Q: Can you give us an overview of how your
team typically generates funds?

A: We need to raise $13.5million every year to fund our services, especially
now as we have just launched 24 hours a day service. We do this through a
number of different income streams, including regular giving lottery service,
legacies, events, and retail shops. Prior to starting on our journey with
Blackbaud we were very old fashioned in our fundraising methods
— we didn’t look at big picture fundraising or have a CRM in place to
provide us with metrics that could help us to ask the right questions to
the right people.

Q: When did Wales Air Ambulance first start
working with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT?

A: We moved over to Raiser’s Edge NXT back in April 2019. We imported
everything that we had, but we weren’t working with the best data so there
was a bit of work getting everything tidied up and transferred over. Since
implementing Raiser’s Edge NXT we work a lot harder to accurately gather
data as the team can now see the benefit and impact of having good
quality data. Raiser’s Edge has empowered our staff and enabled them to
see what actually works for their constituency—Wales is a big place, it’s
very diverse and what works in one region just doesn’t work in another.
However, we now have the metrics to properly segment donor data and
tailor our marketing activity to each region.

Q: What impact have you seen since moving
to Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT?

A: The biggest impact that Raiser’s Edge has had for us is that a large
proportion of fundraising staff have been able to return to work sooner
since the COVID-19 pandemic. When using our old CRM system, we were
working in a small charity mindset. We had staff out in the community
doing event and community fundraising, but because the old CRM was
centralised and had to be accessed through a server, staff couldn’t retrieve
and share data. Raiser’s Edge is cloud-based so everyone can have access
and take responsibility for their region. Our staff can see everything that’s
coming in across Wales and they can really have a targeted approach to
fundraising for their region and build a bigger picture.
Without Raiser’s Edge, during COVID-19 and lockdown, staff would have
really struggled to complete any of their usual tasks. But because our staff
can access Raiser’s Edge from home, they can continue to engage with
fundraisers safely, they can encourage support through calls and email
supporters using the database. All this has meant a large portion of staff have been able to return to work earlier and, of course, maintained our
income in this difficult time.

Q: Wales Air Ambulance joined our JustGiving
integration for Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT test
partner program in 2020. Prior to the integration,
how long had you been using JustGiving?

A: Oh wow, for as long as I can remember! I’ve been with Wales Air
Ambulance for over 10 years and we’ve been using JustGiving the whole time.

Q: How did you used to capture donor data and
connect it with your CRM before becoming an
integration test partner?

A: I feel embarrassed to say that we weren’t importing our data, we were
using the JustGiving reporting as a separate tool. We were running JustGiving
reports and manually adding it to our CRM totals, but we weren’t using the
insights to engage with our donors. Now, through the JustGiving and Raiser’s
Edge integration we can actually see live data and use it to benefit donor
relationships. It’s a million times more beneficial for our relationships.

Q: Can you tell us about the integration set-up
process?

A: It was so easy. You just have to follow a step-by-step process over the
phone, which was just two or three clicks, and it’s all set up ready to go. We
arranged the parameters ourselves of where we wanted everything to go, it
took five minutes. I was amazed how easy it is, it was incredible.

Q: Has the integration presented any challenges?

A: Yes, but the challenges were good challenges because we could see the
power and functionality now available to us. The integration took us a step
above where we had been, so we wanted to figure out how to make the
most of the it to enable us to thank donors and get people raising more.

Q: What impact has using Raiser’s Edge
NXT and JustGiving together had on your
organisation?

A: In the past we were so slow on acknowledging someone who had
created a Fundraising Page, or we had people getting in touch to ask if we
had received their money because our systems were so poor at talking to
each other. Now it’s seamless. When someone creates a Fundraising Page on JustGiving, they’re on Raiser’s Edge straight away, which means they can
receive an immediate call or email, they can be thanked or sent a t-shirt—all
the things that help them to raise more money for us. We’re seeing such
great returns as people feel valued and encouraged—like they’re part of
the family. This is the same for donors now too—if they’ve opted in and
consented to contact, we’re able to thank them properly. We’re seeing
increasing returns from fundraising and we’re growing our database. This
means that, when it comes to marketing messages for our appeals and
campaigns, our database is now 10 times bigger than what it was in the
past, and that’s all thanks to the integration.

Even outside of the integration, the support and prompts that donors get
through JustGiving, such as ‘You haven’t finished creating your Fundraising
page’ or ‘Why don’t you self-donate first’ all really help—it’s such a small
price to pay for JustGiving and it’s so worth it.

Q: Are there any major achievements that your
charity is particularly proud of since testing the
integration?

A: We set up a virtual event last year called Walk Wales and I think it’s
one of the best things that we’ve done in recent years as it raised nearly
$85,000. People could choose a set distance that would replicate a specific
trek across Wales. We launched a campaign on JustGiving, which integrated
with both Strava and Raiser’s Edge NXT, and it was incredible to do all
reporting from one place rather than across different platforms. We were
able to see which marketing streams were the most profitable and Raiser’s
Edge also provided email marketing tools so we could send automated,
personalized messages to participants. We want participants to feel part of
the community and encouraged to raise more, to share their story, share our
appeal, and take on the world!

Q: Looking ahead, what’s next for Wales Air
Ambulance?

A: A while back we invested money in a new website with an annual
subscription. The idea was to create a website that people could donate on,
register for events, find out about creating Fundraising Pages, all of it. Since
Blackbaud launched the integration with Raiser’s Edge and JustGiving, we
actually don’t need it anymore. We have to manually import data from that
website and that isn’t what we want. So now we’re going to save money
by changing back to a standard website and hosting everything we need
on Raiser’s Edge.