The scariest things facing charities this Halloween

Digital Fundraising Provides a Solution to Falling Revenue

Public giving figures released in September proved scary reading among charities. The analysis by think tank nfpSynergy found that over the summer, just 54% of the public gave to good causes. This is a 15 percent drop from January and “the lowest level of giving we have ever recorded” said a statement from the think tank.

Charity shop closures, curbs on street collections and cancellations of in-person events have impacted on charities’ ability to fundraise this year.

The fall in public donations to charities could be around £1bn, estimates online fundraising platform Omaze. And according to Blackbaud Europe’s Status of UK Fundraising 2020 Benchmark Report, 27% of charity professionals say their income has fallen.

Digital is key to solving this problem. Fundraising platforms such as JustGiving, Virgin Money Giving and Givey can encourage their supporters to ask for donations and take part in their own virtual sponsorship events. The most notable of these was the pivoting of the London Marathon to a virtual fundraiser this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

But there are so many more digital solutions to help charities seek out donations this year. Effective customer relationship management (CRM) systems, such as Salesforce.org’s Nonprofit Cloud as well as Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Service, are key to this. Using digital tools to nurture relationships with supporters and fend off income losses can be as effective as garlic is at repelling vampires at Halloween.

Charity Events Pose Unique Challenges

Event management has been thrown into chaos this year, through social distancing guidelines making mass events difficult to impossible. But this has not stopped events taking place successfully online. We have already mentioned the success in pivoting mass participation fundraisers, such as marathons, online. The same solutions have been found for conferences that have been cancelled this year.

Through these virtual conferences, charity leaders can still learn about best practice and take part in discussions, often from their own home as they adjust to remote working.

Charity Digital has been among charity sector organisations championing online conferencing and webinars. This has included a Charity Digital webinar staged earlier this month on How to run effective webinars. Another has been our #BeMoreDigital Fundraising Day, an extension of last year’s Digital Fundraising Day. This year’s virtual event aimed to help charities navigate fundraising challenges.

Find out how you can plan your event calendar for 2021 and beyond.

Racism and Exclusion are Key Challenges for Leadership

Governance issues can be challenging for charities to manoeuvre, especially when threats to ethical practice come from within their own organisation.

Chief among these threats has been racism, which the charity sector has increasingly looked to address, especially in a year when Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Among charitable organisations to carry out reviews to address racism in their organisation are the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Christian Aid.

There are a number of digital solutions to help charities tackle racism. This includes online resources made available by the campaign group CharitySoWhite. This month the group launched two surveys to gather a clearer insight into the voluntary sector and how it can be more equitable and anti-racist.

Removing unconscious biases in recruitment is also an area digital can help. For example, Comic Relief uses the digital platform Applied to carry out measures such as anonymising candidate names.