Many charities 'fail to meet expectations' of wealthier donors
Howard Lake | 15 May 2003 | News
A new study suggests that the high-handed attitude of many UK charities is losing them millions of pounds.
“Managing Major Donors: how charities manage their relationships with major donors”, a study published yesterday jointly by the Institute for Philanthropy and the Ansbacher Group, has revealed that many of Britain’s charities are failing to meet or even understand the expectations of their wealthier donors. The insensitivity of some organisations could be costing them millions of pounds a year by deterring continued giving from existing donors.
The study, conducted by independent market researcher Judie Lannon, is based on the results of a survey that set out to investigate how charities currently manage their major donors and to contribute towards the development of Best Practice guidelines to increase the success of future fundraising efforts from this vitally important group.
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The study quotes last year’s study by the Institute for Public Policy Research into the attitudes of the affluent to philanthropy. “‘A Bit Rich?’ What the wealthy think about giving” reported that “What is striking is that there is little evidence of much thought being put into how much the rich and affluent give.”
This week’s study is quite scathing of some of the charities’ fundraising capabilities. It reports that:
- Charities lack a strategic approach to fundraising and rely on amateurish practices that are rooted in the past
- Fundraising should be part of the responsibility of trustees and senior executives and not simply left to the professional fundraisers
- Opportunities for fundraising from major donors remain largely unrecognised and so projects lack appropriate leadership, methodologies and resources
- Too little commitment to identify, grow and harvest relationships with both individuals and organisations
- Many donors want to become more involved in their chosen charities but are given very few opportunities to do so
- Donors can feel taken for granted and as a result either limit their giving or curtail it completely
The study sets out a set of guidelines which are intended to help charities to adopt more professional and commercially appropriate processes.
Hilary Browne-Wilkinson, director of the Institute for Philanthropy said;
“Six per cent of people contribute some 60% of all monies donated to charities. Anything which can be done to improve the understanding of the needs and motivations of this important group can only be of help to the sector as a whole.”
The study canvassed the responses of 31 people from 13 charities. It focused on wealthy people capable of giving more than £5,000.
A full copy of the report can be viewed or downloaded from the Ansbacher web site at www.ansbacher.com, or the Institute for Philanthropy web site.
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.