The Fundraising Four: examining donor motivations

Understanding these differences could help charities in their targeting, campaign planning and communications. For example, while two – Good Samaritans and Duty Calls – are content to give money to charity, the remaining pair – High-Octane Heroes and Press-Ganged Pals – are the ‘doers’. Doers are more likely to get involved in fundraising events or even volunteer, and love to talk about their support for charity on social media.

Let’s look at each in a little more detail.

Good Samaritans

The largest group are the ‘Good Samaritans’. They are the committed core, frequent and regular givers who have a high level of trust in charities. They can appear low maintenance, giving anonymously and asking for little more than a thank you.

But RedFox warn that this is an aging group, with a significant number who are retired, and charities should not count on younger donors growing into this persona as they get older.

High-Octane Heroes

This is a niche but highly active group. These are the cheerleaders of fundraising, who love to get involved in group events and enjoy a challenge. They find raising money for charity incredibly rewarding and get a morale boost from doing so – and they’re the most active group when it comes to social media. Charities will recognise these as some of their most passionate and vocal supporters, but they are vulnerable to the next big trend.

Press-Ganged Pals

The ‘joiners in’, Press-Ganged Pals get carried along by what’s going on around them, and sign up to group events largely to be sociable. They don’t find giving to charity particularly rewarding, but don’t like to be left out.

They’re happy to support friends and family with sponsorship, but sometimes feel a bit pressured with all of the requests they get. There’s a danger they’ll sign up but loose interest – and charities need to be careful this group don’t end up costing them money.

Duty Calls

The smallest group, at 17% of the donor population, and also with an older age profile. These are dubbed ‘reluctant conformists’ because they don’t really ‘feel’ charity and do the minimum required to avoid standing out. They’re unlikely to be regular givers, and they shy away from events. With a low level of trust in charities, they are hard to influence.