Fundraisers face their fears

These trends will be discussed in a presentation to be delivered today by Martin Paul, director of NFP consultancy More Strategic, at the 2025 Fundraising Institute Australia conference in Sydney.

“We surveyed 134 fundraisers over the past 12 months on what they are the most worried about and have identified five main concerns,” Paul told the Community Advocate ahead of the conference.

1. Competition

Paul said the number one challenge fundraisers said they faced was the battle to differentiate themselves in a crowded and competitive giving environment.

“This is really the time for charities to stand up and stand out. They need to be bold and different and brave,” said Paul.

Fundraisers must get on the front foot to counter a public perception that there are too many fundraising organisations asking for help and they are too similar, he said.

“I would argue that fundraising is the most competitive industry in Australia."

“We’re competing for highly discretional income, for which people really get an emotional benefit [through giving] at a time when they’re squeezed financially.”

With more than 28,000 active fundraising organisations and more than 50,000 charities in Australia, Paul said people have immense choice but limited funds.

“So fundraisers are right to say there is a lot of competition.”

2. Cost-of-living crisis

Paul said the negative effect on donors’ willingness and capacity to give caused by cost-of-living driven financial insecurity was also top of mind for fundraisers.

He said many Australians had cut back on eating out, had switched to home brands, were driving less and were actively hunting for better deals on their utilities, leaving less room for charitable giving.

“Discretionary income, according to economic reports, is down to 0.6% from a high during covid of 24%,” said Paul.

While these factors pointed to widespread economic hardship, Paul said people who were better off and those who tended to donate larger amounts to charity, had very different expectations.

“Those two audiences, which are somewhat correlated, tend to have a better financial outlook, a better economic outlook; they think their personal finances are going to be better and are more likely to say they are going to donate more to charities in the future,” said Paul.

This trend was backed up by research which showed that while fewer people were giving, those who were giving were donating more.

"So, yes there's hardship, but there's still opportunity for fundraisers if we can tap into that already generous audience."

3. Technology

Fear of adapting to rapidly evolving technology was keeping many fundraisers awake at night.

Technological challenges included getting the most out of customer relationship management (CRM) software, changing social media algorithms, the level of transparency required around the use of generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT, and even whether organisations should use AI at all.

“All of that is leading to a frustration and lack of confidence I think in what will actually work,” said Paul.

A shortage of tech skills in the sector was also playing a role.

“There’s huge potential that everybody can see in the adoption of better technology both for the way we manage, collect, store and use data, and the way we analyse and interpret it through AI, but people just don’t really have the capacity,” said Paul.

4. Great expectations

Managing the expectations of internal stakeholders, donors and even different generations of Australians, was a complex task resulting in headaches for many fundraisers.

When it comes to communicating and connecting with donors, Paul said sometimes giving this valuable cohort what they say they want isn’t enough.

“Donors will tell us [fundraisers] 'Just send me emails,’ but we know that they will probably ignore those emails.

“I think people’s expectations of charities are relatively modest and we are kind of meeting them, but we’re not really delighting and aweing people with the communications.

“We’re not getting a lot of cut-through.”

Paul said research conducted by his company revealed many people couldn't remember half the charities they had donated to.

“We've got to do a much better job of making that connection from a supporter experience perspective.”

Many Australians aged under 35, however, don’t feel their values and expectations are represented by not-for-profits and charities.

“We need to look at what their potential is in the future because obviously they’re going to be the people that inherit a lot of money through the intergenerational transfer of wealth.

Paul said this meant giving the next generation a greater voice in charitable organisations.

“And that probably means letting go a little bit of our brand control and letting other people speak on our behalf.”

Paul said internal stakeholders’ expectations when it came to sustained growth at low cost also presented challenges, with the return on investment in fundraising dropping in 2024.

“So, the challenge for people is how do they make a business case for investment to their organisations when the returns aren’t as good as they were?”

5. Capacity

“There’s still a real challenge in trying to find, recruit, retain, develop and grow staff within a fundraising team,” said Paul.

Add to that the challenges of building capacity across the wider organisation and breaking down siloes, and fundraisers have more worries to add to their list.

One solution, according to Paul, is to make it easier for skilled people outside the sector to make the change.

“We’ve got a very attractive offer for people to come and work for us but we’ve got to make it easier for people to identify they’ve got skills that could be transferred from a commercial environment into an NFP environment,” he said.

“And that the rewards, whilst financially not as strong, will be much better in terms of your feelings of self-worth and sense of purpose and achievement you get from your job.”

Putting the fun back into fundraising

Paul said that far from being a doom-and-gloom manifesto laying out the myriad difficulties faced by fundraisers, his presentation at the FIA conference, which will be co-presented by Fiona McPhee of NFP consultancy Revolutionise, will aim to instil a sense of optimism and hope.

“We are really trying to highlight the opportunities presented by fundraisers' concerns,” he said.

“Yes, it’s a difficult environment, but even if you can’t influence and control the cost-of-living crisis or how governments respond and interest rate rises, you can control your strategy.”

Paul said fundraisers had the ability to influence the culture in their own organisations and ensure they operated effectively.

“You have the control as a fundraiser to make sure you’re running good programs by being data driven and getting good insights, delivering excellent customer experiences for your donors and that you can measure and manage your performance to make sure that you’re delivering against those metrics,” he said.

“Really, the message is, “You have your own destiny to be successful in your own hands.’”

More information

High cost of living dictating trends in charitable giving

Fundraisers want to be counted in job stats

Fundraisers commit to higher standards ahead of tax and regulations revamp