Small In Size, Huge In Ambition. We love Praxis.
Sometimes the best things come in small packages. Too often the big charities with big budgets and big fancy campaigns get all the plaudits. But pound for pound we don’t think there’s a more inspiring digital programme in the UK not for profit sector right now than the one at Praxis, the migrants’ rights charity. And Rally is so proud to have been a part of it.
Praxis may be small in size but they’re big in ambition. Over the last three years they’ve shown beyond doubt that with the right attitude and focus, size really doesn’t matter. In fact, in many ways being small is the key to them being so mighty.
How it started.
In 2022 the then CEO approached us with a clear brief: to radically improve Praxis’ digital engagement and build digital capacity to ensure success is sustainable. And all of this needed to be done on a shoestring, with one member of staff and a very modest budget.
This sounded like the perfect match for Rally because we’re all about working in partnership with our clients to create a path to self-sufficiency in the world of digital mobilisation. We believe in working smarter and with focus, being strategic yet pragmatic. And maybe we like to think we’re small but mighty too.
Initial findings.
Our initial discovery work revealed an organisation where digital activity was tactical not strategic: a series of individual tasks rather than connected activities with a purpose linked to the organisational strategy. There was little tracking or analysis in place to assess performance and guide decisions. Praxis’ organisational story was confusing and complicated and they were hard to find online. Digital skills were lacking and the digital role was very broad and unfocussed, not to mention vacant.
But we also found an organisation with an imperative to improve digital engagement built into its strategy, a stated goal to mobilise public support to create change. Crucially we found an organisation which was enthusiastic and with brilliant people who wanted to improve.
Focus, Focus, Focus.
From our discovery findings we created a ‘North Star’ statement which set the strategic direction. This was supported by a strategy framework to focus time, energy and resources in the right areas and an action plan with key pieces of work to get started.
Our analysis highlighted areas to focus on and also to drop. We prioritised two areas to do first for maximum impact and to get things moving quickly. Firstly we helped recruit the amazing Anya Jhoti, the person who would deliver the framework in a newly focused role. Secondly we declared that the immediate focus would be on email list growth, the best way to build scale in a sustainable way.
Year 1 was all about being brilliant at the digital basics: putting time, energy and (limited) budget into the things that would set Praxis up for success and have the greatest impact to radically improve digital engagement. Think Return on Investment and Effort.
This meant investing time with colleagues and trustees to get buy-in and ensure digital activity was aligned with campaigning and fundraising goals. We created a rapid response process to take advantage of times when migrants’ rights issues are in the news and response is likely to be at its best. We worked with India Thorogood to develop a tone of voice that inspired active participation and a new email welcome series. India also trained Praxis staff in email copywriting for response to build self-sufficiency in the team. We sorted out analytics so we could see the impact of any spend and optimise accordingly.
With foundations in place, we focused on email list growth, starting with testing ads in Facebook, working with our friend Sarah Crowhurst and developing the creative in-house. We wanted to keep focused and master one platform at a time, not spread ourselves too thinly.
Our 3 test campaigns proved we could succeed: within 5 months Praxis’ email list increased from 1,000 to over 14,000, there were more than 26,000 campaign actions and online fundraising income grew 12-fold. We had built momentum. Rally and the team engaged the trustees to show our progress. We had the backing. Now it was time to build, always keeping focused on the framework to guide us.
Grow. Grow. Grow.
Ads activity was significantly grown, powered not just by budget but creativity, agility and responsiveness to maximise impact. Inspired by the concept of relational organising, Praxis harnessed its own creativity by developing ideas for brilliant content like a guide for changing minds on migration one conversation at a time. They executed these ideas quickly and cheaply and tested them with huge success, adapting ad creative to match the news.
We also ramped up rapid response work, taking advantage of external events and when the immigration system was in the news to maximise engagement and the success of activities. No response was more rapid than when Rishi Sunak called a General Election in 2024. Praxis emailed its base with a campaign action within 2 minutes, landing in inboxes even before the Labour Party. We knew it was coming, we planned for it, so when it was called we had a plan to execute. Time and again Praxis proves you don’t need an above the line campaign when your cause is on the news agenda and you’re focused and prepared.
After developing a strong ad and email programme, the team turned to building a stronger organic social strategy which would diversify its approach and reduce the reliance on paid ads. They were trained by Richard Roaf from VideoRev on how to create viral videos. Creating collaboratively, and with the addition of the amazing Emily Semmens to the digital team, they've consistently put out engaging videos on Instagram since. In the first 3 months of focusing on video there were over 1.7 million Instagram views. That’s c. 6 times more than the previous 8 months put together!
Inspired by the Mamdani mayoral campaign in New York, they’ve used ManyChat brilliantly in Instagram to move people from watching content to taking action, seeing an 800% increase in external link taps: signing up to emails, donating and taking actions. In the current social media economy, attention is power. With focus and creativity Praxis is maximising that and it’s paying dividends.
Small but Mighty.
Praxis’ digital engagement programme has seen incredible success on multiple fronts:
Profile: With its strong comms output, Praxis has become a leading voice on migration issues and punches well above its weight in terms of reach.
Scale: In the last four years Praxis’ email list has grown from 1,000 people to over 38,000 in June 2026. And more emails have driven more income, more actions and more impact.
Efficiency: Performance is much better than benchmark for cost per email sign up and ROI.
So what’s driving this success? We said before that being small is in many ways the key to Praxis being so mighty. Without the luxury of budgets, big digital teams and brand campaigns they can’t get distracted. They must be laser focused on the job in hand, guided by the framework. It’s not about flinging money at it, but being totally focused on what drives engagement, active participation, results and impact and prioritising time and resources accordingly.
It’s about channeling and trusting in their own creativity and innovating in-house and informing campaigns with Praxis’ own authentic experience of the immigration system. It’s about collaboration across digital, campaigns and media. It’s about using your smallness to your benefit and mobilising quickly in reactive moments.
It’s about talking with colleagues, sharing what you’re doing and why it matters clearly and regularly, so you have buy-in, budget and are empowered to act quickly and decisively.
It’s about trying new things but always with purpose and in service of the framework. It’s about working smarter. Being tenacious. Not overcomplicating. Not getting into silo or sign off loop hell and slowing progress. Just having a plan, keeping focused, getting stuff done.
To be honest, shouldn’t we always be doing this regardless of our size? Maybe there’s a lesson here for the bigger charities…
“‘For the past three years Paul has been a pillar of support, inspiration, and the number one cheerleader of the digital team at Praxis. He has provided invaluable strategic input when building the digital infrastructure and processes we have today as well as on the latest digital tactics to test. Paul is a brilliant communicator, creative thinker, and always has an eye on the data. He lives and breathes public mobilisation and truly believes in the role of the public in bringing about progressive change – no matter the size of your budget or team.’”
Where next?
Praxis has shown you don’t need big budgets to deliver big digital impact: you need ambition, a plan to focus that ambition and good advice. Praxis gets that mobilisation is a model. It’s a model that’s driving success. It’s bringing in income and engaged people who want to fight for migrant rights. The components of the model may change over time, but the fundamental approach and principles remain. There’s still lots to do. But the momentum is there and unstoppable.
Rally couldn’t be prouder to have partnered Praxis on this journey and we’re genuinely part of the extended team. Our role has evolved, from strategy setting and intensive work to support Anya to get the framework off the ground in year one, to running creative sessions, planning big mobilisation moments and introducing partners. We’re delighted that now we’re less hands on and more consultative and coach. And that’s because not only have we delivered the original goal of radical digital improvement, but the goal of sustainability and self-sufficiency has been achieved too.
“‘Paul has enthused and inspired trustees and staff at Praxis, demonstrating the enormous benefits and potential of investing in digital, even on a shoe string! Developing a framework and action plan for our digital engagement has transported us from novice status to high performing in a few short months. As well as sharing his considerable expertise, and bringing in other experts as needed, Paul has a coaching approach, supporting our staff team to develop their own skills and capabilities, so that we can continue the work without reliance on outside help in the future.’”
Header Image provided by Praxis & taken by Daisy Gaston.