Giving Trends

The economic, social and technological changes of recent years have also resulted in changes within the charity sector. Below are some seemingly slow evolving yet significant shifts in the way donors approach the charity sector and the way that charities are responding, which have been a driving force behind Localgiving.

Donors want to be connected locally

  • Donors wish to give locally - those in the UK who give to non-disaster charities are most inclined to give to local charities because they want to see the local impact of their donations.
  • Donors use the internet to research their charities - Particularly the mass affluent (ie. Those of us with a small but important disposable income) rely heavily on the web to search for topics of interest within the charity sector.
  • The younger generation of "givers" need more engagement - The younger "would be" donor generation are overloaded with headlines and gimmicks but are not very engaged with the charity sector.They want real and direct information about what the charity does and how their donation will make a difference.
  • All donors want feedback on the impact of their donations - Donors seem increasingly frustrated by the "black hole" of giving. They want to know that the charities they give to are operating legitimately and that their donations are truly making a difference.

There is significant growth in online giving

  • In the US during 2008, online donations reached $15.42 billion and in 2009 online donations are still growing at 56% year-over-year.
  • According to a 2008 survey by JupiterResearch, a Forrester Research company, >50% of online consumers planned to donate via the Internet during the 2008 holiday season
  • In the UK, the online donation market is not as large but it is still experiencing the same significant growth. There are a growing number of online fundraising sites that provide services to larger registered UK charities that have collectively raised almost £1 billion through online donations over the past decade.

Local charitable organisations face big challenges to survive and grow

  • The recent economic recession is resulting in a reduction of cash donations and will have an impact on government grants, which is the only method of fundraising available to many of the local charitable organisations in the country.
  • Meanwhile there is increasing demand on the services of the charity sector, particularly for those groups that support unemployment and the disadvantaged.
  • Charities, and particularly local charities, need to have the resources and tools to engage more cost effectively and more proactively with donors and supporters
  • 85% of donations currently go to 5% largest charities - this discrepancy needs to be addressed!

Facts and Stats

According to annual research conducted by CAF and NCVO, the UK donation market is estimated to be £9.9 billion in 2009. There are approximately 54% of adults who participate in charitable giving and they give a mean of £31 pounds per year to charity.

Unsurprisingly, there is a positive correlation between age and higher propensity to donate. Although 38% of the younger generation (16-24) were found to donate to charity, this percentage has been on a slight decline over the past 3 years - a trend that will need to be addressed and reversed.

The largest median donations went to four primary causes:

  • Religion - £15 median donation
  • Education - £10 median donation
  • Overseas - £10 median donation
  • Arts - £10 median donation

Although this is significant, it does not mean that all four of the above causes received the highest total donations. According to the CAF and NCVO, September 2009 "UK Giving 2009" report, 15% of all donations did go to Religious causes but this was followed by medical research, hospitals and hospices, overseas and children and young people. These five causes alone accounted for 64% of all UK donations.

Finally, although online donations are increasing in popularity in the UK, cash is still the most popular method of giving (which would indicate a low reclaim of the 28.2% Gift Aid offered by the government).

Our Sources

Blackbaud surveys
National Council for Volunatry Organisations
Charities Aid Foundation
Community Foundation Network
Institute for Philanthropy
New Philanthropy Capital
Charity Commission
Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
Forrester Research
Social Edge
The Skoll Foundation
Philanthropy UK
Justgiving
Globalgiving
TacticalTech
Beth's blog
Seth's blog