What makes you engage with charity fundraising and what puts you off?

[5013R]

Hi all - I’m hoping / looking for some honest views on fundraising. I lead a medium-sized domestic abuse charity which supports women and children. It has been around for a long time and I am not the founder. It depends on fundraising, grants and a couple of contracts to survive, and the fundraising landscape is understandably bleak right now. I don’t think any charities are having a particularly good time, but in this sector where we have to safeguard the identities of who we support and be very careful not to put anyone at increased risk, our marketing strategy means fundraising suffers even further. I can’t show donors the lovely faces of our service users to show impact and tell their story.

Whether from a personal, community or corporate fundraising perspective, can you tell me - what makes you engage? What makes you avoid and walk away? What fundraising activities have you been involved in that you absolutely loved and would recommend?

The charity world is a very proud one where it is not the done thing to ask these questions in a public forum, so I’m hoping Mumsnet can help - any thoughts massively appreciated!

Like others, I want to know where the money is going - I was a volunteer for a charity for a while and it was an eye opener, with the co-ordinator and his pals doing very nicely from it. Transparency is very important.

Most importantly, if I'm giving to a charity that supports women I want to be 100% sure their definition of women does not include men who identify as women.

I support Women’s Aid and have been horrified by the way some of the shelters put vulnerable abused women in with men. I too would really like to support a charity that keeps women safe. If you do I think this would attract donations.

I’m another that would want reassurance no transwomen were involved in your org before I donated.

Really don't know, i give money to charities that mean something to me, however having being a victim of da, the supports were bloody useless, so I dont think, in my case, there is anything you could do, but do agree if for women, mean women - I cancelled my dd of 20 + yrs to the MS society due to gender nonsense esp as it is a disease that is correlated with sex.

I only consider engaging if the charity is one I care about.

I don't engage with charities that pay their CEOs salaries of £100k plus.

In terms of work fundraising I don't engage with anything that's sponsoring a person to do something they would normally pay for the privilege of doing - bungee jumping, treks through scenic or exciting places, 'volunteerism', marathons etc. I only sponsor genuinely onerous things, e.g. litter picking

I don't engage with raffles because there's hardly ever one where I'd be happy with any prize - I don't drink alcohol, I don't eat chocolate and I have no room in my life for giant teddy bears.

I don't do direct debits, bank transfers, contactless payments or QR codes.

If I care about a charity and it's run in line with my ethics, keep it simple - all you need to do is shake a bucket under my nose and I'll donate.

Over the last few years apart from Micro Lending, I have redirected my Charity budget to the appeals where women have been fighting against Stonewall TQ+ overreach into all sectors of our public and national life.
As others have said, any charity supporting women would need to convince me that they were referring to women and not just those identifying as women.

Actually mosquito net charities are a good example of total transparency, the Against Malaria Foundation for example will give you a little dashboard showing exactly how many nets your donation has actually bought and where they have been sent to, so it isn't an empty promise. With mosquito nets too you can actually make a very direct link between so many nets purchased = so many fewer malaria infections= so many lives saved, it's also extremely cost effective, all of which makes it very appealing to me

But that isn't massively helpful to OP, because domestic violence is generally a much more complicated and expensive problem to solve and outcomes harder to track than with some other interventions, which does if I'm honest put me off - not that I don't think it's important but within limited resources whether other causes would spend my donation more effectively. Of course I do want there to be refuge places available for women and children in need but I haven't really seen many charities be able to give convincing numbers about long-term outcomes (and of course what would you be comparing with, hard to have a control group in this instance), that in itself would require quite high level research input. But what I guess I would value is (a) transparency about what you actually fund, how many refuge placements you provide per say £10 donated, and what does that cover, is it literally just a roof over the head or does it include advisory/counselling/prevention services too, and be honest about overheads, any well run charity will have these of course (b) any stats you can provide on the effectiveness of your service, say how many users go on into stable housing after leaving the refuge, how many multiple users who struggle to break the cycle etc. Personally I don't really care for personal stories or needing to see the faces of the service users but I know that does engage many people so perhaps worth thinking how you can do this anonymously?

I work in fundraising. I disagree with your point that the charity world is very protective of its fundraising strategies - there are lots of resources and research out there and most of my peers at similar organisations will happily share ideas and funding sources. Try getting a women's sector fundraising network together.

I would recommend getting 2 or 3 case studies of where your work has made a positive impact. They can be anonymous but they should show the difference made to the service users' lives by your donations. Personal and emotional stories.

As a donor, I care about whether what I am paying for is being done or has been done. I generally don't give to anything abstract - like 'environmental awareness' or 'mental health'. But I would give to a sensory garden for therapy or creating a green space. I would much rather give to something small in my community that I can see the evidence of than something big and amorphous that can't be tracked like solving world hunger.

I don't care about admin costs - charity is an inherently admin heavy process - data, financial audits, evidence of benefit, reporting etc. Similarly I do think people should be paid for professional work.

I don't donate to anyone that uses chuggers. I'm more and more wary of donating if you get put on a list and then you get spammed forever by email or post and I feel assailed by it.

Like a lot of people I have basically three types of giving:

1. Planned regular giving. I commit 2% of my income per month to Give Directly at the moment. Previously it was GiveWell top charities fund.
2. GiftAid, haphazardly at point of sale, if I can be bothered to give my details at the museum/gallery/chazzer.
3. Random pangs like seeing a children's food charity appeal or Refuge Christmas list online.

Like others, I've been a bit wary of professionalised women's organisations in recent years as they seem to be hostile to ordinary women now and I don't want to participate in that issue.

I donate to 7 charities via Give as You Earn at work. I choose small charities that align with my priorities, such as Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust etc. They are mainly environmental. I would be reluctant to give to a big charity due to their costs and Director’s pay.

I also give to others that I’ve picked up along the way, often due to endorsement by a trusted celebrity such as Ricky Gervaise.

If I was approached by a refuge charity like yours, I too would want to see that it is for biological women only.

I often get ideas about charities from Facebook posts, and I responded to a call from Butterfly Conservation, but those were charities that I was already considering.

Actually, an important thing for me has been a web page and someone answering a phone when I have questions.

Because charity, innit, and many people will happily donate their time to support causes close to their hearts. There would obviously have to be a core element of managerial & IT staff etc, but smaller charities can be run almost entirely by volunteers. Charity shops run that way - staffed by volunteers apart from the branch manager.

Some large well-known charities pay their board truly eye-watering sums. I know this because (for professional reasons) I've had to dig into their finances on occasion. There was one I looked into some years ago where the chief executive was paid considerably more than... wait for it... £750,000 a year.

I used to work in the charity fundraising sector. I believe that if people are going to be paid to stand about and sign folks up to direct debits etc, then the donor should be aware that a portion of their donation will be going to the commercial business working on behalf of the charity. That includes the weekly/monthly sweepstake type fundraising as well, which are usually run not by the charity itself, but by a separate profit-making entity. Their profit comes out of your donation.

It is preferable, therefore, to have volunteers volunteering whenever possible, so that donations end up where intended.

I've just remembered that I used to donate to Salvation Army or Crisis at Christmas every year in December but I stopped because they were forever wasting stamps writing to me during the year asking for more.

I’m answering on a much smaller scale than the posters above, but I love getting something fun for my donation. I paid £5 +giftaid for a slice of homemade cake today. I love raffles, mystery bags, a tote bag, just token stuff rather than straight up saying goodbye to my money. Also like attending charity events where the ticket price is the donation.

I never donate to charities that stop me in the street when I’m on my way to work/shops/meet at friend/catch etc. I find being accosted on the street incredibly rude - I don’t care what the charity is, you will not get my money if you try and stop me on the street.

what I want is some information that clearly sets out what the money will be used for, and then time and space to think it through with absolutely no pressure tactics.

Coming back to your question about what I have enjoyed - I prefer to support where I get something out of it - eg a quiz night or an event. And do remember that you can often add something on - eg I ran for a national charity that meant something to me which had a place that wasn't extortionate for a race I wanted to do that is hard to get on. They sent me a running top. The covering letter thanked me for running and said that they had a marquee at a number of other events and (without running for them in those races) their local commitees would love to see me there for a banana and coffee/bag drop etc. Cost them next to nothing - a banana and a teaspoon of nescafe but it was really appreciated as a nice gesture and a chance to feel part of a team of runners even when I wasn't fundraising.

Also realistic asks - I volunteer for a foodbank and every now and then we do a donation drive at local supermarkets. People respond really well to being asked if they would just pick up an extra tin or packet for us with their shop - I'd say about 3/4 donate something and 5% stop for a chat and ask about our work or donate a lot. People like that we are not asking for a lot and that we are asking for something practical.

'Some large well-known charities pay their board truly eye-watering sums'

The trustees that make up charity boards are all volunteers and do not get any remuneration.

Some large well-known charities pay their board truly eye-watering sums.

Untrue. Quite the opposite. Most trustees actually donate (usually five and six figure sums) to the charity they volunteer for.

CEO - this isn't a trustee role and is paid. You can go on the Charity Commission website to find out how much senior members of staff are paid.

I don't think the CEO and senior leadership of Cancer Research (£600M+ per annum turnover) or the Royal British Legion (£100m+ per annum turnover) should be a volunteer. These are serious jobs with massive responsibility and high public profile.

Some of the larger domestic abuse charities partner with ambassadors, usually women in the public eye who have experienced abuse and are ready to talk about it, so their story is used eg Mel B and women’s aid. Where I’ve worked we’ve had lower level celebrities who go on shows like celebrity mastermind and will donate if they win but even if not will mention your work on the programme which gets name recognition.

Other things I’ve seen in places I’ve worked in the DA sector: partnering with corporate companies as part of their corporate responsibility - we had an IDVA funded for a year. Actors or comedians giving a percentage of ticket sales to the organisation. People running marathons/ half marathons for the charity. I don’t work in fundraising so not sure how much you get from these things though

Also to add, as a fundraiser I think you should make sure to understand what actually is done to support the women your organisation works with. I used to work at a big DA charity and the funding people sat at head office with not a clue what the actual issues were which may make it harder to speak with authority.

Also, keep v good relationships with any of the local authorities you work with. It’s so easy for a large generic charity to undercut on a bid and before you know it you’ve lost contracts ( have seen this many times). Fundraising is great, but core funding often needs a lot of attention!

I've become hugely sceptical of large national and international charities , their overheads are enormous and very little of the donations ends up where they should be, they end up just financing their own fundraising efforts, so much spent on marketing. Id only support small local charities these days, fundraising for a local, defined and single cause, that is achievable and visible to me. Not some nebulous unspecified 'good' cause.

Sorry, haven’t read the full thread, so apologies if this has already been said. Fundamentally, people give to people. People give to causes the care about, where they are engaged emotionally. The also need to know that their money has been well spent, so transparency is important, and even if you need a bit of imagination about how you do it, demonstrating impact is hugely important.

in theory, you have a cause that a lot of people could relate to. Can you anonymise case studies? Telling stories is a classic fundraising thing.

If you want to see some really effective fundraising, have a look at the donkey sanctuary in Sidmouth. They have a bunch of very sad donkeys who will become very happy donkeys if just just give a bit to support them. They have more money than they know what to do with. They are very, very effective.

Tbh for me it's things thst directly or indirectly affect me. I like animal charities especially cats, have had rescue cats as pets so will happily donate to them. I donate things to the cancer research shop cos my Dad died from cancer. Most of my fundraising goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Support Centre as they provide my physio.

I'm not saying other charities are undeserving, except Macmillan, which is never seeing a penny of my money, but I am not wealthy and want my donations to go to something I personally care about.

Having once worked for a household name charity I am very cynical about fundraising.

I now donate specific things to small charities and set aside an annual amount. For example I had a few hundred pounds to spend last year so I made an appointment with a local charitable organisation which I know does a lot of good in our community. I asked them what they needed and then bought it and had it delivered.

I no longer do regular donations by direct debit or whatever and certainly don't respond to chuggers.

When I travelled to India many years ago, two women used to cook big pots of stew for the street children. They would use ALL the money that people donated to buy the ingredients each day. They also used their own money, and their families back in the UK would send money. I was happy to give money to them as I could see where the money was going. It was my first time seeing abject poverty.

I tend to prefer my charitable donations to go to charities that support women/children. I like to know where the money is going. And yes, I want to know that women doesn't mean trans identifying males.