Featured Article: Fundraisers need to do more to encourage ongoing sponsorship as survey shows 79% of people do not keep on giving.

GoSkydive is the UK’s leading tandem skydiving centre and works closely with many charities to organise unique fundraising opportunities. They recently felt compelled to run a survey that examined the donating habits of 2,000 people to find out why some people regularly gave to charity and others did not.

They asked a range of questions all relating to the public’s connection to causes after sponsoring a single event. This included asking whether sponsoring someone made them donate to the charity on a regular basis, 79% of respondents said it did not, with those aged 55 or over being found the least likely to donate again after sponsoring someone with 89% saying they wouldn’t.

Younger people donate more often

The survey delivered some promising news with 42% of respondents aged 25-34 saying that sponsoring someone had made them donate again to the same charity. When broken down by salary range 45% of those who earned between £45,000 and £55,000 said that sponsoring someone had actually made them donate more, however only 13% of those on a low income (less than £15,000) agreed. Of course this may be expected among more budget-conscious people.

The findings clearly show that although a number of younger people are connecting to causes, the majority of people do not feel obliged to carry on donating. This may put pressure on fundraisers to consider new ways to raise awareness, as well as money, during an event.

Event participation is no guarantee of repeat donations

When asked if participating in a fundraising event meant they would donate regularly to the same charity, 61% said it did not. Once again those aged 55 and over were again the largest group who said no and over half of 25-34 year olds said that they would continue to support and donate to the charity they had raised money for. This indicates that younger people are more likely to be won over by a fundraiser and continue to give to the charity, while the over 55s are more likely to donate once and then stop.   

Why people donate

For the majority of people who answered the survey, the charity itself was always at the forefront of their reason to donate. When asked why they would fundraise, 75% said that the charity’s theme was the main reason they would take part. 

Holly Francis, who leads up the charity work at GoSkydive, said: "It's surprising that people don't continue to donate to the cause after the event, but this shows that there are areas for improvements in fundraising activities." 

The findings have also shown that fundraisers may be under increasing pressure to do more to promote the benefits of regular giving and to encourage continued engagement after an event. It appears that the most important thing is to promote the benefits of repeated support to secure sponsors’ further engagement; this could be in the way of having sign-up forms at the event or places for people to leave their contact details to find out more about the benefits of regularly donating.