stunned me with its flexibility. The fact that it came at no cost to my organisation made using the platform irresistible!"

Aidan Heck, Data Manager at AFC.

Integrations

They were also looking for something that integrated well with other platforms, particularly with their CRM.

The Solution

AFC had seen a lot of other peer-to-peer fundraisers out there, walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons, etc., and wanted to do something similar but more on brand. They decided a dance-a-thon was perfect.

“We often talk about the dance floor being a sacred safe space for the queer community for so long and so many of us go out and party."

Steve Cruz, Strategic Giving Manager at AFC.

We are Family started as a Thanksgiving-type campaign that was more like a food drive during the pandemic. It then turned into an in-person event in 2021 and finally became the official dance-a-thon hosted on Raisely’s peer-to-peer template in 2022.

One of the key features of the campaign was dollar handles, which were really significant for them so donors could see the impact of their donation. For example, $2.50 covers the cost of a meal at AFC. As people were clicking on the different amounts, they were able to see immediately how many meals they were able to purchase and support for clients at AFC.

AFC also identified quickly that email wouldn’t be the best solution for their audience or their campaign. Who is checking their email at a dance party anyway? They utilised Raisely’s text messaging feature to communicate with their community on the day of the dance-a-thon. With everything already built-in to Raisely, they were able to access everyone’s information and set triggers really easily.

The Results

The impact of AFC's fundraising efforts has been enormous. From the dance-a-thon alone, they raised over $500,000 USD which was enough to provide just under 220,000 meals for homeless LGBTQ+ people.

The success of AFC's fundraising campaign is due in part to their focus on nurturing team leaders, who were a huge part of their strategy to reach their fundraising goal. It was far more important for AFC to give a lot of attention, love, and TLC, to those team captains (as they called them), who could then be the multipliers for recruiting fundraisers.

They focused their energy not on recruiting individuals to join their peer-to-peer campaign, but inside to their community of leaders, or team captains as they called them.

It was far more important for AFC to give a lot of attention, love, and TLC, to those team captains, who could then be the multipliers for recruiting fundraisers.

Because of this, AFC achieved an activation rate of 80% with their fundraisers* (dancers) which is considerably higher than the average 46% for profile activation on Raisely.

”Our team captains do a lot. They're the ones who understand what the dance -a-thon is all about, they tell their friends, and get people to sign up. Then they also need to fundraise and coach their friends on how to fundraise. Our job is to make sure that they feel the love from us.”

Steve Cruz, Strategic Giving Manager at AFC.

Looking forward, AFC has launched their re-branded peer-to-peer campaign Serve, which is now live, and already has a number of fundraisers who are people who signed up to participate last year and agreed to be among the first to sign up for this year. The dance-a-thon will take place on Sunday, November 12.

With Raisely's help, AFC has been able to customise their campaigns, communicate effectively with donors, and achieve their fundraising goals in order to support LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.