How will the pandemic change fundraising?

BARCELONA — It is not just the programs in the field that have been put on hold in recent months. Across the development sector, organizations have also seen their fundraising operations interrupted by the pandemic. In a Devex survey, almost half of global development professionals said the organization they work for has lost funding due to the pandemic. Activities around community- and individual giving — such as large-scale events, retail, and face-to-face fundraising — have been significantly impacted. For many organizations, these activities contribute a small but important portion of their overall funding. James Huitson, senior global fundraising manager at CARE International, said that they are strategically important because they provide unrestricted income which can be used to top-up government and donor funding or allow an organization to test out new innovations. “A major consequence [of the pandemic] is that many organizations have opened their eyes to the fact that they are very vulnerable when the offline channels are forced to shut down.” --— Kirsi Mettala, global head of fundraising, Plan International We found out how organizations have adapted their activities and how the pandemic could influence fundraising going forward. Activities disrupted or canceled While some fundraising activities were only disrupted during lockdowns, others are on hold for the foreseeable future. Back in March, CARE International, like all other organizations, had to suspend its door-to-door and face-to-face activities. Although it has now been able to resume them at a reduced capacity, “the donors that we didn't recruit during lockdown are not in the system and so will impact us financially going forward,” Huitson said. At Oxfam, the biggest financial impact of the pandemic came from the closure of shops. In the previous financial year, 17% of the organization's gross global income came from trading, which includes sales at its charity shops, while 35% came from individual giving, said Amanda Briggs-Hastie, head of fundraising support. “We were hit with the double whammy of losing shop income whilst still having to pay the very significant overheads,” she told Devex in an email. Similarly, the cancellation of events — such as the Trailwalker and Oxjam music event — has left the organization with unrecoverable costs coupled with a loss of anticipated income. Other NGOs, such as Plan International and Catholic Relief Services, had to cancel overseas trips. CRS would usually host a number of these each year for key supporters and board members and these would provide advocacy and fundraising opportunities, said Mark Melia, executive vice president for the organization’s charitable giving. Support from regular givers has been key The lack of opportunities to meet in-person with potential supporters has been one of the biggest concerns for organizations. With staff unable to travel to meet potential donors or host events, it has been more challenging to start new relationships, Melia said. However, most organizations have been pleasantly surprised at the continued support from their existing members. According to Melia, after an initial downturn in March, donors have actually been giving more and Catholic Relief Services is on track to achieve the 3% growth it had hoped for this year. Even during the recent emergency appeal for Beirut, fundraising expectations were surpassed and people responded generously with unrestricted contributions, he said. “It really [comes down] to people who already had a relationship with us, [who] have actually been giving more and been giving more frequently,” Melia said. However, donor fatigue and the economic situation facing many households are still a concern, he noted. The pandemic has similarly impacted Oxfam’s ability to recruit new donors, Briggs-Hastie said. It has recruited far fewer new donors than planned for and needed in order to replace the donors they naturally lose each year, she said, and “this will have an impact on our income over the next few years.” The positive news is that despite the economic situation, the charity’s regular givers — who make up its largest source of income — have remained committed and donor cancellations are at normal levels. At CARE International, Huitson noted a similar situation but added that the organization has been able to invest money that it would usually spend on face-to-face activities in other income avenues, such as legacy fundraising. New opportunities While the pandemic has proven challenging for organizations in the sector, it has also spurred innovation in fundraising. “Necessity is always the mother of invention, all our fundraising has had to adapt and some new, better ways of doing things will now become the norm,” Briggs-Hastie said. One positive, she noted, is the increase in digital fundraising which has been helped by the fact that people are more available at home and engaged with the crisis. Huitson said the situation has definitely “given a lot more urgency to people’s plan B’s for their fundraising.” CARE International, for example, had already been doing some digital fundraising but looking to increase the use of platforms such as Facebook and other social media, email and banner adverts. The pandemic has seen these plans prioritized and budget reallocated. “Anything that succeeds is likely to remain an important part of our fundraising portfolio so that we're not in a situation in any of our markets where face-to-face is the only thing we do,” Huitson said. Digital fundraising has also been the focus at Plan International with resources now being invested in developing digital communication and collection, as well as setting up data structures that allow personalized customer journeys, said Kirsi Mettala, global head of fundraising. This means you can better serve your donors by knowing when and how they want to be contacted, for example, or what regions or programmatic areas they are interested in. “A major consequence [of the pandemic] is that many organizations have opened their eyes to the fact that they are very vulnerable when the offline channels are forced to shut down,” Mettala said. Plan International has also been focusing more on telemarketing. With people stuck at home, and in some cases isolated, there has been a unique window to connect with potential supporters, Mettala noted. However, Melia pointed out that while digital fundraising is increasingly important, it has also become highly competitive. Sponsored walks or runs moving online has also become common in recent months. Oxfam’s Great Britain team will host a virtual Trailwalker relay this month while Oxfam India has already run two virtual Trailwalker events. During these, participants could walk 50 kilometers or 100 kilometers over 10 days and upload screenshots, from wherever they were, using a tracker app. Catholic Relief Services has also been investing in virtual events to ensure existing supporters still felt connected to its work, Melia said. In March, the organization started hosting webinars to inform its supporters about the work it was doing around COVID-19 and how the pandemic was impacting its programmatic work and staff. Since then, regular online events have covered a range of topics and regions of interest to supporters but the team is still looking for ways to make these more engaging experiences. One upcoming event, which will focus on rainforest restoration in Madagascar, will include drone footage of the area and there are plans for events to be accompanied by food deliveries from local restaurants or products from those places. It’s about “trying to find ways to bring that experience to life ... we're still on a learning curve with that and we're looking forward to continuing to innovate,” Melia said. Will face-to-face fundraising survive? Oxfam, CARE International, and Plan International are among those organizations that have resumed door-to-door activities in some countries, using social distancing rugs that are placed at front doors. It will take some time to reach previous capacity with these activities, the organizations agreed, and future lockdowns may cause further disruption. Many of Oxfam’s offices are therefore setting up to permanently host combined face-to-face and phone teams that will move between these activities as needed. Digital and telefundraising will play an increasingly important role in acquiring new donors, Briggs-Hastie said, and “the NGOs that are too slow to adapt their fundraising models may not survive.” But, according to Huitson, face-to-face and door-to-door fundraising won’t disappear completely and is still an important activity for many organizations in the sector.