Four fundraising trends for 2022

As we rang in the new year, the UK government reported that 90% of the population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccination.

While the pandemic isn’t over, we’re in a much better position now to start thinking about long-term plans than we were twelve months ago.

But the sector looks very different from how it did then. So different, in fact, that it would be a mistake to ‘pick up from where we left off.’

Here are four trends we think you’ll need to jump on to fundraise successfully in 2022.

1. Gaming for good will grow

Video game streaming has exploded in recent years. For example, Twitch has doubled in popularity, boasting more than 140 million unique monthly users.

Wondering what gaming has to do with fundraising?

While streaming, gamers can set up ways for viewers to donate to charity, at the click of a button. And it can be extremely lucrative.

In 2020, French gamers Adrien Nougaret and Alexandre Dachary raised a whopping £8m for various charities with a videogame live stream fundraiser.

The largest amount ever made, it earned them a Guinness World Record.

While you’re unlikely to raise this much, it’s worth a punt, particularly as it costs next to nothing to organise.

Need a hand to get started? Check out Charity Digital’s handy gaming guide here.

2. Hybrid will be the new ‘in person’.

Going digital was a necessity during the pandemic. And, while many of us are eager to get back to face-to-face events, it would be a mistake to ignore the benefits of online fundraising.

We anticipate that a ‘best of both worlds’ approach will remain even when it’s no longer a necessity to limit the number of people in a room.

3. More charities will embrace TikTok

Considering it’s one of the fastest-growing social media platforms out there, (it boasts over 1 billion users), TikTok is worth checking out (especially if your target market is Gen Z).

When used right, it can be a powerful tool for raising awareness and funds.

Find out why by reading Reason Digital’s guide to TikTok for charities here.

4. Donations will go digital

Digital donations have been growing for a while, but the Charities Aid Foundation has seen a noticeable increase in cashless donations since 2020.

Add to that the fact that the Non-Profit Source found a 205% increase in giving from mobile phones, and it’s pretty safe to say digital is the way forward.

If you’ve not already made it easy for people to donate from their phones, make it one of your New Year’s resolutions.

Need a new fundraiser to implement some of these strategies? Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to get the process started.

A Day in the Life of: A Corporate Fundraiser

Ever considered a role as a corporate fundraiser? We caught up with Charlotte Webster, Corporate Partnerships Manager at The Sick Children’s Trust, to find out what’s involved.

What does a Corporate Fundraiser do?  

A corporate fundraiser’s aims are to increase donations and income from businesses by building relationships with them and developing partnerships that meet their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) objectives.

Corporate fundraisers raise funds by motivating businesses to take on challenges, hold fundraising events, volunteer, or take up sponsorship opportunities.

What skills do you need for the role? 

You need to present yourself well, be confident, and able to network and forge strong relationships.

It’s important to have good writing skills, and a good grasp of business acumen.

Being organised and flexible also helps, as working with businesses can be challenging!

What does a typical day look like for you?

It always starts with coffee!

I start by checking emails and my diary for anything urgent.

I might then spend the morning contacting current corporate partners to get them involved in our latest fundraising initiatives.

Pre-COVID, I might have gone to meet a corporate at one of our houses to show them around or oversee a corporate volunteering group who are helping at a house.

Most days I have internal meetings to discuss plans and catch up with other departments. For example, corporate fundraising often crosses over with events and marketing.

I might then spend an hour updating the strategy, looking at income re-forecasting, or writing a report for a trustees’ meeting.

In the afternoon I might work on an application for corporate funding or presentation slides for a meeting the next day.

I also dedicate time each day to exploring new business opportunities.

There’s often a lot of juggling, as priorities change as the day progresses.

What’s the best thing about your job? 

I like that every day is different. I also enjoy getting out and about meeting people. I like making connections, developing imaginative fundraising ideas, and inspiring businesses to support us.

It’s really satisfying building great relationships with businesses and managing partnerships from the early stages to the end of the partnership.

More often than not, companies raise more than their original target. It’s great to be able to show them the tangible impact they have on the families we support.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job? 

Corporate fundraising has been challenging over the past two years, with employees working from home and events being cancelled. It’s had a significant impact on income.

I’ve had to adapt and adjust to find different ways to engage with corporates, such as switching to virtual events and challenges.

On a positive note, we received some incredible donations during 2020.

What advice would you give a budding Corporate Fundraiser? 

There are a lot of great charities and causes out there, so really think about who you want to work for and why.

You need to be passionate about the cause to ‘sell in’ the charity to corporates.

Charlotte is Corporate Partnerships Manager at The Sick Children’s Trust, a charity that gives families a comfortable, free place to stay when their sick children are in hospital.

Why work in fundraising?

When you ask most children what they want to be when they grow up, they'll say ‘fireman’, ‘teacher’ or ‘baker’. Rarely do you hear children say, ‘I want to be a fundraiser’.

And it’s no surprise. Professional fundraising is not a career route we’re exposed to at a young age. Yet it’s a smart career choice, in a diverse and growing field.

Here are four great reasons to pursue a career in fundraising.

1. You'll make a difference

We spend around 90,000 hours at work over the course of our lifetime – generally making money for someone else.

For some of us, this is fine. Others want more.

In one way or another, every charity aims to drive change and make the world a better place.

There's no better feeling than logging off every day knowing you’ve made a difference.

2. You'll work with like-minded people

For the most part, people working in the charity sector have two things in common – they’re compassionate and want to change the world for the better.

If you share those qualities, you’ll thrive in a charity environment.

Also, you know that tense competition you experience with colleagues in the corporate world? You’re less likely to find that at a charity, as everyone is working towards the same altruistic goal.

 3. You'll enjoy a diverse range of experiences

If you don’t like being stuck at a desk from 9-5 doing the same thing every day, fundraising is a great alternative.

As a general rule, fundraisers wear lots of hats and spend more time out of the office than in it.

On any given day, you could be creating content for a website or newsletter, taking a high-value donor out for lunch, writing a grant proposal, attending an event, or visiting a project that’s supported by the funds you help raise.

Charities are always on the lookout for people with passion and drive. If you want to discuss opportunities in the sector, give us a call on 0203 750 3111. 

Voluntary organisation launches Givto – an innovative new way to donate to charity

In December 2020, a Leeds-based voluntary organisation launched a first-of-its-kind online charity donation service that enables people to donate to a different charity each month with one direct debit.

The scheme, known as Givto, raised over £9,000 for charities across Yorkshire, including Brake, Sense, and Age UK Leeds, in its first year.

Following positive feedback from users and charities, the service is now set to expand across the UK.

Why the scheme was set up

The scheme was launched during lockdown by the Better Giving Partnership - a registered charity run by volunteers who share a passion for making it easier to support charities. And they hope this ground-breaking donation scheme will do just that.

Alex Ellis-White, Founder and Chief Executive of the Better Giving Partnership said of Givto: “I have always been passionate about supporting local causes. I set up Givto when I realised there wasn’t a service out there that gave you the flexibility and choice to support a different cause each month.

Run by charity for charity, we don’t make a profit from the service. We are here to bring people and causes together.”

How the scheme works…

For donors:

As a donor, you set up an account and a direct debit for an amount of your choice through the Givto website.

Each month you’ll receive an email asking you to log in and choose one of three good causes to donate to. Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll receive a thank you message from the charity.

If you forget to choose a cause or run out of time to do so, your money won’t go to waste. Givto will choose a charity at random and notify you.

If you’re concerned about the privacy of your personal information, you can rest assured it won’t be released or passed onto any third parties.

Want to become a Givto member? Visit the website and sign up.

For charities:

Registration is as simple as filling out a form with some basic information, providing a description of your charity to help members understand the cause, and writing a thank you email for donors.

The best thing? There are no registration costs.

The Better Giving Partnership claims Gift Aid on donations, (if eligible), and passes them on to the chosen charity. They take a small fee to cover their costs, but they don’t make a profit and are committed to keeping the fees as low as possible.

Register your interest

With so many physical events having been cancelled over the past 12 months, Givto has provided charities with a vital, alternative funding stream.

You can register your charity by contacting them at help@givto.org, or completing their online registration form.

Looking for top fundraising talent? Contact Bamboo Fundraising on 0203 750 3111 to get the process started.

The benefits of corporate fundraising

GSK and Save the Children. Fairy Liquid and Make-A-Wish Foundation. Innocent Smoothies and Age UK.

These are just three examples of successful corporate fundraising partnerships where charities and businesses join forces to raise awareness and money for a cause.

If you haven’t considered partnering with a business, you should, as it can be extremely rewarding.

Take the partnership between Innocent Smoothies and Age UK. Innocent has raised a staggering £ 3 million for the charity since 2005, by donating 25p from the sale of every bottle with a knitted hat. That’s a huge amount for very little work on the charity’s part.

However, funding isn’t the only advantage of corporate fundraising. You and your corporate partner will benefit from positive PR and heightened brand awareness.

Corporate Fundraising in action

Corporate fundraising takes many forms, from matched giving (where a company matches the amount employees raise through their own fundraising initiatives) to employee volunteering.

Let’s have a look at a few examples:

Staff fundraising events

Some employers like to raise money by organising their own fundraising events. P&O Cruises raised an impressive £300,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust between 2015 and 2020 by organising a series of activities, such as foreign coin collections and summer fetes.

Members of the P&O team also ran the London and Edinburgh Marathons to raise money.

At least half of the £300,000 was raised through P&O’s ‘Trek the Deck’ challenge - a 5km walk around the ship’s deck. Guests donated £10 to enter and received a co-branded t-shirt on completion.

Donating profits

Some companies donate a percentage of their profits to charity.

For example, British spring water brand, Thirsty Planet donates a fixed amount from every bottle of water sold to Pump Aid, a charity that provides cost-effective, sustainable clean water solutions throughout Africa.

Checkout collections

There’s a long-standing tradition of retailers requesting donations on behalf of charities at the point of sale (before the world went digital, it was done via a donation box on the till).

Today, it’s more common to make a digital donation at the online checkout.

Take trade tool retailer Screwfix. They prompt online shoppers to round up their purchase to the nearest pound, with the extra pennies going to charity.

Employee volunteering

Some companies choose to support charities by offering employees time rather than cash.

Employees at XPO Logistics help families in need each Christmas by delivering more than seven tonnes of food to 35 food banks.

Over 8,700 employees support the initiative.

Selling merchandise

Some retailers support causes by selling charity merchandise through their outlets.

A prime example? Sainsbury’s supports Comic Relief and The Royal British Legion each year by selling red noses and poppies.

Common pitfalls

While corporate fundraising partnerships can pay dividends for both parties, without the right preparation, they can be riddled with problems.

Here are a few potential pitfalls to consider.

Ethical conflicts

Companies that operate in controversial industries will sometimes enter into charity partnerships to ‘whitewash’ their activities.

There’s a fine line between a company being socially responsible and cynically trying to improve its reputation through association.

Misaligned expectations

With multiple stakeholders on each side of the partnership, it’s easy for expectations to diverge. The best way to avoid this is a written agreement. Even if it’s a loose partnership, create a short ‘memorandum of understanding’ so everyone is on the same page.

Getting it right

Corporate fundraising is a complicated, long-term strategy that takes years to master. This is why you need a top-notch corporate fundraiser on board to ensure things run smoothly.

Enter Bamboo.

Specialists in fundraising recruitment, we can help you find an experienced Corporate Fundraiser to ensure you get the most out of the partnership.

Call us on 0203 750 3111 to talk tactics.