In this blog Filipe Páscoa, CEO of enlaight.ai and =mc consulting senior consultant explains how his team helped Amnesty Brazil to build powerful links to the Black Lives Matter campaign.
Imagine being a global leader on human rights but finding your audience doesn’t associate you with today’s defining rights issue: racism. That was Amnesty International Brazil’s challenge.
Despite decades of frontline work, social media conversations about racism rarely mentioned Amnesty. Even worse, Amnesty’s own blog barely covered the topic, despite the organisation actively working on it. This disconnect between doing and saying was costing them credibility, reach and donations.
To fix this, Amnesty used behavioural science, natural language processing (NLP), and a bold campaign move that created headlines and built connections. You can read about the detailed process in Change for Better edited by Bernard Ross and others.
Step 1: Realise You’re Not the Reference Point
The first revelation came from a deep audit of Amnesty Brazil’s own blog. Using AI-driven text mining, the team analysed 300 pages of content. Key takeaway? Racism —d espite being a core issue — was barely mentioned. Amnesty’s audience wasn’t ignoring their content. It simply didn’t exist in the right format or frequency.
Behavioural science principle in play: social proof. To be seen as a credible voice on an issue, you have to show up in the conversation consistently and recognisably.
Step 2: Listen to the Real Conversation
Next, the team ran a massive social listening operation across Brazilian Twitter and Facebook posts, identifying key words, hashtags and user sentiments about racism, identity, and inequality.
What they found was a polarised landscape:
- Pro-Bolsonaro, anti-rights groups denying racism existed.
- Marginalised communities and activists expressing anger, sadness, and urgency.
This insight revealed another behavioural principle: emotional resonance. Amnesty needed to mirror the lived experiences and concerns of their audiences, not just share policy-based statements.
Step 3: From Silence to Strategy
Once the data was in, Amnesty began reshaping its communications. They elevated in-house stories on race and inequality, connected racism to urgent health crises like COVID, and identified influencers already embedded in these conversations.
One of the most powerful actions came from an unexpected insight.
In November — peak “Black Friday” season — they noticed that hashtags like #blacklivesmatter and #vidasnegrasimportam (“Black lives matter” in Portuguese) were trending alongside commercial tags like #blackfriday.
The team saw a creative opportunity: merge the consumer energy of Black Friday with a call to social justice.
Step 4: #EveryFridayIsBlack
The result was the #EveryFridayIsBlack campaign, a national initiative linking commercial hype to historical injustice. It was designed and launched in just two weeks by a multidisciplinary team — fundraisers, creatives, digital strategists — all united by the same insight: language is power.
The campaign’s microsite became a hub for storytelling, actions, and supporter engagement. Instead of making generic asks, Amnesty now offered content that was urgent, relevant, and rooted in supporters’ existing values.
Lessons for Fundraisers
Don’t assume your audience knows your impact
If it’s not shared — especially in emotional, accessible language — it doesn’t exist.
Break down silos
Fundraisers often lack access to the stories programmes teams are creating. Connect the dots and unlock gold.
Track your own language
Use free tools or simple content audits to analyse your comms. Are you talking about what your supporters care about, or just what you think they should?
Ride the trend but anchor in values
Linking to #BlackFriday worked because it wasn’t just clever—it aligned with a deeper narrative. Don’t hijack trends— integrate them with meaning.
Invest in agile teams
Quick, creative, cross-functional teams are often more impactful than big, slow campaigns. If it takes six months to respond to a moment, you’ve missed it.
Final Thought
Fundraising in 2025 isn’t about shouting louder — it’s about listening better. Amnesty Brazil’s experience shows that when you connect your mission with your audience’s language and values, magic happens. The tools are there. The insights are there. The only question is: are you listening?
Excited by these ideas? Want to know more?
Join Bernard Ross and Filipe Páscoa on 6th October in London for their masterclass on Artificial Intelligence and Decision Science.
