A report released on Tuesday 13th November in the UK by the Charities Aid Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, shows that the average amount that donors give to charity has fallen by £11 to £10 a month.
Donations have fallen by 20% in real terms in the past year, with £1.7bn less being given, says the report. The number of people donating also fell – as well the amounts they gave.
This is clearly bad news for many charities, who are already struggling to remain viable. Some are having to close front-line services. And some are having to make redundancies. The reality is that some will also face closure. In particular, small and medium sized charities are likely to be disproportionately affected by the reductions in giving.
So what can be done about this? Well, in the bigger picture a spokesman, has said that the government is working to stimulate giving through initiatives such as new tax incentives, match-funding, its transition fund, and Big Society Capital. There are also plans to review the Gift Aid structure. But what else can charities do now to increase donations?
The most obvious answer is to increase their marketing activity. But without donations it also becomes too costly to do the necessary marketing to boost the donation figures. It’s an unfortunate downwards spiral.
However, there are now many innovative marketing tools, which can help charities both encourage more donations from existing donors, and encourage new supporters to donate, that are not cost-prohibitive, offering quick wins. In particular charities might consider email branding to support their fundraising efforts.
At Rocketseed we have a defined CSR policy to offer charities a discount on all of our services, and can help increase marketing efforts in a simple and viable way. Rocketseed works with a number of charities, most notably the British Red Cross in the UK, and Enke in South Africa, and supports them to increase donations and support fundraising.
Rocketseed is an email branding tool that integrates with a charities’ employee email, so that every email sent by your charity can help to drive donations, and link to your website donation page. Whether your employees are talking to volunteers, fundraisers, local businesses, supporters or general well wishers, smart marketing messages in every email about your activities with a “click to donate” can help you drive more donations directly.
And don’t just take our word for it. The British Red Cross for instance get click through results from their Rocketseed email banners which are 4 x better than their “normal” email marketing campaigns – and more importantly, where those engaging with the messaging are 20 x more likely to engage in the donation process. So that’s more interest that they are generating, plus more money. Read the case study if you’d like to know more.
If you’d like to learn more about how Rocketseed can help you increase donations – please contact us.
If you’re interested but don’t have a marketing budget at all – we still may be able to help.
Rocketseed has developed a new partnership concept enabling local businesses to partner with charities to help increase donations and also show their support for the community. Charities can therefore get direct support for their marketing. Intrigued? Contact us for more info.
