Pandemic fuels giving days growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has robbed not-for-profits of a lucrative fundraising pathway for the past few years, with mass-participation bike rides, walks and swims cancelled due to public health measures.

Without the flow of income and engagement from these large fundraisers, organisations were forced to consider how else they could connect with their donors.

One alternative proving popular with several Western Australian organisations is what’s known as a giving day, during which a large volume of donations is sought over a 24-hour period.

In 2021, Cystic Fibrosis WA raised $70,000 to support its operations through its giving day, while Methodist Ladies' College raised $223,130 to support means-tested scholarships for students.

Earlier this year, Cancer Council WA raised $400,000 in 24 hours on World Cancer Day.

Melbourne-based organisation Charidy offers an online platform to host giving days for not for profits.

Charidy director Shuie Gestetner said giving days were relatively unknown when the company first entered the Australian market in 2016 from the US but had since grown in popularity.

The organisation went from hosting five giving days in Australia in 2016 to now more than 100 per year.

Mr Gestetner said the online component of giving days allowed organisations to tap into their supporters’ social media networks and reach new donors.

“Over and above celebrities and media, having real people share their stories with their own networks and becoming your true champion, regardless of how big their network is, really helps from a fundraising point of view,” Mr Gestetner told Business News.

He said the real-time data collected helped donors feel more invested in the process.

“When a donor gives to an organisation via a giving day, they can really see the impact of their gift,” Mr Gestetner said.

“Knowing, number one, that their gifts are being matched by major donors, and there’s transparency around that, and number two, they can see how their gift, no matter what size, can help an organisation achieve its fundraising goals.”

The spontaneity of a giving day aligns with data from social research firm McCrindle’s Australian Communities Report 2021, which found 60 per cent of respondents classified themselves as ‘opportunity givers’ (those who donate when they hear about an issue or cause), while the number of ‘committed givers’ was 40 per cent.

The rise of opportunity givers means people are more likely to donate to topical issues rather than regularly donating each year.

Mr Gestetner said the online nature of giving days meant causes could be shared widely, connecting the organisation to new donors.

“We have seen, on average, that about 45 per cent of donors [who] give to an organisation via a giving day are new donors,” he said.

Royal Flying Doctor Service Western Operations head of community and engagement Rebecca Maddern said the organisation started its giving day in 2021 to reach new donors, as well as raise money to meet the demand for its service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To meet this growing demand and future-proof our service, we identified the need to raise additional funds to invest in state-of-the-art technology, clinical education and purchase vital medical equipment,” Ms Maddern told Business News.

“The RFDS fundraising team identified a need to reach new donors and strengthen our donor relationships through online platforms and creating a community of support across the state.

“Using online digital methods to talk to donors and better share the impact of donations would also help future-proof our fundraising.”

It launched its giving day on May 17 2021, which marked the 93rd anniversary of the first RFDS flight in Australia.

The first Flying Doctor Day was a success, winning the Fundraising Institute of Australia WA’s award for most innovative fundraising campaign in 2021.

The organisation asked for donations over a 24-hour period using online and in-person initiatives to attract donations and spread its message.

In 2021 and 2022 the days have included a street appeal in the city; lighting up WA landmarks in RFDS colours; selling Flying Doctor Day Socks; using influencers and politicians as brand ambassadors; and a paper plane challenge for schools and businesses.

Donations were also matched by several corporate partners.

The 2021 campaign raised $629,013, above its target of $500,000, while the second iteration of the event, in 2022, collected $850,743, closing at 142 per cent of its goal.

While the strategy had proved effective, Ms Maddern said the downside of running a giving day was that the short campaign period required a concentrated effort from start to finish to mitigate the risk of falling short of the target.

Fellow not-for-profit Ronald McDonald House Charities WA launched its giving day in 2020 after its mass participation walking event Up All Night was cancelled.

The event raised $265,758 in its first year in 2020, and $160,000 in 2022.

After trialling the event during the pandemic, Ronald McDonald House Charities WA executive manager development and brand engagement, Danielle Norrish, said the giving day was now an annual fixture in its fundraising calendar.

RMHC WA’s giving day involved a week-long campaign, a raffle and matched giving from corporates.

It asked for donations on social media, as well as running in-person fundraising events with media, ambassadors, and volunteers to explain what the organisation does.

In 2022, RMHC WA could not invite people into the Ronald McDonald House for its giving day due to the pandemic, and instead occupied an empty shopfront in the Perth CBD donated by Activate Perth.

Ms Norrish said the education piece of the giving day was important, as the main driver for RMHC WA running its giving day was to raise awareness, rather than money.

“Giving days, for us, aren’t as profitable as our peer-to-peer fundraising but that’s not the reason why we run the giving day,” Ms Norrish said.

“The giving day is just as much about awareness of what we do and being able to articulate that on a particular day and bring that connection of the public with the actual cause.”

One of the organisation’s mass fundraisers, Up All Night, raised about $1.5 million in 2021, considerably more than the organisation’s giving days.

While larger events can raise more money, people often compete for the challenge of the run, walk or swim, instead of for the charity itself, Ms Norrish said.

“As much as they are raising money for the charity, the challenge is one of the drivers,” she said.

“They are very self-motivated by that drive.

“What a giving day does is really connect to the cause and really amplifies the ‘why’.”

She said giving days were also less resource intensive and could involve people in regional communities more easily than mass fundraising events.