VETO turned to influencer marketing to raise awareness and drive donations to support abandoned hunting dogs in Spain. With Kolsquare, the NGO scaled its campaigns across Europe, reaching new supporters with authentic voices.
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VETO (Association of European Animal Protection Organisations) is a non-profit animal welfare NGO that works to improve the living conditions of homeless dogs and cats across Europe. Since 2016, VETO has provided vital support in the form of food donations and funding for medical treatment, neutering, and shelter construction. Beyond practical help, VETO raises awareness, campaigns against animal abuse, and acts as a voice for animals in public debate.
Like many animal-welfare NGOs, VETO faces the dual challenges of limited resources and the urgent needs of animals in shelters. Each year, tens of thousands of Galgos, Podencos, and other hunting dogs in Spain are abandoned when they are deemed no longer useful for hunting. The shelters that take them in are overwhelmed, both in terms of capacity and financial means.
“We knew we needed to reach more people with our message,” says VETO Team-Member Madita Haustein. “But doing influencer outreach manually was incredibly time-consuming, and as an NGO we have to be very conscious of our team’s capacity and resources.”
VETO decided to make influencer marketing a core element of its annual fundraising campaigns. For the association’s annual appeal for Spanish animal shelters that provide a home to discarded hunting dogs like Galgos and Podencos, the team launched two complementary actions: the first campaign asked animal-loving creators to share ready-made stories and petitions, while the second focused on a more select group of creators with a strong track record in Spanish animal welfare, encouraging them to produce their own content.
“This way, we gave as many people as possible an easy way to support our work, while also building deeper relationships with the creators most invested in our cause,” explains Madita.
Authenticity was key. VETO does not run paid influence campaigns but instead relies on creators’ genuine commitment to animal rights. This means the organisation must carefully select creators whose audiences care deeply about animal welfare, and whose own values align with the NGO’s mission.
“It’s not about follower numbers for us. We need multipliers who wholeheartedly support our cause and can inspire their communities to act,” says Madita. “Animal welfare is not just about animals — it’s about ethics and how we want to treat this world.”
Before it worked with Kolsquare, VETO’s influencer outreach was manual and scattered. Now, each fundraising appeal is set up as a dedicated campaign within the platform, complete with customised labels and workflows.
“Kolsquare allows us to clearly organise KOLs and keep track of their communication,” Madita explains. “We often have two or three people working on a campaign at the same time, and thanks to Kolsquare’s status settings and labels, everyone has a clear overview. At the end, we get a quick, complete picture of the campaign’s success.”
Running campaigns through the Kolsquare platform also made it possible to expand the scope of influencer mobilisation.
“Since we started using Kolsquare, we’ve been able to attract many more influencers to support VETO. The reach generated this way helps us raise awareness and increase donations. That means animal welfare organisations in Europe receive more support — and the attention they deserve.”
Compared to earlier influencer efforts, the Galgos fundraising campaigns delivered significantly higher quantitative success. With Kolsquare, VETO reached more KOLs in less time, without expanding its team. The second campaign, in which respected figures from the animal welfare community created their own content, boosted both reach and VETO’s image.
“We saw the difference immediately,” Madita recalls. “Thanks to Kolsquare, we could organise and mobilise many people in a very short time frame. That simply wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
The increased visibility translated into more donations, more food and medical support for shelters, and — most importantly — more recognition for the plight of Spain’s discarded hunting dogs.
For VETO, influencer marketing is not about paid endorsements or one-off posts. It’s about building a long-term movement of committed, authentic voices.
“In the future, it will become even more important for NGOs to find genuine multipliers,” Madita reflects. “We address emotional, real, and sensitive topics. To make them accessible, we need people who truly believe in them. No AI and no paid partnerships can replace that.”
By combining the right creators with the right tool, VETO has shown how even resource-strapped NGOs can scale their impact. With Kolsquare, the organisation not only saves time but also strengthens its ability to mobilise compassion across borders.
Want to see how your organisation could scale authentic influence for good? Book a demo with Kolsquare today.
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