What will it take to get people to give?

Public trust in charities has declined, shows a new survey, and charities need to find ways of getting their message across without seeming to squander money on expensive campaigns.

Charity Funding, a new report compiled by NOP and commissioned by research group Key Note, claims that only 30 per cent of people now believe charities are better at spending donations than governments.

The pressure is on for charities to improve their image and come up with new fundraising techniques, to combat a decline in charitable donations and encourage younger people to be more generous.

Separate research from NOP shows 60.6 per cent of 15to 24-year-olds made average donations of &£4.82 per month. But in the 45to 54-year-old age group, 68.4 per cent gave an average of &£11.80 per month. NOP adds that giving has dropped steadily since 1993.

The sector is clearly in trouble – but charities must decide between throwing more money behind costly above-the-line branding campaigns or finding more innovative means of using precision marketing to persuade potential donors to part with their money.

If a charity uses too much money for fundraising and publicity it could be accused of not giving enough to the people it is trying to help.

The NSPCC was criticised at the end of last year, after admitting spending at least half of its total income on publicity, campaigning and administration.

The charity’s high-profile Full Stop campaign, aimed at stopping cruelty to children, was supported with an extensive &£18m publicity drive, including TV ads featuring The Spice Girls, Alan Shearer and Rupert the Bear, created by Saatchi & Saatchi.

But the NSPCC defended its position, claiming the Full Stop campaign brought a surge in public awareness of child cruelty.

The fact remains, however, that many charities are choosing not to spend millions of pounds on advertising to raise awareness of their work.

According to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), fundraising and publicity costs for the top 500 charities is as low as four per cent of income, while the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) says the figure is three per cent, according to ICM Research.

Barnardo’s had a turnover of &£118m in its last financial year, but spent less than &£1m (0.75 per cent of turnover) on advertising. Although Barnardo’s did launch a hard-hitting press campaign through Bartle Bogle Hegarty, aimed at building the organisation’s reputation as a fundraiser for the 21st century, its officers believe there are better ways of getting people to put their hands in their pockets.

Barnardo’s director of marketing and communications Andrew Nebel says: “Charity giving is flat. The most worrying trend is that younger age groups are giving less. They need to be persuaded to volunteer money and time.

“The challenge is to get people to recognise routes to giving. Young people used to be involved through youth organisations, but young professionals don’t do that any more. Charities have got to use new advertising techniques.”

He adds: “It’s essential in today’s hectic lifestyle to grab attention and intrude on public consciousness. But it’s a question of degree. The public has an intuitive sense of what’s right and we need their consent.”

Charities raise the majority of their funds through direct marketing and poster campaigns, rather than through expensive brand marketing.

One increasingly popular technique is face-to-face marketing. Nebel describes this tactic as “armies of people standing on street corners”, targeting young professionals who are unlikely to have opportunities to make donations and pay little attention to marketing campaigns.

Although Barnardo’s and other well-known charities, such as Greenpeace, use the technique successfully, charity chiefs realise the public’s patience could wear thin.

“Professional fundraisers” who stop people in the street inevitably take a cut of any donation. They are, however, required by law to inform donors about how they are paid.

Nebel adds: “I wish we could have a stream of volunteers, but that doesn’t happen. Also, not everyone knows the cost of fundraising. We need to break inertia and apathy towards giving, and that requires a lot of expenditure.”

The Internet is proving another good medium for charities. Most major organisations have websites which act as a simple way of finding out official information about the organisation.

Charities are also renewing their promotional drives through schools to lodge causes in young minds.

Marie Curie Cancer Care head of marketing Brian Ford says: “We’re always looking to sow seeds as early as we can. We have school fundraising going on, which is a long-term investment as they could come back to us later in life.

“On the whole people will respond to a good cause if it is relevant to them. There is a problem persuading young people to give – they do have a lot on their plates and charities come low down on their list. The job of a marketer is to make the charity relevant.”

School promotions are now being extended towards adults, with experience-based marketing such as sponsored adventure holidays which create a captive audience in a fun environment.

The move towards making giving trendy again has inspired Marie Curie to bring in designer Toby Mott to launch a range of T-shirts, modelled by Kate Moss, which carry Mott’s slogans and the charity’s logo.

Tying up with multinationals for cross-promotions also figures on charities’ marketing agenda. Homeless charity Shelter and Nescafé are planning a national dance event at nightclubs across the UK on February 24.

Shelter director of fundraising Alan Goschalk says: “Events are good for attracting young people. They also benefit both organisations by increasing awareness of what the company is doing in the community and from our point of view it gives us greater resources and experience we can tap into.”

The government recognises the problems that charities face, but has come into conflict with them over strategy and levels of interference.

Last year the Government’s Rough Sleepers Unit launched the Change A Life campaign which caused a headache for Shelter, which refused to sign up to the scheme. The charity claimed Labour’s plea to the public to stop giving directly to people on the streets could have stigmatised homeless people.

The Government has also encountered differences over its &£1m campaign designed to promote charitable giving, which has been organised with the NCVO and CAF and is called Getting Britain Giving.

Many organisations think scrapping VAT in charity shops would be a better idea, especially at a time when spending is down and even chains like Marks & Spencer are struggling.

A predicted downturn in the world economy is likely to make it even harder for charities to raise funds. Operating in an overcrowded sector of 200,000 registered charities means that charitable organisations will need to be even more inventive in the type of marketing tactics they adopt.

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