Red Nose Fundraising and Marketing Director – Rachel Bailey, shares the importance of volunteers and how a data driven fundraising focus can reduce overheads and enhance the supporter journey of our donors.
At Red Nose Australia, we’re always looking for ways to connect with our supporters more meaningfully and make the most of every dollar raised. Recently, we teamed up with MBA students from Melbourne Business School (MBS) to explore how data could help us achieve even greater impact. Through a project in their Marketing Analytics course, MBS students applied their expertise to our donor data—revealing insights that will shape our fundraising strategies for years to come.
As one of Australia’s most loved charities, we are dedicated to saving little lives and supporting families affected by the loss of a pregnancy, stillbirth, death of a baby or child. But like many non-profits, we face the challenge of raising funds in a crowded market with limited resources.
We were excited to work with Professor of Marketing Ujwal Kayande whose course allowed the students to demonstrate the far-reaching impact marketing analytics can have.
Among much of his advice to Red Nose, he said: “In today’s market, where charitable organisations must balance compassion with efficiency to make difference, data and analytics offer profound value in driving positive social change.”
Thanks to the efforts of these talented students, we’re now better equipped to connect with our donors and allocate resources where they can have the most effective outcome.
The Project’s Big Goals: Supporting Red Nose’s Mission with Data
The MBS students focused on three main areas to help us boost our impact:
- Analysing campaign effectiveness
- Measuring donor equity
- Predicting donor retention
The students didn’t stop there. They also made recommendations for optimising campaign timing, tailoring messages to different donor demographics, and creating personalised strategies to engage supporters who are most likely to make a big difference.
Red Nose’s Perspective: A Fresh Look at Fundraising
The students’ work has given us a fresh perspective on how we engage with our donors. They’ve highlighted opportunities within our current fundraising strategies and developed predictive models that allow us to use our resources more effectively, maximising the impact we have for families across Australia.
The initiative was also personally meaningful for the students, who saw their work go far beyond classroom learning. MBA student Marshall Owen shared, with me:
“It wasn’t just about crunching numbers; we were constantly reminded of the real people and families behind the data. Knowing our work could help Red Nose save lives made this one of the most rewarding projects of my MBA journey.”
This unique collaboration was made possible by Marian Ngo, an MBS alumna and current Red Nose Board Deputy Chair, who helped bring the two organisations together.
“Connecting my alma mater with Red Nose for this project was incredibly fulfilling,” she said. “It’s inspiring to see the next generation of leaders using their skills to support meaningful causes, and their work will undoubtedly help us make better decisions to fulfil our mission.”
Kate Cowmeadow, Red Nose, National Volunteering Manager, said:
“This was a great opportunity for Red Nose to work with skilled volunteers. As a not for profit, we know we have great people working for us, but it is so amazing to have these types of opportunities to collaborate with students. It’s great to be able to give the students real life opportunities and data to analyse and we hope many of them consider working in the non profit sector in their future.”
Thanks to this collaboration with Melbourne Business School, we’re equipped with new insights to improve donor engagement and continue our life-saving work. We’re grateful to the talented students and dedicated professors who helped us make this vision a reality—and we’re excited to put their recommendations into action to make an even greater impact on Australian families.
To learn more about volunteering for Red Nose visit here.
