Grand Canyon Conservancy raised over $300k in one month on Campaign Studio for fire recovery efforts
Mission
To inspire generations of park champions to cherish and support the natural and cultural wonder of Grand Canyon
Challenge
Replace their outdated fundraising platform to support the growing needs of the Conservancy
Solution
Grand Canyon Conservancy got up and running on GoFundMe Pro just in time to launch a disaster recovery campaign on Campaign Studio, which raised over $300,000 in only one month
“It was huge for us that donors could give without ever leaving our website. Plus, the design capabilities meant we could customize everything to match our site’s look and feel perfectly. Studio has helped us create a seamless, on-brand giving experience.”
– Caity Varian, Senior Marketing Manager
Results on GoFundMe Pro:
$300,000+ raised
in one month
Almost 2,000
individual donors
Over half of donors
are new to Grand Canyon Conservancy
Quickly finding and adopting a new fundraising platform
Grand Canyon Conservancy was not happy anymore with their former fundraising platform’s lack of customization and payment options, so the team started putting feelers out and setting up demos with alternative platforms. GoFundMe Pro rose to the top.
GoFundMe Pro was the one platform where, when we would go to other nonprofits and ask their opinion, they always had good feedback. That’s really what sealed the deal for us.
After coming on board, the Grand Canyon Conservancy team dove right into a thoughtfully planned onboarding process. They explored the platform, attended live trainings, worked closely with their Implementation Project Manager, and quickly got their main donation page and membership pages up and running.
Fast fire response with Campaign Studio
When the Dragon Bravo Fire fire broke out impacting the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon Conservancy jumped into action, taking their learnings from GoFundMe Pro’s onboarding and quickly creating a campaign using Campaign Studio to start accepting donations.
The team’s strategic approach made all the difference. Supporters could make a gift without ever leaving the page, and knowing that many people would be donating from their phones, they placed the donation widget above the fold for the best mobile experience. Plus, the donation page itself told their story beautifully, with thoughtfully chosen content blocks and striking imagery that illustrated the park’s resilience even in the face of disaster.
We’ve been able to quickly and effortlessly update our Studio campaign in real time—whether adding new content and FAQs, or sharing the latest updates on the fire—so our supporters always have the most accurate and timely information all in one place.
The campaign has raised over $300,000 in one month from almost 2,000 individual donors, over half of whom were new to Grand Canyon Conservancy.
The Disaster Recovery Fund campaign alone has brought in over a thousand new donors, which has been heartening to see. Everyone is coming together to help support the North Rim, and it’s a nice feeling knowing that there are so many people out there that feel strongly about Grand Canyon.
Conservation work never stops
The Grand Canyon Conservancy team will continue to raise funds for recovery from the North Rim fires. Restoration will not happen overnight and may take years to fully recover, but they are ready to begin as soon as it’s safe and they have access. The community’s support—whether through donations, spreading word about the Conservancy, or sharing on social media—has made all the difference in helping the region heal.
At the same time, the organization is preparing for its Celebration of Art event. For the first time, the team will use GoFundMe Pro’s Live Events tool for the online auction. As they are preparing for the event, the Live Events tool has already proven to be easy to use and efficient, and they are eager to see how the event unfolds.
Caity’s GoFundMe Pro Tips:
- Source codes have been extremely helpful for us lately, especially when one of our partners wants to, for example, share our Disaster Recovery Fund campaign on their social channels. I can easily create a source code specific to them, so I can report back on how well the posts performed and how many donations came in that we can attribute to their posts. It’s been a game-changer in our tracking capabilities with very little lift.
Lauren’s GoFundMe Pro Tips:
- Use the campaign insights to get a quick snapshot of each campaign’s performance in terms of revenue, one-time vs. recurring donations, conversion rates, donor-covered fees, and more. It has everything that you need to understand the success of a campaign.
- Save yourself time and duplicate campaigns. It has been so helpful for us, especially during a crisis or emergency, like the fires, to copy a campaign, change a few things, and voila, it’s a brand new, usable campaign.
