How well do you know your audience?

Arguably charities’ biggest asset is their core users. It is this group of vital stakeholders who donate regularly, are active service users and are strong supporters of charities’ key messaging.

 

They can be instrumental in helping charities develop, improve services and bolster fundraising efforts.

 

It is a relationship that can be significantly enhanced amid the Covid-19 pandemic and as lockdown eases.

 

Two reports released recently show how charities are increasingly looking to engage further with their supporters and involve them in fundraising activity.

 

The first has been published by Rapidata and is called Navigating times of crises to protect regular giving.

 

This found a strong appetite among charities to engage further with their core supporters. Three quarters have ramped up their use of social media to do this and 62 per cent had increased their email exchanges with them.

 

This will continue as lockdown eases with three quarters of charities expecting to continue to accelerate their use of digital channels to engage with supporters.

 

Stewardship

 

The other recent report, by charity and hospices consortium Legacy Foresight, highlights how charities are specifically working with their core supporters to be their creative arm for digital fundraising efforts.

 

This focuses on how charities are working with their supporters who are looking to create in-memory fundraising – to pay tribute to a loved one they have lost and raise money for the charities they support.

 

This Legacy Foresight report looks at an increasingly popular theme in the voluntary sector of ‘stewardship’, whereby charities have a duty of care to look after their supporters. Digital has been vital to this stewardship as charities and core supporters work as one to create innovative fundraising. This has included setting up donation pages via online fundraising platforms as well as helping them create content across social media.

 

“It’s so important to remember that the desire to honour a loved one who has died underlies so many types of charity support. Our research proves how important charities’ application of good stewardship is to their in-memory fundraising,” said Kate Jenkinson. Legacy Foresight’s Head of In-Memory Consultancy.