Charites urged to step up festive fundraising next week

Charities are being urged to focus their festive fundraising efforts on connecting with supporters next week – commencing December 19 – following a new analysis which reveals the bulk of pre-Christmas charity donations in the UK are made in the final week before December 25.

The Online Donations December 2022 report – by direct and digital agency WPNC, and donations platform goDonate – was produced by collecting anonymised data from the online donation funnels of leading UK charities that used goDonate during December 2021.

It reveals the third week of December accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of donations made during that month. The second week of the month was also key, comprising 24% of December’s donations.

Christmas Eve led the way as the most prominent day for charitable gestures, followed by a steep decline in donations on Christmas Day and throughout the final week of the month for single donations.

Knowing the most popular days of the week and times of day for donations can assist charity campaign planning, whether choosing TV opportunities, sending out door-drops, timing an e-shot or understanding when social media delivers most user engagement.

Other key findings include the fact that single donations tend to increase in the second half of each week, with Friday the most popular day in December; whereas midweek (Wednesday) is the most popular for regular giving donations to be set up.

Meanwhile, four out of five one-off and regular donations were made on a weekday, with the remainder made during a weekend.

When it comes to the value of donations, the report reveals average single donation amounts increased from £51.97 throughout 2021 to £57.90 in December specifically, while average regular giving set-up amounts also increased, from £9.41 during the whole of 2021 to £11.38 in December.

WPNC digital director Phil Dearson commented: “The final week before Christmas is set to be crucial for charities’ efforts to drive donations with fundraising campaigns, both on- and offline.

“We expect w/c December 19 to be a popular period for donors for several reasons. First, anyone distracted by the World Cup – which ends on Sunday December 18 – will finally turn their attention to how they’ll spend money this Christmas.

“In addition, we think many consumers have left spending decisions to the last minute as they seek to understand what they can afford as a result of the cost of living crisis.”

WPNC Digital and goDonate managing director Vicky Reeves added: “Our in-depth analysis of donations data from last Christmas provides invaluable insights for fundraisers seeking to make the most of the festive period in 2022.

“The level of granularity we’ve been able to provide will give organisations food for thought as they strive to boost revenue right up until December 25, in what has undoubtedly been a tricky 12 months for the sector.”