Opinium research findings: The UK public’s experience and expectations of charitable fundraising

In September 2023, the Fundraising Regulator commissioned Opiunium to run research into the public's perceptions, experience and expectations of charitable fundraising.  

In late May this year they published the insights from this research. Overall, it was found that charities perform well in terms of public trust as over half of respondents generally trusted charities to deliver on what they promise.  Furthermore, around two thirds of respondents had a positive experience of supporting charities over the previous 12 months.

Regarding different forms of fundraising, whilst generally the public view most fundraising methods as positive, some were regarded better than others.  For example, 54% reported positive feedback of online fundraising compared to only 12% as negative.  Similarly, the use of charity bags garnered a 49% positive rating compared to 17% negative.   However, by contrast, 62% of respondents rated a door-to-door experience for fundraising as negative and 40% rated public fundraising negatively.

The Fundraising Regulator highlights that some of the methods which received negative feedback can be useful, but it is important to not create a pressured experience and not to be excessively intrusive.