The Australian Communities Forum was held on Thursday 13th October 2016. This forum is the nation’s one day event focused on delivering the social trends transforming Australian communities and how organisations can best engage in these changing times.
Held since 2012, this annual event provides compelling case studies, the latest research, practical workshops and importantly, great networking over morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
Held at the iconic Customs House at Circular Quay, Sydney, and commencing with a launch of the 2016 Australian Communities Report, this event equipped leaders in community engagement with the latest insights into 21st Century Australian Communities.
The results of our annual longitudinal study, which analyses the effectiveness, engagement and awareness of the Not for Profit sector, were presented at the Australian Communities Forum, Sydney on October 13.
The Australian Community Trends Report delivers a clear analysis of the social context in which the Not for Profit sector is operating, and shows that Australians are a generous bunch, with four in five Australian givers (80%) giving financially to charitable organisations.
MOTIVATION FOR GIVING
When it comes to motivation to give money to or volunteer with a charitable organisation, children and health are the top causes. Australian charitable givers are most likely to be highly motivated to give money to or volunteer for children’s charities (47%) followed by medical and cancer research organisations (46%) and animal welfare and wildlife support groups (44%). Compared to our 2015 research findings, children’s charities have overtaken health and disaster relief as the highest giving priorities in 2016.
THE KEY DECISION DRIVERS
The key decision drivers for Australian charitable givers are knowledge and trust of the organisation, which is the most significant influence on Australian givers getting involved with a charitable organisation. Almost seven in 10 Australian givers (68%) indicated that this is extremely or very significant as a motivation for getting involved. Australians are also highly motivated by organisations that make the world a better place for the less fortunate (54%) and also by their own knowledge of a need (52%).
THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
The most important communication channels in helping Australian charitable givers to engage with causes, Not for Profit organisations and charitable organisations is through word of mouth by way of friends or family members. This was listed as the most influential channel through which Australian givers hear about and engage with charitable organisations, with 39% of Australian givers considering this to be extremely or very important. This validates the ingrained Aussie “scepticism” and our need to hear information from someone we trust in order to fully trust the information we are receiving.
15. TOP 7 CAUSES
% of Australianshighlymotivatedbythis cause
Q. Which ofthe following areas of need would you be highly motivatedtogivemoney to,ortovolunteerfor an organisationassociated with thisarea?
16. THE 5 CHARITY ESSENTIALS
% whosaythis isextremely/veryimportant
Q. How important is it to youthat a charitable organisation provides youwith the following information?
17. CHANGES & CHALLENGES IN THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
% who say this is extremely / very important
18. COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
% whosaythis isextremely/veryimportant
Q. How important are the following communication channels in helping you engagewith causes,not-for-profit organisations, and charitable organisations?
19. ADVERTISING
Q. What do youthinkwill be thebiggest advertising and fundraising channelsfor communityand charitable organisations ina
decade (2026)?
20. CHARITIES ARE INCREASINGLY GETTING IT RIGHT
Waterlevel= %too much -%too little
Q. Thinkingabout the main charitable organisation that youhavesupported or do financiallysupport, please ratethe following on
whetherit is too little, too muchor just right.
21. NET PROMOTER SCORE
Q. On a scale of 0to 10,how likelywould yoube to recommend yourorganisation to friendsand acquaintances looking for a
charityto support?
22. CONTENT ON WEBSITE
56%
31%
15%
13%
9%
9%
32%
36%
25%
23%
21%
18%
7%
19%
27%
28%
29%
29%
2%
8%
17%
19%
22%
24%
3%
7%
16%
17%
18%
20%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Impact and effectiveness of programs
Percentage of finances allocated to administration and fundraising
versus programs
Most recent annual report
Most recent financial statements
Details of key executives, details of the management and executive
team
Details of board members and governance
Q. How important is it that the following information is
available on your organisation's website?
Extremely important Very important Somewhat important Slightly important Not at all important
23. NET CULTURE SCORE
Q. On a scale from 0-10,how likely is it that youwould recommendyourorganisation as a place to workto a friend or contact?
25. FOCUS GROUPS
• 6 xFocusGroupsin Sydneyand Melbourne
• Participants had given to a charitable organisation in the past 6 months
Aged19-26 years
Aged27-40 years
Aged41-60 years
26. EXPERT INTERVIEWS
• 14 x15-20min phoneinterviews
• Expertswereinvolved inthe Notfor ProfitSector
• ExpertRolesincluded
Chief ExecutiveOfficer’s
GeneralManager of SectorEngagement
ExecutiveManager of Marketing and Fundraising
ExpertInsights
28. BLOCKERS & ENABLERS
Oversaturationof charities
Doubtinghowmuchgetsthrough
Alreadygive topeoplein need
Roleof governmentfunding
Personalconnection
Showimpactofindividualgift
Storiesof change/impact
Frontlineparticipation
Donationrequestsintrusive
Rising costs,variableincome
Set amounts/ongoingcontracts
Complexgiving process
Tech-enabledcommunications
Valuesalignment
‘One-click’giving
Micro-giving,smallsteps
29. DOUBTING HOW MUCH GETS THROUGH
Need for charitiestocommunicate the amountandimpact ofdonations.
Ithinkalotofthemboildowntohowmuchofmymoneyisbeingusedtodogood
stuff?
30. SET AMOUNTS/ONGOING CONTRACTS
Needto createflexible optionsfor peopleto engagewith and donateto organisations.
Iwasreadytogivehimmoney.Andhewouldonlytakeamonthlydonation.Iwould
havegivenhim$100butitwastheinflexibility.
34. Developlevels of engagementthat allow peopleto engagewithcharitableorganisationsin anappropriate
way to their age and stageof life.
MULTI-TIERED LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT
Raiseawarenessaboutthecharityinsteadoffocussingonlyonmonetarysupports,
offeroptionstohelpsupporttheorganisationinotherways…
35. COMMUNITY BUILDING
Developways for donorsto feela senseofcommunityaroundtheir engagementwith a charitable
organisation.
Lookatthingslikethefunrunorcolourrun,peoplearegettinginvolvedforthe
communityfactor.
36. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION OF RESULTS
Needfor charities to communicatetheimpact of donations.
Perhapsiftheycouldtellyouhowtheyspendthemoney–seeyougotabitof
bangforyourbuck,cangiveyouagoodfeeling,mightmakeyougivetothecharity
onaregularbasis.
37. FUN & ENGAGING EXPERIENCES
Developa funandmeaningful donationexperience
Havingeventssoyoucanlinkitwithanexperience.Ithinkthatisimportant.Itend
togivemoreifIcanlinkitwithanexperience.
39. QUOTE
“We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give”
-Norman MacEwan
40. INTRODUCTION
• To remain relevant, be aware of changes in the
marketplace.
• In the midst of this change, trust and relevance is
essential.
41. IN AUSTRALIA TODAY
We are living in times of increased
polarisation in Australia.
Societal gaps are emerging.
42. IN AUSTRALIA TODAY
Support is more readily directed to
organisations that:
• Cater to my self interest
• Reflect my world view
• Express interest in me as a supporter
43. THE SECTOR AT WORK
Every day, we need to be reminded that this
sector has 2 key customers:
• Beneficiaries (clients / partners)
• Supporters (donors / funders)
44. KEY ISSUES
What are 5 key issues that emerge
from the survey for organisations?
45. KEY ISSUES
1. Align governance, strategy and resources
2. Define position in market
3. Communicate your compelling proposition
4. Engage with community
5. Lead your community
46. THANK YOU!
W W W. M C C R I N D L E . C O M . A U
W W W. A U S T R A L I A N C O M M U N I T I E S . C O M . A U
Notas del editor
The changing context in which we live as we’ve just heard from Mark is very dynamic, the complexity of the context which charities and not for profits are dealing with is enormous but while everyone is responding to these times of change, not for profits actually have multiple stakeholders that they have to connect with. There is the general public you are trying to engage with, your current donors, there are those you are delivering the services to, there’s the staff from an engagement perspective – there’s a challenges and you’ve got the volunteers as well. You’ve got more stakeholders that you’re simultaneously trying to communicate with, engage, deliver services to, than exist in most sectors. And so the purpose of this research was not only to look at the changing times in which we operate but to break down some of those nuances so that you can get an understanding of what the Australian public think of charities, their attitudes towards not for profits, their giving inclinations and their propensity to volunteer.
So this study first involves a nationally representative sample of all Australians because as you heard from Mark, most Australian’s give, whilst 1 in 5 don’t. In the survey we first wanted to see what proportion of Australians give and then further explore the attitudes and behaviours of those who do give. And so those who don’t give were screened out of the survey at this point.
In regards to donors, we ran a study of charity supporters which came through the subscribers to this research, they got onboard in funding this research and we surveyed each of their entire databases to look at how they are going. And we also surveyed their staff and volunteers, to understand more about those who are often the strongest resource that charities have. The most compelling aspect you have is not just the brand that engages with donors but also the brand that engages with staff – your employer brand and we wanted to test and validate that as well. Whenever we ran research and looked at things such as net promoter scores and customer satisfaction, we always found with not for profits that your results are way above other commercial organisations that we run studies for. And when we deliver this feedback to our nfp clients they say to us that ‘we expect that’ but we sort of want to know how we are going in regard to other not for profits, ‘we want to compare like with like’ which is another reason why we started the conversation about how we can start a study and look at the results of charities and benchmark charities against an industry standard or against a national benchmark and that’s what this study provides, particularly when we look at the supporters across organisations and we look at the net promoter score for supporters and net culture score for staff.
This is now the second year that we have run this study and have therefore been able to see the longitudinal comparisons from the research.
Let’s have a look at some more of the key findings from the national research. So what do Australians support?
Generations – The most likely cause for Gen Y to be highly motivated by is animal welfare with 53% indicating this.
More Baby Boomers and Builders – medical research and aged care
More Gen Y than Baby Boomers – mental health, domestic violence, the environment, human rights and youth support.
So you can see that support for causes is closely related to stages of life.
Gender– overall females are more likely to be highly motivates to give money to or volunteer for causes.
One of the key themes of last years research was trust and trust came through again very strongly this year but we have delved deeper into what this means and this is where the top 5 charity essentials comes in. Top 3 are strongly related. All about people wanting financial disclosure, accountability of the funds received, they want to know their hard earned money is making a difference, there is sophistication in wanting to see that and have access to it, not everyone is going to read the fine print but they want to know its there and they want it presented in a way that is consumable. Generation Y are more formerly educated and have grown up in a world of more saturation of charities. But they’ve also been raised in an era of social enterprises – not for profits that aren’t traditional charities and yet are committed to advocating and fundraising for a cause. they don’t care as much about the admin costs, they are more about the overall impact.
Q. How important are the following communication channels in helping you engage with causes, not-for-profit organisations, and charitable organisations?
Word of mouth – so communication through a friend or family member
Website – 33% said extremely or very important to their engagement
And whilst television is number three for Australians as a whole, for Gen Y, social media came in third with 44% indicating that social media is extremely/very important in their engagement with causes or charities.
When asked what they think will be the biggest advertising and fundraising channels for community and charitable organisations in a decade, Australians indicated that they believe these will be social media campaigns.
Gen Y were much more likely than the other generations to indicate social media campaigns would be the biggest fundraising channel in a decade. This is reflective of their high levels of engagement with social media.
Charities are increasingly getting it right with particularly levels of communication and requests for donations. These water levels are show the proportion of the donor who indicated that each of these aspects are too much, minus the proportion indicated that they believe it is too little. So for level of thanks, this water level shows the proportion of the population who say they received too much thanks minus those who say they receive too little thanks. Here you can see however that 75% indicate that they receive just the right amount of thanks. This increased by 8% from last year.
This was the biggest change we found from last years study, overall across these four areas, respondents were more likely to indicate that the level of thanks and communication they receive, the frequency of donation requests and the amount spent on administration is just right. So whilst it looks like we are not quite getting it right, ‘just right’ has improved from last year.
Net Promoter Score
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this score. It is a benchmark that gives an indication of the proportion of an organisation’s client base who are promoters, passives and detractors. Respondents are asked to indicate on a scale of 0-10, how likely they would be to recommend the organisation that they support to a friend or acquaintance looking for a charity to support. Promoters are those who select 9 or 10, passives select 7 or 8 and detractors, those most likely to say bad things about an organisation select 0-6.
For this supporter study, 47% Promoters, 35% passive, 18% detractors giving an overall NPS score of 29.
The top 3 types of information supporters believe are extremely or very important to see on your websites are:
Impact and effectiveness of your programs (82%)
Percentage of finances allocated to administration and fundraising versus programs (67%)
Most recent annual report (40%)
In the staff survey we asked a similar question to the NPS however based on culture of the organisation they work with. So on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend your organisation as a place to work to a friend or contact? Overall 45% were promoters, 31% were passives and 24% were detractors which generated an overall score of 21.