At Rally, we’re proud to be different. We don’t fit into the conventional agency box. We like that because we’re flexible to work with clients in ways that work for them and the challenges and opportunities they face at any stage. Nowhere is that better shown than in our partnership with Refuge over the last 5 years.
Harnessing the power and energy of the feminist movement
In 2018 Refuge had a problem: 80% of their funding came from local and national government and with budgets tightening, it was getting harder to secure. Moreover, by not being public oriented, Refuge was missing the opportunity to be part of a resurgent and visible feminist movement.
Photo by Ethan Gregory Dodge on Unsplash
Rally was invited to stoke ambition at a senior level for Refuge to harness the power and energy of the feminist movement, sharing inspiration from digital mobilisation movements worldwide. This conversation helped transform how Refuge saw their role. By becoming an active, public facing leader in the violence against women and girls conversation, Refuge could both help change societal norms and policy and address its funding challenge.
A new model to attract the public at scale
We had to think big: 1 in 4 UK women have experienced domestic abuse. It’s a huge issue and Refuge’s ambition had to reflect this. This meant building a model to engage the public at scale which fused values, mission and goals to attract like minded people and inspire them to actively participate by giving their time, money or voice to create big change.
It was never just a digital fundraising strategy: we wanted more reach, action, income and impact by inspiring meaningful and repeat engagement. Radical improvements to Refuge’s digital capability and approach were needed. And Rally was the partner to make it happen.
A path to self sufficiency
When we set up Rally we wanted to create a new way of working, focussed on collaboration and partnership so clients are empowered to transform how they mobilise the public. From the outset, our ultimate goal was for the programme to be run in house by a high performing Refuge team. A path to self sufficiency, sustainability and long term success through lasting change in how the team thinks and works - it was quite the journey.
Getting started: being brilliant at the basics
First we built a digital mobilisation strategy framework which focused our ambition and resources and set principles for action and decision making. It laid out the steps to embed a new model and create a high performing team. To build scale we would place our values front and centre, elevate digital, be brilliant at the basics and base decisions on data.
We introduced experts to work with Refuge to deliver key elements of the framework: Forward Action led an overhaul of Refuge’s email programme and a streamlined donation platform to convert more of the interest we generated into action which contributed to a hugely successful mobilisation pilot. Carys Afoko and Charly founder of Studio Nowhere created a tone of voice and visual identity to inspire action in the digital space. All these fundamentals would have a critical impact on Refuge’s ability to attract the public at scale.
COVID accelerated everything
Then the pandemic struck. Victims were locked down with perpetrators. Demand on Refuge’s helpline soared. But with domestic abuse in the news, for the first time the nation started to understand the scale of the issue. Refuge had to grab this opportunity.
With much conventional fundraising on hold, it was time to be bold: accelerate, not pause, act quickly and decisively. We worked with the brilliant Louise Firth who led the Refuge team to quickly instigate conversations with the Board to capitalise on the pilot. We got the go-ahead to invest and scale, bringing digital to the forefront with spectacular success.
A new normal
The pandemic’s unique conditions accelerated the model on every level, especially bringing teams together and making collaboration the norm. After the lockdowns came a new phase: building on progress to secure sustained growth by optimising and diversifying, creating an always on programme. We focused on building the team’s skills, capacity and technical capabilities. This meant a new iteration of the strategy to reflect the new reality, led by Refuge working together with Carmen Barlow, with Rally in support to maintain focus and hold the team to account.
A transformational change
Five years after that first meeting, Refuge has seen transformational change. The values-based public engagement model is firmly established, attracting the public at scale and inspiring them to act again and again, delivering more reach, action, money and impact.
The initial phases saw explosive growth: income up from £17.1m (2019-20) to £34.5m (2020-21) and overall fundraised income from £3.2M to £18.1M in the same period. In that time the email subscriber list grew from under 4,000 to 77,000. Today it’s 250,000 and still growing.
Voluntary income has tripled since we started. We haven’t just built scale, we’ve also created a more sustainable way of funding our work with a better balance between statutory and fundraised income.
Just as impressive is the transformation in Refuge’s culture and ways of working. Now a public facing organisation with an increased profile and bolder voice, it actively harnesses the power of the feminist movement. It puts its values first in public engagement, fusing them with a clarity of mission and powerful story to attract support and inspire action. The team is ambitious and focused, making decisions based on data. The programme has moved from isolated campaigns to always on, dialled up at key times. Thanks to the strategy, integration between campaigning, fundraising and media is second nature, with rapid response to breaking news and campaigns for policy change.
Mission accomplished (for now)
The biggest transformation is that we’ve achieved our ultimate objective of a self-sufficient in-house team. Over the last 5 years the skills, capacity and resources have been built and the programme is now being run in-house with a network of experts for the team to partner with to deliver, build and refine it further.
In this time Rally has been a catalyst, strategist, hands-on digital partner, coach and now sounding board and critical friend. We’re proud to have been the partner Refuge needed at every stage and are excited to see the next chapter unfurl.
We’ll end with this fantastic quote from Louise at Refuge…
‘Our collaboration with Rally has truly transformed Refuge, and importantly many more thousands of victims and survivors of domestic abuse now have a platform, and feel part of a movement where their experiences are heard and harnessed.
The statistics, data and insight outlined above speak for themselves, we have a significantly larger, deeply engaged supporter base who have been attracted by our values. We truly have scaled and sustained and I’m confident our small but mighty team will continue to build on this success.
None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for Paul’s unique, bold, visionary leadership. His technical knowledge has always impressed me but Paul, also gently nudged us along in a kind and supportive manner. He helped us create psychological safety in order for us to test, fail and learn. The strong foundation of trust which was quickly established, made working with Rally’s associates a very positive experience, they are all extensions of our team.
Rally – thank you, you’ve helped us change the hearts and minds of society and continue to make this world a better place.’
Director of Fundraising, Communications & Policy
Photo by Michelle Ding on Unsplash