Businesses bring hope to fundraising strategies for 2023

The UK has over 5.5 million small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s), contributing to over half of UK turnover which equates to £2.3 trillion per year. Yet there has not been significant research on UK small businesses and their charitable giving.  

The Generosity of Business report shares hopeful insights from a survey of small businesses that will help fundraisers understand what drives business giving, how businesses are looking to increase their support this Christmas and beyond and why it’s important for charities to build a resilient fundraising strategy for 2023.

With Christmas just around the corner it’s positive to learn that almost 2 in 3 businesses will be doing sales fundraising this Christmas. 

It is also clear that the cost of living crisis is at the centre of business owners’ thinking which puts mental health and UK poverty causes at the top of peoples giving lists, however environment and conservation closely followed.

Business owners are people who run businesses and may already be one of your individual donors. There is therefore no surprise that giving motivations are similar, as people support causes close to their hearts.

Although many cost of living reports have shown that individual donor support will be decreasing next year, this result demonstrates the sustainability benefits of sales fundraising. 

Sales fundraising allows businesses to give, in relation to what they have sold. Making it a flexible fundraising mechanism for businesses of any size to support with any value of donation and gives charities a steady reliable income stream.

And a further 24% are hoping to run six or more - which equates to bi-monthly fundraising and regular income for charity. This is encouraging to see especially when research has shown that many individual donors are struggling to give regularly.

Early 2023 offers a bumper period of opportunities for sales fundraising and a real opportunity for charities to engage and motivate current and new business supporters. 

Respondents highlighted key awareness days that they’d be supporting including International Women’s Day, Earth Day and Mental Health Awareness Week. 

Many recent fundraising reports have shown how the pandemic and cost of living crisis have negatively impacted individual donors and traditional forms of workplace fundraising. 

With public giving waning and cuts to public services on the horizon, charities should be looking to explore every funding opportunity possible.

Building new relationships with businesses fundraising through their sales offers charities a crucial opportunity to both diversify and increase their unrestricted income stream. 

Over the last ten years charity sector income received from the private sector has grown by more than 20%, from under £2 billion in 2010 to almost £2.4 billion in 2020¹.  And over one in three charities say that they want to collaborate more with businesses². 

Having monitored trends and behaviours of the business community for the last 4 years, at Work for Good, we know that businesses can and want to play an integral part in the future of our society, economy and environment. 

As we head into another challenging two years, now is the time for charities to collaborate with businesses who want to do good, harness the giving power of sales fundraising and unlock some of the £2.3trillion in revenue that SMEs make every year.

Read the full Generosity of Business report by Work for Good here.

Sources:

1. NCVO, Civil Society Almanac, 2022
2. https://civilsocietycommission.org/publication/purpose-on-parallel-tracks/

Work for Good is a fundraising platform and tech-for-good small business helping charities raise sustainable, unrestricted income from business sales. 

They are on a mission to move the needle on the 2% of charitable income that comes from businesses and help charities unlock some of the £2.3trillion in revenue that SMEs make every year. 

They do this by making the contract side - the Commercial Participation Agreement - of sales fundraising, easy. 

The platform saves fundraisers and charities valuable time, thousands of pounds in resource and legal fees and streamlines supporter experience. And ultimately helps fundraisers raise more unrestricted income.