As Charitable Giving falls in Northern Ireland, charities are going digital to fund their work

The survey showed that the number of adults donating to charity over the last 12 months has decreased from 76% in 2019 to 71% in 2020, with donations from females and those in the 65+ years age group being significantly higher. Cash remains the most popular method of donating to charity, with the Individual Giving Survey 2020 revealing that 68% of donors used this method. A small number of respondents (16%) indicated that they never donate to charity; a proportionally higher figure than that reported in Individual Giving 2019 (11%).

The most preferred digital method used by respondents to donate to charity was Direct Debit (78%). Online giving platforms e.g. Crowdfunding (18%) and PayPal (13%) were the second and third preferred methods of digital donation. Other findings showed that almost 1 in 6 (15%) respondents indicated that they would be likely to donate more money through one-off contactless payment. This was more likely in those aged 16-24 years (29%), followed by 25-34 years (17%) and those aged 35-49 years (15%). A large proportion of respondents (51%) who have donated via digital means in the last 12 months indicated that they preferred this method as it was easier to use, with 48% of respondents believing that donating digitally was more convenient. Several barriers to the use of digital methods of donation were cited by those who did not donate digitally and include; concerns around the security of their card (41%), don’t use/carry a card (27%) and a lack of understanding of how digital donations worked (14%) .

Individual Giving 2020 also showed an increase, from 4% in 2019 to 8% in 2020, in the number of respondents  indicating they intended  to leave a gift to charity in their will (i.e. informed a charity of their intention to leave a gift but not yet added it in to the will).

All the results from the Individual Giving Survey 2020 can he assessed here