Friday 29 October 2010

The favourite ways of giving for UK Christians

Here is some interesting data from our Why Christians Give survey:

1. Nine out of ten evangelical donors have a favourite way of giving.

2. More than half of evangelical donors (56%) prefer to give via standing orders and direct debits.

3. The least popular ways of giving were: online donations (2%) and Stewardship or CAF accounts used by respectively 4% and 7% of evangelical donors.

4. On the whole evangelical donors are more likely to give regularly to charities compared to UK donors’ at large (52% vs.37%).

However, while the relative popularity of methods for UK donors might have changed little in the last decade, the popularity of regular giving methods has changed a lot for evangelical donors.

A partial comparison of preferred ways of giving in 2009 vs. 1998 reveals that giving by cheque was the most popular way of giving followed by standing orders and CAF accounts. Today, we see a 25% increase in giving by direct debits and a 14% increase in giving by standing orders, while giving by cheque remains almost at the same level.

So, do you know your donor’s favourite ways of giving? Have you ever asked them? In what ways would that information affect the way you ask for money in the coming year?