09/06/2020

IN THE NEWS

Study reveals five key factors contributing to decline in charitable giving

2 June 2020, London: New research by The Kite Factory and YouGov reveals the five barriers contributing to the decline in giving, including intrusive comms, transparency of progress and ease of donation, as well as lack of proximity to the cause and value exchange.

 In the UK there are now 12% fewer individuals donating directly to charities than in 2014 (TGI: 2014 Q2 – 2019 Q2) and recruiting new donors has become increasingly expensive for many charity organisations.

Independent media agency and charity specialist, The Kite Factory has teamed up with YouGov to produce proprietary research examining the change in consumer behaviour in the context of charitable giving, the barriers to financially supporting charities and the actions charities can take to motivate support from potential donors.

Top line findings:

  • 65% of consumers stated the number one reason they were discouraged from financially supporting a charity was due to fundraisers being too persistent or intrusive.
  • Two out of five (42%) said they felt they are asked to donate through aggressive or inappropriate methods at least once a month.
  • 20% of over 55’s claim it is not acceptable to ask for donations at all.
  • Almost 1-in-3 (32%) consumers said that not understanding the work that a charity does for the cause would discourage them from donating.

In addition to the barriers to donation, the agency asked the 2,126 respondents using YouGov’s RealTime Omnibus what charities could do better to motivate them to donate.

This confirmed the need for a new approach to fundraising that reduces the need to ask in a way that aggravates while creating closeness and understanding and demonstrating impact while creating value for the consumer.

The Kite Factory has developed an approach dubbed the ‘Engagement Framework’ that has successfully helped change the way charities like WaterAid, Diabetes UK, The British Red Cross and The Children’s Society deploy their fundraising strategies, whilst continuously testing to understand effectiveness in both the short and long-term.

Christian Taylor, Strategy Director at The Kite Factory said: “This research is designed to help focus attention on five key barriers for individual giving and provide charities with a tool to create integrated fundraising communications that tackle the barriers most relevant to them. The fundamentals of fundraising have reached an inflection point and we’re proud to be contributing to the revolution”.