Results from our Giving Research Survey 2009
A collaboration between the PFRA, the Fundraising Standards Board, and nfpSynergy
In January 2010 the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) will announce how it will spend the remaining £600K of the £2.2 million it originally made available for research at the Centre for Philanthropy and Charitable Giving. Projects funded initially include examining; the social returns on charitable investment, whether charitable activity might mitigate or reinforce social and economic inequalities and the structures of institutionalised giving. Despite the title of the Centre, projects designed to grow individual giving in the U.K and to assist fundraisers in raising funds have so far been notable by their absence.
In August/Sept of 2009 we therefore asked professional fundraisers what research they would most like to see conducted, to offer guidance to the ESRC in respect of how their remaining monies might best be allocated. In total 221 fundraisers completed our survey, most of who were in senior roles (i.e. CEOs, Directors, or Managers). Both large and small charities were represented and half of the sample was found to have overall responsibility for all of the fundraising undertaken at their organisation.
The top 10 categories of research identified as priorities were as illustrated in the Table below.
| Category of Research |
Ranking* |
| Identification of new segments of society that would be likely to give |
1 (51%) |
| Donor motivation: donor psychology |
2 (47%) |
| Patterns of Internet giving – online donor behavior |
3 (44%) |
| Major donors – motives and barriers to giving |
4 (40%) |
| Donor retention – strategies for developing donor loyalty |
5 (37%) |
| Overall trends in giving |
6 (32%) |
| Research among younger people about their giving |
7 (32%) |
| Research about corporate attitudes to giving |
8 (32%) |
| Legacies – donor motivation and effective solicitation. |
9 (30%) |
| Research to develop new fundraising ‘products’ |
10 (29%) |
*Percentage of respondents answering ‘very useful’
This list gels well with the results of a review of the existing academic research on philanthropy, which suggests that a Centre wishing to grow giving in the UK should focus on those areas where the largest effect sizes would be likely to be attained. In this case priority areas are seen as public trust and confidence in the charity sector (a major determinant of participation in giving), donor loyalty, philanthropic psychology, Internet giving and a longitudinal study of the longer term performance of various fundraising strategies.
Neither of these lists bears much resemblance to the list of projects so far commissioned by the ESRC. As they approach their final allocation we would therefore urge them to take account of the views of both fundraisers and the fundraising academy and invest in applied research that would make a genuine difference to the sector.
Adrian Sargeant and Joe Saxton
Oct 2009