Significant YOY rise in digital wallet use for single & regular donations, goDonate data shows
Melanie May | 25 April 2024 | News
Digital wallets now account for nearly half of all single donations and regular gifts, with a significant year on year rise, according to the findings of goDonate’s annual analysis of charity data.
The Online Donations Insights Report 2024 is compiled from an analysis of anonymised donations data as part of more than £25mn worth of income handled for charities by goDonate in the past 12 months. Data is from charities with an annual voluntary income ranging between £1m to £100m+, with Marie Curie, Battersea, The Fire Fighters Charity, Prostate Cancer UK and NSPCC among goDonate’s charity clients.
Single gifts by Apple Pay rise 39%
The data shows that digital wallets were used to make 43% of single gifts by donors to the charities it works with – up from 39% in the previous year. Apple Pay donations alone increased by 39% compared to 2022, reaching 12.2% of donations. However, the highest average single gift is still made by card, at £60.84, compared to £35.56 by PayPal, £31.69 by Apple Pay, and £29.40 by Google Pay.
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Donations by digital wallet & card account for 40% of regular gifts
Looking at regular giving, goDonate reports that donations via digital wallets and cards made up 40% of regular gifts, with a 17% YOY increase in overall monthly regular giving income. The average monthly gift remained steady at £9.86, compared to 2022’s £9.79.
The report also notes that digital wallets and cards also now outperform Direct Debit in terms of average gift, at £16.94 for card, £12.82 for Apple Pay, £10.34 for PayPal, and £9.77 for Direct Debit.
In addition, the report reveals that charities using goDonate to handle donations via their website saw a 14% rise in one-off online donation income, with spikes in donations following major events such as the onset of the Gaza conflict, and the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The analysis also highlights that:
- 47% of the total donations for the year were made during November and December 2023 – up from 45% in 2022
- Donors were more likely to opt in to receive communications via email compared to all other fundraising channels
- There is a growing trend towards using Legitimate Interest for phone fundraising consent
Vicky Reeves, Managing Director, goDonate, said:
“The use of digital wallets such as ApplePay has significantly increased year-on-year not just for one-off donations but for monthly gifts as well. It is vital that charities offer the widest possible range of payment choices within their donation journeys.
“Overall, it’s fantastic to see that the downward trend of donations during the past couple of years has been reversed. An increase in both the number of online donations and income across the board in 2023 proves that UK donors are still eager to support charities, and remain generous when they do.”
The report is available by request at Ch************@go******.digital.
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.