Expats in Spain potential market for British charities
Howard Lake | 19 September 2006 | News
There are almost 750,000 Brits living permanently or partly in Spain, which could open up a new market for British charities, according to a new report.
The study, conducted by Clare Garey of Daryl Upsall Consulting International (DUCI), interviewed 50 British nationals from 500 names selected at random from telephone directories in the Costa Blanca area of Spain. In line with demographic data available from the Spanish government, more than three quarters of those interviewed were retired or semi-retired.
Just over a quarter of those interviewed said they would like to help a British charity while in Spain, or would consider helping one – representing a potential 182,000 donors. Some already did support charities in the UK, and seemed to be influenced by television advertising. Respondents mentioned that they would consider supporting charities involved in cancer, animals and children. Some also supported charities and NGOs working in Spain.
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Garey said that the age of donors and previous giving history suggested that one-off appeals or donor-led fundraising such as expat social groups or churches. The profile of the group also correlates well with the target market for legacies.
Garey said that a charity might need to invest in a planned giving manager based on the ground in Spain. Clearly [this is] a bold step, but in my view, a charity with enough foresight to do this, and in the right interest area, for example cancer, could do really well, she said.
No mail lists of expats in Spain are available at the moment, but there is already interest from some well-known UK charities to use this research to develop a test fundraising programme in Spain.
The full results of the survey will be presented in a session at the Institute of Fundraising (Scotland) conference on 2 November.
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.