Case Study: Heidi’s Village achieves rapid donor growth from 20 to 350+ in one year with Virtuous

How they exceeded their first year fundraising goals and engage donors at all levels

Heidi’s Village, a new animal shelter and rescue, launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw its in-person launch plans canceled, leaving it with roughly 20 initial donors and an urgent need to build a donor base quickly. They relied on Virtuous—using Virtuous Automation and its donor CRM—to pivot to a digital, personalized fundraising approach.

By combining social and ad-driven acquisition with Virtuous workflows, segmentation, automation, and task management, Heidi’s Village delivered tailored donor journeys and hands-on stewardship at scale. The result: Heidi’s Village grew its donor file from about 20 to more than 350 donors in one year, exceeded first-year fundraising goals, established recurring donors, and gained trackable impact metrics—all achieved with Virtuous.

Heidi’s Village

Lisa Evans Johnson

Chief of Staff