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What is the state of corporate fundraising in the UK today? As practitioners we need to know

February 10, 2015

You may remember in 2013 Good Values joined forces with the Institute of fundraising to produce the first dedicated research into the state of Major Gift fundraising in the sector. This year we Good Values are teaming up with IOF once again to produce a comprehensive research report into the state of corporate fundraising in the UK. The research will incorporate both quantitative and qualitative elements. The quantitative survey will be run by an independent market research agency, Market Measures. We are so pleased to be working with Market Measures who have a wealth of experience working on quantitative research programmes and provides a robustness to the research. In order to gather the relevant data, we have asked them to put together an online survey that will be sent out to all IOF organisational members and we are hoping as many fundraising teams to participate as possible. It doesn’t matter how large your organisation or the extent of your corporate programme, in fact to get a real gauge of the state of corporate fundraising in the sector its really important that we get responses from charities of all sizes, so don’t be put off. In the age of data protection we’ve made sure all the data submitted is completely confidential and anonomised, so please be assured your organisation won’t be identifiable.

So why are we carrying out this research? As a sector there is still not enough data and information for us as practitioners be able to make truly informed and evidenced based decisions, especially for investment. We often meet charities that feel they are under performing in corporate fundraising but actually that isn’t actually the case. The benchmarks we have are often out of date, or based on a small number of charities. What we must have is more accurate information relevant for 2015. More information would help fundraising teams plan and invest for growth. More research is definitely needed, especially at a time where the sector is being required to be more transparent.

The Major Donor research was really well received and a number of organisations have used this when developing and establishing their High Value strategies. This research on the state of Corporate Fundraising will complement it.

We’re really lucky to have a steering group who are overseeing the processes and research findings, made up from Heads of Corporate Fundraising and Directors of Fundraising from a variety of charities. Some of my colleagues from the steering group will be blogging on here over the next few weeks to update you on why they are participating in the research and the difference it will make to their organisations.

The research will be launched in June at a special event that all participants will be invited to. We are also really pleased that the IOF have offered all participant the opportunity to win a complimentary place at the IOF ‘Corporate Partnerships’ conference in June. All participants who complete the survey will be entered into the draw.

We are really excited about this research; it will make a huge impact to the fundraising environment and all of our knowledge, but it is really vital we get as many responses as possible.

Happy Fundraising,

Rachel

Rachel Kirby-Rider
Good Values Senior Consultant