Why funding cuts won't cut it with your donors

A report just published by the Institute of Fundraising and YouGov has found that only 8% of donors think that a reduction in government funding to charities would prompt them to make a donation.

This is a sobering fact for those tasked with creating a compelling case for support to encourage donations in a time of austerity.

Charities that have relied on state funding for much of their income are looking with renewed interest at their voluntary fundraising strategies.

But it's clear from this report that simply saying "Please help us keep this service open!" won't be enough to convince donors to give.

Instead, donors want to see charities keeping within the law, properly publicising their cause and telling donors how they spend their money and the impact it has.

This isn't rocket science, but donors' preferences can sometimes be overlooked in the face of urgent organisational priorities.

And for any charity looking to make a solid case to the Board about the need to invest in fundraisers, well, this finding from the report might help:

38% of people surveyed who had donated in the last three months said they would not have donated at all if they hadn't been asked to by a fundraiser.

In a time of unprecedented cuts, fierce competition between charities, and a public concerned about the affordability of donating at all (61% said it's the main obstacle to giving to charity) fundraising has seldom been tougher.

The charities that fare best will be those who listen to their donors, spend time getting their case for support right, and above all else, invest in people who know how to inspire donors to give.

How to make sure your donors aren't daunted by the scale of your mission

Ask anyone what's important to them when considering making a donation to a charity and they'll tell you they want their hard earned cash to make a difference. We think carefully about where we spend our money in other areas of life - a washing machine, that pair of shoes, a holdiay - and deciding which charity to give to is no different.

Competition for donors is fierce, and as fundraisers, we have to be able to make a compelling case why someone should choose you over any other charity or cause.

The temptation is to dazzle people with the sheer scale of the task you have undertaken: "xxx,000 children in peril", "x million diagnosed with a fatal disease" "£xxx,xxxx needed to build research centre", and so on.

Or, to impress donors with the full range of services you provide for a variety of stakeholders: "We do this, and this, and this and this, and it's all vitally important!"

The voluntary sector tackles some pretty huge issues, and charities don't tend to settle for anything less than an ambitious mission.  So it's no surprise that we fundraisers often also think big when telling our stories.

But for a donor with, perhaps, £10 to spare, their contribution can feel like a very small drop in a vast ocean, and that's not a compelling proposition.

Thinking about this yesterday, I remembered a wise Fundraising Director I once worked for at a huge international development charity.

He told us the story of a man walking on to a long beach and seeing at the other end specks on the sand, and a small figure darting from the sea back up the beach and then down again, over and over again.

As he got close, he saw that the beach was covered in stranded starfish and the figure was a boy, picking them up and taking them down to the sea.

Curious, he asked the boy what he was doing. "I'm rescuing these starfish." he said. "If I don't get them back in the water they'll die!"

"But there are thousands of them," said the man "you can't possibly hope to make a difference." 

The boy looked at him, then picked up a starfish, ran to the sea with it, and came back to the man.  "Made a pretty big difference to that one" he said.

And there you have it.  By all means, tell your donors the size of the problem. But be very clear about the difference their donation will make, and the importance of that contribution, no matter how modest.

Get it right, and they'll be picking up starfish for you for years to come.