From religious feasts to folklore tradition, February 14th has been a day of celebration for centuries past, but it didn’t become an expression of romantic love until the 18th century. Since then, the idea has bloomed, with Finder putting the public spend at £1.45 billion in 2020. It might sound romantic, but beneath all the pink and fluff there lies hot debate, with many individuals and organisations questioning the commercial value that has come to characterise this unique day.
Certainly, this last year has taught us something about the value of love. Not just between partners, but between family, friends and colleagues – many of whom have experienced heartbreaking loss, or are counting the days until they are reunited. In a world where we are physically distant, it is hard not to feel alone. That’s why, this February 14th, we want to help brighten up someone’s day. That doesn’t mean running out and buying a card or over-priced box of heart-shaped chocolates. No.
This year, we want to share some of the more creative tools charities have used (and are using) to help spread the love. Whether you want to give supporters a socially distant way to show they care, or check in on your donor relationships more generally, this Valentine’s Day is your chance to make someone smile.
Who couldn’t do with one of those?
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No-one knows who coined the phrase, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’. Whoever it was, they got it right. 2020 was probably one of the toughest charities have ever faced. But every cloud has a silver lining.
Looking back over this last year, you should be proud of the way the sector has responded, and of the creativity, resilience and determination charities showed - despite the sudden removal of traditional face-to-face means and methods.
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Legacy giving. It might not be the most glamorous subject, but there’s real potential in the power of a well-tuned programme. Building on several years of strong growth, in 2017/18 Smee & Ford reported legacy gifts topping £3 billion for the first time – with much room for growth (in fact, in their 2019 report, it was estimated that legacy giving could be worth another £10.9 billion to the sector). The picture changed a bit this last year, with the value of legacy giving dropping for the first time since 2011. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for growth. After all, legacy giving has always been about the long game!
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Giving Tuesday is a day of global giving. Last year, charities in the UK raised £10,000 a minute. That’s £14.4 million in 24 hours. Not bad, huh? But here’s the thing. Giving Tuesday is not just about giving money. No. The sector’s response to the infamous antics of Black Friday, Giving Tuesday is about giving back. In any way that you can. When end-of-year targets are looming, it can be easy to forget this simple truth. But as people up and down the UK grapple with the economic impact of COVID-19, charities need to get creative with their fundraising asks. To encourage giving in every shape and form.
Finding value in non-financial asks
Not every gift has to be financial, so we’ve pulled together examples of fundraising asks that go above and beyond money. This does not mean they don’t have value. Far from it. When you add up the contributions of non-financial gifts, you might be surprised. You might even find you have raised more than you would from a traditional capital request. Non-financial asks can also be a great way to help plug the gap in core funding. To bring in essential skills and resources that funders don’t like to fund.
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Earlier in the year, we reported on the initial impact of the pandemic on regular giving. In March, the first month of lockdown, we saw a high jump in donors cancelling their Direct Debit payments, alongside a drop in new regular giving donation sign-ups. April then saw Direct Debit cancellations drop again to return towards their normal trend line, while new sign-ups remained low with most donor acquisition activity on hold.
Seven months on, we’ve come out of lockdown, only for us to now go back into it this November, with all of its associated challenges.
We have continued our monitoring of charity Direct Debit donation payments throughout and can now share our next update Regular Giving Update & Recommendations: Autumn 2020.
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Did you know there are over 1.7 billion websites online right now? Just like any other business, a charity needs to make sure their website offers a good user experience and converts potential donors into donations.
So if you’re wondering how to create a charity website, our eight checkpoints will get you started on the road to success. How many can you tick off?
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There are more than 1,000,000 trustees across the UK. You might not be looking forward to your next meeting, but the fact is that trustees are there to do a job. They are the foundation of your charity. Get the mix right and your board can bring a wealth of skills, experience, perspectives and connections - opening new doors and driving organisational growth. Yet across the UK, boardrooms are dominated by middle-aged, white, men. Unless this is your service demographic, your board is going to need a bit of a shake-up. But with charities up and down the country struggling to fill their trustee vacancies, it isn’t always an easy fix.
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We get it. Digital can be frustrating. Not least because everyone has an opinion, and there is no shortage of consultants, technical ‘wise guys’ and other flamboyant futurists happy to wax lyrical about the virtues and philosophy of digital! But what if you were to ask a leading panel of digital experts this question: “What are 10 things I can do RIGHT NOW?” So, we did and here’s what we found…
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Following publication of the Digital Maturity Playbook for Not for Profit Organisations, we have been monitoring closely how NFP's are responding to the unprecedented challenges of 2020. Having covered the topics of disruption, communications, technology and measurement - we invited our guest author - Ian Patterson back to write on the topic of innovation. In his words “Due to the COVID pandemic there is a possibility for organisations to do one of two things: A) See innovation as a way to 'fight out of a corner’ or B) For innovation to be de-prioritised in favour of ‘steadying the ship’.” Either way, Ian felt that a focus on this topic could be timely for some...
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Page 1 of Google. We all want it, but we don’t all know how to get it. The fact is that SEO is a huge topic that is constantly evolving. That’s fine if you have an in-house web team, or SEO specialist in your ranks. But for most charities? SEO is something you have to figure out as you go. You are not alone. So we asked our in house SEO guru to explain the basics every charity should know.
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