How Empower delivered a record-breaking relaunch of #FRO and increased attendees by 73%

Client
The Resource Alliance

Sector
International NGOs

What we did
Paid Media
Email Marketing
Social Media

How empower relaunched the Resource Alliance’s online conference and increased the number of attendees by 73%

“Empower devised a great digital strategy for #FRO’s return and implemented it brilliantly. It’s been great to bring #FRO back bigger and better than ever, and empower’s team helped create fantastic buzz and attendance.”

James Tennet, Head of Events, Resource Alliance

About the client

The Resource Alliance works globally to strengthen the social impact sector, by helping organisations of every size and type develop the critical human, financial and intellectual resources necessary to build a better world.

Through its global network it brings together the very best thinking and curates the knowledge, tools and connections most vital to help social impact organisations succeed in delivering on their missions.

It provides a platform for fundraisers and changemakers to collaborate, share ideas and learn from one another and is driven to bring about transformative change in the social impact sector around the world.

The Challenge

The Resource Alliance asked us to develop and implement a digital marketing plan for Fundraising Online (#FRO), a free online conference for fundraisers and changemakers live-streamed via Facebook. The event was due to take place on 12 & 13 June 2019.

The main focus of #FRO 2019 was digital fundraising and engagement, was how to harness emerging and disruptive tech trends, and what’s coming next over the horizon. The previously annual event had taken a break for the last couple of years, so it was really important for empower to relaunch it with a bang and ensure it attracted a global, diverse audience mirroring the wide range of sessions on offer. 

#FRO was last organised in 2016 and had 3,100 people from 115 countries taking part. Keen to make the event even bigger and better, we set ourselves an ambitious target of 5,000 participants for #FRO 2019.

The Approach

Empower developed and ran a digital marketing campaign, promoting #FRO across email, social media, paid social, Google Ads and through targeted outreach.

101fundraising, The Resource Alliance’s crowdsourced blog, was also used as a platform where articles from #FRO 2019 speakers were hosted and promoted. 

Empower managed the key social media channels during #FRO itself, engaging with participants, promoting the sessions and answering queries.

Regular reports were set up to track and monitor the effectiveness of marketing activity throughout the campaign, and the findings were used to tweak and improve empower’s approach.

The Results

• 2019 was a record-breaking year for #FRO, with 5,378 participants from 130 countries attending – that’s 7.5% ahead of the 2019 target​ and a 73% increase from the previous event

• The sessions were viewed 12,374 times during the event, totalling 100,592 minutes of watching time on 12 & 13 June​

• 26 stellar speakers from 14 countries shared their expertise and experience of harnessing digital trends and technological change. The content was very well received by the participants, with 55% rating it as “Excellent” and 45% as “Good”​

Support for #FRO 2019 was part of a nine-month project for empower supporting the Resource Alliance throughout their 2019 event schedule. #FRO’s success was a great momentum builder for the flagship event IFC 2019, a huge annual fundraiser and changemakers conference, which empower has been engaged to promote.

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Empower run Digital Marketing, Communications and Social Media campaigns for some of the biggest and best social good organisations around the world. As independent consultants, we offer your impartial advice at reasonable rates, with the flexibility to work to your campaign schedules.