2022: The year of Hybrid Fundraising

What does the year ahead look like for your charity?

2022 is ahead of us, despite uncertainties, there's plenty of opportunity to plan fundraising for the forthcoming year.

Charities and social organisations have faced the biggest of challenges in recent times. The Covid19 pandemic has reduced opportunities for fundraising. It's curtailed events and put limits on the time or donations supporters could give to their chosen causes.

However, it's good to see how both fundraisers and their supporters have adapted, as we now find our own way of living with the changes we've all experienced.

Activities down, Donations up

Looking forward, it's positive to see the emerging trends become established for the Third Sector.

Average donations have gone up, even while visitor numbers have been restricted.

Cash donations have significantly collapsed, but online and contactless giving has grown.

According to the CAF, there has been a sustained increase in cashless giving since March 2020:

• Between January and June 2020, the public donated a total of £5.4 billion to charity – an increase of £800 million compared to the same period in 2019.
• The number of donors making cash donations saw a substantial drop off and remains at very low levels compared to previous years.
• At the same time, the number of donors giving via a contacless methods increased significantly and this remains at much higher levels.
• 55% of donors used Gift Aid - boosting the revenue income of charities through this UK Government tax relief fund

Data: CAF UK Giving and Covid-19 Report

Fundraising flourishes when a charity can use every chance to build relationships with its supporters.

Traditionally this might have been a face-to-face interaction.
We've noticed how innovative hybrid approaches are being used to address the change we've all had to adapt to.

Hybrid fundraising for the many

It's not always easy to fix or stick to a social plan right now. Here's where the idea of hybrid fundraising comes in.

Imagine a typical physical fundraising event, a campaign launch: a fundraising or networking seminar - where supporters attend in-person, as well as virtually, through a live-stream or a multi-channel interactive experience

It's an approach that's been established for a while, but its benefits are clearer than ever.

A hybrid event is more inclusive and widens your participant pool: it takes significant effort to block time out and attend an event in-person, whereas online, it's much easier for interested donors to participate.

Also, it gives you the chance to design your events more sustainably and holistically.

Transferring a portion of the audience to online saves on physical event-hire costs, but also the chance to connect emotionally with your supporters, aligning your fundraising closely with your cause and services.

Hybrid fundraising suits all sizes of organisations, which is why we think it's such a good trend to observe.

It can take the form of a large-scale event - an annual auction or regular sponsored community fair for instance. An interactive approach will reach more people and allow for last-minute changes of plan. The weather can always scupper a well-planned event with a moment's notice!

Or, on an individual smaller level supporters will use online fundraising to gather donations, however integrating this with video messaging from charity service recipients, or your CEO, can make a better connection, and encourage support. And, when participants turn up to an organised event, the connection is already established.

When you know you want to talk to people face-to-face, contactless payment device technology will engage and collect donations, while your charity team works hard to create an engaging experience to tell its story.

Read more: Interactive digital donation devices and how they help charities fundraise better

Hybrid events in action

Seeing hybrid fundraising in action recently, Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity, finished their 2021 Bears of Sheffield interactive city-wide trail, with a hybrid auction, which we were proud to support with our Donation Station.

Supporters could attend physically, bid online, or give through contactless donation devices, set up for the event especially. The event was exciting and captivating.

The multiple engagement and donation touchpoints worked incredibly well, beating previous targets and helping raise £525k for the charity. 

Find out more about how contactless fundraising could help your charity this year: get in touch for a demonstration of our Donation Station.

Image credits:

Illustration by Gemma Collier/GWD, featuring Bears by Tom J Newell, and Pete McKee

Photo by GWD, featuring SCHC Theo Bear and Donation Station by GWD, situated in Sheffield Winter Gardens during Summer 2021.