Digital Donor Review confirms growth in mobile giving
Howard Lake | 13 February 2014 | News
The number of people reporting text giving as their preferred way to give to charity increased by a fifth last year, according to the second edition of the Digital Donor Review, produced by online giving platform Give As you Live.
The survey of 3,197 charity donors revealed that the number of people saying they would rather give by text than any other method went up by two percentage points, from nine per cent in 2012 to 11 per cent in 2013 – an increase of 22 per cent.
But a separate survey of 375 charity workers conducted by Give As You Live this month suggests that only a quarter of charities fundraise using SMS, while 83 per cent do not have a mobile strategy.
Polly Gowers, founder and CEO of Give as you Live, said:
“Mobile has long been a priority in many other sectors, namely retail and social media. These sectors have seen the opportunity to reach consumers who increasingly live their lives through portable, connected devices.
“However, our research suggests that charities are currently left behind. The third sector needs to work together to embrace mobile and use it to increase charitable support.”
Other findings from the survey include:
- Making a donation is the main reason people visit charity websites (21 per cent visiting for this reason)
- Twenty-two per cent of people aged over 75 named email as the form of communication most likely to prompt them to donate.
The review also suggested that the number of people who preferred to give by Direct Debit had fallen from 20 per cent to 18 per cent.
However, Direct Debit remains the second most widespread method of giving to charity, after cash donation. CAF/NCVO’s UK Giving Report 2012 – published in November 2012 reported that 31 per cent of donors donated a median monthly amount of £10 via a Direct Debit. The same CAF/NCVO report found that only one per cent of donors had made donations by text in 2011/12 – but that was double the figure for 2010/11.
The Digital Donor Review survey was carried out via Give As You Live’s charity network. Give As You Live created the survey and asked charities to distribute to their donor base. In return, charities receive bespoke reports which pulls our their data in comparison to the rest.
How is the digital giving landscape changing?
Online usage for charity donors 2012 and 2013
Digital trends
Trends at Give as you Live 2012-2013
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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.