Five lessons from challenging assumptions, starting small and scaling what worked together.

Five years ago, the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) had around 10,000 donors. Today, its donor base is roughly four times that size.

That growth didn’t come from having a huge acquisition budget from day one, or from getting every decision right. It came from testing, learning who actually responded, and putting more behind what worked.

Like many fundraising teams, KAWA had assumptions about what its ideal donor looked like. Perhaps they would be younger, digitally engaged and already passionate about animal welfare. With decades of potential giving ahead of them, on paper they looked like exactly the people to acquire.

But the data told a different story.

Over five years of working with DTV, KAWA has challenged assumptions about who would donate, which stories would move them and where those donors could best be reached. Some assumptions proved right. Others were completely wrong—and those wrong assumptions produced some of the most valuable lessons.

The result? A donor base that grew from around 10,000 to approximately four times that size.

Here are five lessons we can learn from KAWA's journey.

LESSON 1: The donors you want may not be the donors who respond

When KAWA began investing in fundraising advertising, targeting younger donors seemed to make sense. Its existing donor base was relatively young, and younger people were highly engaged with animal welfare issues. Surely, with more working years ahead of them, they would also have more time to give?

That was the theory. The data said otherwise.

KAWA found that its fundraising advertising resonated more strongly with middle-aged donors, who were also less likely to leave and tended to give for longer. There was another clear pattern: 90% of KAWA's regular donors were women.

So, the strategy changed.

Instead of pursuing the audience it thought it wanted, KAWA focused on the people who were actually responding. An ideal donor profile can be useful, but it is still a hypothesis. The donor who looks perfect in a strategy deck is not necessarily the donor who will respond, give and stay.

LESSON 2: You don't need a huge budget to start. You need enough to learn.

There is a common assumption that serious fundraising growth requires serious investment—and a fully integrated campaign—from day one.

KAWA's journey shows otherwise.

It started with relatively modest digital campaigns, testing creative, learning who responded and using the results to decide where to invest next. As the programme gained traction, KAWA expanded into an integrated DRTV and digital approach.

The creative expanded too—from familiar subjects such as dogs to cats, bears and timely appeals around animals affected by wildfires.

Five years later, a donor base of around 10,000 had grown approximately fourfold.

KAWA didn't get there by trying to find every answer before it started. It tested, learned, invested and scaled.

For organisations with smaller budgets, the question doesn't have to be, "Can we afford a huge campaign?" A better question might be: "What can we test now that will help us make a better investment decision next?"

A bigger budget can help you scale. But learning what works can start much smaller.

LESSON 3: Creative is targeting too

One of KAWA's more surprising findings came from cats.

The thinking seemed straightforward. Many younger people in Korea own cats, so cat creative should attract younger donors. Except it didn't quite work that way.

Creative featuring stray cats resonated particularly strongly with older audiences, including people who cared for animals on the street.

Same animal. Different context. Different audience.

We tend to think about targeting as something that happens inside a media platform: age, interests, location and behaviour. But creative also determines who stops, connects with the story and decides to act.

Two people can care about the same cause for completely different reasons. Sometimes the audience tells you who the creative is for, not the other way around.

LESSON 4: You don't have to explain everything you do

KAWA's work is complex, spanning rescue, treatment, shelter, adoption, campaigning, policy and legislation.

All of it matters. That does not mean all of it belongs in one fundraising ad.

One of the principles that emerged from KAWA's creative development was simple: Make the problem narrow and specific. Make the solution broad.

One animal. One story. One clear reason to care.

That story can then open the door to the wider work of the organisation. Getting there involved debate. KAWA and DTV did not always agree on the creative, from accuracy versus audience appeal to how much of KAWA's work to show. But that tension was part of the process.

DTV Global brought experience from fundraising campaigns in other markets. KAWA understood its cause and its Korean audience. DTV Korea helped bridge the two, translating global fundraising experience into something that worked locally.

The best creative came from challenging each other, not automatically agreeing.

LESSON 5: Follow your donors, not the trend

We like to put channels into neat boxes. TV is for older audiences. Social media is for younger people. YouTube is somewhere in between.

Actual behaviour is messier.

For KAWA, TV worked well with older audiences, particularly during weekday lunchtime. YouTube was more surprising, performing well with people in their 40s and 50s despite its reputation as a younger platform.

Even holidays challenged expectations. During major Korean holidays, TV performance fell while digital improved as people spent more time on their phones while travelling and visiting relatives.

The point is not to copy KAWA's media plan. It is to test how channels actually perform rather than assume you already know.

Your donors may not be where conventional wisdom says they are.

So, what did KAWA get right?

Not everything.

And that is probably the most useful part of the story.

KAWA started with assumptions. It tested them. When the results contradicted the theory, it changed the strategy.

None of its most useful findings could have been discovered in a strategy meeting. They came from doing the work, looking at the results and being willing to change course.

KAWA's journey can be brought back to three simple questions:

Who are we speaking to?
What should we say to them?
Where should we say it?

The answers will be different for every organisation, every cause and every market. You don't need to know all of them before you start. You need a good hypothesis, a meaningful test and the willingness to be wrong. Because the biggest risk isn't starting with a small budget.

It's spending a big one on an assumption you never tested.

Deborah Kwek
Deputy Director at DTV Asia, Deborah has over 10 years of experience in media and fundraising, working with international nonprofit organisations across Asia-Pacific to develop and grow their fundraising programmes. With a focus on TV and digital fundraising, strategy, media and performance, she helps organisations understand what drives donor acquisition and use those insights to test, optimise and scale their campaigns.

How we helped KAWA grow its donor base by 300%

Five lessons from challenging assumptions, starting small and scaling what worked together.

Five years ago, the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) had around 10,000 donors. Today, its donor base is roughly four times that size.

That growth didn’t come from having a huge acquisition budget from day one, or from getting every decision right. It came from testing, learning who actually responded, and putting more behind what worked.

Like many fundraising teams, KAWA had assumptions about what its ideal donor looked like. Perhaps they would be younger, digitally engaged and already passionate about animal welfare. With decades of potential giving ahead of them, on paper they looked like exactly the people to acquire.

But the data told a different story.

The result? A donor base that grew from around 10,000 to approximately four times that size.

Here are five lessons we can learn from KAWA's journey.

LESSON 1: The donors you want may not be the donors who respond

That was the theory. The data said otherwise.

KAWA found that its fundraising advertising resonated more strongly with middle-aged donors, who were also less likely to leave and tended to give for longer. There was another clear pattern: 90% of KAWA's regular donors were women.

So, the strategy changed.

Instead of pursuing the audience it thought it wanted, KAWA focused on the people who were actually responding. An ideal donor profile can be useful, but it is still a hypothesis. The donor who looks perfect in a strategy deck is not necessarily the donor who will respond, give and stay.

LESSON 2: You don't need a huge budget to start. You need enough to learn.

There is a common assumption that serious fundraising growth requires serious investment—and a fully integrated campaign—from day one.

KAWA's journey shows otherwise.

It started with relatively modest digital campaigns, testing creative, learning who responded and using the results to decide where to invest next. As the programme gained traction, KAWA expanded into an integrated DRTV and digital approach.

The creative expanded too—from familiar subjects such as dogs to cats, bears and timely appeals around animals affected by wildfires.

Five years later, a donor base of around 10,000 had grown approximately fourfold.

KAWA didn't get there by trying to find every answer before it started. It tested, learned, invested and scaled.

For organisations with smaller budgets, the question doesn't have to be, "Can we afford a huge campaign?" A better question might be: "What can we test now that will help us make a better investment decision next?"

A bigger budget can help you scale. But learning what works can start much smaller.

LESSON 3: Creative is targeting too

One of KAWA's more surprising findings came from cats.

The thinking seemed straightforward. Many younger people in Korea own cats, so cat creative should attract younger donors. Except it didn't quite work that way.

Creative featuring stray cats resonated particularly strongly with older audiences, including people who cared for animals on the street.

Same animal. Different context. Different audience.

We tend to think about targeting as something that happens inside a media platform: age, interests, location and behaviour. But creative also determines who stops, connects with the story and decides to act.

Two people can care about the same cause for completely different reasons. Sometimes the audience tells you who the creative is for, not the other way around.

LESSON 4: You don't have to explain everything you do

KAWA's work is complex, spanning rescue, treatment, shelter, adoption, campaigning, policy and legislation.

All of it matters. That does not mean all of it belongs in one fundraising ad.

One of the principles that emerged from KAWA's creative development was simple: Make the problem narrow and specific. Make the solution broad.

One animal. One story. One clear reason to care.

That story can then open the door to the wider work of the organisation. Getting there involved debate. KAWA and DTV did not always agree on the creative, from accuracy versus audience appeal to how much of KAWA's work to show. But that tension was part of the process.

DTV Global brought experience from fundraising campaigns in other markets. KAWA understood its cause and its Korean audience. DTV Korea helped bridge the two, translating global fundraising experience into something that worked locally.

The best creative came from challenging each other, not automatically agreeing.

LESSON 5: Follow your donors, not the trend

We like to put channels into neat boxes. TV is for older audiences. Social media is for younger people. YouTube is somewhere in between.

Actual behaviour is messier.

For KAWA, TV worked well with older audiences, particularly during weekday lunchtime. YouTube was more surprising, performing well with people in their 40s and 50s despite its reputation as a younger platform.

Even holidays challenged expectations. During major Korean holidays, TV performance fell while digital improved as people spent more time on their phones while travelling and visiting relatives.

The point is not to copy KAWA's media plan. It is to test how channels actually perform rather than assume you already know.

Your donors may not be where conventional wisdom says they are.

So, what did KAWA get right?

Not everything.

And that is probably the most useful part of the story.

KAWA started with assumptions. It tested them. When the results contradicted the theory, it changed the strategy.

None of its most useful findings could have been discovered in a strategy meeting. They came from doing the work, looking at the results and being willing to change course.

KAWA's journey can be brought back to three simple questions:

Who are we speaking to?

What should we say to them?

Where should we say it?

The answers will be different for every organisation, every cause and every market. You don't need to know all of them before you start. You need a good hypothesis, a meaningful test and the willingness to be wrong. Because the biggest risk isn't starting with a small budget.

It's spending a big one on an assumption you never tested.