Future Issues

As part of NICVA's State of the Sector research portfolio, each year a number of viewfinder surveys are undertaken to provide a snapshot of current issues that may potentially impact our member organisations and those they represent. In 2019, viewfinder surveys were issued on the topics of Cashless Giving and on awareness and use by the sector of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key findings from both surveys are reported below.

This survey was disseminated to all NICVA members in October 2019. A total of n=102 participants responded to the survey. This data represents a sample of the NICVA membership and is not necessarily fully representative of all VCSE sector organisations in Northern Ireland.

 1.0  Cashless Giving and Fundraising

• Almost 40% of organisations had reported that they had incorporated cashless giving into their fundraising
• The top three most used methods of cashless giving included online giving platforms (65%), directly through website (57.5%) and direct debit (52.5%)

• Over one quarter (26.2%) of organisations reported that they did intend to incorporate cashless giving into their fundraising
• For those who had planned to incorporate cashless giving, plans included inserting a donate button on their website, Gift Aid, Just Giving and Easy Fundraising subscriptions and cashless collection buckets
• For those who did not have plans to incorporate cashless giving, barriers included "the lack of a fundraising team in NI", "prefer to deal with cash" "lack knowledge", "guidance and support around cashless giving", "contactless machines are too expensive" and "did not feel that it was relevant to their organisation"
• Participants provided examples of local, national, or international method of cashless giving which included SumUp, GoodBox, Text to donate, GoFundMe, Gift Aid, PayPal, and contactless collection boxes

 2.0  Advice, Support and Training Needs

Organisations were asked about advice, support and/or training needs around cashless giving. They indicated that they would like information on claiming gift aid on contactless payments, information on the benefits of incorporating cashless giving and information on the use of contactless machines. Additionally, information on associated costs, provision of practical tools for making cashless giving a reality, short training courses and accessing funding for the provision of cashless machine is also needed.

In January 2019, NICVA undertook a survey to determine our member organisations’ awareness and use of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This survey was disseminated to NICVA member organisations (n=1,033) using online survey software between January - February 2019 and achieved a response rate of 13% (n=134). This data represents a sample of the NICVA membership and is not necessarily fully representative of all VCSE sector organisations in Northern Ireland.

 1.0  Awareness and Alignment to the SDGs

• Over half (51.9%) of NICVA membership were aware of the existence of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• 14.3% of organisations had intentionally set out to become aligned to the SDGs
• Whereas, 70.2% of organisations had unintentionally set out to become aligned to the SDGs (i.e. their work aligned with them without any conscious decision to do so)
• Good Health and Wellbeing (81.3%), Reduced Inequalities (53.7%) and Quality Education (51.5%) were the top three SDGs most relevant to organisations

 2.0  Importance and Adoption of the SDGs

• Nearly 9 out of 10 organisations believed the SDGs to be of at least some importance to their work
• Over one fifth (20.5%) of organisations believed that the SDGs were very important to their organisation

• Good Health and Wellbeing (76.8%), Gender Equality (56.7%) and Reduced Inequalities (60.4%) were the top three SDGs that organisations believed should be adopted by all
• 40.1 % of organisations said they would consider undertaking more work to align with the SDGs