CAF to survey new media fundraising
Howard Lake | 21 June 2006 | News
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is to undertake research into the use and value of new media fundraising.
Despite some charities have a decade of experience in online fundraising, there is very little sector-wide research on its value to charities and how it is utilised. There has been good research in the form of nfpSynergy’s Virtual Promise reports, and some other reports, but those have focused only in part on fundraising.
To date, most reports have been largely anecdotal, and not surprisingly have focused on the success stories of some of the larger charities such as Comic Relief and of disaster emergency appeals. UK Fundraising has shared details of case studies when they become available, but it has not been possible to come up with any sector wide benchmarks to help charities audit their current activities or plan future development.
Advertisement
This should change courtesy of CAF’s new initiative. As the charity, itself a provider of online fundraising tools for several years, says: “information on the success of new media fundraising and how this compares with other methods is urgently needed by charities”.
CAF is encouraging charities to participate in this research. It will publish its findings in Autumn 2006.
UK Fundraising welcomes this initiative and encourages charities large and small to contact CAF and share their experience, comments, and statistics.
For an informal discussion about the project contact Liz Goodey, Senior Research Officer at CAF, or Ian Mocroft on 01795 591404.
To debate some of these issues join Sarah Hughes on her blog for UK Fundraising. Sarah, former head of new media at CAF, was responsible for leading on many of CAF’s projects to develop online tools and infrastructure for charities and voluntary organisations.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.