With the increase in social giving, and following discussions with UK Fundraising, Harris Interactive decided to conduct a survey amongst the British public to see if there was more tendency to give via social giving than direct asks from charities.

Using our Harris 24 service, we launched an online survey to 1,000 British adults and had the responses within three hours.

The first question asked if they had given to charity within the past three months. Just under two thirds (65%) had donated within this time period.

Next we asked if they had given to charity within the last 3 months after being invited/inspired to do so by a family member, friend or colleague. Just under a third (32%) said that they done so.

We then asked if they had donated within the last 3 months after being asked directly by a charity. Just over 26% of respondents said they had done so.

This is a difference of more than 5%, showing that social giving led to more respondents donating within the last 3 months than direct asks by charities.

Finally we asked an open ended question, “Who is most likely to influence you to donate to a charity?” You can see a world cloud of the responses below.

The three most common words were; charity, family and friends showing just how much of an influence the respondents friends and family have on them.

With the press coverage around charity communications and fundraising in the past twelve months, which has led to a lack of trust as shown in previous surveys we’ve run this year, social giving could be a great way to engage with members of the public to raise positive awareness of charities and lead to donations.

If you would like to discuss the survey further, or have any research ideas you’d like support with please call me on 0161 242 1363 or email jpitts@harrisinteractive.co.uk