Next month nfpSynergy will be running its first ever research to find out how the people of Wales view charities. This will sit alongside our research in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and we are excited to find out how Welsh perceptions of charities differ to those of their Scottish and Northern Irish counterparts.

This research comes at a vital time as the Welsh charity sector has been facing some serious challenges. They’ve been affected by many of the issues facing the rest of the UK, including austerity and funding cuts combined with increasing demands for their services.

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.

Michele Madden reports on the first findings from our online community and wonders whether charities are making the most of raising awareness and donations in December. 

The season of good will and giving is just around the corner – and many charities will be reaching out to donors with their key appeals and campaigns. We know Christmas is one of the most important and valuable times of the year for charities, yet we think it is going to become increasingly difficult to engage donors during this time.

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? 

With countless negative stories and shouts of crisis, fundraising has some serious recovery steps to take. Rob White & a few nfpSynergy members of staff take a look at what those might be.

It’s been a tough few months for fundraising.

The complaints have rolled in. The media stories have been rolled out. Heads haven’t quite rolled, but people like William Shawcross have, quite justifiably, argued that the sector is in crisis.

When someone mentions ‘pester power’, the first thing that springs to mind is likely to be children hassling their parents for junk food or the latest toy or smartphone. You probably won’t think first of the positive role which children and young people might have on the adults in their lives.