CDE project 4 sec­tion 4: appen­dices 3 – 5

Written by
The Commission on the Donor Experience
Added
April 27, 2017

Appendix 3: Report Sources

  1. The JGA Donor Thanking Survey ran online from 7th Jun until 29th July 2016. In total, 129 responders completed it. A full report, The JGA Donor Thanking Report, was published in September 2016 and is available as a free download from www.johngrainassociates.com
  2. Mission Aviation Fellowship Supporter Survey 2015
  3. Case Study submissions were received from Solar Aid, NSPCC, Oxfam, Hope And Play (via Ken Burnett) and Y Care International.
  4. Informal interviews with eight charitable donors were carried out in West Oxfordshire in August 2016.
  5. Mystery shopping was carried out with a small number of charities with donations made online and via the post.
  6. Thanks for everything! How do charities recognise and say ‘thank you’ to their key donors (Helena MacNeary and Joe Saxton, nfpSynergy, May 2014)
  7. What’s Stopping Charities Getting Closer To Their Supporters – A survey of supporter care programmes in UK charities (Brightsource, 2012)
  8. FRSB Supporter Care Manual – How to achieve exceptional standards in Supporter Care (Fundraising Standards Board, October 2011)
  9. Failing to Hit the (Bench)mark, mystery shopping report (JGA Ltd, March 2008)
  10. Say Thank You The Right Way (Carolina Herrera, July 2016, SOFII website, http://sofii.org/news/say-thank-you-the-right-way)
  11. Does Thanking Really Work? (Laura Croudace, SOFII website, October 2014, http://sofii.org/article/does-thanking-really-work)                   

Appendix 4: Related Commission on the Donor Experience Projects

There are a number of other Commission on the Donor Experience projects closely linked to this one. For a comprehensive overview of outstanding supporter care delivery and best practices, we recommend the following project reports.  

Appendix 5: Methodology

The project methodology was as follows:  

The Survey into Charity Thanking was set up in Survey Monkey and ran from the 7th June until 29th July 2016. To take part, respondents had to work for a charity and complete the survey online. The survey was promoted via the John Grain Associates Ltd website and in their e-bulletins, via a feature piece and subsequent online ads on Fundraising.co.uk, through the Supporter Care Forum, and on social media.  Overall, we received 129 valid responses from charities. There was no paper version of the survey.  

Requests for case study submissions were made via the Commission on the Donor Experience website and via a blog piece on Fundraising.co.uk.  

Individual donor interviews were carried out with eight supporters of charities in West Oxfordshire in August 2016. These were recruited by word-of-mouth and took place in a variety of locations, including the donor’s own home, cafes and hotels. The interviews were confidential and findings anonymised. The gender split was five women and three men and ages occurred across the following ranges: 18-35 (2), 36-55 (3), 56-75 (2), 76+ (1). Charities were supported in a variety of ways (by cheque, credit card, direct debit, sponsorship, event participation, collecting box, donations of goods to shops, and in memoriam. Two donors were legacy pledgers. Donations were made online, via the mail, over the phone and face-to-face. The minimum gift mentioned was £1 (collecting box) and the maximum gift mentioned was £1,000 (cheque). Charities supported included: Against Breast Cancer, Alzheimer’s Association, Asthma UK, Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust, The Blue Cross, Cecily’s Fund, Christian Aid, Cancer Research UK, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Helen & Douglas House, Help for Heroes, Macmillan Cancer Support, Oxfam, NSPCC, Plan International, The Royal British Legion, RNLI, RSPCA, Save the Children, Sobell House, Soil Association, Special Effect, WaterAid, The Woodland Trust and World Vision.  

Desk research was carried out online.

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About the author: The Commission on the Donor Experience

The CDE has one simple ideal – to place donors at the heart of fundraising. The aim of the CDE is to support the transformation of fundraising, to change the culture to a truly consistent donor-based approach to raising money. It is based on evidence drawn from first hand insight of best practice. By identifying best practice and capturing examples, we will enable these to be shared and brought into common use.

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