Our extensive research with the general public gives us a great insight into how people see charities. From within the sector it’s easy to forget that most people have little experience of how charities really work and spend very little time thinking about it! For many of them, views on how charities work are stuck somewhere in the last century, with even large national brands running multi-million pound operations expected to operate out of a church hall with few to no paid staff.

The reality that many charities are large and complex organisations working hard to have a real impact on their beneficiaries is rarely something that crosses people’s minds.

As a result of this lack of understanding, people are concerned about how charities spend their donations. Worries about which groups of staff are paid and how much they are paid frequently come out in our surveys as some of the public’s biggest concerns when it comes to charities. While CEO salaries has been the biggest topic of conversation in the media in recent years regarding charities, we also see concerns about street fundraisers being paid, and even a high proportion of people incorrectly believing that trustees draw a wage.

Similarly, categories of spending that charities see as vital, such as rebranding or even having a London office, are often seen by the public as wasteful and unnecessary.

Luckily, insights can play an important role in ensuring that communications with the public go some way to reassuring donors that their money is being spent well. After the latest survey for our Charity Awareness Monitor, we looked at some of the results from donors about the use of language.

We selected a number of phrases that were essentially equivalent (e.g. "Our charity raises £5 for every £1 it spends on fundraising" vs. "Our charity raises £1 for every 20p it spends on fundraising") and asked people to choose in each case which they would find more reassuring. Fascinatingly, the first statement won by a ratio of almost 2:1. Indeed, across the examples we used many people expressed a strong preference for one statement over another, despite them conveying exactly the same information. When talking to your supporters, then, it pays to be as careful and as precise in your language as possible.

In addition to use of language, it’s important to remind donors of the simple things that you do in the interests of value for money. Many fundraisers might assume that the fact that no one in the charity travels first class on expenses goes without saying, but in fact 51% of the general public say they would be reassured if a charity they supported told them this. Time and again we find there are simple little things that charities can be doing to reassure the public that their money is being well spent.

The voice of the donor needs to be at the heart of fundraising strategies. It is only by listening to the concerns of supporters that charities can address them and build a strong and lasting relationship. Research plays a vital role in this, whether with the general public, your target market or your supporters. 

For more information on our research into charities and the general public, send us an email or give us a call on 020 7426 8888. We'd love to show you how we can help.