Charities invest significant time and resource in acquiring supporters – but understanding what those supporters actually want and what keeps them engaged is often less straightforward.

So nfpResearch hosted a webinar exploring how charities can better understand, shape and strengthen their supporters' experience.

nfp’s co-MD, Cian Murphy, and Head of Projects, Katharina Zistler, drew on data from two of nfpResearch's research programmes:

• nfpIntelligence: our quarterly tracking of 1,000 members of the UK general public and
• nfpSupporters: our benchmark of supporter surveys across 20+ charities and 100,000 supporters.

Here’s what we discovered about what your charity’s supporters want now, and what keeps them engaged in your cause.

Cautious optimism: giving is recovering

Donation levels have recovered from their pandemic lows. Two-thirds of the UK public (66%) reported donating to charity in the last three months in the most recent wave of nfpIntelligence data, up from a low of 54% during the pandemic. Giving intentions are also at their most positive in over a decade, with a net 9% more people expecting to increase rather than decrease their giving in the year ahead.

But the picture is more nuanced than the headline figures suggest. While more people are participating in fundraising events than ever before, the number willing to sponsor others has fallen significantly, from 64% down to 46%. For charities that rely on peer-to-peer fundraising income, this divergence is worth watching closely.

Favourite causes are consistent but not without challenges

Favourite causes have remained stable over time. Cancer, animals and children have consistently topped the list across our tracking and that has not changed. But, while the order remains consistent, overall engagement with charitable causes has declined and most causes are less popular today than they were 15 years ago, with children and young people seeing the sharpest fall of 19 percentage points. Overseas aid and development has seen support drop to less than half of what it was in 2010.

Our data shows that popular causes carry advantages. The public is more likely to trust charities working in those spaces and more likely to believe their donation will make a difference. In contrast, some of the least popular causes are seen as the most adequately funded, regardless of the reality. Understanding where your sector sits in public perception can therefore be a relevant starting point for communications or fundraising strategies.

Brand expectations: your sector matters but so does your specific audience

What the public expects from an ideal charity varies by sector. Cancer charities are expected to be supportive and caring. Environmental charities are expected to be campaigning and proactive. Overseas aid and development organisations are expected to be responsive.

Even within a sector, however, the expectations of specific supporters may differ from the broader public norm. Data from nfpSupporters shows that supporters of one overseas aid and development charity placed far greater emphasis on their charity being trustworthy and practical than the general public would expect from an ideal OAD charity. Sector-level data alone may not capture what matters most to the people who support an organisation.

Supporters are not a captive audience

Supporters are not exclusively yours. On average, donors give to around three different charities in any three-month period and 59% of the population say they find it easy to decide which charity to support. Within sectors, there is significant overlap in willingness to support. When looking at charities working in the homelessness sector, for example, around half of the public would consider supporting each of four major organisations, with 23% willing to consider all four. The picture among actual database supporters is similarly striking. Only 2% of supporters on charity databases say the charity they are surveyed about is the only one they support and just 7% call it their favourite.

A good score is only meaningful in context

Supporters are, on the whole, warm towards the charities they support. But a high score in isolation tells very little. An organisation where 76% of supporters say they are satisfied might feel confident in that result until it is placed alongside a benchmark. Across the nfpSupporters benchmark, 75% of supporters are very or quite satisfied with the charities they support. Knowing where you sit relative to similar organisations is what allows you to identify where to improve and what realistic progress looks like.

The supporter journey looks different for every organisation and within them

Satisfaction does not look the same across all supporters. Data from nfpSupporters shows that supporters who have been with an organisation for longer are more likely to say they are very satisfied. This is partly because dissatisfied supporters tend to drop out meaning longer-tenure supporters are a self-selecting group.

Supporters in their first year are the least likely to say they are very satisfied but they are also the most likely to say they are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. They are not disengaged but undecided. The onboarding period is therefore an opportunity and it’s important to get communication right, in terms of both frequency and content.

And what "right" looks like will vary between organisations. Across the nfpSupporters benchmark, the proportion of supporters preferring monthly contact ranges from 13% to 52% depending on the organisation. A standard approach to communications frequency, even one informed by sector averages, may not reflect what your supporters want and only asking them will tell you.

So, what should we make of all this? Here are the headlines:

• Sector-wide trends give context – but your own research tells your organisation's story.
• Supporters are not a captive audience.
• Understanding what keeps your supporters engaged is essential for retention.
• Benchmarking helps understand where you sit.

Understanding your supporters requires more than sector-level insight. It requires knowing who your supporters are, what they expect from you specifically, how their experience compares to other charity supporters and how their expectations change over time. Understanding their motivations is vital to retaining and growing your supporter base.

If you would like to find out more about nfpSupporters and how supporter benchmarking could help your organisation, find out more here.