A Plan for Rigorous Testing
On 3 March 2026, Tassy Serradura, Fundraising Manager at Animal Welfare League South Australia, Sam Jacklin, CEO at Animal Welfare League Queensland, and Dr. Jen Shang presented at the For the Paws conference in a session titled “It’s Not Just About the Money: Cultivating Deeper Donor Relationships Through the Lens of Love.”
Over this four-part blog series, we will explore how Tassy and Sam have guided Animal Welfare League SA on a PhilPsych journey: discovering what it truly means to experience donors’ love and to embed that understanding across their teams, executives, and governing boards.
Through their sustained application of Philanthropic Psychology, Animal Welfare League SA has achieved an average 20% increase in gift value across repeated A/B tests, alongside a 26% reduction in Return-to-Sender rate. While response rates have remained stable, these outcomes translated into a 20% rise in total income and, perhaps more importantly, a more loyal and engaged donor community.
The series will cover:
Blog 3: A Plan for Rigorous Testing
Blog 4: Turning “Enemies” into Friends
A 20% increase in the average gift from seven direct mail tests over three years, and a 26% decrease in returned mail, that’s an impressive record by any measure.
How did Sam and Tassy begin their journey?
Blog 1 explored how Sam and Tassy connected their personal “fundraising why” with a rigorous testing approach. They started with a survey-based insight that shaped everything they did:
“We are custodians of donors’ hearts, not just their money.”
“Our donors love us, so we must find a way to love them back.”
In Blog 2, we shared how they transformed the atmosphere in the boardroom, and how, over time, that transformation extended throughout the whole organisation.
At the time of writing, Sam has become CEO of Animal Welfare league Queensland in Australia, while Tassy now leads this ongoing journey.
Blog 3: A Rigorous Testing Plan
Tassy describes herself as a “data nerd”. She loves testing! To her, a rigorous testing plan means four things:
An airtight data selection process that allows testing of PhilPsych language across audiences: from the warmest to the coldest.
A holistic approach to rewriting the entire fundraising package.
Changing only two statements on the response form — nothing else.
Caring not only about the extra money raised, but also about how donors feel when giving.
Tassy’s testing began with a carefully designed data plan. She started with their warmest donors, those with the highest legacy potential, to test this new, more loving communication style. Over seven direct mail tests across three years, this warm segment showed no change in response rate, but a 20% increase in average donation and a 26% drop in return-to-sender mail.
To isolate the effect of PhilPsych, everything else in the letter remained identical except for two lines on the donation form:
“Yes, I want to be the love that saves Poppy’s life.”
“Yes, I want to cuddle Poppy dry and love her to bits.”
The first phrase reinforces donors’ sense as being caring animal lovers; the second invites them to express that love directly toward Poppy. While the exact wording varied across letters, the results consistently held higher giving and lower returns.
Initially, these tests were included in the normal annual fundraising budget, but the team now plans to create a dedicated testing budget. Encouragingly, the returns from these experiments have paid for the tests themselves.
A Holistic Change in Copywriting
It would be a mistake to think any organisation could simply copy and paste these two sentences into their own forms and expect the same results. The impact of these “lift” statements comes from a deeper understanding of donors: who they are, how they express love, and how giving feels most meaningful to them. Sam and Tassy obtained these from their donor surveys.
This required a full transformation of the fundraising letters.
It wasn’t just about adding words like kind, caring, or compassionate. Sam and Tassy went deeper, shaping not just what the copy said but how it made people feel.
For example, instead of beginning an appeal letter with:
“Roaming the streets during a scary thunderstorm, poor little Poppy was alone and scared with nowhere to turn. Will you make sure dogs like Poppy get a chance at love?”
They wrote:
“After roaming the streets during a torrential storm, what became of poor little Poppy?”
This approach draws readers into Poppy’s world, inviting them to respond from the heart.
Similarly, instead of saying:
“Only your love and support can bring animals in from the cold and comfort them when they’re scared,”
the new version did not use the L-word, but asked readers to imagine themselves in action:
“What would you do if you saw a dog like Poppy — a sorry bundle of wet fur, terrified in the storm? You’d want to reach out and save her. Cuddle her dry and love her to bits.”
This emotional connection is then rekindled just before the giving moment, reinforcing how people “feel” about being an animal lover (i.e. their identity).
Increased Giving, Greater Well-being
Anecdotally, donors responded warmly. Some even thanked the team for “not making them feel guilted into giving.” They appreciated being acknowledged as kind and caring animal lovers regardless of whether they donated. As Tassy put it, “We love them anyway, because of how they care for animals.”
After three years, a follow-up survey showed that donors felt more connected to both the animals and the Animal Welfare League SA team. Staff reported stronger relationships with legacy prospects, and the entire fundraising team echoed Sam and Tassy’s original insight: the love we steward in our donors also changes us.
In the long run, this kind of love can do far more good than simply raising more money. In our next blog, we’ll explore how the PhilPsych approach to “growing love” can influence our wider society.
Read Blog 1: Our Donors Love Us, So We Need to Love Them Back
Read Blog 2: A Reminder of Love That Changed Everything
Blog 4: Turning the Enemy into Friends - the final part of this series - will be available from 23 April 2026.