Turning "Enemies" into Friends
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. And now how Sam is preparing to take Animal Welfare League Qld on the same journey as CEO.
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 covers:
Blog 4: Turning the Enemy into Friends
Turning the Enemy into Friends
One of the key challenges facing the animal welfare sector is that many of its donors are “animal people,” not “people people.” Sam and Tassy hear this almost every day. For many of their colleagues, the idea of nurturing stronger love from humans toward other humans can feel counterintuitive or even morally wrong. Indeed, I was asked point blank in my eyes by an animal attendant: Isn’t it enough for people to love animals?? We are animal welfare organisations (with a tone that says “Y(£$(*).
Yet, Sam and Tassy’s test results show that focusing on people’s identities and psychological well-being can increase average donations by as much as 20% consistently over several years! What is going on?
Is there a way to address the “animal people versus people people” question more directly? Could we design a survey to map out who donors see as their friends and who they see as their foes when expressing their love for animal welfare organisations through giving?
That is exactly the question our Love Project 2.0 set out to explore. Sam and Tassy became one of the first organisations to embark on this journey: collecting scientific evidence to better understand who their donors see as allies and who they see as opponents.
In a world where we share the belief that philanthropy is a vehicle for creating a more loving world, this work is not about helping donors love only those who are like them, nor about encouraging fear, apathy or anger toward those who are different. Instead, it is about developing a clearer picture of who donors see as friends or foes, so Sam and Tassy can think more strategically about how to turn perceived “enemies” into friends.
Animal people or people people; The myth and the science
In the Love Project 2.0 survey, donors were asked how connected they feel to animals, animal lovers, and pet owners, among other groups. The results were surprising: donors who identify as animal lovers feel more connected to other animal lovers and pet owners than to animals themselves.
That insight was a lightbulb moment. For the first time, we discovered a new way to see our “animal people” as “people people”, just of a particular kind. They are not “people-in-general people,” but rather “animal-lover people.”
When we acknowledge and reflect this identity in our communication, they feel a deeper sense of connection not only to animals but also to a special kind of human community: themselves as well as other animal-loving humans.
Simply by talking to our animal-loving people as if they are not people people, mistakenly deprived our donors this essential sense of connection (i.e. psychological well-being) that they could experience with themselves and with others like them.
Friends versus enemies
The same survey also asked donors who they believe poses the biggest threat to animal welfare. This is where long-held myths emerged. Over 50% of Animal Welfare League SA’srespondents said humans are the greatest threat to animals. Of these, 17% did not specify further. Indeed, they simply wrote “humans” or “humans in general.” These are traditionally considered the “animal people,” not the “people people.” Overall, donors identified humans, before government policies, environmental issues, or industrial greed (e.g. those from puppy mills or breeders), as the primary threat to animal welfare.
The kinds of people they described as threats included those who don’t care enough about animals, those who irresponsibly buy and abandon pets, and those who neglect animals often due to financial hardship.
At first glance, knowing who one’s friends are may seem useful in fundraising, while identifying “enemies” might feel uncomfortable or unchangeable. But Sam, Tassy, and their team see it differently through the lens of love.
Turning enemies into friends
They looked at their data and asked: What can we do to help turn enemies into friends?
One approach is to strengthen messaging around thoughtful pet ownership to reduce neglect and abandonment. Like AWL, Dog’s Trust from both Ireland and the UK does a great job at this. By promoting volunteer opportunities and temporary fostering, they can help people experience connection with animals without the long-term responsibility of ownership. In this way, donors can help transform those once seen as “enemies of animals” into allies.
Another strategy involves telling human-centered stories of financial hardship, such as when people must surrender pets for their own well-being. These moments are heartbreaking for both sides, but they also reveal common ground in animal love. Showing donors this shared emotional terrain helps reframe perceived “animal enemies” as fellow humans struggling with the same love and grief they feel.
In all these ways, fundraising communication can transform how donors see others: helping them rediscover love for groups they once saw as adversaries. And that, ultimately, is what PhilPsych is about: growing love and generosity around the world, for animals and their human friends.
If you missed the earlier three blogs, you can read them all here:
To find out more about the Love Project 2.0 or how you can integrate PhilPsych in your organisation, please reach out to one of Kate at: hereforyou@philanthropy-institute.org.uk.