Giving to charity is down - it might be a good thing

Yesterday saw the publication of a survey from the Charities Aid Foundation into the state of charitable giving in the UK. Total giving is down by 20% year on year, or by circa £1.7 bn. CAF see this as “deeply worrying”. We are not sure we agree. We work with 20 of the brightest and best charities in the UK. Almost without exception results to donor recruitment and donor appeals are up year on year. So if some of the sector are stable or up, some must be down by way more than 20%. And that also seems to be true. In some of the cases we have seen coming to us results have been down by up to 50%. And it makes sense to us. Donors are consumers. And in the rest of their lives they are looking for better value. Why shouldn’t that be true of their charitable giving as well? In this year more than ever before consumers are prepared to switch brands in search of better value. That is obviously good news for any organization wanting to grow their donor base, and capable of expressing a coherent case for support. We would also argue that it’s good news for the sector as a whole. Flabby fundraisers who cannot demonstrate the value of their cause and the impact their fundraising generates damage the credibility of all. Not all organizations have a God given right to survive. So maybe, if your results aren’t up this year, instead of saying “that’s 20% ahead of the sector” maybe you should ask “where else have those donors I could have recruited gone?” Mike Colling Managing Director