Our groundbreaking analysis hasn’t just illuminated the impact of retail for Cats Protection – it’s a game-changer for other retailers too, whether they’re charities or not.
The catalyst
Cats Protection knew there was value in their shops and ecommerce site, beyond the financial. But they couldn’t prove it. They called us in to scratch beneath the surface and uncover the true value of their retail operations. They wanted answers to some key questions…
- Who exactly are their retail shoppers and donors?
- What income streams come from retail, beyond selling donated items?
- Does retail boost their brand?
- What benefits does a retail presence bring to other areas of their organisation?
Our pursuit of answers
Diving deep into the data, we embarked on complex analysis using CRM and shop sales data to identify – and attribute a value to – every possible supporter touchpoint. We were able to:
- Identify legacies left by retail Gift Aid recruits
- Calculate the likely future legacy income from supporters with an existing legacy relationship
- Discover significant volumes of retail Gift Aid recruits who made subsequent donations, but weren’t marked as ‘Gift Aid’ in the database – letting us calculate the Gift Aid that could be claimed back
- Estimate the cold acquisition costs that had been saved by shops selling lottery tickets
- Calculate the contribution of retail Gift Aid recruits who went on to adopt a cat
Letting the cat out of the bag
Our work uncovered critical information about the impact of retail, allowing Cats Protection to plan, forecast and target their efforts more effectively – ensuring they can keep the purrs coming for years to come!
- Retail-acquired supporters added £1.5m of additional value to the organisation over the last 10 years
- Cats Protection have a further £2.8m of additional value coming from supporters behaving like existing donors
- Future income from retail-acquired supporters is estimated at £20.3m
- There is a high level of conversion to cat adoption, with over 6,600 cats rehomed since 2015
- 7,000 volunteers working across the charity
