Public irritation declines as barrier to giving, says nfpSynergy report
Melanie May | 25 October 2016 | News
Concerns about charities’ administration costs are still the biggest barrier to giving, but there has been a fall in public irritation with fundraisers in the last 18 months, according to an nfpSynergy report.
Trends in ‘barriers to giving’ by the general public compares public opinions given in January 2015 and July 2016, and shows the biggest change to be the drop in the persistence and intrusiveness of fundraising as a barrier to donating.
‘Fundraising being too persistent’ dropped from 45% to 35% in the 18 months from January 2015 to July 2016, while ‘Fundraising methods being too intrusive’ dropped from 36% to 28% in the same period. Older people however are the most likely to find fundraising too persistent or intrusive, with 47% of 55-64 year olds identifying this as a barrier, and 44% of those aged 65 and over.
The main barriers to giving remain too little money going to the cause at 54% (56% in January 2015), and too much money spent on staff salaries at 43%. Not being sure how donations were spent was also an issue, at 40% in July 2016, although this had dropped slightly from 43% in January 2015.
nfpSynergy’s Joe Saxton said:
“These research results suggest that fundraising has already significantly changed since the Olive Cooke affair and all that followed. The most likely reason for this is that far less mass fundraising is now taking place, partly due to the demise of so many outsourced fundraising agencies, and partly because charities are being far more cautious with the activities they carry out. “
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.