As a non-profit organization, Best Friends Animal Society relies on the support of the public to continue our lifesaving work, with the majority of donations made during the last month of each year. Our objective was to share a positive, emotional animal story at the end of 2015 to win over supporters, inspire donors and help us achieve our year-end fundraising goal to meet a $2,000,000 match provided by generous donors.
Kressa was completely shut down when she first arrived at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. But with time, patience and a lot of a love, this shy dog slowly began to come out of her shell. So much so that she found the perfect family, who decided to adopt her. From photos and footage received from the family, it's clear that Kressa found her happily-ever-after.
Kressa's story provided the perfect vehicle for Best Friends Animal Society to discuss our work — ending the killing of dogs and cats in our nation's shelters. Kressa could have ended up as one of the 9,000 homeless pets who die daily in shelters. But instead, her inspirational journey showcases why Best Friends works so hard to save these lives.
Our strategy was to utilize this incredible narrative to produce a moving video to share with fans, followers and email subscribers, encouraging shares and year-end gifts. The video was shared as a direct upload to Facebook, as well as via a YouTube link on Twitter, GooglePlus, Pinterest, LinkedIn and to Best Friends email subscribers.
With more than 580,000 video views, Kressa's video reached 2,347,888 people on Facebook alone. Her video garnered more than 26,000 likes, comments and shares, along with 32,000 post clicks. Her inspiring journey encouraged others not only to share her story, but to give back on behalf of animals like her. Her story helped us achieve our $2,000,000 end of year fundraising goal to meet the match provided by generous donors.
