The best benchmarking and digital reports for fundraising

Charting a fundraising journey is never easy. Reports are crucial to understanding the bigger picture and how operations are faring when compared with others.

 

Here, we take a high-level view of the reports and other benchmarking tools we like and what to consider when using them.

 

 

Blackbaud Institute’s The Status of UK Fundraising

 

Blackbaud’s survey of over 1,000 industry professionals gathers insights on fundraising trends, digital, and collaboration. Digging deeper into the background of respondents, 62% are fundraisers and just over half come from organisations with an income of over £10 million per annum. The size and scope of the survey makes Blackbaud’s research an authority in the sector.

 

The benefits of using this report are manifold when it comes to looking a tech and fundraising. To pull out the learnings from 2022:

• Around 80% of respondents understood how digital can improve the relationship with supporters
• Those that got the most out of tech were considered digitally mature

Charities using the report say that it gives them perspective. Mimmo DiGiacomo from Animal Free Research UK says: “It’s about looking at trends and how giving flows, reframing what your organisation needs and what its goals are, only then look at what kind of technology can help achieve the new plan.”

 

 

The NCVO Digital Maturity Matrix

 

The Digital Maturity Matrix is not so much a report as a benchmarking tool. It helps management gauge what their organisations are good at, and what can be improved. Leaders answer questions across seven themes:

• Leadership and strategy
• Expertise and capacity
• Technology
• Service design
• Content
• Communications and campaigns
• Data and insight
• Security and data protection

The output is useful for leaders on two accounts. The first, the questionnaire can be done over time and progress is tracked. Second, charities have access to other responses so they can see where they rank when compared to peers. 

 

 

National Philanthropic Trust UK’s Charitable Giving Statistics and DAF Report

 

The National Philanthropic Trust’s reporting is useful for leaders who want to identify giving trends from trusts, foundations, and philanthropists.

 

The 2022 DAF Report is one of the only sector-wide ones tracking donor-advised funds (DAFs). Together, the statistics and DAF reports help form a macro-picture of what is happening in this giving segment.

 

For fundraisers the most meaningful findings are:

• DAFs are growing despite other reports finding decreases in charity income
• Charitable assets in DAFs grew by 20% from 2020-2021 to £2.2 billion

Ultimately, the growth is noted by  CEO John Canady: “Since every pound in donor-advised fund accounts is destined for charitable organisations, the rise in donor-advised funds is good news for British charities and charities around the world that receive grants from DAFs.”

 

 

Legacy Foresight’s Legacy Monitor

 

The premier subscription for Legacy Foresight’s services is the Legacy Monitor. Since 1994, the organisation has been tracking how legacy giving has evolved. In memory giving and gifts upon death are growing – over the past 30 years, the income type has quadrupled, according to the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

 

The benefits of the Legacy Monitor are many:

• Tracking and benchmarking of legacy income and legacy bequests covering half of all UK legacy giving
• Access to interactive Power BI dashboards, updated each quarter
• Ability to compare your legacy performance with other peers in the Legacy Monitor Consortium
• Quarterly and annual updates from Legacy Foresight on the latest trends in legacy giving
• Annual benchmarking of other legacy-related benchmarks such as legator profiles and legacy timelines
• Customised legacy health checks to assist charities in developing their strategy

You can find more detail about services, timings, and costs on the Legacy Foresight website. 

 

 

CAF World Giving Index and UK Giving Report

 

The World Giving Index provides international charities with a global perspective on sentiment, donating, and volunteering. The report takes stock of over 1.95 million respondents and is representative of 119 countries and 90% of the adult population. The report is the premier one to follow for donor trends. The 2022 key findings highlight:

• In 2021, the rate of giving increased 10% in high-income countries and has bounced back from lows in 2018
• Indonesia remains the most generous country with the highest rates of donation and volunteering

Narrowing the scope, The UK Giving Report 2022 hones in on behaviour in the UK and has been running since 2004. To pull out a few key observations:

• In 2021, popular charitable causes remain the same, however, conservation and environmental causes have seen incremental gains with donations averaging £24 from £17 in 2017
• Overall, giving is decreasing in the UK

In summary, using both these reports help form a powerful view when forecasting income.

 

 

Uprise Up Charity Digital Benchmark

 

The Charity Digital Benchmark is a tool used to compare performance across digital. Charities can sign up and receive access to data on how they are performing relative to others. It’s most similar to the Digital Maturity Matrix.

 

All organisational data is pooled into a centralised platform and pulled across Overview, Device, Traffic Source, and Social Media tabs. The service runs queries on the platform, aggregating data on how charities are performing. For example, organisations looking at traffic can compare their social media profiles against others in the network.

 

Overall, the Charity Digital Benchmark is a great tool for leaders looking to chart progress along specific metrics.