Jo Fischl
Following a turbulent two years of Covid-19 restrictions, what are donors thinking, feeling, and doing when it comes to charity giving? We held focus groups for our Charity Awareness Monitor clients in January to find out just that, giving them the opportunity to listen in on conversations between three different groups of charity donors; those aged 30 – 45, 45 – 60, and 60+. Here are 8 key things we learned:
1. Mental health is a top concern emerging from the pandemic - ‘we’ve only seen the start of it’
When we talked about which charity causes had become more or less important over the pandemic period, the overwhelming response was that mental health was the biggest issue to emerge from the pandemic. This was something people felt had really come onto their radar over the past couple of years, often for personal reasons – e.g. friends or family members who had suffered – as well as an increased media focus on the issue. What’s more, it certainly wasn’t perceived as something that was over with lighter restrictions; there was widespread agreement that we would see the aftereffects on mental health for years to come. Other causes mentioned as having gone up in importance included children and young people, foodbanks, health, and climate change/environmental concerns.
2. A more localised or even insular public post pandemic
In our discussion around causes, it seemed that the pandemic had or was in the process of precipitating a move towards a greater focus on local and/or national, rather than international causes – in terms of those issues that had moved up people’s agendas. In the oldest group, one of the participants actively recognised this; although he disliked the term ‘charity starts at home’ he felt that reflecting on the past couple of years he could see that he had become more locally focused or even insular in terms of the causes he was most focused on. There was recognition of this sentiment across the groups – even though many did list international charities as amongst those they gave money to. It’s worth noting that these groups took place before the crisis in Ukraine began to unfold, which could change this picture.
3. Age matters – are younger generations less ‘loyal’ to specific charity brands?
In these groups, the older participants were typically much more engaged in giving to charity in what we might see as a committed way; many had direct debits to household name charities and spoke with loyalty and warmth about their portfolio of charities. By contrast, the youngest group (30 – 45) were participating in charity in a looser, more informal way; many talked about giving clothes and goods to charity shops (or even to people they knew who were in need) or to things like appeals for Christmas gifts for local families as a key component of their charity giving. We also heard about people giving through their place of worship or to projects set up by friends. Whilst some older audiences also gave in these ways, they weren’t so central to how they viewed their charity giving. For charities, only time will tell whether this same loyalty that the 60+ donor audience holds can be built amongst younger generations.
4. Cash is no longer king
Across all groups it was clear that the kind of loose change giving that has been so popular in the past has become less common since the pandemic and it seems unlikely that it will return to the same level. Simply put, whilst many are happy to give in this way, they just aren’t carrying cash. Generally, there is openness towards the idea of tap to donate giving (for e.g. on collection boxes or outside charity shops) as long as it’s clear that it is legitimate. One participant joked that the only downside was that they wouldn’t be able to brush these requests off by saying they haven’t got any spare change!
5. Bad news about charities spreads fast (whether it’s true or not)
When we bring members of the public together to talk about charities, it is rare that critiques won’t emerge with animosity towards street fundraisers, the targeting of vulnerable people and the amount of money getting to the cause amongst the top pet peeves. All three of these were ticked off in these groups. However, what was interesting was that some very specific accusations were levelled at charities during these discussions, many of which seemed to us to be either exaggerated or entirely baseless. Examples included the idea that street fundraisers earned £60,000 per year (and spent £50 on their lunches) or that a large proportion of staff at one large charity were earning over £60,000 a year (we checked and the figure was misquoted and a much lower proportion in reality). That charity donors are both taken in by and feel keen to share such stories suggests that, unfortunately, an element of suspicion still hangs over the sector.
6. Effective supporter communications have power
We heard a number of examples of real appreciation for the follow up comms and updates that charity supporters received. This was particularly true for the oldest group, where people talked about the sense of warmth they got from being thanked by the charity and hearing about the work that was possible as a result of their donation. Across a number of the groups, we also had mentions of charity shops letting people know what the sale of their clothes had raised - the direct linking of money raised to their items generated a sense of satisfaction. Of course, we did hear the other side of this too - there were a few gripes about post (e.g. preference for a quick email saying thanks rather than wasting postage) and also particular irritation about being asked to increase the size of an existing direct debit - in one case this had led to a cancellation of the payment entirely.
7. Impact stories – will my money make a difference?
In a theme connected to the above, we heard a lot about the importance of feeling that your donation makes a genuine difference. For example, we heard about people feeling overwhelmed by certain problems that seemed too large for charities to overcome, whilst there were other examples of advertising having been effective when it showed the power of what your money could achieve. An example of this was someone who had responded to a cleft palate appeal and felt that it showed that even the small amount of money they were giving could actively fix that problem for individual children effected. Of course, an element of this is down to the types of issues each charity works on, but framing comes into it too – seeing the positive stories of what your money achieves and not only the level of the problem tends to have a wider positive reception.
8. Legacies are a distant topic – but once the conversation opens up, audiences are receptive
A specific topic we tackled in these focus groups was charity legacies. Amongst the youngest participants, many were not at the will writing stage, so this was a pretty foreign topic. In the older two groups, it was also relatively rare to have already pledged a legacy to a charity, although one in the 45-60 group was currently considering it, and a couple in the 60+ group had already included a gift. That this was even the case in the oldest group where many had already written wills was perhaps disheartening. When the topic was introduced, the general feeling across all groups was ‘I want to (or I will want to) give everything I can to my family’. Other sentiments included preferring to give whilst I’m still here or leaving the decision to family members on whether to give any of the money to charity. However, as the conversation unfolded and we reviewed some examples of legacy adverts from charities with the groups, these early feelings began to shift. A few participants even identified that their opinion had changed from wanting to leave everything to family to feeling that a small amount could also be kept aside for a charity without impacting negatively on their families. That the conversation opened up in this way perhaps raises a challenge for charities; how do we build knowledge and understanding about charity legacies throughout people’s lives so that – when the time comes to make a will – the idea has already been normalised?
Find out more
We run focus groups every year for our Charity Awareness Monitor clients, who are able to watch the groups live, input into topics for discussion and receive a full report on the findings as part of their subscription. To find out more about the Charity Awareness Monitor, download a briefing pack or contact Bee (CAM@nfpresearch.com).
We also regularly run focus groups for bespoke project clients, helping them explore the issues that matter to their charity or cause, as well as to test messaging and creative materials. To find out more about focus groups or other qualitative methodologies, please contact Jo (CAM@nfpresearch.com).