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