Door to door activity is “exhibiting resilience and the greatest growth” across face-to-face fundraising over the last five years, a study has found.

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s latest F2F Fundraising Benchmarking Report found that door to door activity by charities is ‘forging ahead’ while overall giving and street fundraising “continues to lag significantly’ in comparison.

F2F Fundraising Benchmarking Report 2025

The study looked at face to face fundraising (F2F) activity from 2019 to 2024, including the period of recovery from Covid lockdowns during 2022.

It found fundraising “successfully transitioned” from street and private sites to doorsteps by fundraisers during 2022 due to donor preferences and charity investment choices.

Researchers found in 2024 there were 283,539 door to door sign-ups, surpassing 2019’s figures.

Private site lotteries, regularly giving and street fundraising last year were all down on 2019’s figures, however there has been growth and improvement in all areas since 2022.

Dominic Will, managing director of Gather Campaigns, said: “While there’s absolutely room for growth, what’s most encouraging is that F2F, especially door to-door, continues to maintain a healthy, reliable, level of performance.

“When you look at the annual totals for all F2F activity, the differences year on year aren’t dramatic– there will always be natural ebbs and flows, but overall, it’s a positive picture of steady and sustainable fundraising.”

Charities are also becoming more efficient in managing their fundraising operations over the last five years, including investing in technology and payment developments and using artificial intelligence to monitor performance.

Marie Curie F2F fundraising manager Ian Bibby said that prior to Covid its F2F operation “was twice the size it is now but we weren’t producing twice the volume of new supporters we are today”.

He added: “We’ve really improved our efficiency and reduced costs over the past few years with this much more focused approach.”

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