The charity sector has had 12 months unlike any other it has ever seen. We have been under the spotlight in the eyes of the media, public and politicians more than ever before, and rarely for the right reasons. The response of the sector has been varied, and largely ineffective.

The run up to Christmas 2015 was a busy period for charities. Giving Tuesday, big TV adverts and multiple Christmas appeals meant that people had even more contact with charities than usual. But how do the UK public feel about charities at Christmas? Which campaigns are the most successful and why?

In part one of this report we discuss our recent research into the public’s experiences of interacting with charities at Christmas. We look at which causes, charities and campaigns were the winners of Christmas 2015 and why.

We would like to thank our clients and partners for inspiring us to keep researching the topical issues in the sector. As part of our Social Investment programme we regularly produce Free Reports and feed our finding back to the sector so any charity regardless its size or sector can find something useful. Here are the 12 popular reports this  year.

There is little doubt that digital technology has transformed the lives of people in the UK. Alongside the digital giants such as Google and Yahoo who exist purely because of the digital world, startups like Uber or WhatsApp have incorporated technology into their business models and now thrive. Online shopping and banking is getting more comfortable than offline experience with these industries. Even government has got the digital bug, with the vast majority of government services now available via the gov.uk website. 

There are over 160,000 charities in the UK¹, benefiting a wide range of causes from hospices to international development. We explore facts and figures to try and determine which of these causes appeal most to the general public, but find that the outcome depends on the criteria used. When asked, the public name clear favourites such as cancer and animals, but when their donating and volunteering preferences are considered the picture is far from clear.

The charity world has a conflicted attitude towards companies. Our concern is that the relationship between companies and charities is becoming ever blander. For charities and companies to make the most of each other we need innovation and courage. So what might new ideas look like?

To answer this, Joe Saxton draws on more than 25 years experience in non-profit sector to investigate the effectiveness of current and new models of partnerships in this report. The report consists of five parts:

Have you ever wanted a few facts and figures about the sector at your fingertips?  Have you wished you could give a journalist a few nuggets of info to show how important the sector is to society? 

Based on a sample of nearly 60 UK charities and nfpSynergy data, this five part report looks at some key questions and analyses two areas in detail: the relationship between awareness and income, and that between awareness and media spend.