A guide to charity fundraising during recession

Times are tough for the charity sector. During periods of recession, charitable giving inevitably takes a hit as people are forced to prioritise their basic needs. According to the most comprehensive research on this topic by CAF, charitable giving in the UK fell by 11% during the financial crisis of 2007/08. Much like households and businesses, charities are also currently feeling the effects of rising inflation: as the value of donations falls in relation to higher costs. 

Coupled with a surge in demand for their services, this means the pressure is on to find creative ways to raise money. However, the not-for-profit sector has proved its tenacity time and again. There are plenty of ways for charities to successfully fundraise during a recession, and we’ve broken down our top recommendations below.  

Diversify your fundraising sources 

If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that the best way to weather the storm of uncertainty is to develop a diverse portfolio of funding streams and avoid over-relying on a single source.  

Unfortunately, no income stream is recession-proof: individuals have less to donate, corporates must prioritise their spending carefully, and there is a surge in demand for grants from trusts and foundations. Therefore, expanding your funding portfolio to incorporate a variety of income streams is the best way to spread the risk and strengthen your position. 

Consider all the possibilities, and don’t be afraid of change. Start by carrying out a simple SWOT analysis of your current fundraising activity. What threats does the recession pose to your funding streams? Are there any opportunities that you haven’t yet explored?  

Make sure to regularly review your fundraising data, assess your targets and make informed decisions. The fundraising strategy you developed two years ago may no longer be the best one for the current economic climate, so be prepared to adapt where necessary.  

Make it as easy as possible for your supporters to give 

It might sound obvious, but simplify the giving process.  

If digital donations are a major income source for you, review and refine how this is done: make it completely clear for visitors to your website, newsletter or social media profiles where they can give by making your donation button prominent.  

Assess your website’s speed and reduce the number of steps to completing a donation by as much as you can. Google insights shows that 53% of mobile visitors abandon a webpage if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. If your donation process involves multiple steps, and each one loads slowly, it becomes increasingly likely that you’ll lose a potential donor.  

Charities can take simple steps to increase their site speed, such as compressing large image files like PNGs into smaller JPEGs, or stripping back slower loading external components like large PDFs or videos from your webpages. This guide to improving page load speed by Charity Digital is a great introduction to this. 

Finally, make your organisation visible. If people can’t see you, they won’t know about your cause and they won’t donate. This doesn’t need to be resource-intensive: social media fundraising can be a highly effective way to boost visibility without breaking the bank, or you might prefer to use more traditional approaches like events or canvassing. However you choose to do it, during a recession it’s more important than ever to get your charity’s name out there and make the ask of your supporters.  

Develop meaningful, transparent relationships with donors 

When times are tough and donors are forced to make difficult decisions, they will choose to support those organisations with whom they have a meaningful connection.  

The best way to build those relationships is through storytelling: help people to understand your charity and the people you support. Emotion stimulates action, so be emotive where you can – write an article or film an interview which addresses the impact of the recession on your organisation and beneficiaries. When asking for donations, help supporters understand how their money makes a difference by giving tangible examples of what £X could achieve. Anything you share needs a clear call to action which sets out what it is you need from a potential donor and where they can go to provide it.  

Be human – the recession is affecting everyone, so recognise and acknowledge that times are tough for your supporters. If someone tells you that they need to cancel their monthly gift, reach out and ask if they would consider reducing it or pausing it for a few months, rather than cancelling altogether. If the answer is still no, showing empathy and understanding will increase the likelihood that they return to you in the future. 

Finally, thank, thank, and thank again! Thank at every opportunity you can and find creative, innovative ways to do so. During these challenging times, it’s so important to celebrate your donors, engage them with your work and show them how much you value their support. This article highlights some creative ways to thank your donors.   

Collaborate with others 

Look for other charities working in your area and see if there are opportunities for you to work together on fundraising campaigns or initiatives, sharing the costs and the income. This article gives some great examples of charity collaboration and the benefits it can bring.   

Take inspiration from those doing it well: research what is working for other charities and what you can learn for it. See something amazing? Ask the charity if you can have a chat with them about how they achieved it. You would be surprised how many fundraisers are happy to share their successes for the good of the sector. 

Check out the many fundraising support guides, webinars, tools and resources available to help charities through the recession. For example, CAF have a charity resource hub designed to support charities with the cost-of-living crisis.  

Take a strategic approach to trusts & foundations 

Firstly, consider how you balance your time and effort between the immediate crisis and your long-term focus. It is natural to see how the recession is impacting the people you work with and want to dive into action. However, you could easily spend all your time and energy reacting to new opportunities with a focus on the immediate crisis and forget about your long-term sustainability. Grant funders have learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the trusts & foundations landscape is reacting relatively quickly to the current crisis. To reflect the immediate and uncertain nature of the cost-of-living crisis, most related opportunities are short-term (less than six months), “small” (less than £5,000) and distributed at a local level. There may be other opportunities out there that will make a greater difference to your charity in the long run, so stay calm and be selective. 

Second, approach existing, “warm” funders first. During the pandemic, many funders closed to new applicants, focussing on existing grantees. Although this response has not been common for the current crisis, your relationships with existing funders are one of your most valuable assets. There might be opportunities to increase grants amounts, or repurpose grant spending, through updating them about how the crisis is impacting your charity and beneficiaries. 

Finally, highlight to funders exactly how your charity and beneficiaries are being impacted by the crisis. When writing funding applications, revisit your case for support to directly reference the impact of the recession. It is going to affect a large proportion of the sector, so you will need to give specific examples, stories and plans to create a narrative that compels funders to give to you. 

Although the current financial climate might look bleak, charity leaders don’t need to face these challenges alone. Reach out to other organisations in your space and make use of the tools and resources available to you. 

Our fundraising team are also on hand to provide support and guidance to charities as they navigate this challenging period. We have a wealth of experience across trusts, foundations, major donors, corporates, communities and events, and would be delighted to help you develop and implement a successful fundraising strategy.