What this is

Welcome to my fundraising diary! ❤️

This is a record of how we planned, panicked, learned, and eventually celebrated the End-of-Summer 2025 (EOS25) campaign at Tušti narvai, Lithuania.

You’ll find two intertwined threads here:

• Personal experiences: what I felt, feared, and found funny. I’m sharing these with hope that they’ll provide added value to the practical content and will serve as a comforting reminder that you’re (likely) not alone in your struggles. 

• Practicals: what we actually did, tested, and changed.

Use this as a guide + friend — especially if you’re running a nonprofit campaign and sometimes feel like you’re making it up as you go (spoiler: we all are).

Campaign at a Glance

📍 Lithuania, September – October 2025

👥 Team = 11 members (5 telefundraisers)

🎯 Goal = 360 new regular donors

✅ Result = 458 regular donors (!!!)

⌛ Durration = 30 days 

⭐ Top of the week: got the campaign brief (overview) done (first win!)

🕳️ Flop of the week: was feeling anxious, uncomfortable and overwhelmed 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

Note: Here I'm mentioning Akvilė a lot. She is the head of fundraising in Tušti narvai, my trainer and advisor.

• I felt curious about everything, but also a bit as if I needed more guidance than desirable. I’d love to take the wheel sometimes, show that I’m capable and understand stuff, but I also reminded myself that it’s normal to need more guidance when you’re doing something for the first time. Needing guidance is not a bad thing when you’re learning, it’s normal and necessary.
  
  

• I felt anxious about writing the campaign brief, if I’d write it well and what if I can’t write it. But then I thought there is just no other way out than through and there’s no other person who will do what I need to do so it has to be me.
  
  

• I felt anxious to constantly ask Akvilė for feedback, yet I knew that it’s the only way I can know if I’m going in the right direction. Even though it feels uncomfortable, I’m allowing myself to not know and ask, and seek help when and as much as I need to.
  
  

• I thought about how I evaluate myself as being too slow with this campaign. I think of how Akvilė prepared the last fur ban sending letters campaign in less than one working day and this is what a fundraiser should be like, and how far I am from this right now. But then I reminded myself that Akvilė has tons more experience and knowledge than I do, and of course she can do that. Just because I can’t do it YET, doesn’t mean I won’t be able to do it at all. As Gabrielė said before, do you think it’s so easy that you can learn it in such a short time.
  
  

• I thought about distinguishing between demands and goals based on reality, and expectations I have for myself that I project on other people and then feel pressured and stressed out. Akvilė said that the most important thing is to have fun and be excited about my work, and this is what we’re aiming for in this campaign. What if I allowed myself to have fun and explore without trying to conform to the unrealistically high expectations that I come up with by myself? 

PRACTICALS

✅ Had a meeting with Akvilė:

• • went through the completed tasks for June from the training plan;

  • discussed the analysis of EOS24 and EOY24, things that can be improved and things that I want to try;

  • wrote down initial tasks that need to be completed;

  • set up goals for the campaign (360 new regular donors).

✅ Read Heartable Fundraising Writing (book, 216 pages).

✅ Wrote the 1st draft of the campaign brief (overview) and discussed it with Akvilė. Changed the timeline and rewrote the messaging. Got feedback for a second time. 

✅ Wrote a soft launch letter draft to help with formulating the main and supporting message of the campaign. Got feedback from Akvilė 2-3 more times and used it to polish the messaging. 

✅ Suggested (in the form of a spreadsheet) what needs to change on the webpage spreadsheet on web changes.

✅ Had a meeting with Akvilė:

• • looked through the spreadsheet on web changes, AP: to rename the labels of donors to include "guardians" in different levels (e.g. super guardian) for the different amounts of monthly donation (later note: we didn’t do that in the end, find out why later); to forward the changes to our IT specialist;

  • assigned next APs (to be done in this order): for me to finish the campaign brief (incl. strategy in details for the different phases), write the responsibilities of people in the team; together with Akvilė to create a Trello board, decide on some technical questions.

✅ Finished the web changes spreadsheet. 

✅ Started writing the email plan. Went through the email plans for previous campaigns to see what I’d like to re-use.

✅ Discussed with Akvilė the goals by phases and channels (see the campaign brief) and how to calculate those based on previous campaigns. 

✅ Finished the campaign brief (overview). 

⭐ Top of the week: finished the email plan + wrote a very detailed pre-mortem (steps on what to do if things go wrong)

🕳️ Flop of the week: struggled with the email plan and criticised myself over progressing too slow

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I notice that sometimes I am stuck with ideas and then I need to stop pushing for a while and give myself space. This goes for the email plan. Maybe sometimes a person needs time to “digest” all the new information, alternatives and updates before proceeding forward.
  
  

• One day I felt really tired and energyless, so I allowed myself to take a nap and take it slower. In the past, I’d still have forced myself to be productive and do what I have planned to do, but now I’m trying to be more flexible and assertive to how my body actually feels. I’m not taking my health and capacity for granted, and I understand that I have to take care of and nurture my body and my mind in order to be able to have them as the sharpest tools on the way of achieving my goals. I’m writing this because I’m kinda proud of this mental shift, and I suppose days like that happen and it’s good to remember that needing to slow down sometimes isn’t bad, it’s needed.
  
  

• Thought again about how I evaluate myself as being “too slow”. BUT here is a metaphor: when babies are just learning to walk, no one expects them to run a marathon. When you’re learning something, you’re not expected to be fast, you’re expected to be correct. So while it’s normal to worry about the time aspect of things, I need to allow myself to be slow as I’m learning and remember that speed comes when you do the right things over and over again, when they have become a well-established skill.
  
  

• When I was reading about ways to organise tasks in Trello board (and other similar platforms), I thought about how sometimes people get so obsessed with planning that it turns into avoiding the real thing that has to be done. You can get so into finding “the best” platform to organise your work, that you start stealing time from actually doingthe work. I think the best way to do things is the way that actually works. Our goal is not to have the perfect & most aesthetic plan but rather, a plan that is functional and usable + an excellent execution of it. So let’s do what needs to be done and actually focus on what matters the most.
  
  

• Felt genuinely happy to be working for the animals! <3 

PRACTICALS

✅ Wrote down responsibilities of people in the team. Tried to not only list activities and duties but assign roles that people can identify with. 

✅ Wrote down the phases of the campaign in the brief doc. 

✅ Finished the email plan (the link is to the final plan we used, but trust me when I say it changed A LOT) and presented it to Akvilė, along with the responsibilities and phases described in the campaign brief.  

✅ Discussed next steps and AP with Akvile, as follows:

• Send pros and cons of sending the same email everyday to those who clicked but didn’t donate

• What do we do if things are not happening right

• What if everything is going super well

• Start preparing the stats sheet

• Put numbers for the phases - what to do if we hit it earlier?

• Start preparing the Trello board, think of what way to organise the task will be the most useful

✅ Wrote in the worksheet:

• Pros and cons of sending the same email everyday to those who clicked but didn’t donate

• What do we do if things are not happening right (pre-mortem)

• What if everything is going super well

✅ Read through ideas how to organise a Trello board. Wrote them in the worksheet. 

✅ Wrote down goals for the 5 phases in the campaign brief. Noted to ask Akvilė if it’s a problem that the goals are not even numbers (based on the expectations by days written here), and if we should round them up somehow. (Wasn’t a problem.) 

⭐ Top of the week: finished the Trello board and read a good book (“Start with why”)

🕳️ Flop of the week: wasn’t as present at work as in week 1 and 2

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

PRACTICALS

Note: Here I'm mentioning Gabrielė. She is the public face of the campaign & the leader of Tušti narvai. I'm also mentioning Kamilė. She is Tušti narvai's social media manager).

✅ I had a meeting with Akvilė and we discussed what I have done in the worksheet. Akvilė was satisfied with it, gave me some useful advice on what to add (reflected in the worksheet) and we agreed on the next steps. 

✅ Talked with Kamilė and Gabrielė about their roles and tasks in previous fundraising campaigns in order to be able to put them into the Trello Board. 

✅ Started preparing the Trello board. 

✅ Started a doc about SoMe content for Gabrielė to post during the EOS25. 

✅ Did a progress bar spreadsheet (the idea is to replicate the thermometer we’ll draw on the white board in the office for the people who won’t be working from there). 

✅ Made a work plan spreadsheet, based on the example one from EOS24. (This one was not used later on, but it helped me see things and plan.) 

✅ Finished the Trello board. Made a copy of the Trello board as an example.

✅ Modified the email plan a bit, because I have decided that the emails to those who clicked but didn’t finish the donation that we will send daily, better be slightly different and not the exact same one. 

✅ Prepared the stats sheet. 

✅ Did a check-in and some last small changes to ensure that all the documents and work spaces are aligned regarding tasks, deadlines, timeline, etc.

✅ Finished reading “Start with why” (book). 📚

✅ Started to analyse the best and worst performing content in Gabrielė’s SoMe in order to use it as directions on what kind of content to plan for EOS25 (doc).

⭐ Top of the week: actually took an idea from a book I was reading and decided to implement it

🕳️ Flop of the week: wasn’t so present at work as in weeks 1 and 2

PRACTICALS

✅ We had a meeting with Akvilė, we went through the Trello board together and she said it’s great. She gave me some suggestions on how to improve it which I implemented on the same day. 

✅ Finished the Gabrielė's SoMe analysis (best and worst performing posts + takeaways). Now I need to make a plan for SoMe content for Gabrielė about EOS25. 

✅ Send a message in the team channel about scheduling the first meeting & sent the details and agenda in the Slack channel. 

✅ I finished reading “Slow productivity”. 📚

✅ Started reading “Change: How to Make Big Things Happen”. 📚

✅ Had an idea related to one of the principles from “Change: How to Make Big Things Happen” and shared it with Akvilė. The idea was to send an email to those who join as monthly donors throughout the EOS25 campaign, in which (1) to thank them and (2) to ask them to invite one more person who they know cares about animals to join them in the team of Guardians. 

✅ Prepared for the 1st team meeting (reviewed the campaign brief, agenda, Trello, etc.) 

⭐ Top of the week: had the first team meeting and more clarity on how everything is about to happen

🕳️ Flop of the week: was struggling with focus (too little of it) and self-criticism (too much of it)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• This week I’ve been struggling with focusing and getting things done, because I had a few days of travel, new environment, arranging things, etc. and my mental space was all gone toward that.
  
  

• I’m thinking more and more about fictional/desirable VS external deadlines, giving people (incl. myself) more freedom and autonomy to be flexible with the “fictional”, or “desirable” deadlines as long as good quality work is delivered on time.
  
  

• Many times I have thought that I am doing things slowly and others are noticing, but I decide to give the chance to others to let me know if they think that, otherwise I consider it my own projection. If my teammates need something done quicker, they’ll let me know and I will prioritise it. Otherwise I have no clue to think that they’re unhappy with how I’m doing things currently.

PRACTICALS

✅ Team Meeting #1: went through the campaign brief and Trello board, checked how the team is feeling about the campaign, and outlined next steps.

✅ Assigned all tasks in the Trello board to their responsible owners and requested that everyone looks at their tasks and agrees with the attribution of work. 

✅ Included the idea for an email to new monthly donors (thanks + CTA “invite one more person”) in the email plan.

✅ Finished the doc with analysis and plan for Gabrielė’s SoMe and sent it to her.

✅ Posted a Doodle in the Slack channel in order to schedule weekly calls with the team. 

✅ Confirmed (after writing down pros and cons and discussing it with Kamilė) that we will be communicating phases in SoMe. 

✅ Wrote newsletter drafts for the current email plans so that Evelina - the EOS25 team’s copywriter - is able to focus on the drafts for the EOS25 campaign. 

⭐ Top: spoke up even though it was uncomfortable, thus prioritising doing what’s right over what’s easy

🕳️ Flop: realised that I don’t trust myself :(( and this prevents me from being a better fundraiser and head of the campaign

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I got a little stressed out because of the situation since I didn’t want to be “bossy” and insist that we follow the plan strictly, yet I also had reasons to believe the plan is good and quitting it would mean a sudden increase in uncertainty and chaos. I turned to Akvilė since I thought her opinion would have greater value than mine here. Yet, I have to be the one who insists on doing the right thing even when this is uncomfortable, since the outcome of the campaign will be my responsibility and I have to ensure everything is done in the best way possible.
  
  

• I don’t trust myself and I fear others might not trust me as well, therefore I’m not confident enough to enforce the decisions made when there is a slightest “resistance” or “challenge”. I fear that others might think “She doesn’t know what she is doing” and “Why should I listen to her”. I notice that this is preventing me from fully stepping into the role of a head of the campaign and resolving situations like this in a composed and thoughtful manner. 

PRACTICALS

✅ Had the second EOS25 team meeting only with Akvilė (advisor) and Evelina (copywriter), since the other people from the team either had no tasks to report on or were out of office. We talked about updates and agreed on upcoming tasks, owners and deadlines.

✅ Received the EOS25 drafts from our copywriter for feedback, and since I found out there was a difference between the email plan and its execution in letters, I brought that up. We talked and agreed that the plan should not be changed “just because”, for no particular reason, and that if there is something unclear or an idea/suggestion for change, we’d discuss it together and decide.

⭐ Top: communicated openly with the team about something that was worrying me

🕳️ Flop: realised I put a lot of additional pressure on myself that doesn’t help me to do better

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• About communication with the team about weekly meetings (see the practicals below): first, for me it’s always important to communicate what’s going on and include the people in how we decide to structure and carry on our shared work; second, I felt really stressed out about scheduling meetings, since my own schedule is packed and I work at weird hours, and so instead of stressing out and thinking that others are dissatisfied with my work, I decided to share and invite people to state their needs and preferences, thus giving me a chance to adjust.
  
  

• A thought of mine that might be worth mentioning: as fundraisers, we should not avoid fundraising. As animal advocates, we should not avoid mobilising people to act for animals. The main goal is NOT to inform people (or “spread awareness”). No social change happened because people were aware. Social change happens when people ACT! So when we have one of the most scarce resources of all - people’s attention - we should not miss this opportunity to inspire people to take action. No one cares what people know. What matters is what they do. 

PRACTICALS

✅ Feedbacked the first drafts for ads scripts. 

✅ I communicated with the team that I’m not suggesting a weekly meeting since I’m communicating personally with people who are having tasks at the moment + I’m at a language school and some others are out-of-office, so scheduling calls is challenging. I noted that I’m willing to hear their thoughts on it and adjust my approach accordingly. 

✅ Discussed the improved drafts for ads scripts with Kamilė (SoMe manager) and Akvilė. 

✅ Communicated with Akvilė about the website changes needed, incl. new visuals. 

✅ Feedbacked the submitted letter drafts for EOS25. 

⭐ Top: stood on my grounds to do the better thing, instead of giving in to another person’s disagreement (though it was uncomfortable)

🕳️ Flop: struggled with trusting my judgement and making a decision that not everyone immediately agrees with

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I thought about how it is easy to be a “leader” when everybody agrees with you, but your real job and your real responsibility comes when, in fact, someone disagrees. Important note: I don’t mean that you should be stubborn and blind to other people’s arguments - exactly the opposite, you should be seeking arguments against your decision and evaluating them, and be willing to upgrade your beliefs and adjust when needed. But you shouldn’t do that just because of the desire to be liked, to avoid confrontation, or to conform. When bending toward changing your decision, ask yourself: if this person who disagrees and whose position I’m thinking of adopting, if they suddenly change their mind, would I still defend THEIR arguments that I am using as arguments to change my mind now?
  
  

• Also, I realised, giving in easily is sometimes a way to avoid responsibility. “Oh, but this person said this and they know more than me”. That might be true, but it’s also a way to avoid your responsibility. If you’re coordinating a project and have the final word, you (not anyone else) is responsible for the outcome. You will be carrying whatever decision you make or approve. If you really think that something is better, you are responsible (even if it doesn’t feel good) to make sure that exactly it is being done.
  
  

• Another thing that helps me stand a little bit more on my grounds, is reminding myself that neither I, nor my colleagues are here (in the organisation, in the animal rights movement) for fun, for comfort, to use some time or just to earn some money. We are both here because we want the best for animals. We want to do the best thing in our capacity, even if it is uncomfortable, unfun, time-, money- and energy-consuming. Essentially, we want the same. So if I (think I) know what is the best thing to do, then not sharing it means stealing the chance - from myself and my team mates - to achieve the goal that brought us together in the first place. 

PRACTICALS

✅ Suggested final change for the ads after thinking it through over the weekend. Communicated that with Kamilė and she implemented the changes. (More context: before that Kamilė wasn’t convinced of the changes Akvilė and I had suggested, so I was kind of giving in, but I thought about it more and decided to stand on the grounds that these changes were good). 

✅ Received Akvilė’s approval of the visuals I had proposed for the website and so I reached out to Kamilė requesting that she edits them and adds some text. Discussed options for the text and edits with her and agreed on a deadline. 

✅ Tested out if the website is working properly - both with Apple Pay and card payment. Confirmed (and informed Akvilė) that it is functioning alright. 

✅ Had a call with Judita (Volunteers Manager), since she was out-of-office during the initial preparation with the team. We talked about the campaign brief, the audience for the inner launch, her role and tasks, etc. 

✅ Received some work updates from Kamilė (SoMe Manager) about the production of ads and some unplanned circumstances, and responded to her. 

✅ We had a call with Evelina, discussed the drafts I had feedbacked, talked about the net letters (ideas, questions, to ensure we’re on the same page), talked about the political situation in LT and how it might influence the campaign’s messaging. 

✅ Reminded the team in the Slack channel (+CTA) to update their tasks descriptions in Trello, so that all team members (not only me, who is communicating with people directly) can see what progress we’re making, as well as to ensure that we’re not leaving a task behind. 

✅ Helped our copywriter by writing the drafts for the piglet campaign for the upcoming week, so she can focus on letters for the EOS25 campaign. 

⭐ Top: made a good decision (about labels on the website) and summarised it well 

🕳️ Flop: struggled to catch information misalignment and felt bad for not thinking things through earlier (about labels on the website)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• While feedbacking the EOS25 drafts, I felt happy noticing things, such as “this part is missing relevance to the reader - let’s add where they stand in the whole picture, why do we tell them that, why does it matter to them personally”. I think it’s really important to develop this “X-ray” for content, because it’s what allows you to turn “good” letters into “exceptional” ones.
  
  

• One thing I also intentionally try to do, is give information in a short, summarised and time-efficient way. Of course, when making the decision, I do a lot of thinking  and writing, BUT people who need to know about that decision don’t need to witness all of my mental gymnastics. Therefore, with respect to their time and energy, it’s my responsibility to give them the information in a short, summarised, clear and concise form. And, as Gabrielė says: if you can’t explain something really short and simple, then you don’t really understand it. 

PRACTICALS

✅ Discussed with Greta (Telefundraising manager) the contacts for the 1st call-a-thon.  We agreed on organising a call-a-thon on the last day as well (30th of September, right before the extended deadline), to communicate “the last chance”. 

✅ Had a meeting with Akvilė (advisor) to discuss the updates for EOS25. I reported about the progress on writing the letters, preparing the visuals for the website, writing the posts and messages for the inner launch, and preparing for the call-a-thons. 

✅ We talked about the changes in the political situation in Lithuania and how to adjust the main message of the campaign to be relevant and up-to-date. Wrote down different alternatives of phrasing for the main message in order to find the best one rather than simply settle with the first “good” one that I’ve come up with. Then sent my final suggestion to Akvilė and Evelina to hear their thoughts. 

✅ Addressed a confusion/misunderstanding among the team about the phrasing of the main message: that we’re using “Guardians of Animal Laws”, rather than “Guardians of Animals”. The correct phrasing has been in the campaign brief, so I pointed out that this is the document that people can go to when in doubt.

✅ Feedbacked the new drafts Evelina (copywriter) had prepared. Had a meeting with Akvilė and Evelina regarding the EOS25 drafts and an issue about phrasing in the website. Read more about this issue here, under “Pros and cons #3”, and check the visual for short info.

✅ Helped our copywriter by writing the drafts for the piglet campaign for the upcoming week, so she can focus on letters for the EOS25 campaign. 💌

✅ Wrote down pros and cons for alternatives on how to resolve the problem with labels’ phrasing on the website (see the visual below for context), made the decision on how to proceed and communicated it with Akvilė and Evelina. 

⭐ Top: ensured good organisation and clarity for the day of inner launch 

🕳️ Flop: was overwhelmed by anxiety

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I felt super stressed out about the campaign starting. Couldn’t sleep or rest at all.
  
  

• That was me when I saw we’re behind on the goals: 

• I felt l quite incompetent when asked to give feedback for SoMe content (ads, videos, posts). I know some basic things, since I’ve been working closely with people responsible for that before, but I still consider myself not an expert on that matter. Yet, I understand that as a head of the campaign, I should approve of all content related to it, so my goal will be to educate myself better on SoMe matters.  
  
  

• When Akvilė pointed out that we’ll be sending inner launch, but we’re starting with a counter of more than one thousand people and this is contradictory, and then she suggested that we mention in the letters that it’s a second year of doing that campaign, etc., I thought how the best strategy is honesty. Yes, we’re building a narrative for the people, using words strategically, using social influence strategies, sugar-coating or highlighting selectively, but in many, many cases when we’re facing an issue, an urgency, a contradiction, the best approach is to be open about it, disclose it to the reader and make it a part of the narrative, or use it as a way to build trust, connection, relatability and rapport.
  
  

• Regarding the situation with my mistake in the email plan, I thought about how I don’t want to be a person who, because of incompetency, chaos or bad planning, creates unnecessary urgency, adds tasks to other people’s workload at the last minute, etc. I want to be a person who creates a peaceful, ordered, clean and easy to navigate environment, where, as much as possible, things are predictable, rather than surprising and disrupting the normal work process. So I’m taking measures on that.
  
  

• I thought of how one challenge of coordinating a team is ensuring that information flows easily and on time between all team members. When talking to people personally about their tasks, I know information that becomes “common sense” to me, and I might forget that this information has not spread to all colleagues, and they might not be aware of the most recent updates and events. Therefore, I should approach this cautiously.

PRACTICALS

✅ Sent personal messages to the people from the team who had current tasks in Trello and asked them to update their task cards (status + comments). I figured writing to a person in direct message works better than writing in the channel of the team. Soon after reaching out I received the responses and confirmations that tasks are updated.

✅ Another thing about keeping Trello updated:

• Many times, I was fighting the urge to update the task cards by myself. Yet, I’m learning to let people take care of their own things, and not become “a person for everything”. I think it’s better to give the people trust and responsibility to manage and report on their own things. That’s why I asked them to do it for their tasks. 

• Another thing is that I wasn’t “pushy” enough about keeping Trello up-to-date, because I myself at moments wasn’t convinced that this is needed. So I had to remind myself: what is the point of having Trello? What is the point of keeping it up-to-date? What purpose does this serve and how does it benefit the work and the campaign? When I was clear with myself on these questions, I was more willing to ask others to take care of Trello as well. If people see the meaning and the benefit of using something, they will naturally use it. So make sure you not only ask people to do things, but show them why those things matter and what purpose they serve in the bigger picture. (Example: I wrote for Trello “so that all the progress we make is visible there; so that we make sure we’re not forgetting or leaving an important task behind; so that all team members can see how our work is going, etc.”)

✅ Akvilė approved of the main and supporting message I’d suggested, and asked Evelina to translate them in LT. 

✅ I suggested updated texts for the website in the web changes spreadsheet.

✅ Discussed and feedbacked the video ads we had prepared. 

✅ I spotted a mistake in the email plan: I had only included personalised letters to those people at the end of every day since the public launch, but not in the soft launch phase. So I added those letters now and told Evelina about it. 

✅ Gave feedback to Kamilė’s drafts for SoMe posts. 

✅ Asked people from the team to test the website. 

✅ Asked those who have tasks for the days of the inner launch to give me a short list of what will be happening and when, so that I can put all into Google Calendar. This was also to avoid unnecessary chaos and confusion, and so that I am aware of what is happening at every moment, and when I might be needed. This is how it looks in my Calendar for example:

✅ Discussed last details with the responsible people for the posts during the inner launch (FB group of activists, organisation members, etc) and the first call-a-thon. 

✅ Feedbacked the SoMe posts drafts (edited versions). 

✅ Had a meeting with Akvilė and Evelina about  letters, communicated with Judita and Greta about their tasks for tomorrow. 

✅ One important note: all communication should be coordinated and should be flowing back and forth between the team members dealing with calls, letters, posts, etc. For example, people who said “no” to the telefundraisers should not receive emails and/or messages from Judita. 

✅ The document Greta had prepared for the telefundraisers regarding the upcoming call-a-thon, and the white board in the office ❤️: 

✅ Feedbacked the ads visuals. Main feedback was about (1) how strong are the images - all of them but one were super strong, (2) a message kind of “the dog died. donate to save the dog”. Sharing some excerpts that might be helpful to better show what I mean:

✅ Communicated with Greta (Telefundraising manager) about the call-a-thon - people with incomplete donations who should be called, how did it go, does she think the campaign message resonates with people, etc. She said that it might be better to have those call-a-thons on working days, and that not many people picked up and had a conversation with the telefundraisers. But overall, the experience was positive and fun for the girls calling, and people were responding well to the messaging. 

✅ Communicated with Judita about her tasks for the weekend. Also asked Greta to give her a list of people from the activist group who said “no” or already donated from the call-a-thon, so that Judita doesn’t write to them asking them to join again. 

✅ I’m trying my best to keep this personal communication with team members, showing interest about their tasks, initiating that we revise and clarify things in advance, expressing willingness to help out if there’s anything, and in general, being close in the process of everything happening. (One risk of that approach is micromanaging, but I try to avoid that by leaving space and responsibility (!!!) for people to do their work, I just tell them what needs to be achieved and to happen, and give feedback on their suggestions, but I don’t “dictate” or engage so much with the process of coming up with the plan/content, etc). 

✅ Saw that we’re behind on the goal for the inner launch and panicked. 🧘🏻‍♀️ 

⭐ Top: tested an idea I had (about the progress bar with a visual) and approached problems proactively 

🕳️ Flop: was very upset about problems with EOS25

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• About mistakes: when something is off, my attention goes first to the environment in which the mistake happened. Knowing that a person didn’t notice something or forgot to check something, or got confused about something, I first ask myself what factors in the way their work was organised and executed caused these disruptions. So what is the mistake telling us about the way we work? Maybe that person was overwhelmed. Maybe they weren’t provided correct and clear instructions on what to do. Maybe they were lacking training, information or support, or all three. In all such cases, it’s on me as the head of the campaign to take responsibility and fix the problems. I see my main responsibility at this moment of the campaign to be: providing all team members with the optimal environment, resources, information and support so that they can show up at their best capacity, or in other words said, planning and structuring the work in a way that enables and makes it easy for people to do their job excellently. Therefore, when reflecting on other people’s mistakes, I seek action points for myself on how to better enable these people to do an awesome job.
  
  

• Note: am I focusing so much on mistakes because I’m so mindful and self-conscious, or because I fear mistakes, or both? Does this have more to do with mistakes or more to do with me personally?
  
  

• I was observing carefully and was fascinated by how quickly, intuitively and adequately Akvilė handled the situation with sending EOS25 letter to current monthly donors. She once again showed me that the best strategy when you have messed up is honesty. To stand up in front of people and admit the mistake, and apologise for it. To be transparent and even vulnerable, instead of trying to hide or “mask” the mistake in further communication. I think this honesty and vulnerability are what makes people feel connected to you and shows them that you can be trusted. My goal is to keep these values in mind and in actions every time when I craft communication to the supporters of animals.
  
  

• I think giving positive feedback to people (when deserved) is so important, because everyone likes to feel appreciated for their efforts. I’m especially grateful to people from the team who have been super responsible, hard-working, reliable and nice to work with; people who, with their presence and work, have made my work easier, more pleasant and inspiring. So I let them know.
  
  

• This was me at the end of the talk with Akvilė about the things that went wrong:

PRACTICALS

✅ Had a call with our copywriter to revise how things are going with the letters.

✅ Asked Kamilė (social media manager) to make a counter with an image, so that we can test that one VS. the regular one we usually use in an A/B test. She did that. 

✅ Talked with Greta about her impressions of how the campaign message is received from people who she and the telefundraisers are calling. She said it’s very well received, especially the part about the new ministers and politicians returning from vacation and the “exclusivity” of it -  “you’re among the first to know about this”. 

✅ Had a call with Akvilė. She told me that it’s too soon to get panicked if the results we get are below the goals, that it’s normal to have days like that and this is only the inner launch, so maybe the expectations we set for it weren’t realistic. I’m noticing that it's still hard for me to find that balance between setting goals and sticking to them (because that’s what they are for), and being flexible and responding to reality.

✅ We got 14 new donors from the inner launch, goal was 16, but that’s still the most successful inner launch we’ve had so far, so I wrote a message in #general and in the team channel to celebrate the results and share what is ahead. 🎉

✅ Wrote to people from the team who have been responsible for core tasks these days and in general, to celebrate the results and show appreciation for them. 

✅ Started updating the online counter as new donors come, and sharing each +1 in the team channel in Slack <3 Also invited the others to do that as well (with the progress bar on the white board in the office). Here’s what we had: 

✅ Had calls in the morning with Akvilė and Evelina about some issues regarding the spreadsheet and tracking of donations, and about the newsletter that needs to be sent this morning.

✅ We had an emergency situation, since there was a mistake made and the first letter went out to monthly donors as well (they should have only received a parallel communication about piglets). 

✅ Me, Evelina, Akvilė and Greta had a call to figure out what to do. This was it:

• Check which of those people who joined through the first email, were already regulars, and make a list of them to give to Greta. 

• Make sure that those people who were already monthly donors and joined again, are called, apologised to and asked if they want to keep the second subscription;

• Send an email to apologise to monthly donors who received the morning appeal (this should go out as soon as possible);

✅ I’m trying to take care of people from the team, and emphasise that we are directing our energy now to fix any mistakes and proceed forward stronger, not to blame or bully those who made the mistakes in the first place. My priority is to ensure no further mistakes are made and people are working in their best capacity. 

✅ We reached the goal and went above it today! 🎉 I was super happy and was sending updates for every new donor that comes in the #eos25-team channel in Slack with screenshots of the online counter (thermometer, progress bar).

✅ We did A/B testing of two versions of a progress bar: one that is our standard one and one with an image. The one with a photo of a calf won. See both below.

✅ One of the days we didn’t reach the daily goal. The results from both the email and telefundraising were very low that day, and I did the first thing I do in situations like this - panicked. 🧘🏻‍♀️ Then we had a meeting with Akvilė to discuss what is happening. 

✅ Main takeaway: the second thing I should do after I panic, is gather as much information as possible.  I should avoid jumping into conclusions and solutions before I check all the data that might bring some clarity. This includes results from past campaigns, open and click rates from past campaigns, telefundraising shifts and results, etc. It turned out that telefundraisers just weren’t calling as much as usual that day. For the email we guessed it had gone to “Promotions” or “Spam”.

✅ Another takeaway two: one day is not a representative sample. What has happened once, doesn’t need to be an expression of a rule or tendency. I should be patient enough to see how things unfold before deciding if and what action to take. 

✅ We decided to send an A/B test again with the calf progress bar and another image. Maybe we will change those visuals during the campaign, so that it doesn’t get repetitive (in a bad sense - that a person can see a new email, remember the same photo from yesterday and think that it’s the same email). Winning visual below. 

✅ Because of the very low number of opens and clicks, we agreed on sending an “S.O.S” letter, asking people to move the letters from Gabrielė to their general inbox and thus signal that they don’t belong in Spam/Promotions. 

✅ We achieved the next day’s goal. 🎉

✅ Later on, I checked the opens and clicks for the last letter we sent, and they were super low, like this: 

✅ Because of the very low number of opens and clicks, we agreed on sending an “S.O.S” letter, asking people to move the letters from Gabrielė to their general inbox and thus signal that they don’t belong in Spam/Promotions. 

✅ We achieved the next day’s goal. 🎉

✅ Later on, I checked the opens and clicks for the last letter we sent, and they were super low, like this: 

✅ I reached out to Greta, asking her if telefundraisers will be calling over the weekend. I explained the situation and asked her to communicate that to them, that it’s a crisis situation, we haven’t fixed the issue with letters, we’re not getting any new donors, and if they can cover a few hours over the weekend and call, that would be a huge, huge help right now. 

✅ Of course, I felt very uncomfortable asking that, but I decided to let people know what is happening and give them a chance to step in and help, if they want and can. The key word here is “giving them a chance to help”. No pressure, no expectations. But people can’t know they are needed and can make a huge difference in a moment of struggle, if we don’t let them know there is a struggle in the first place. 

✅ I set a budget for ads, as I had promised Kamilė (Social media manager) to do so, and I sent it to both her and Akvilė to be approved. I also feedbacked the text for ads publications and the FB cover that Kamilė sent me. 

✅ That day there was an issue as well with feedbacking the letters, the topic of the letter from the plan wasn’t kept, etc., so just a lot of things went kinda wrong. 

✅ Later I talked with Akvilė about all of that, and she assured me that the technical issue and the issues with the letters will be resolved. 

✅ Evelina reached out to me with a question why the counter in the letters and the website is set to finish at midnight, since we’re not launching the public phase at midnight. So I sat down and thought about it, wrote pros and cons of the two alternatives, concluded my decision based on the presented arguments and sent it all to both Evelina (to follow-up the topic), Akvilė and Gabrielė (for approval). 

⭐ Top: was proactive with analyzing problems and seeking solutions

🕳️ Flop: was about to make a wrong decision without considering all the info available 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I was super stressed out on the day before the public launch. I’m usually very nervous when working under pressure (and sometimes I make the pressure myself), and knowing that there is no time definitely didn’t make it easier.
  
  

• I felt really bad about that wrong decision I was about to make. 

PRACTICALS

❗ We paused the EOS25 and the piglet campaign, because the fur farmers tried once again to delay the ban and we had to urgently mobilise the supporters of animals to write letters to politicians. 

✅ About that counter-related discussion (if it should end at midnight or what), Akvilė said I don’t need to seek “approval” for such small things and I can decide by myself.

✅ The fur ban voting was cancelled (the proposition was removed from the agenda) <3 .

✅ I had a call with Akvilė, we talked about how to change communication about the EOS25 so that it acknowledges and reflects on the situation with the fur ban. Then I had calls with some other team members, and I also wrote about it in Slack.  

✅ We had to implement the changes in the letters, social media post and ads, the post for the activists and Gabrielė’s post in her personal account. We decided to do the public launch tomorrow. 

✅ I reached out to everyone who was having tasks for the day of launching. I drafted an idea for Gabrielė on what to write, feedbacked Judita’s post, suggested changes in the post and ads descriptions for social media, etc. 

✅ The call-a-thon happened that day, even though the public launch was moved. This was the board in the office: 

✅ We launched publicly! 🎉

✅ We had to coordinate the time of sending a letter + social media post + Gabrielė’s post + the post for activists. I suggested aiming at 11-11:25.

✅ Around half of the day had passed and we had concerningly few new regulars, and Akvilė wrote to me that at this point, we can say that something is not working, and asked me to make an analysis of what is happening, why and how to fix. 

✅ This is the analysis (title “EOS25 ANALYSIS”). I’m kind of happy how I dealt with it, since I really tried to (1) ask the right questions and (2) gather as much information and data as possible before “jumping to conclusions”. 

✅ My takeaway from the analysis was that for some reason, the messaging of EOS25 in written form (letters, website, social media) worked worse than the messaging in spoken form (telefundraising). 

✅ I suggested changing the main message a bit, and made a separate analysis to figure out why the written message works worse than spoken, and in general, why that message might not be resonating with people. 

✅ This is the analysis (same doc, title “MAIN MESSAGE ANALYSIS”). I’m also happy how I handled that one! I looked at the main and supporting message, what is our theory of change that we’re communicating, what is the readability of the messages (checked with Hemingway App), and what do we assume when we think they’d resonate with people. Then I explored how we can check if those assumptions are true or not. 

✅ What really helped me was talking to the telefundraisers. Since I noticed telefundraising is going super well, in contrast with the other (written) channels, I wanted to find out how the girls are conveying the message in their calls, what aspects of it they are emphasising, what context they are giving, etc. There had to be some differences that explain why the spoken message works and the written doesn’t. 

✅ I won’t repeat my thought process here, so if interested, read the analysis itself. 

✅ My takeaways on changing (improving) the message:

• Emphasise pressure rather than collaboration in the relationship between animal supporters and politicians (communicating a conflict).

• Turn the focus toward animals rather than politicians.

• Shorten and simplify the messaging (optimise for readability).

✅ Me and Akvilė discussed why there aren’t more emails with stories in the EOS25 email plan. I explained that it’s because I saw that the EOS24 communication was focused mainly on communicating success and social proof, not on animal suffering. 

✅ Akvilė explained that it was because she wanted to learn how to communicate success and social proof, and we should use stories more since they have proven to work really well. 

✅ This brought to my attention once again that it’s not only important what was done, but why, and it’s better to ask “why” and see if this “why” is still relevant to the current situation, rather than blindly copying things from previous experience or generalising a single case to be a “rule” for all the next ones. 

✅ Therefore, I took best performing emails with stories from EOS24, EOY24 and GPM25 campaigns and included them in the plan.

✅ There was a difficulty with crafting the new version of a main message in Lithuanian and being politically correct with it. We reached the conclusion we can’t openly communicate conflict or danger, and we settled for just simplifying and shortening (optimising for readability) the old message, as well as mentioning the political uncertainty. Of course, we had to A/B test that. 

✅ We reached the daily goal and +1 above it! 🎉

✅ We A/B tested the old and new (with political context) messaging, and the results weren’t statistically significant, so more research was needed. 

✅ Made a list of the 〜5 best performing emails from previous campaigns (EOY23, EOS24, EOY24, GPM25) here. 

✅ Changed the email plan to (1) include more stories (every second day approximately) and (2) include examples from the best performing emails (those that are not stories). 

✅ I checked if it makes sense to keep sending “reminder” emails every day (to those who clicked on the button in that day’s email), if new regulars are coming from those at all. Found out that from 8 "reminder" emails sent in total, we have gotten only 4 new regulars. Read more on that below.

✅ We achieved the daily goal +1! 🎉

✅ We A/B tested the old and new (with political context) messaging again. Mentioning the political uncertainty performed better, so we included that forward. 

✅ When checking the results, I used this website. SendGrid makes automatic conclusions based only on the clicks, but what we care for is actual donations from those clicks + if the result is statistically significant, so we’re checking that manually. 

❌ On the reminder emails: I got terribly mistaken, since I saw we got 4 donors from 8 emails -> 0,5 donors per email and comparing to the normal email (average donors from one of them is 4,7), I concluded that the reminder ones are not effective and it’s not worth doing them. I did two main logical mistakes in this:

• I based my conclusion on insufficient information, instead of looking at all the data - I didn’t check the conversion rates for example, which turned out to be significantly higher than those of the normal emails. Then why so few donors? Because the reminder emails are sent to a much smaller group of people, so even if they’re more effective (they are) per se, they will naturally bring fewer new regulars. 

• I did not consider that any action is effective or ineffective compared to its alternative, therefore I had to ask myself “What would we do with that energy and time if we don’t send those reminder emails? What more effective action can we take?”. And I didn’t have an idea for what better to do instead, so it was reminder emails vs. nothing. Well, no matter how (in)effective something is, it will always be more effective than nothing (unless it’s countereffective, but I didn’t think those emails were). 

✅  We achieved the daily goal +1! 🎉

⭐ Top: tried another idea I had in mind (about reminder letters) + had a day with 30 new regulars! 

🕳️ Flop: had written an unclear description of a phase and had missed to consider things we need to adjust according to the new timeline

PRACTICALS

✅ I gathered all email drafts in the EOS25 folder, as well as asked the other team members to move their docs in that folder, so we have everything in one place.

✅ Discussed with Akvilė what emails we will send in the upcoming days, she sent me the drafts and test email. Two main new things:

• We’ll send a “you haven’t read my previous letters” email (like this one) to those who haven’t opened any EOS25 letter, but this time in Streak. 

• We will try out a thing that was shared in the CARE conference - this kind of “user/status box” with the specific “computer-like” font, to look automatic, “as if it’s coming from the system”. We will A/B test it in the reminder email. 

✅ Gabrielė pointed out an issue with the description of the third phase, which was:

• ❌ Fundraising for the creation of a website – Your monthly support will enable all of your like-minded Lithuanians who care about the suffering animals, to have a powerful and accessible tool in their hands - so that they can sign petitions, send letters to politicians, support the fight and help those animals who need it the most.  Since it’s confusing and not correct (what is this website, that will do all of the above?). Instead, it was changed to: 

• ✔️ Fundraising for the creation of tools that help animals – Your monthly support will enable the development of tools to fight for animals. For example, websites where people who want to help suffering animals can take action.

• 💡 Lesson for me: to write more precisely and with clarity; or as Gabrielė said, “only write words which have to be written and nothing more” 

✅ We achieved the daily goal + 7, meaning we got 22 new regulars in total! 🎉

✅ Greta organised the 4th EOS25 call-a-thon - this one that I asked her to add as we were already running the campaign, since I saw we’re behind on regulars. 

✅ We achieved the daily goal +4, meaning we got 19 new regulars in total! 🎉

✅ I looked for more ideas for stories, and got these two:

• About a broiler chicken suffering on a farm - inspro from this email, the chicken’s point of view)

• About a rabbit suffering in a cage / or in live transport - inspro from this post

✅ Changed a little bit the email plan to include one of them and reorder the other ones. 

✅ We achieved the daily goal +3, meaning we got 18 new regulars in total! 🎉 

✅ Akvilė noticed that we should adjust the web counter, since we started the public launch one day later and we’re finishing one day later. So I wrote to Justas (our IT specialist), requesting that the counter counts until the end of the 1st of October, then stays at 0 until 12 p.m. (daytime) and then to restart and count back until the end of the 5th of October (the extended deadline). Justas did it (very cool visualisation). 

✅ We achieved the daily goal +7, meaning we got 22 new regulars in total! 🎉 

✅ I suggested increasing the upcoming daily goals (and the overall goal of the campaign), based on the results we’ve been getting. Akvilė approved and I announced it to the team (“since we’re having 2 more days in the extended deadline than planned, the overall goal increases a bit (nothing scary, I promise): 360 -> 377”.)

✅ We achieved the daily goal IN DOUBLE, meaning we got 30 new regulars! 🔥🔥🔥

✅ We only got 4 new regulars that day (the daily goal was 10). 😢

✅ Discussed with Gabrielė about the upcoming posts for her social media, and wrote her suggestions (she used one of them and wrote the other post by herself). 

✅ We only got 9 new regulars that day (the daily goal was 10). 😢

⭐ Top: approached things with a researcher mindset and noted things to improve for the future

🕳️ Flop: didn’t do as good job as I wished in making the campaign engaging and exciting for the team + was overfocused on details and therefore not attentive to the bigger picture 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I struggle with communicating excitement, as I’m more of a quiet person. I notice that Akvilė is better at conveying excitement and celebration, and I think this is definitely a skill that I can learn. I remember when Gabrielė used this quote “A girl has no name” to express that it doesn’t matter what we are like, we must become what we need to be in order to help animals. In this context, it doesn’t matter how I feel or what I’m like in experiencing and showing emotions, if I can be a more effective fundraiser by communicating in an excited and cheerful manner, then that’s what I will learn to do.
  
  

• When Akvilė said about the 1500 milestone “I’m sure you’ve already thought of this”, when in fact, it hadn’t even briefly occurred to me: 

• How I felt announcing the time left in every message to the team:

PRACTICALS

✅ I suggested to Akvilė that we change the planned letter with a broiler chicken for Thursday with that one about a calf. Agreed on that. 

✅ I checked the results from the A/B test of the reminder email: “automatic” status box vs. our standard “I was you visited the website, but you didn’t finish…” letter. Since we had 0 new regulars from both version, I logged in the opens and clicks instead, and this was the outcome:

✅ Akvilė asked me how I interpret this data. I wrote: “It means we haven’t reached a conclusion on which version is more effective (if any). I’m not sure we would be able to get a statistically significant result when testing on 20 people, but we can try to overcome this by testing on 20 people multiple times.” So we agreed to continue testing the two versions of reminders. 

✅ We reached the daily goal - 15 new regulars. 🎉

✅ I asked Akvilė why do we log in the clicks and donations in the significance calculator for the A/B tests, since I said it makes more sense to me to log in opens and donations (skipping clicks completely) - measuring out of the whole sample of people who read that text (=those who opened the letter), how many were convinced by it to take the real action we’re calling for (=actual donations got). 

✅  Turned out we’re actually measuring all those things two by two and putting them in this spreadsheet: 

✅ We didn’t reach the daily goal - got only 9 out of 15 new regulars, but we were overall still on track, thanks to the results from the previous week. 

✅ We got 29 new regulars - 9 more than the daily goal! 🎉

✅ We got 15 new regulars, fulfilling the daily goal. 🎉

✅ I’ve made a mistake when planning the letters, and the one for Sunday was a repeated one. Akvilė pointed that out and asked me what to write instead. So I went through GPM25 emails looking for stories, and I suggested this one about a mother cow running after a truck that is taking her baby away. 

✅ AP for future me is to ensure I know the content as the palm of my hand, even if not directly involved in the process of creating or feedbacking it. 

✅ Akvilė brought to my attention that we’re approaching 1500, and asked me how I intend to use that in comms with the team and with TN’s supporters. Background info, I hadn’t really noticed that milestone on my own. 🫠

✅ This instance once again showed me that I should more often take a look at the bigger picture, rather than stay fixated on the small things (while I look at the trees, I don’t see the forest). Therefore, I now try to switch my attention from the small to the bigger plan and back, communicating not only truthfully, but intentionally. 

✅ I decided that we send an extra email today, communicating X people left to 1500. Akvilė wrote it and sent it around 17:30. I’m glad we did that, because it seems important to respond and adjust to what is happening, therefore make the communication timely and relevant. For social media Kamilė suggested we wait until it’s a smaller number left to 1500, and we agreed to post when it’s “10 to 1500” (which happened on the next morning). 

✅ We got 29 new regulars (the daily goal was 15). 🎉

✅ When we were only 10 regulars away from 1500, I wrote a message in the channel, requesting that we communicate it in social media (IG stories + text post in FB), mentioning it in today’s email, in Gabrielė’s social media and the activists group. 

✅ We also used one video of Gabrielė about “less than 37 hours left” that we had forgotten to use for the end of the public phase. 💪🏻 

✅ Later during the day we reached 1500 guardians on the web counter and so I wrote in the channel as well. I’ve been mentioning the time left too, in order to create anticipation and excitement among the team. 

✅ We got 11 new regulars (the daily goal was 10). 🎉

✅ We had already passed the overall (increased) goal for the EOS25 campaign - it was 377 and we got 389 new regulars, so I announced that in the team.

✅ We got 27 new regulars (the daily goal was 15). 🎉

⭐ Top: made a careful evaluation of how did the campaign go

🕳️ Flop: didn’t plan and execute the reflection meeting well :(( 

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

• I felt as if I’d landed a plane safely - as in, that’s cool, but also, that’s just my job. So when people were congratulating me on the success, I thought they’re just being intentionally nice. Overall, I was mostly relieved and satisfied about everything being completed and ending up well, rather than enthusiastically happy. 

• I didn’t plan and execute the reflection meeting well, and I’m thankful that I got timely and attentive feedback on it. Of course, I felt disappointed and sad about that, but I try to not get into these emotions too much. It helps no one to bully yourself over mistakes; what helps, is learning from them and doing better. As Leila Hormozi says, “Champions don’t punish themselves longer, they recover faster”. 

PRACTICALS

✅ I updated and completed all the stats about the letters from EOS25. 

✅ Made a sheet (again there) with best performed letters from all phases of the campaign (soft phase, public phase and extended deadline). 

✅ Reached out to my colleagues about the stats from social media and telefundraising that we need in the general stats sheet, made diagrams and completed the sheet.

✅ Invited all team members to reflect on their personal and out team work, and write down their insights in the reflection spreadsheet. (I recommend you take a look there.)

✅ Wrote down my main lessons from EOS25 (here and in this presentation), and discussed them with Akvilė. 

✅ Scheduled a reflection meeting with the team. Choose a time according to a voting in the team’s Slack channel, so that the most people could join. Wrote to those who won’t be able to attend to send a voice note / a text message with their thoughts that we will listen to / read in the meeting. Tried to make everyone feel that their insights and feedback are important and will be heard. 

✅ Finished the fundraiser’s diary (kinda). 

✅ Had a reflection meeting with 6 team members present, 2 members online and 1 member who had left a message to read. 

✅ My mistake was that I didn’t think this through enough. :(( We had the spreadsheet with written down answers from everyone, and I attempted to just go through it person by person, which wouldn’t add much value. Gabrielė pointed that out and suggested we all discuss one question at a time together, then the next, etc., instead of one person reading through all their answers. 

✅ Main takeaways (and advice) I got from this meeting, are the following:

• Find for yourself and make it clear to the others: What is the goal of this reflection meeting? What means do we agree to utilise in order to achieve that goal? What rules do we follow? 

• Ask people in advance: What do you expect or want to get from this reflection meeting? What would be interesting and helpful for you to discuss? 

• Try to facilitate a real discussion, encourage people to share ideas, challenges and wins, but keep the focus and don’t get lost in the details. 

• Learning = effort + practice. Putting in all the effort can’t cancel needing (lots of) real practice, and practice requires time and mistakes. Better make peace with it.
  
  

• Clarity comes from action, but also from taking space. Sometimes it’s better to step back and digest the bigger picture, before pushing forward.
  
  

• As Akvilė once said: you don’t need to trust yourself, you need to trust evidence. There hasn’t been a single situation, no matter how difficult, when you haven’t eventually handled well everything in your control.
  
  

• React to information, not assumptions. When something is off, it’s tempting to jump to conclusions and therefore - to action, because this means going back to certainty. But it’s better to be right than certain. Make sure you gather as much info as possible, and evaluate it well (ask yourself what it might mean, and then ask why you might be wrong, and how you can test it and find out).
  
  

• The best way to do things is the way that actually works. Don’t get distracted by limitless options, aesthetics or unimportant details. Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken. Make sure to prioritise usability and usefulness of the tools you create, and optimise for that. Don’t mistake the tools for the goal.
  
  

• When looking at the trees, remember to see the forest. Don’t get so lost and stuck in the details that you miss to notice the bigger picture.
  
  

• Remember that your most important, most expensive and sharpest tool is yourself. The fight for animals is not a sprint, but a marathon. Take care of yourself so you can take care of others. ❤️ (If you know me in real life, don’t laugh :DD)
  
  

• The best strategy is honesty. When in doubt what to do, do what’s simple and honest. That being said, communicate not only truthfully, but intentionally. There are better and worse ways to say the truth. Seek the better ways.
  
  

• Mistakes are feedback. Hear them out but don’t listen to them on speaker.
  
  

• What you focus on, grows. Focus on success more than mistakes.
  
  

• If you’re a fundraiser, don’t avoid to fundraise. If you’re a leader, don’t avoid to lead. If you’re here to help animals, don’t “be yourself" - be a person who helps animals. 

⭐ EOS25 (Tušti narvai)

• EOS25 Campaign Overview

• EOS25 stats  

• EOS25 Worksheet 

📚 Books

• “Everybody writes. Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content” - Ann Handley

• "On writing" - Steven King

• "How to win friends and Influence people" - Carnegie

• “How to turn your words into money” - Jeff Brooks

• “Messaging This Moment: A Handbook for Progressive Communicators”

• “Change for Better - Quick Guide” 

• “Heartable Fundraising Writing” - Brett Cooper & Julie Cooper

• “Very Good Copy” - Eddie Shleyner 

• “Change. How to make big things happen” - Damon Centola

• “Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action” - Simon Sinek

• “Influence: The psychology of persuasion” - Robert Cialdini 

• “The Rules of People: A personal code for getting the best from everyone” - Richard Templar

💻 Blog posts

• Copywriting - Wisdom of the Crowd

• Donating is a gift to the giver

• Stephen King on Adverbs

• Effective Messaging Guide - Open Wing Alliance (need to log in to access it)

• Do You Assume Donors Don’t Want To Be Asked

• Five Tips for the First Sentence of Your Next Appeal Letter

• Why Your Fundraising Appeals Fall Flat (and How Emotional Intelligence Can Fix Them)

• The type of story that raises the most money

• How to develop a “character” in your fundraising stories in 3 steps

🌐 Websites

• https://betterfundraising.com/resources/ 

• https://www.fundraisingwriting.com/blog 

• https://www.nextafter.com/resources/ 

• https://4agoodcause.com/blog/ 

• https://www.onecause.com/resources/ 

• https://www.moceanic.com/all-courses/ 

• https://futurefundraisingnow.com/ 

• https://www.jeff-brooks.com/resources 

💌 Newsletters 

• Future Fundraising Now: 10 ways to make sure your donors don’t give

• Future Fundraising Now: 7 crummy sentence structures that weaken your fundraising

• Experienced vs. inexperienced writers

• Future Fundraising Now: Are you raising funds like Mr. Collins of Pride and Prejudice?

• How to write short, but thorough

• 5 things “good writers” avoid - but fundraising writers embrace

• Future Fundraising Now: Nonprofit Navel-Gazing Syndrome

• The Better Fundraising: They’ll Fund the Playground. Will They Fund the Plumbing?

• Future Fundraising Now: How to avoid asking donors to give while raising funds

• The Better Fundraising: How to Thank Your Donors so She Actually Feels Thanked

• The Better Fundraising: “You” Is The Magic Word For Newsletters

• Very Good Copy: Benefits

• Future Fundraising Now: Hand Over The Money So We Can Be Awesome

• The Better Fundraising: Who Is Shining?

• The Better Fundraising: Three Core Functions

• Future Fundraising Now: 6 Musts For Sustainable Nonprofit Funding

• The Better Fundraising: What, Not How

• Future Fundraising Now: Poor Thanking

• Future Fundraising Now: Sloppy data

• The Better Fundraising: Focus Donor Attention on the Near Future

• The Better Fundraising: Appeal vs. Appealing

• Future Fundraising Now: How much fundraising mail is too much?

• The Better Fundraising: Two times to not listen to your donors

• Fundraising Writing Newsletter: Your donors are drowning in words

• The Better Fundraising: Difficult and Joyful

• Future Fundraising Now: The Curse of organizational narcissism

• Future Fundraising Now: 9 questions to ask yourself about the stories you tell 

• Future Fundraising Now: Big problem, small problem: a fundraising demonstration

• The Better Fundraising: Your email list a cross-country team

You reached the end of this document - good job! ❤️

Got questions? -> elia@tustinarvai.lt