Overview
In 2025, The National Youth Orchestra (NYO) set out to explore whether digital lead generation could become a scalable, sustainable way to grow its community of regular monthly donors. This project is a great example of how digital fundraising can help charities reach new supporters.
Rather than working in isolation, NYO partnered with Hynt and Social AF to create a joined-up approach – combining strategic paid media, creative testing and supporter-first content moderation.
This collaboration ensured that as activity scaled, supporter trust, transparency and authenticity were protected at every stage of the journey.
The challenge
NYO’s initial test campaign demonstrated that digital had real potential, but it also showed new challenges.
Paid social generated high levels of public engagement, raising important questions:
- Could digital deliver cost-efficient, high-quality leads at scale?
- How could supporter trust be maintained in a highly visible public space?
- How could a small in-house team manage increased volume without compromising tone or transparency?
To move forward confidently, NYO needed a strategy that balanced performance, learning and supporter experience.
A collaborative solution
Hynt and Social AF worked closely alongside NYO as an extension of their internal team.
- Hynt led on digital strategy, creative development and campaign optimisation
- Social AF managed content moderation and on-post supporter engagement
- NYO provided mission clarity, tone and values, ensuring activity remained authentic to their cause
This partnership allowed NYO to test, learn and scale, without overstretching internal resource.
How Hynt helped
Hynt began with a digital audit of NYO’s previous lead generation activity, identifying opportunities across creative messaging, campaign structure and optimisation.
A collaborative creative ideation session followed, allowing Hynt to immerse themselves in NYO’s mission and translate its values into audience-facing messaging for Meta.
Two creative routes were developed and tested:
Unlocking Potential – Focused on individual transformation, highlighting how NYO empowers young people, builds essential life skills and helps overcome inequality through music.
Access to Music – Addressed the broader social challenge, reinforcing the belief that every young person, regardless of background or finances, deserves access to transformative musical opportunities.
Creative testing enabled the team to identify which messages were both cost-effective and most likely to convert supporters into long-term donors.
How Social AF helped
As paid activity scaled, Social AF oversaw content moderation and on-post engagement across all campaign ads.
Their role was to:
- Respond to every supporter comment and question with a real, human voice
- Maintain NYO’s tone, values and transparency in public conversations
- Prevent misinformation or negative narratives from derailing campaigns
- Extend the supporter journey beyond the ad click
The results
Working together, the partnership delivered strong results:
- Average opted-in telemarketing lead cost: £1.89
- Around 8% of leads converted to regular givers via Return Fundraising
- Year 1 ROI: 1.33
Just as importantly, the campaign proved that digital could be scaled responsibly, with supporter trust protected alongside performance.
Sarah Crowhurst, from Hynt, said:
“It’s been great to collaborate on this campaign to drive new regular supporters for NYO. Testing different types of creative was key, but it was equally important that the on-post conversation was nurtured through real, human interaction.
Social AF’s moderation extended the supporter journey and helped build trust and credibility – which is critical in digital fundraising. We’re excited to continue partnering in 2026.”
Rachel Doree from National Youth Orchestra, added:
“This work has shown us how much potential there is for digital to reach people who otherwise wouldn’t find their way into our community of supporters.
Hynt have been educators as well as campaign leads, helping us understand the digital landscape and giving us confidence to scale.
Social AF have been absolutely vital. We don’t have the resource to moderate in-house, and without them there would be no possibility of scaling. They understand our tone, values and the nuances of our messaging, and represent us online with authenticity and transparency.”
James Marcus, Social Media Moderation Manager at Social AF said:
“When charities scale digital acquisition, they also scale public conversation.
Our role is to ensure that conversation reflects the charity’s values, builds trust and helps supporters from their very first interaction.
This campaign shows what’s possible when paid media and moderation work hand-in-hand.”
Building on these learnings, NYO, Hynt, and Social AF are collaborating again to explore new digital opportunities in 2026, continuing to grow the community of regular givers and deepen supporter engagement through creative, human-centred campaigns.