What are charity donors really thinking? Simon Morrison sheds light on the recent IoF research into giving attitudes

Many attributes can be said to be of vital importance to any successful fundraiser, but the ability to gain an intimate knowledge of your donor audience must surely be top of the list.

We know from our own membership that the most successful fundraisers are often those that have a really deep knowledge of their donors.

Of course this doesn’t just mean you have to know who they are and where they are – although this kind of demographic information is helpful – but, much more importantly, you need to understand what matters to your donors, what messages resonate with them and, in bald analysis, what motivates them to give.

We also know that people think carefully before they donate – and the bigger or more regular the donation, the deeper this thought process appears to be – but what fundraisers really need to get a handle on are the triggers that lead to giving.

While the need to get this kind of insight might be self-evident, actually gaining useful intelligence is often less straightforward. That is why at the beginning of this year the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) commissioned some research to help our members better understand the public’s view of fundraisers and fundraising.

The mechanics of the survey were pretty simple: YouGov surveyed 1999 people across the UK in late January and early February to gain insight into their views on fundraising and charity giving. While just over a third of people who had recently given said they had not been prompted to donate, the majority – 66 per cent – reported that a fundraising ask had led them to stump up cash.

Of course this means that without successful fundraisers building effective donor relationships, vital charity income would be slashed by billions of pounds a year. Indeed, members of the IoF raise more than £4bn a year for good causes – and that’s not including legacy income – so the impact of their work is obvious.

Efforts recognised

There is more good news: people value the work that fundraisers do. Respondents to our survey felt that it was important for charities to employ fundraisers, giving this a mean importance of seven out of ten.

So, while the received wisdom might be that the public thinks all fundraising should be done for free, the reality is that people actually recognise and rate the worth of the efforts that professional fundraisers put in.

Raising awareness, sharing news and – vitally – bringing in extra cash (from both new and existing donors) were all felt to be important reasons for charities to employ fundraisers. That said, respondents were also very keen to ensure that charities are transparent about how money was being spent.

Inevitably age, sex and social class all have an impact on an individual’s propensity to donate. For many years fundraisers have spoken, sometimes dismissively, of ‘Dorothy Donor’, the archetypal middle-aged funder most likely to give regularly to a cause. Our figures seems to have confirmed at least some of this prejudice: women are more likely to give to charity than men.

However, the gap in giving on a gender basis is not as massive as people sometimes assume and, it appears, fundraising activity makes a particular impact on men, with 45 per cent of those surveyed reporting that they would not have donated at all if it hadn’t been for a fundraiser’s ask. This might suggest that if charities can identify specifically male donation triggers, they may find more fertile ground for giving.

Concerns raised

Income, life experience and educational attainment are all likely to impact on an individual’s likelihood to donate, but one particularly concerning factor that our research identified was the impact of the economic downturn. Right across the income spectrum – and not just with low income donors – people reported that they are feeling financially squeezed.

Put simply, a lot of the donating public say they are now giving to their limit. When questioned, most people cited insufficient income as the major obstacle that stops them from giving.

The results confirm that the sagging economy and high unemployment figures are putting a strain on public donations. Worryingly, in a period when government cuts are likely to continue, only 8 per cent said that a reduction in government spending would mean that they were more likely to give.

The full report will become available to IoF members later this spring on the Institute of Fundraising website. INCLUDE LINK OF NOW AVAILABLE

Simon Morrison is director of marketing & communications, Institute of Fundraising

This article first appeared in Fundraiser magazine, Issue 16, April 2012