Four out of ten charities see income halved amid Covid-19

More than four out of ten charities say their fundraising income has been cut in half amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey has found.

The survey of 66 charities found that 44% say their levels of fundraising income has plummeted by up to a half between January and June this year, compared to the same period in 2019.

But while income from face to face fundraising has fallen, an increasing number of charities are adapting to digital platforms to ask for donations.

A quarter of charities said they saw a halving of their charity shop income over the first seven months of the year. Meanwhile, text giving is increasing according to a quarter of charities surveyed and more than half (52%) said text giving had emerged as a “new and important channel” for them.

A third said they had digital fundraising plans in place and had “found it straightforward” moving fundraising activities online.

The survey also found that support from corporate funders had stayed the same for a quarter of charities.

The move to online fundraising is set to be long-term, according to the survey by fundraising charity National Funding Scheme, which runs the DONATE platform.

Only 6% of those surveyed through that digital giving would return to pre-pandemic levels when the crisis is over.

“These survey results clearly show us that adapting to digital methods of fundraising has been invaluable in helping charities, often very small ones, keep afloat during the lockdown period,” said National Funding Scheme chair Bart Leonard.

“There is a definite sense that these changes are worth keeping and whilst many will return to retail, or face-to-face events, there is huge scope to combine these with easy to set up and minimal maintenance campaigns online or on mobile devices.

“We’re really heartened to see that so many of our smaller charities were able to raise significant amounts during lockdown and to support those people who need them most.”

Last month Charity Times published a list of the top online fundraising platforms for charities.