There's every chance 2025 is going to be tough on the third sector thanks to financial pressures that could see donations fall. In this blog, we set out five things to focus on in the year ahead.
Buckle up, 2025 looks like it's going to be hard for charities
Household budgets continue to be squeezed, and that's only going to get worse as energy bills rise and council tax increases.
Businesses, too, are feeling the strain thanks to the hike in Employer's National Insurance contributions.
And it's official: the economy has shown no growth for two successive fiscal quarters, meaning the UK is on the brink of recession.
All of this means there's likely to be a decline in individual and corporate giving just when charities least need it - because they themselves are not immune to these cost pressures.
Worse still, demand for the help charities exist to provide is also likely to rise against this backdrop of economic turmoil: cancer patients, for instance, will find it more expensive travelling to appointments; domestic violence can increase as a result of money problems in the home; food bank use rises when the costs of groceries go up.
It's the perfect storm.
Navigating these choppy waters is going to require fresh approaches to PR, marketing, and fundraising.
Top five areas to focus your charity marketing efforts on in 2025
So, given these prevailing circumstances, what should your charity focus on in 2025 in order to survive and thrive?
1. Prioritise brand marketing
Even the most ardent supporters, and most generous of donors, will eventually fade away as their circumstances and priorities shift. This means your charity needs to constantly attract replacements.
But before anyone can lend their support, volunteer their time, or contribute monetary donations they need to:
Know about you
Care about your cause
Trust you
Action: develop a continuous programme of awareness raising, that highlights the need you meet, how you do that, and the difference your work makes.
TIP: Money wisely invested in brand marketing today makes it easier and less costly to drive action and mobilise supporters tomorrow, because 'warm' audiences are always more likely to respond favourably when you ask for help. There's more on brand marketing for charities here.
2. Connect people to your cause
There will always be some people who have a personal connection to your cause.
For instance, it's estimated that 7.2 million people in England are living with chronic kidney disease. Their close families, friends, and work colleagues can all be expected to have some alignment with your charity if it exists to raise awareness of kidney disease and fund research into new treatments and potential cures.
Most people won't though, and yet you'll still need to attract them.
For that, as part of your brand marketing efforts, you need to do several things:
highlight the problem, warts and all
show the results of your work
create a sense of jeopardy
underscore the impact of people's support
People need to see the 'before-and-after' - the problem or need as it exists, and how your work changes things. Too much emphasis on the latter and they will subconsciously perceive there's no problem to fix and/or that you don't need their help. This also enables you to establish the sense of jeopardy (what would happen if you weren't there because of a lack of support?) whilst providing evidence of how lives or places are improved with the support and generosity of people like them.
Action: use visual storytelling and emotional language to let your audiences see for themselves why your work is so vital, the positive impacts you have, but, crucially, how they can contribute to those outcomes and personally make a difference.
3. Align your efforts to supporter journeys in order to provide a more personalised experience
Those people with a direct and personal connection to your cause can generally be counted on to have a much shorter supporter journey than those who don't.
For example, someone who with a close relative that has recently suffered a brain injury could be expected to respond favourably and very quickly to a request for a donation to your charity when it exists to provide specialist rehabilitation services for affected individuals and respite for loved ones and carers. But for those without that same first hand experience, the journey will be longer and require more steps.
Attracting donors that can provide financial support to your charity is obviously an important goal, but if you try to treat everyone as though they are 'donation ready' from the start, or attempt to push them too quickly, your messaging isn't going to land well and you may even deter some who would otherwise have eventually given you their support.
Think about how potential supporters first learn about you and your cause, then consider what they might require from you before they're ready to offer you support, and design your marketing communications around those different wants and needs.
For instance, if someone comes into your orbit because of a social media ad campaign you've been running aimed at simply raising awareness of your existence and your cause, you might want to focus on doing more storytelling, sharing case studies over email that aim to draw them in a little further. Whereas someone who, by their own efforts, finds and downloads your latest annual impact report is already showing greater awareness and interest and so you might want to invite them to an exclusive 'fireside chat' with your CEO over Zoom, where they're part of a small group that gets to interact directly.
When mapping supporter journeys like this, it can help to view it through this prism:
how personally connected are they
what interest have they shown
what intent have they signalled
Action: map a set of supporter journeys and then cater to people's differing wants and needs at each stage, whilst encouraging them to take the next step.
BONUS TIP: prioritise list building, acquiring email addresses and consent to contact people. Then use automation to keep in touch in a way that will hold their interest and enable you to use email marketing to nurture a deeper relationship over time.
4.Fundraise like a boss
Company bosses know how to prioritise profits, ensuring every investment generates a return.
Adopting this same mentality when it comes to fundraising will help to ensure that you have more money to spend on service delivery.
In 2025, shift your focus from income generation to surplus generation, because it's this that matters most.
There's a saying in business circles: "turnover is vanity, profit is sanity" and whilst your charity may not exist to make a profit in quite the same way, creating a surplus on your fundraising activities is still important.
Whether it's an online donation campaign promoted with social media ads, a challenge event, or a gala ball, identify all relevant costs and decide how much money you'd like to have left at the end. Then, structure everything in a way a that means 100% of these costs are recovered from the income you generate and that you're left with a meaningful surplus.
For instance, let's say you're a homeless charity and you want to raise enough money to pay for 150 people who are sleeping rough to be seen by a podiatrist this winter (having soaking wet feet a lot of the time can cause a host of problems) and that each appointment will cost £75, that's £11,250 you need to find.
Now, let's say you run a Facebook ad campaign to try and find donors. It can cost as much as £20 per result.
Add that to the individual cost of the podiatry visits and that's £95, bringing the income total needed to £14,250.
That should be your target.
If you only fundraise the cost of the podiatry appointments, without allowing for the costs of raising that money, then you risk making a loss and having to make up the balance from other sources.
Action: put the emphasis on surplus generation, not income generation, when planning fundraising campaigns, activities, and events. Set the 'ask' at a level that allows you to recover the full cost of your fundraising whilst leaving you with the money you need to make a difference in order to avoid just breaking even or perhaps even making a loss.
5. Focus on warmer supporters with your fundraising, and make it all about them, not you
If you look back through the previous four recommendations, you'll see that we're suggesting you invest in efforts designed to:
make your charity visible to more people
give them reasons to care
connect with and nurture them
gradually nudge them towards action
Adopt this approach and you'll find that there's an attrition rate between journey steps. For instance, not everyone that becomes aware of you and your cause will go on to care about your work. Of those that do, some will feel it more keenly than others and will therefore be more motivated to lend a hand or donate money when asked.
When it comes to seeking donations or encouraging people to get involved in challenge events, as a general rule of thumb, the colder the audience, the less likely they are to respond - so don't expect too much from those who are only just becoming aware of you and your cause. Mobilising people at this early stage also tends to be costly, however you do it.
However, just because someone is highly engaged and supportive, it's a mistake to assume they'll automatically be big donors - they may not be able to afford to give much, which is why you'll often find people in this group enthusiastically responding to requests for non-financial help (there can be a tendency to overcompensate that arises from a sense of guilt about being unable to contribute as much money as they'd like to or feel you deserve).
You can expect most of the people who are willing and able to donate to be found somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Of these, a higher proportion will generally donate smaller amounts.
So, when fundraising, focus on people who:
Have shown an interest in your work and an openness to learn more. These are receptive but not yet emotionally connected. You can expect some of these to make small donations, becoming closer to you as a result.
Are just starting to form an emotional connection. These are beginning to care but may need more of a nudge, which you can give them by showing the direct link between donations and impact.
Thanks to their previous engagement and actions are now beginning to deepen their connection. These are more likely to give, and it's possible that 20-30% will donate at higher values when presented with various donation options and where you emphasise the impact of different levels (i.e. "£75 provides one, £150 provides two...")
When communicating with people in the earlier stages of the supporter journey, you have to make your brand the focus because it's you that you're asking people to connect and engage with, and because you want them to remember you in association with your cause. This means ensuring that your brand is consistently front and centre.
However, that changes when you're asking people to take action, including by making donations. Now, your brand should be absent or appear only minimally so that the whole focus is on the immediate problem you're asking people to help address, showing them specifically how they can have an impact.
Returning to our earlier example of a homeless charity seeking to raise enough money to fund podiatry appointments for 150 people who are sleeping rough, campaign ads, emails, social posts, and landing pages should all contain images and videos that depict the problem, highlight the positive benefits of tackling foot health within this community, and draw the connection from donor to beneficiary (i.e. "Your £95 donation could pay for the help Julie needs to heal her sore and damaged feet, making life on the streets that little bit more bearable"). The language used should be all "you" and "your", no longer "we" and "us".
Action: When seeking to raise funds, target people in the middle of the typical supporter journey and put them at the heart of your communications so they can see how their actions will have a direct and positive impact that might otherwise not be the case.
Key takeaways: where the focus of your charity marketing needs to lie in 2025
The key to surviving and thriving is to recognise that it's all a numbers game in the end.
Think of it like a garden.
You need to scatter plenty of seeds to have a chance of growing a flourishing garden. Some seeds sprout, but they're fragile, and you need to provide the right conditions for them to survive. Those that do become seedlings, which need nurturing to grow stronger. They go on to become young plants that are starting to bloom, that need regular care to thrive. As time goes by, they turn into mature plants, at which point they might need tending to in different ways in order to continue flourishing.
Just like in a garden, some seeds won't germinate, some sprouts will wither, and some plants might not reach maturity, but that's OK. The key is to:
Maximise germination
Spread your seeds widely (reach a broad audience) and create fertile ground (make a good first impression).
Provide the right care at each stage
Don't give fertiliser to sprouts or neglect to water mature plants. Tailor your approach to each stage of growth.
Accept some loss
Not every plant will thrive, but focus on nurturing those that do.
Just like a gardener wouldn't expect every seed to become a prize-winning flower, your charity shouldn't expect every person it reaches to become a major donor. But by understanding and catering to the needs of supporters at each stage of their journey, you can increase your overall yield.
With that in mind:
Promote your brand and cause, not just your fundraising campaigns. Make as many people as possible aware of your charity and its work
Give people reasons to care, and help to foster an emotional connection. Sympathy isn't enough though, you need to create empathy
Actively nurture your audiences, regardless of where people are in their supporter journeys. Have a plan for it, and tailor your communications accordingly
Shift your focus from income to surplus generation. Seek to recover the full costs of your fundraising campaigns, and target your 'asks' so that you're able to do that - not only will this mean you're less likely to just break even, you may find you need fewer people to donate
Target warm audiences for donations, and make it wholly about them and their impact. Asking cold audiences for money is generally futile - if you'd never heard of us before and we asked you to pay £5 to read this blog, would you have done so? Probably not. When it comes to donating, people are more likely to give not only when they already know you, but when they can say to themselves "I just made a difference", which is why you need to emphasise the impact they are responsible for even though you facilitate it on their behalf
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