Fundraising income impacted by cost-of-living crisis for most grassroots causes last year
Melanie May | 22 May 2024 | News
Just under 86% of grassroots causes surveyed for an easyfundraising report say the cost-of-living crisis had a negative impact on their fundraising income in 2023.
easyfundraising’s survey received over 1,180 responses, with almost half of respondents (45%) very small hyper-local causes and charities with a turnover of less than £5,000 per year. A further 20% have a turnover of less than £20,000.
Just over 86% agreed that the impact of the cost-of-living crisis had worsened in 2023.
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Fundraising income ‘severely’ affected for over a quarter
28% said their fundraising income had been severely affected with a further 34% saying it was moderately affected. Only 9% saw no impact on fundraising income, with a small percentage either not knowing, or for whom the question was not applicable.
The survey found that fundraising income from all sources was low for the majority in 2023, with 46% raising less than £5,000 in 2023, with 20% raising between £5,001 and £20,000.
Almost two-thirds worried about cashflow
61% said they were worried about cashflow. Grants and donations were the most important income streams, and 62% of causes consider unrestricted income to be very important to them.
The biggest challenges for respondents last year were running costs (64% of respondents) and money raised (62%). These were followed by volunteer numbers (48%), energy costs (34%), and demand for services (32%).
Fundraised income going on running costs
Asked specifically how they spent their easyfundraising donations, the majority – 62% – said it was on generally helping to fund their cause / on operational costs. 43% also said they were fundraising specifically for running costs.
Year ahead
Looking at the year ahead, across all respondents, there was an even split between those who felt their fundraising income would increase, and those who felt it was likely to fall. 25% also said they would be changing how they fundraise this year, with almost 36% of causes unsure.
James Moir, CEO of easyfundraising, commented:
“It’s not often we know how grassroots charities and causes across the UK are faring and it’s clear they need our support more than ever.
“Our survey results show we need to support our smaller charities and causes as much as possible. They are the glue that holds our communities together and we need to do all we can to help.”
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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.