Social AF (previously Alderson Fundraising)

What Social AF (previously Alderson Fundraising) does

Social AF (formerly Alderson Fundraising) is a UK-based, founder-owned services firm headquartered in North Shields that provides community management and supporter experience services to UK charities. The company was legally incorporated in 2018 and began trading as Social AF in 2021, having rebranded from its original Alderson Fundraising identity to reflect a broader service scope beyond fundraising consultancy. Its core offering centers on human-led social media moderation across Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms used by charity campaigns, with a stated refusal to deploy AI in moderation roles — a positioning that differentiates the firm from automated moderation vendors and targets the safeguarding-sensitive requirements of charity buyers.

The company operates two primary service lines. The first, Community Management, covers moderated Facebook challenges, fundraising group moderation, and ongoing social media community handling; this work is delivered by 50+ vetted moderation specialists, of whom approximately 80% are self-employed, with each moderator required to hold three or more years of charity sector experience. The second, Supporter Experience, extends the offering into supporter-facing stewardship, virtual event support, and webinar co-delivery through a partnership with Bluestep. Social AF integrates with the UK charity technology stack via partnerships with GivePanel (for Facebook challenge moderation) and JustGiving (for fundraising platform integrations), and has executed 120+ virtual challenges that have collectively raised more than £12.1M for charity partners.

The business model is a services-led, custom-pricing model targeting mid-to-large UK charities. Social AF serves 40+ charity clients, including Cancer Research UK, Shelter, Stroke Association, Dogs Trust, and Safe Haven for Donkeys. Pricing is structured as bespoke enterprise agreements with annual billing rather than per-seat or self-serve tiers, and the firm has not raised external funding. Revenue is generated through contracted moderation hours, project-based campaign support, and ongoing retainer-style engagements. The firm is small (11-50 total headcount) and operates with a lean core team overseeing a contractor-heavy delivery model, which supports margin flexibility but limits fixed-cost absorption.

Name

Social AF (previously Alderson Fundraising)

Legal name

Alderson Fundraising Ltd

Website

https://socialaf.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Social AF is a UK-based, founder-owned services firm providing human-led community management and supporter experience for UK charities, moderating social media campaigns, virtual challenges, and supporter groups across Facebook and JustGiving-integrated platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Community Management Services

NAICS

Public Relations Agencies (541820)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Nonprofit & Cause Communications (BPAFADAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital PR & Social Media Communications (MPAAADAJ), Community/Group Chat Platforms (BPAMACAH)

Keywords

• Online community management
• Social media moderation
• Supporter experience services
• Charity fundraising support
• Virtual challenge moderation

Headquarters

HQ city

North Shields

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Community Management Services: Providing ongoing moderation and community management services to charity partners across social media platforms, forums, and virtual challenge groups. Services billed based on coverage hours and scope of engagement.
2. Supporter Experience Services: Dedicated supporter communications including phone, email, and SMS support for charity donor cultivation and stewardship.
3. Facebook Challenge Moderation: Specialized moderation for Facebook fundraising challenge groups, including content creation, participant engagement, and post-campaign analysis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Social AF provides outsourced online community management and supporter experience services to UK charities, delivered by a team of 50+ trained human moderators. The company manages charity online spaces across social media platforms, forums, support groups, and Facebook virtual challenge groups, and delivers one-to-one supporter communications via phone, email, SMS, and WhatsApp. All interactions are handled by trained human moderators with no bots, AI, or automated replies, and the company works as an extension of charity internal teams.

Product overview

Social AF operates as a unified service offering comprising two core service lines: Community Management and Supporter Experience. Community Management encompasses social media moderation, virtual challenge moderation, and support group/forum moderation, delivered by a team of over 50 human moderators. Supporter Experience provides direct one-to-one supporter engagement via phone, email, SMS, and WhatsApp. The company explicitly states that all interactions are handled by trained human moderators with no bots, AI, or automated replies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Community Management Online community management service where experienced moderators and engagement specialists manage charity online spaces including social media platforms, forums, and virtual challenge groups to elevate reputation and results.
• Social Media Moderation Moderation of charity social media accounts including organic page content, paid ad campaigns, and Facebook challenge marketing to protect brand reputation and drive engagement.
• Virtual Challenge Moderation Specialized moderation for Facebook challenge groups and virtual fundraising events, managing participant engagement, fundraising activation, and community support throughout challenge duration.
• Support Group and Forum Moderation Moderation services for charity support groups and forums, providing emotional support, safeguarding, and signposting for members sharing sensitive personal experiences.
• Supporter Experience One-to-one supporter engagement service encompassing phone calls, emails, SMS, and WhatsApp communications to nurture donors and empower their fundraising potential.

Quantifiable outcome

• Charities save 2-7 hours per day by outsourcing moderation
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers24 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• GivePanelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024GivePanel is a key platform partner for Facebook fundraising challenges. Social AF works with GivePanel to process registrations, solve problems, and optimise the supporter experience across Facebook challenge groups. The partnership enables seamless integration between challenge moderation and fundraising platform functionality.
• BluestepminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Bluestep is a solutions partner that co-hosted a webinar with Social AF on virtual challenge strategies and lessons learned in 2024. The partnership focuses on shared learning and industry education for charity fundraising.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Crisp Thinking: Social media safety, risk, and moderation services firm for brands and platforms; comparable to Social AF in the moderation and harmful-content detection layer, though more focused on risk than supporter engagement.
• The Social Element: UK-based social media and content agency offering moderation, community management, and customer engagement services globally; closely aligned in service mix, delivery model, and geography with Social AF.
• Netopia (formerly eModeration): UK-rooted social media moderation and community management agency serving brands globally; directly comparable services portfolio (moderation, customer engagement, content review) to Social AF.
• ModSquad: Global provider of digital community moderation, social media management, and trust & safety services for brands; competes with Social AF on the same human-first moderation model, though it serves a broader set of verticals.

Emerging players

• Lightful: UK-based digital capacity-building and AI-enabled engagement platform for nonprofits; targets similar charity-sector digital engagement problems and could compete on adjacent parts of the stack.
• Bevy: Community events and engagement platform purpose-built for nonprofits, customer communities, and brands; addresses the same enterprise community-management need as Social AF via software rather than managed services.
• GivePanel: Facebook challenge management platform integrated with JustGiving; competes for the same Facebook challenge moderation budget and is both a direct partner and adjacent service provider to Social AF.

Broad incumbents

• Hivebrite: Community management and engagement platform used by nonprofits, alumni networks, and associations; addresses similar nonprofit community-management use cases as Social AF via a SaaS model.
• Higher Logic: Community engagement platform focused on associations and mission-driven organizations; overlaps with Social AF's nonprofit-vertical focus, though it sells software rather than managed services.
• Khoros: Enterprise community management and social media marketing platform with adjacent moderation services; broader portfolio than Social AF but competes for the same brand-side community management budget.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/socialaf
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/we-are-social-af
• Instagraminstagram.com/socialaf

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Social AF (previously Alderson Fundraising)