Just 2% of charity budgets go online

The charity sector is stuck in the digital dark ages and failing to exploit the growth in Internet marketing, according to a new study, which shows just 2% of ad budgets go online, compared with 46% across other industry sectors.
The Ad Infinitum: Charity Advertising & Media Usage report, published by the consultancy nfpSynergy, shows that direct mail retains a whopping two-thirds (61%) of marketing spend – over three times the next most popular medium, TV, which rose from 8% in 2006 to 20% in 2013.
Other media, such as press (9%), radio (3%) and outdoor (2%), have maintained their stake in the overall mix.
While the sector’s reliance on direct mail may be good news for the likes of Royal Mail, the strategy is under threat from the proposed EU data protection reforms which could outlaw the opt-out marketing databases that the vast majority of charities use.
The report, which was compiled using nfpSynergy’s own research and information from AC Nielsen and Statista, says that charities’ online adspend is rising at a snail’s pace, up from 1% of overall advertising spending in 2006. Charities were already way behind the curve then, when 17% of other industries’ adspend went online, according to the study.
Third-sector organisations spent a total of £394m on advertising in 2013, an increase on the previous year but still below its 2011 peak of £400m. Total UK adspend was £14bn across all industries, with charities’ 3% share of the market remaining fairly consistent over the past eight years, the report says.
Joe Saxton, co-founder of nfpSynergy, said: “Although charities are increasing their spending on TV, they continue to resist Internet advertising when it continues to boom in other sectors. Is this because charities are way behind in terms of technology? Or is Internet advertising an extravagant use of money for few benefits and charities are just more frugal?”
Two recent claims appear to expose the danger of relying on direct mail. Matt Haworth, co-founder of Reason Digital, recently urged charities to ditch their reliance on direct mail and ramp up their digital strategies to devise campaigns that tap into the shorter attention spans of the online generation or risk losing out.
Meanwhile another study warned charity marketers to build stronger relationships with older donors but must resist using direct mail as a default channel, maintaining that digital techniques will also help bring in older generations.

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