The biggest challenges facing charities right now

It goes without saying that recent years have not been kind to the charity sector. There was GDPR in 2018 which left many brands without most, if not all, of their prospect database. Various negative stories circulated about misconduct and financial mismanagement and then 2020 of course brought COVID-19 to the table. It really has been a turbulent time and it would seem it will be a long road back to “normality”.

The perennial hurdle of fundraising will always be one of the biggest hurdles faced by any charity. Many charity leaders reported huge increase in demand for their services putting even more pressure on to secure funding to cover this extra demand. There have also been huge job losses estimated to be around 60,000 in total across the UK alone. So a higher demand for services and less amazing people fundraising/providing services, putting huge strain on an already hard working and dedicated sector.

A resounding 85% of charities expect COVID-19 to have a negative financial impact on their brands. The projected figure is an eye watering £12.4bn shortfall in income and charities will receive 29% less income than budgeted for. Despite government initiatives like the kickback campaign, smaller charities are finding it extremely difficult to take advantage as it requires 30 applicants minimum so they are forced to try and apply together which isn’t guaranteed to be available to all.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. At The Dragonfly Agency, we have seen numerous good news stories lately where charities are seeing huge uplifts against projected ROI on campaigns and proving just how generous we are in the UK even in these difficult times. If you’d like to know how your brand can still be marketing and generating huge ROI despite all of the above, please feel free to get in touch with the team on info@thedragonflyagency.co.uk, we would love to provide a FREE consultation and bring some incredible opportunities to life.

Sources: IoF (Industry of Fundraising), Pro Bono Economics and Charity Finance Group