Success Story: Empowering WWF Portugal to Nature Conservation with Salesforce, protecting Oceans, Forests and Wildlife, Environmental Education and Water

WWF in Portugal had a vision to expand its reach and impact through a brand new Individual Giving Programme, aimed at engaging donors to support their vital conservation work. Before starting working with Raise N’GO, the organization relied solely on a communications department using Mailchimp to manage contacts and communications. However, with the growing need to engage individual donors and manage increasingly complex fundraising initiatives, it was clear that a more robust system was necessary.

The team were keen to increase their impact to enable more animals, people, and their habitats to be safe from extinction and set about looking for technology to fuel their ambitions.

Before the Partnership with Raise N’GO 

Although we have been in contact for several months, the right moment to start the collaboration happened when the WWF Portugal Board, coordinated by Executive Director Angela Morgado, decided strategically to start with the operation of Individual Giving. To do so, they relied on the support of WWF International, who strongly encouraged them to implement a digital fundraising solution centralized in a robust CRM and integrated with other important systems.
Following the advice of Raise N’GO, and based on the evidence of successful implementation of recent solutions with WWF Romania and Hungary, WWF Portugal chose Salesforce CRM as the central platform of its digital fundraising solution.

Before this project, WWF had no established Individual Giving Programme. All contacts were managed through Mailchimp by the communications department, which was primarily focused on sending newsletters rather than cultivating ongoing relationships with individual donors. Rita Gomes was hired to spearhead the new Individual Giving Programme, and one of her first tasks was to create a CRM that could support their ambitious goals.

Why Salesforce?

To make an informed decision, Rita and her team consulted with other charities across Portugal, learning from their experiences with various CRM systems. Although they considered starting with a simpler, less expensive system, the strategic decision was made to invest in Salesforce. The choice was driven by the desire to grow, as Salesforce offered robust integrations, particularly with payment providers and the organization’s new website, as well as powerful automation capabilities.

Rita explained,

“Our goal was to grow, and it made sense to choose Salesforce because it had the integrations and automation features that would allow us to scale efficiently, even if it was a more expensive option. We believed that this investment would pay off as our program expanded.”

Key Integrations

• Online Giving Integration: WWF created a new website that integrated with Salesforce. The entire process of adopting an animal or making a donation is automated—from the moment a donor engages on the website to when they receive personalized communications. This automation saves significant time and ensures a consistent donor experience.

• F2F Channel Integration: Even though the face-to-face (F2F) channel currently uses paper forms, Salesforce has made it easy to import daily donor data. Once entered into Salesforce, the system sends information to the payment provider and automatically triggers the donation and thank-you communications, ensuring that every donor is promptly acknowledged. 

• Mailchimp Integration: The integration of Mailchimp with Salesforce powers WWF monthly newsletters. Data from Salesforce is used to manage these communications, ensuring that every message is targeted and relevant to the recipient’s interests.

• Donation Receipts Automation – based on the growth success of donations verified in the first months, it became evident that there was a need to develop the Salesforce CRM to automate the creation and sending by email of donation receipts. In addition to improving the donor experience (and increasing their trust in WWF), this solution has saved many hours of administrative work and improved cooperation between fundraising and finance departments.

Automation and Efficiency 

• One-off Donations: The website is integrated with Salesforce to automatically send emails and confirmations as soon as a one-off donation is processed.

• Monthly Donations: For recurring donations, Salesforce triggers the first thank-you email once the initial donation is made. This is followed by the delivery of a brochure, all managed within Salesforce.

Rita noted:

“The automation features within Salesforce allow us to manage our donor communications effortlessly. Whether it’s a one-off donation or a recurring gift, we can ensure that each donor feels valued and informed.”

Impact on Reporting and Decision-Making

The introduction of Salesforce has revolutionized WWF ability to make informed decisions. The reports and dashboards available in Salesforce save the team time and provide crucial insights into donor behavior and campaign performance.
Rita shared, “Reporting is the most important feature for us. It allows us to see the quality of our recurring donors and measure the return on investment of our campaigns. This data is essential for making strategic decisions and optimizing our efforts.”

Working with Raise N’GO

Rita praised their partner, Raise N’GO, for their ongoing support:

“Raise N’GO has been incredibly patient and responsive to our needs. They didn’t just help us establish what our system needed to be—they’ve continued to support us every step of the way. Their expertise has been invaluable in helping us navigate challenges and optimize our use of Salesforce.”

A Partnership 

With Salesforce, WWF has not only established a successful Individual Giving Programme but also enhanced its operational efficiency and donor engagement. The strategic decision to invest in Salesforce has empowered the organization to grow, allowing them to focus more on their mission to protect endangered species and less on administrative tasks. The impact of this transformation is already evident in their ability to manage donor relationships, streamline operations, and make data-driven decisions that further their conservation goals, which we hope enables more animals and habitats to thrive. 

Tiago, CEO of Raise N’GO said: 

“Working with WWF Portugal in the initial project was an incredible opportunity to push our technical boundaries. The team’s innovative requests led us to develop new features and solutions, which, in turn, strengthened our expertise in some aspects of payment management. This collaboration was a win-win: WWF received the technical solutions they needed, and Raise N’GO expanded our capabilities and gained valuable insights to serve better the WWF network.”