Charity marketing

[saptastic]

Not sure if anyone has worked at a big charity and how their ROI works on fundraising.
Earlier in the year I read how hard fundraising was hit so decided to donate online £50 to each of 4 x different charities.
Not much but a small gesture.
Since then I have been sent through the post so many newsletters, fundraising requests, Christmas cards, and Christmas gifts etc
They have all burned through the small amount I gave to them in marketing.
Maybe there was an opt out box when donating but never saw it.
I assume their basis is to convert me for more but wow the amount of marketing through direct mail seems so old fashioned and costly.
Its just surprising how much I have been sent given the £££ was meant to be for good use.

[Paralytic]

Once you get on these lists, the charities are ruthless in marketing to you until the point where you tell them to remove you (individually). They often give/sell your contact details to each other too.

[saptastic]

Ok probably the norm - it just surprised me. Their budgets must be big - and assuming they get a return.....somehow
But online donations should surely mean if anything at all - email marketing not direct mail.
I know they have spent the £50 I sent them each on paper :-(

[Paddy]

Not sure if anyone has worked at a big charity and how their ROI works on fundraising.
Earlier in the year I read how hard fundraising was hit so decided to donate online £50 to each of a few different charities.
Not much but a small gesture.
Since then I have been sent through the post so many newsletters, fundraising requests, Christmas cards, and Christmas gifts etc
They have all burned through the small amount I gave to them in marketing.
Maybe there was an opt out box when donating but never saw it.
I assume their basis is to convert me for more but wow the amount of marketing through direct mail seems so old fashioned and costly.
Its just surprising how much I have been sent given the £££ was meant to be for good use.

Fundraising is more of a PR exercise for charities because the majority funds come from legacy donations. Many years ago I did some contracts with some charities. I had rather a good rate. One thing was quite an eyeopener where the charity also operates a number of sister companies that are profitmaking. However, on some days of the year, voluntary staff including permie IT staff would be sent to London to rattle collecting tins and collect from the public. They would collect around £100 to £150 per day. Take into account they get paid plus the cost of their hotel, food and train fare, it is an actual loss however, its worth it for the PR.

[AtW]

Back in Uni (Wolves) had a module where charity gave us their income/expenditure and I've observed that most of money were spent on running it, so might as well shut it down - I don't think I had a good grade for that one...

[fullyautomatix]

You are donating to a charity so that the poor people who are running it can get rich. Also, majority of the charities are set up to dodge tax in some way or other.

Millions are raised every year for charities but I doubt the people donating care much how the money got spent. After all, the donation was to just get rid of some guilty conscience eating away for some reason or other.

[ladymuck]

Organisations, such as Give Well, do analysis of charities to see which ones are actually most effective per dollar donated.

Our Top Charities | GiveWell

There's another similar organisation, whose name escapes me at the moment, who analyse the cost of running vs donations and other criteria which is also a bit of an eye opener.

The best charities seem to be the one's you've not heard of...

[Whorty]

Not sure if anyone has worked at a big charity and how their ROI works on fundraising.
Earlier in the year I read how hard fundraising was hit so decided to donate online £50 to each of 4 x different charities.
Not much but a small gesture.
Since then I have been sent through the post so many newsletters, fundraising requests, Christmas cards, and Christmas gifts etc
They have all burned through the small amount I gave to them in marketing.
Maybe there was an opt out box when donating but never saw it.
I assume their basis is to convert me for more but wow the amount of marketing through direct mail seems so old fashioned and costly.
Its just surprising how much I have been sent given the £££ was meant to be for good use.

For some charities, once they have your details you're treated like a mark to be targeted over and over. Those chuggers in city centres (and hence the charities they work for) are definitely to be avoided!

My wife used to look after the pensions of major Co's, some of them well known charities, and she has some stories to tell about the cash that gets dropped into the pension pots of the top dogs at these charities.

[SueEllen]

Once you get on these lists, the charities are ruthless in marketing to you until the point where you tell them to remove you (individually). They often give/sell your contact details to each other too.

I had to threaten a couple of very well known charities with the Information Commissioner a few years back because they refused to remove my details from their mailing list when I politely asked the first time. They actually were one day from my deadline before they contacted me by phone and agreed to remove me.

They then ended up in the news a year or so later as one of them was among the charities that caused a woman to commit suicide and loads of people complained about their practices.

Oh and chuggers hate me if they can catch me first

[Eirikur]

I contracted for one of the biggest in the UK and they opt you out for marketing by default, but they may be an exception