Trinity produces major Irish fundraising study
Howard Lake | 2 October 2007 | News
The most comprehensive study ever of fundraising organisations in Ireland has been published by the Centre for Nonprofit Management at Trinity College Dublin. ‘Exploring the Irish Fundraising Landscape: A Report on the practice and scale of charitable fundraising from the public in Ireland,’ was commissioned by Irish Charities Tax Research Limited who were in turn supported in the work by the government.
The report was conducted using a quantitative survey which was responded to by 960 fundraising organisations and by focus groups. The 52-page report found that there was increasing competition in fundraising, increasing costs and expectations, and a higher level of accountability being demanded by donors.
Despite higher levels of fundraising most organisations were found to have a big reliance on state funding. Of the organisations surveyed fundraising income represented on average 23% of total income and, while the average raised was ‚€201,000, only 10% raised more than that figure, indicating a large number raising much more modest sums.
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For national and international charities, public collections, corporate donations and standing order/direct debit were the most common source of fundraising income. Web based appeals, legacies and major gifts were relatively less important.
Regional organisations had more dependence on flag days, church gate collections, draws and local sponsorship. Cost (both in terms of time and money), return on investment and public relations were the decisive factors for the majority of charities and balls and treks were losing their appeal as fundraising methods.
The report can be downloaded from the Trinity department’s website.
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.