The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires transformed the LAFD Foundation’s donor community almost overnight. The Foundation grew by a factor of 1,000 or more, with 85% of the file acquired through a single emergency.
The immediate fundraising response was extraordinary, but the longer-term challenge was clear: how could LAFDF retain these new supporters, convert emergency generosity into lasting relationships, and be better prepared for the next emergency?
hjc brought LAFDF’s cross-functional teams together through donor journey mapping to design a best-practice emergency and post-emergency donor experience.
The mapping examined the complete journey—from the first urgent gift through acknowledgment, impact reporting, second giving, monthly conversion, and longer-term stewardship. It helped teams identify gaps in responsibilities, timing, data, technology and communications while building shared internal ownership of the donor experience.
Together, we developed a practical emergency-response roadmap connecting fundraising, communications, digital, data and leadership. The roadmap incorporated immediate email acknowledgments, SMS updates, direct mail reinforcement, digital advertising, retargeting, monthly giving conversion and mid-level and major-gift follow-up.
hjc analyzed the new donor file to identify the audiences with the greatest potential for retention, renewal and upgrading.
While overall wildfire-donor retention was just very low, the analysis uncovered much stronger loyalty among higher-value supporters. Retention was 500% higher among mid-level donors and 1,000% higher among major donors and major-gift prospects. The emergency also reactivated many previously lapsed donors, while the campaign identified many mid-level donors for further cultivation.
This gave LAFDF a practical roadmap for protecting the mass donor file while prioritizing supporters with the greatest potential for monthly, mid-level and major giving.
The 2025 year-end campaign combined new direct mail creative with coordinated email and digital fundraising. It focused particularly on recent wildfire donors while also re-engaging previous and inactive supporters.
The campaign generated a 200% increase in revenue. It achieved an average gift of $479 and an 8:1 return on investment.
Results grew as direct mail and successive emails reinforced one another, with the final December 30 email associated with a 145% increase in giving from the year before. The campaign demonstrated the power of maintaining coordinated, urgent communication through the final days of the year.
In spring 2026, hjc helped LAFDF test a coordinated combination of direct mail, email, SMS and Meta advertising against an email-only control. The goal was not simply to run another campaign. It was to determine which channel mix should be ready for the next emergency and use the findings to strengthen the 2026 holiday program.
The omnichannel audience generated 106 donors, compared with 44 from email alone, and recruited 23 new monthly donors, compared with six from the email-only group. The omnichannel group represented $180,425 in projected lifetime value—64% of the total lifetime value generated by the test.
Email open rates were 44% higher among donors receiving the additional touchpoints. More than 97% of recipients remained subscribed, demonstrating that coordinated contact across multiple channels did not produce significant audience attrition.
The spring campaign marked LAFDF’s first large-scale use of SMS. Nearly 13,000 donors successfully received the campaign message, and more than 11,000 remained eligible for future SMS communications.
This established an important new channel that can be activated quickly when the next emergency occurs. The work also demonstrated how email, SMS, direct mail and social advertising can be sequenced so that each touchpoint reinforces the others.
hjc also helped LAFDF expand beyond traditional direct response through the Howling Heroes Calendar Contest—a community-driven peer-to-peer campaign connecting firefighters, pet owners and supporters.
In just two and a half weeks, the campaign raised a record $104,000, produced approximately $89,000 in net revenue, and generated 2,087 donations and approximately 2,000 new opt-ins. It more than tripled the previous year’s revenue.
Participants were exceptionally engaged, producing a 67.1% email open rate and a 19.1% click rate. The contest also generated authentic donor stories and digital content that could be reused in year-end appeals, stewardship and future acquisition.
Fundraise Up (https://fundraiseup.com/conversion-rate-optimization/) provided a faster, more flexible, and conversion-focused donation experience, including digital wallets, monthly giving, and donor-advised fund opportunities. HubSpot was assessed and incorporated into planning to better automate and coordinate omnichannel donor journeys. Feathr strengthened the potential for digital advertising, retargeting, audience development and cross-channel measurement.
The work also introduced improved SMS capabilities, better segmentation for mass, monthly, mid-level, and major donors, and stronger tracking across email, direct mail, advertising, and online giving.
The spring campaign demonstrated the importance of modern payment options, with 40% of gifts made through Apple Pay or PayPal—reinforcing the benefits of having a frictionless, multi-payment option, mobile-first giving experience. The 2025 and 2026 campaigns are building a repeatable fundraising model for LAFDF—one that can operate effectively during normal periods and accelerate rapidly during a crisis.
hjc’s work has combined internal change management, cross-functional journey mapping, donor analytics, new creative, technology modernization, and hands-on omnichannel testing. The result is a stronger internal team, a more capable fundraising infrastructure, and a donor journey designed to turn emergency generosity into lasting support.
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