Friends of Indy Animals
AOG CASE STUDYMid-level giving: A pivot in strategy with clear results
Client
Friends of Indy Animals
Indianapolis, IN
Project
Annual Giving Program
Services
Direct Mail, Donor Segmentation, Copywriting, Data Audit, Fundraising Coaching
Project highlights
→ Strategic mid-level segmentation used to identify and target the highest-potential donors
→ Classic direct response principles applied with creative flair
→ A mid-campaign pivot based on real data and AOG’s commitment to getting it right
Friends of Indy Animals is an Indianapolis-based animal welfare organization with a big heart and a lean team.
With annual revenue of $2.4 million, Friends of Indy Animals does meaningful work for the animals in their care every single day. And like so many organizations their size, they were doing it largely on their own.
When their Executive Director recognized that the annual giving program needed more than she could provide alone, a board member brought in Agents of Good.
The challenge
Friends of Indy Animals had been running their annual giving program in-house, with the Executive Director carrying most of the load herself. She knew the program could be doing more and needed the strategy, the creative, and the capacity to get there.
Agents of Good came on board at the start of 2024, taking over strategy and creative for the full annual program. The first mailings — a newsletter pack and a spring appeal sent to the full donor list — came back below expectations.
Rather than gloss over it, the Agents called it plainly and got back to work.
The work
For the fall campaign, the Agents made a deliberate strategic pivot based on learnings from our earlier work.
Rather than mailing the full list again, we identified a carefully segmented group of high-potential donors whose giving history signalled they may be ready to give more.
We built a personalised mid-level proposal addressed directly to each donor by name, with a specific ask amount tied to a specific number of animals their gift would help.
We walked donors through the real problem (overcrowding) and offered them concrete, named solutions their gift could fund. Donors were treated as the caring individuals they are, with a clear and compelling case for why their gift mattered right now.
Every creative decision, every storytelling technique, and every behavioural science principle in the pack was built around that single truth:
Give $275 and you save a life.
We told the story of Jordan and his dog Rocky, who nearly had to be surrendered before the IndyCARES program stepped in.
The letter
The personalised proposal
The result
Here’s what happens when you stop treating your donor list as one audience and start treating your best donors as the individuals they are.
371
donors carefully selected and mailed
9.5%
response rate for the mid-level fall appeal
$719
average size of gift received from the appeal
The right story, sent to the right people, at the right time, will always outperform the same message sent to everyone.
What the client says about our work
"It's been a pleasure working with Agents of Good on several direct mail and donor-focused marketing campaigns. Their no-BS approach to fundraising is refreshing to say the least, and I've already learned so much.
I would highly recommend working with Agents of Good and look forward to increasing our revenue through more of their creative ideas!"
Your best donors are ready to give more. Are you making the right ask?
If you are ready to build a more strategic annual program that celebrates donors and raises more money for your mission, we would love to talk.