Customer story: Archdiocese of Southwark

Serving Catholic communities across the London boroughs south of the River Thames, the County of Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark is a dynamic, missionary Church centered on faith in action across parishes, schools and ministries. Within the fundraising team, Mia Gilmour is the Gift Aid & Supporter Care Officer, supporting Gift Aid leads across approximately 180 parishes, training them on systems and ensuring supporter data is accurate and usable.

Impact at a glance

• 6x growth in supporter database (1,000 → 6,000)
• Monthly Gift Aid claims with confidence
• Standing order reconciliations in about 1 hour
• Legacy giving became the strongest income source this year

The starting point: from spreadsheets to a modern CRM

Before Donorfy, RCAOS relied on spreadsheets and an historic database to track giving, an approach that couldn’t scale with the volume of donations and communications the Archdiocese needed. Mia joined the onboarding project in 2020, and the team has now used Donorfy for five years.

“Before that, we didn’t really have a dedicated fundraising database… just Excel for a little while… We did a data merge from a historic system, and then it grew from there.”

Why Donorfy? User experience and practicality led the choice.

“We found it to be really user‑friendly… intuitive… it did exactly what we were looking for.” 

Onboarding & enablement: hands‑on support plus self‑serve know‑how

RCAOS benefited from structured onboarding and multi‑day training, data migration support, and practical configuration guided by Donorfy and implementation partners.

“We had a lot of hand‑holding initially… a few days’ worth of training… the team pulled the data across and set it up so we could configure campaigns and get going.”

Equally valuable has been Donorfy’s Knowledge Base:

“One of the best things has been the knowledge base, if I have a question, I can usually find the answer without needing any formal training.”

Building a clean, growing database that powers real segmentation

From an initial seed list of roughly 1,000 contacts to ~6,000 today, RCAOS now runs an annual data cleanse to reduce “return to sender” mail and keep preferences current, making every appeal more accurate and cost‑effective.

“We’ve become more data‑savvy… a yearly data cleanse gets new addresses in and removes people we shouldn’t contact, so outreach is smoother.”

Day‑to‑day, Mia uses lists, tagging and auto‑tagging to segment supporters by campaign history, giving pattern, channel preference and more:

“We make good use of tagging and lists to pull together data for mailings… it’s made our mailings far more specific.”

Campaign execution that feels personal (and respectful of donor preferences)

Through its flexible tools, the team can design tailored journeys that go beyond transactions and foster genuine relationships.

For example, each fund, such as the Archbishop’s Appeal, the Clergy Support Fund, and the Priest Training Fund, benefits from targeted selections and personalised acknowledgements. Donorfy makes it easy to segment donors and trigger meaningful touches: for generous gifts, supporters receive a handwritten note alongside a thank‑you letter from the Archbishop; for the highest gifts, the Archbishop personally signs the letter. These gestures, powered by Donorfy’s automation and data insights, reinforce a sense of belonging and appreciation.

Listening to donor feedback is another area where Donorfy shines. When supporters expressed a preference for email over post, the team quickly tested an email‑led version of the appeal, reducing costs while respecting individual preferences. With Donorfy’s ability to track engagement and adapt journeys, RCAOS plans to refine these experiences even further.

Beyond fundraising, Donorfy supports relational stewardship by helping the team invite donors to non‑fundraising events, such as the Christmas choir at St George’s Cathedral. These moments strengthen affinity, showcase impact, and build a vibrant community around shared values.

Operational wins: faster reconciliations, confident Gift Aid, clearer reporting

Routine tasks are now quicker, and far less tedious. Standing order reconciliations that would once have been manual can be completed in about an hour by uploading bank statements and using Donorfy’s reconciliation tools.

“Standing orders - 100%. We can upload bank statements once a month and reconcile in an hour.”

Gift Aid claims are submitted monthly with greater confidence thanks to the clarity of pre‑claim data checks:

“It’s very easy to review data before submitting a claim and make any corrections.”

For trustee reporting, Mia simply pulls campaign‑level lists and adds detail such as payment methods when needed, no heavy lifting required: 

“We’ll pull a list for each campaign… and if we need more detail, like how many people gave with cash, we can pull that off really easily for the trustee report.”

Integrations that “just work” and a file uploader that saved the day

RCAOS connects Donorfy with JustGiving, Stripe (for one‑off online gifts) and GoCardless (for regular gifts). These payment integrations have been in place since the early days and run smoothly.

“They work really well—we don’t have any issues with those.”

When a JustGiving integration setting was accidentally turned off for a period, the file uploader proved decisive:

“The file uploader has been a lifesaver… we had a year’s worth of data to get back on the system and were able to upload it all, otherwise I’d still be doing it manually!”

Outcomes that matter: growth, legacy giving and stronger relationships

Since implementing Donorfy, RCAOS has scaled its contactable audience (from ~1,000 to ~6,000), shifted to more personalised, preference‑respectful communications, and seen legacy giving become one of this year’s strongest income areas, driven by consistent promotion now made feasible by reliable data and selection tools.

“Legacy giving has been a really big success this year, probably the most donations raised came through legacies.”

Advice for other charities considering Donorfy

“Get all your integrations set up, get all your data on the system, clean your data, and keep preferences up to date.”

And on why to choose Donorfy:

“Because it’s so user‑friendly and intuitive.”

Why Donorfy is the right choice for charities

Choose Donorfy when you want a fundraising CRM that people actually love to use. RCAOS’s experience highlights what sets Donorfy apart:

• Intuitive by design: staff and volunteers can be productive fast—Mia calls it “user‑friendly… intuitive.”
• Segmentation that drives results: powerful lists, tagging and auto‑tagging enable truly targeted appeals and acknowledgements.
• Operational efficiency: upload bank statements and reconcile standing orders in about an hour; submit Gift Aid claims monthly with confidence.
• Clean, trustworthy data: annual cleanses, easy spot‑checks and exports keep everything accurate and GDPR‑respectful.
• Integrations that scale with you: JustGiving, Stripe, GoCardless and more, plus a file uploader that saves the day when you need to import in bulk.
• Support, your way: rich Knowledge Base for self‑serve answers and guided onboarding when you want hands‑on help.