Key Takeaways: #FRO2026
A few weeks on from Fundraising Online, we’re looking back on key lessons from some of our top sessions. Missed it? You can watch recorded content free of charge via the Resource Alliance Global Community platform.
Organic Social Media Lessons From the Mamdani Campaign
“People can’t vote on Instagram.”
One of the biggest takeaways Gabriella Zutrau, Independent Digital Strategy Advisor to the Mamdani campaign, left us with was that organic social media should do more than build attention – it should move people to action.
The campaign focused on:
- Simple, repeatable messaging
- Consistent posting
- Frictionless pathways from social media to volunteering, donating, & organising
Digital wasn’t separate from organising, but was a bridge into it.
One key lesson was to build familiarity before trust. The campaign repeated the same core affordability messages consistently, invested heavily in organic social media, and used creators, chatbots, & trial reels to massively expand reach.
The campaign resulted Mamdani going from polling at under 1% to a landslide election win.
Consistency online builds recognition.
Recognition builds trust.
Trust drives action.
Some standout digital mobilisation stats shared at #FRO2026 included:
- 144,000+ automated Instagram DMs sent
- 45,000+ clicks generated
- Approx. USD $0.03 per click
- Thousands of email signups collected directly through Instagram messages
- 42 million additional views generated through reposted trial reels
The biggest insight? Reduce friction wherever possible.
The easier it is for people to act, the more likely they are to move from being a passive supporter to an active participant.
AI Triggers, Human Action
“AI isn’t going to write your way to a better donor journey. It’s going to read its way there.”
Salvatore Salpietro, Chief Growth Officer at Dataro, revealed how our greatest opportunity doesn’t lie in using AI to generate more content, but in having it answer one simple question: Who needs us to do something right now?
Better donor journeys don’t come from sending more emails, but from better timing, better listening, and the right human action at the right moment.
Sal challenged us to think differently, showing how predictive AI can help fundraising teams identify:
- Who might be about to leave
- Who may be ready to give more
- Who needs a human touchpoint now
AI doesn’t replace fundraiser, but can help us know where to place our focus. A powerful reminder was that, by helping to identify donors at risk of leaving, we can created moments of human connection where they are needed most. “AI didn’t save the donor,” Sal told us. “A human did.”
AI can trigger the insight, but it’s humans who build the relationship.
Community Voices, Collective Power
“What builds long-term support?”
Co-founder of Rang De, Smita Ram, shared three powerful ingredients for creating lasting relationships:
- Authentic communication
- Radical transparency
- And knowing when communication becomes too much
Smita showed us how trust isn’t built through only sharing success stories, but about being honest about what didn’t work and what was difficult, as well as sharing what your supporters need to know first.
We learned that supporters don’t just want to be asked; they want to be informed, trusted, connected, and part of something bigger.
Rang De’s weekly updates have no direct ask or CTA, but still bring people back to engage, invest, and participate. That’s the power of relationship-first fundraising.
Community-powered funding isn’t just about raising money. It’s about building a movement where supporters become participants.
Rang De’s social investors have gone on to:
- Join local chapters
- Attend meetups
- Visit communities
- Connect with like-minded people
- Help drive the work forward
When people feel trusted, informed, and part of the story, they don’t just give once. They become part of your movement.
When People Fund Faster Than Institutions
“Crowdfunding is not just fundraising. When it works at scale, it becomes a form of civic coordination.”
At #FRO2026, Zuzana Suchová showed us how crowdfunding is changing more than how money is raised; it is changing the speed of public response.
When people, organisations, media, communities, and public figures move together, small individual decisions can become rapid collective action.
When people stop waiting for institutions to act, change happens. One example shared was how €500,000 was raised for Ukraine through Donio in just three days.
No grant call.
No long approval process.
And no single coordinating institution.
Instead, networks of people, organisations and communities moving quickly in the same direction.
Crowdfunding isn’t a perfect model, but it can move fast. And it shows how visibility is power.
Urgent, emotional, and media-visible causes can often mobilise support quickly, while chronic, structural, or politically uncomfortable issues can remain underfunded. The challenge for social impact organisations lies in how in how we build systems that are fast, trusted, and fair, rather than just helping people to give faster.
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