SeaLegacy’s Campaign Launched 24 Hours Before Giving Tuesday and Raised 178% of Its Goal

SeaLegacy was founded nearly ten years ago by three National Geographic photographers, Cristina Mittermeier, Paul Nicklen, and Andy Mann. Their goal was to use science-based storytelling to bring awareness and urgency to ocean conservation and to grow the audience of ocean conservation advocates.

Relaunching Online Fundraising With Classy’s Comprehensive Suite

One year ago, the SeaLegacy team was relaunching its fundraising function from the ground up, but they were missing a tool that both accepts donations and integrates seamlessly with their email tool of choice, Mailchimp.

Enter Classy’s fundraising platform and its sophisticated Mailchimp integration. 

Setting Up a Goal-Surpassing Giving Tuesday Campaign in 24 Hours

SeaLegacy hosted its first campaign on Classy in November 2022—perfect timing for Giving Tuesday.

Less than 24 hours before the giving day SeaLegacy officially launched its Classy crowdfunding campaign with intentional touches like branded design, compelling impact blocks, and customized imagery.

Promotion of the campaign went through SeaLegacy’s typical channels: email, social media, speaking opportunities, and the founders, who each have impressive followings. An astounding $88,000+ was donated with an additional $50k matching gift, bringing the total raised on Giving Tuesday to $138,000! 

Knowing its audience’s preferences and behaviors played an important role. Building a page centered around oceanic imagery and timely calls to action were key to the campaign’s success.

Fighting to Rebuild the Ocean for Ten Years

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of SeaLegacy fighting for the ocean’s stories and bringing solutions to light to benefit biodiversity, humanity, and climate. 

In celebration, SeaLegacy just launched a new website to elevate all of its educational materials, bring in even more photographs and videos to tell its story visually, and provide visitors with an easier way to give.

By implementing embedded donation forms, SeaLegacy prioritized the donor experience, making it faster and easier for supporters to make a contribution. On average, embedded donation forms see 2x the industry standard conversion rate.