How the public is responding to charitable causes in the current climate

What the presentation covers

Attitudes to charitable giving

Understanding the behaviour of donors

New media v traditional

Motivations and messages

Aim

Since the start of the recession more say they give but they give less.

Source : NCVO

Health, children and animals are top of the charitable causes Hit Parade

Health and medicine 48%

Children 32%

Animals 31%

Poverty and social care complete the top 5

What causes did you donate to in the last 3 months?. Base=1240

But charities report that donations are down and that donors are changing the causes they support

Charity donations to the top 500 down by £70m

Donations to social causes down from the previous year

Donations to animal welfare charities up significantly

Donations to the biggest charities hardest hit

The ‘ask’ can determine how much is donated

Mailshot, circulars and

emails result in the largest donations. Need to

connect and develop a

relationship with this group.

85%

74%

73%

72%

63%

52%

13%

22%

24%

25%

27%

42%

3%

5%

3%

3%

10%

6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Street fundraiser / box collection / charityrepresentative

International appeal / National TV event / Annualevent

I saw an advert for the charity on the TV, radio orin a newspaper

Family / friend / colleague

I wasn’t prompted

Direct marketing from a charity

£51+£11-£50£1-£10

How much donated by type of ‘ask’.

But we know not everyone agrees with giving to charity

Your reasons for not donating to charity in the last 3 months. Base=1240

Donor history

In today’s climate you need to understand donor behaviour

Understanding your audience

is vital.

Demographics

Life-stage

Attitudes

Donor history

Media consumption

Being more responsive – know your audience

Motivations

Meet Lisa

Lisa is female, 29 years old and lives in Leeds

She earns £36,000 p.a and is confident of her future

financial situation

Her favourite tv programmes include

soaps, Sherlock and the Blue Planet

Lisa checks her Facebook page and Twitter feed more than once per

day

She has recently married, has no children but does plan a

family

Lisa is a keen supporter of environmental charities

She reads the Daily Mail

Lisa banks with HSBC

Lisa is one of the 28% of people who received an email from a charity in the last 3 months.

One third of all emails that people receive from a charity talk about specific projects and how to donate to support them.

Just over one quarter talk about the charities aims and objectives

Which of the following have you seen from a charity in the last 3 months? Base 1993

The email had a positive outcome because after receiving it Lisa set up a direct debit to give £10 a month to the charity to help their conservation work.

What did you do as a result of the email message? Base 540

28% received an email of which 13% made a donation.

Social v traditional media

A presence on social media can be a good way of generating donations

15 per cent of Facebook users and 16 per cent of Twitter users made a donation after reading a charity Facebook page or receiving a tweet from a charity.

It can also help you connect with your target audience

Meet Harry

Harry is 23 years old and lives in Exeter

He earns £20,000 p.a and thinks he should start

saving soonHe watches TV online via BBC iPlayer and Sky Go

He is on Facebook and checks it regularly

Harry hasn’t really thought about charities in the past.

He doesn’t read newsprint but catches up

on his iPad.

Harry cycles everywhere.

Harry is one of the 20% of people who have seen a reference to a charity on Facebook in the last 3 months

Which of the following have you seen from a charity in the last 3 months?

The Facebook page Harry saw gave details of the aims of a charity that promotes sport to disadvantaged youngsters.

24% of viewers of charity Facebook pages read about the charities aims and objectives, 20% read case studies and 49% on how to donate.

Social media can help you connect with potential supporters in other ways.

The reaction that the Facebook reference to the charity caused. Base=540

Know your audience : some people prefer more traditional ‘asks’.

Meet Jack

Jack is male, 58 years old and lives in London

He watches BBC1, ITV and C4 and reads the

Guardian.

He likes to play tennis and does jogging.

Jack is an occasional giver to charity

He earns £50,000 p.a

Jack but doesn’t really use social media

Jack is married with two teenaged children, a dog

and two rabbits.

Jack has a nearly paid off mortgage and has a series of investment

products

Social media is not really a source of information for Jack’s age group

Which of the following have you seen from a charity in the last 3 months – Aged 55+

In Jack’s age group (55+) people are much more likely to get exposure to charities through traditional print and broadcast media.

What do we know about motivations and messaging?

What motivates Lisa, Harry and Jack to get involved with a charity?

Personal experience/affinity

An expression of who you are/reflects your

beliefs

Social and emotional pressures

Wanting to make a difference

They were asked to

In conclusion : what about the message?

Communicate in a targeted way -segmentation

Clear about aims of the charity and intended

outcomes

Communication should be about building a

relationship

Show how the money will make a difference

Share news and information

A strong relationship will protect your brand if things go wrong

9th August: BBC Newsnight features an interview with

wounded servicemen criticising how Help for Heroes invests its

money

Two weeks later Buzz has fallen into negative territory

Likelihood to donate drops 10 points and takes one month to recover