Free reports and articles

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Review and development of the Code of Good Governance

The Code of Good Governance had been in existence for a number of years helping to improve the governance practices of organisations in the Voluntary and Community Sector. The Governance Hub asked us to review the impact of the Code, and to look at changes that might be needed to improve take up and usage. We held consultation events nationwide with large and small organisations, interviewed experts, wrote case studies, and summarised it all in this free report.

Code of Good Governance Case Studies

Case studies from our evaluation of the Code of Good Governance.

Passion, persistence and partnership: report summary

The executive summary of our report on internet fundraising.

Passion, persistence and partnership: the secrets of earning more online

Charities have been waiting 10 years for the internet to revolutionise their fundraising. It's finally happening, in unexpected ways. Our new report looks at the most effective (and ineffective ways) to fundraise using the internet, using case studies from successful charities and data from our Virtual Promise reports.

Virtual Promise 2007

The latest instalment of our yearly survey looking at charities and their use of the internet.

A strong charity brand comes from strong beliefs and values

This updated report is a must-read for everyone who is interested in charity branding. It looks at how to create a strong, belief-based brand for voluntary sector organisations. The report examines the hierarchy of motivations that affect charity donors, and sets out the three steps to creating and delivering strong brand values for your organisation.

Youth Volunteering Trends Briefing May 2008

These results from our Youth Engagement Monitor track the volunteering trends amongst 11-25 year olds, between 2006 and 2007. Levels of volunteering fluctuated but remained broadly flat over an 18 month period, with 13%-19% of 11-25 year olds claiming to have volunteered for a charity “in the last three months”

Youth Volunteering Trends Press Release

This is a press release about our May 2008 Youth Volunteering Trends Briefing.

What kind of supporter marketing strategy does your non-profit have?

Whilst in reality charity marketing strategies are carefully crafted and multidimensional, in the public eye they all too often appear simple and unsubtle. Recent debates about incentives in mailing and media dislike of face-to-face fundraising on the street has only served to heighten the negative image of charity marketing. This paper intends to help non-profits counter this image and adopt a strategy appropriate to their organisation.

A model for strategic decision making

Database marketing to supporters is a relatively new discipline within the marketing framework. Many organisations (both for profit and not for profit) have found database marketing to be a powerful approach to acquiring and keeping supporters, by directly creating relationships with identifiable individuals. This paper sets out a strategic model for option generation which has been successfully used with a spectrum of commercial and non-profit organisations.

Stressed out: a study of public experience of stress at work

In late 2006, the Samaritans commissioned nfpSynergy to design and conduct a research study into the state of stress today in the UK. One of the key findings was the extent to which people’s work contributed to their stress levels and impacted on their lives. This current report conducted by nfpSynergy builds on the 2006 wave of research to look more specifically at stress in UK and Irish workplaces and aims to contribute to the social dialogue surrounding related issues.

Who Volunteers? Volunteering trends 2000-2007

This briefing looks at some results from nfpSynergy's Charity Awareness Monitor to analyse volunteering trends over the last 7 years. While volunteering levels have remained fairly constant, the demographics of volunteers have changed.

Signed, sealed and delivered

Direct mail is one of the most common fundraising methods, so it's important to understand how the public see it. It's use and perceived misuse can have an impact on public trust and confidence in fundraising genererally. This report by the Fundraising Standards Board looks at the way the public perceives direct mail, using data from our Charity Awareness Monitor. It gives a valuable insight into the use of direct mail, and draws some interesting conclusions.

Signed, sealed and delivered - Executive summary

Executive summary of the Fundraising Standard Board's report on the public and direct mail.

The 21st Century Donor

This report is the conclusion of several years of work by nfpSynergy researching and understanding donors in a whole variety of guises. We hope that the report will enable charities of all sizes to think about the future and the fundraising strategies they will need to maximise income so as to meet the challenges ahead.

21st Century Donor - Executive Summary

A 20 page summary of the 21st Century Donor report.

Who gives to charity? nfpSynergy briefing

Who gives to charity? An analysis of the most recent Family Expenditure Survey, which asks over 6,000 UK households about how much they give to charity, and how often. This report was updated with new charts and analysis on the 28th June.

Running for the money

Running for the Money started out as research into the possible demand for a second marathon in London. However, as results came in, it became clear that the interest in a second London marathon was in fact part of a wider yearning for more accessible, more strategically-planned charity runs throughout the UK. We prospected for a nugget of fundraising potential and discovered a whole mine.

The State of the Third Sector 2007

This is the first instalment of an annual survey carried out with Third Sector magazine. It aims to track the mood of the sector over time, on key issues such as external pressures, government initiatives, stakeholder relations and much more. Over 300 people who work in the sector replied to the survey, from a UK-wide range of different-sized organisations.

Virtual Promise 2006 - Full Results

The 2006 installment of nfpSynergy's annual (since 2000) survey tracking charities' use of, and attitudes to, the internet. The report incorporates data on specific information regarding their internet presence and resources, including budgets, staff allocation, hardware/software, marketing, agreement with statements and much more. This year 295 organisations responded: the results are presented as a whole but also broken down into data for small, medium and large charities, to provide more targeted 'benchmarkable' results.

Stressed out - A study of public experience of stress

This study was commissioned by the Samaritans to explore the state of stress in the UK today. The report identifies how the nation has become more stressed, examining the nature in which the problem manifests itself and is coped with among particular sectors of society.

Typical Young People - A study of what young people are really like today

Much of the social dialogue about young people is focused on the behaviour of a minority of troubled young people. While this is understandable in some respects, there is a danger that these individuals are taken to be representative of all young people in Britain. nfpSynergy was commissioned by the Scout Association to conduct a robust research study that would help to ensure the voices of young people are included in this debate and the findings provide us with a representative view of what young people aged 13 - 18 think and feel.

Getting the Message Across

Not for profit think-tank nfpSynergy has teamed up with The ImpACT Coalition to produce a free, short, practical report and guide that will empower charities to formulate and communicate simple messages, including pithy pub facts, needed to dispel a range of debilitating misperceptions their stakeholders may have, both about themselves and the wider third sector.

HQ Imperialism or Regional Barons?

How well are HQ-Regional relationships functioning in charities in the UK today? Are charities achieving the balance between the need for central consistency and the need to tailor plans to national, regional or local contexts? Are charities effective in balancing the desire to be consultative organisations with the demand to get the job done?

These are the questions which prompted nfpSynergy to conduct new research among charity employees. This study represents a snapshot of how well charities Regional-HQ relationships are functioning, according to charity employees. The aim of this study was to develop some hard data on this important issue - the first public study of its kind in the UK that we are aware of. And the results highlight some worrying schisms and considerable room for improvement for many charities.

2006 Campaigning Survey Results

The Charity Commission's guidelines on campaigning changed in 2004 but how many charities are actually aware of these changes? And what do they mean for charities anyway? In an online survey carried out earlier this year for People & Planet and the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, these questions were put to a range of charities, campaign groups and NGOs as well as broader questions about their campaigning activities and what affects these activities.

The Bangladesh innovation take-away

In this new international report, Harriet Skinner Matsaert uncovers how the not for profit sector in Bangladesh is breaking new ground in social entrepreneurship.

Using her own experience of working there and interviews with Bangladeshi social entrepreneurs, she shows how many organisations are successfully tackling some of the challenges also facing organisations in the UK. A number of particularly innovative organisations are presented which are making the most of new technology, creating effective cross sectoral partnerships and engaging in business.

So, as Harriet concludes, "Bangladesh has much to teach us if we are ready to listen and learn".

Restricted vs Unrestricted Income Survey

In a recent newsletter, we asked readers to complete a survey giving us their views on restricted and unrestricted income. We've taken the results from the survey, turned them into charts and created a pdf of the results.

Mission Impossible - a report and reference collection of charity mission and visions (full report and reference)

Remember doing exams at school where you just wanted to look other people's answers without the hard work of revising? Well "Mission Impossible" lets you do just that - for other charities' vision statements. It takes away all the hard work of trawling through their organisations' websites. Or as they say in the ads - we've done the hard work so you don't have to. "Mission Impossible" brings together over 80 vision statements from a range of organisations in the charity and not for profit sector. We don't claim it's exhaustive or representative, just useful. Even so the full version is over 100 pages long. We added analysis to the beginning of the collection to give you our thoughts on examples of good practice.

Mission Impossible - a report and reference collection of charity mission and visions (report only)

A 20-page summary of the above report.

The 21st Century Volunteer - A report on the changing face of volunteering in the 21st Century

Although volunteers began as the heart and soul of the voluntary sector, the rise of professional fundraising and the professionalisation of the sector as a whole over the past few decades have resulted in the role of volunteers often being downplayed. However, as the realisation dawns that volunteers' goodwill is as valuable an asset and as formidable a force as funds raised from supporters, the important role played by volunteers, and therefore volunteer managers, is again coming to the fore. This is indeed a very exciting development, as it means that the volunteer managers of today are working with a relatively blank slate and have the power and opportunity to determine the way in which volunteering develops into the 21st Century. Of course, it is not just exciting; it is also an incredibly serious responsibility. The volunteering experience that volunteer managers create will shape not only the effectiveness of the sector but also the enthusiasm and attitude with which the British public will approach volunteering. This report aims to help voluntary organisations understand the current volunteering environment and to anticipate how volunteering will change over the coming years. In particular, it aims to disseminate the ways in which volunteer management will need to develop in order to accommodate changes in the external environment.

Ten campaigning tips for lobbying MPs - October 2005

nfpSynergy has a wealth of back-data regarding MPs' opinions of charities and their campaigns, comments from those who work in this area and experience of the sector. This has enabled us to compile a report containing ten tips, which extract the most salient issues to emerge from our research, to help you in your future charity campaigns and lobbying. These top tips are quite literally a starter for ten when looking to elicit a successful campaign and lobbying approach. They should be looked at holistically and pragmatically such that they are not meant as a 'one size fits all' prescription. Every charity and/or campaign is different, but there are general rules of thumb common to all which fit together in a whole host of ways and to different degrees for each charity and not-for-profit organisation.

Virtual Promise 2005 - Full Results

In 2000 nfpSynergy researched and wrote a report with Horwath Consulting called 'Virtual Promise - Are charities keeping up with the Internet revolution? The research polls organisations asking them for specific information on their internet presence and resources, including budgets, staff allocation, hardware/software, marketing, attitudes and much more. The results were first published as a special supplement for Third Sector magazine and were sent out in February 2001. Since then nfpSynergy has conducted the research on an annual basis. These are the full results for 2005.

'Branding: the jeweller's story' - Case studies from the voluntary sector plus a branding toolkit - July 2005

It is three years now since we published 'Polishing the Diamond' in the autumn of 2002. Since then we have continued to receive requests for it from all around the world (over 1,000) - it is our single most popular report. Many people have commented that it has been one of the few things available that looks specifically at branding for not-for-profits in an accessible and straightforward (and free) way.

For this reason we decided to pull together a series of branding case studies from across the sector - this is the first part of the report. In part two we have incorporated some of the simple branding tools that we had either developed or come across in the last two years that we felt would help organisations develop their own approach to branding.

Polishing the Diamond - October 2002

A charity's image is crucial to the success of every part of the organisation. Unlike companies who have products and services to sell, charities are often selling an idea or a cause. As such, the image of the charity is crucial to its financial success. People often buy from companies whose products they like even if they are indifferent to the company as a whole. How many people give to a charity that they are indifferent to?

'Virtual Promise - From Rhetoric to Reality' - A report on charities' use of the internet between 2000-2004 - October 2004

What's really going on in the virtual charity world? This report is a culmination of four years of research into UK charities' use of the internet since the initial report from 2000 called 'Virtual Promise - Are charities keeping up with the Internet revolution?' There have been yearly updates since. The report is separated into three main sections. The first features the results from a survey we sent out to 300 charitable organisations in the UK in November 2003 (as well as the results from previous years for comparative purposes), including analysis of these results. The second section consists of a detailed write-up of a set of interviews conducted in mid 2004 amongst charity internet managers and web experts who deal with the voluntary sector on a day-to-day basis, outlining their views about various issues affecting the online charity world. In the third and final section we sum up the findings of this year's results, offer up some recommendations on areas of improvement for charities, outline the advantageous position in which the third sector could find itself and make some predictions for the future.

'Innovation rules!' A roadmap to creativity and innovation for not-for-profit organisations - October 2004

What is the point of a voluntary organisation if not to make a difference? Thousands of people in the UK (and around the world) work for free or for a reduced wage because they believe that the causes or charities they work for are changing people's lives. Does this not sound like the ideal foundation for innovation? Does this not sound like a group of people who would happily put their necks on the line to find new and improved ways of operating so that they could deliver better solutions to their beneficiaries? Too few people have specifically addressed the voluntary sector's potential for innovation and the voluntary sector is often left feeling that the only time they can afford the luxury of innovation is when a funder specifically asks for it. It is our hope that this report will provide charities with a greater understanding about what innovation could do for them on a day-to-day basis. The report includes sections on issues such: innovation myths; innovation versus creativity; reducing the barriers to innovation and how innovation is linked to mission and vision. We have also put together an Innovation Toolkit (please see Appendix 2) to help you master some of the practical skills involved in systematic innovation (if you would like this please let us know).

'Touch & Go': The internet, digital TV and mobile telephony as tools for maximising the impact of charities - July 2004

This report aims to help voluntary organisations better understand the nature of the current technological revolution and plan for the future accordingly. A key theme runs through the report: that new communications technologies, including the internet, digital TV and mobile telephones, allow charities to do more with less, to punch above their weight, to reach new audiences, develop new services and to remorselessly achieve their goals more effectively. The report is split into three sections. The first looks at the general public?s access and utilisation of key technologies; the second explores utilisation of technology in the workplace, highlighting lessons from the commercial sector. The third looks specifically at the implications of these new technologies for not for profit organisations, and attempts to help the sector weigh the risks of technological investment against its potential. In all of the sections we are careful to distinguish between access to technology and use of it.

Five key trends and their impact on the voluntary sector - May 2003

The impact of social and economic change on the voluntary and community sector is far-reaching. It is a fallacy that the sector is insulated from the wider world in which it operates - yet many charities remain largely uninformed about the future they face. The ageing population, the changing nature of families and households, the growth of the knowledge economy and knowledge workers, the growth of the digital and internet society, and the globalisation of social attitudes are just some of the trends which are having, and will continue to have, a profound effect on the voluntary and community sector. The trends examined in this first briefing are the ageing population, the changing nature of households and families and increased levels of educational qualifications and aspirations. The report hopes to stimulate thinking in not for profit organisations about the impact these issues could have on clients, on funding, on competition, on staff and above all their own effectiveness.

Disgusted or delighted? - What does concern the public about charities? - March 2004

A representative sample of the UK population was asked to think about charities and the work that they do and pick up to five issues from a prompted list that they found 'off-putting, worrying or irritating'. The biggest single response was 'concerns about the amount that goes to the charity' - 68% and only 5% of respondents said nothing irritated or concerned them. Of greatest topical interest is that fundraising on the street was only nominated by 12% of people and was 12th out of the 15 options.

Paid or unpaid?: that is the question. Or how the public is more likely to think that trustees are paid than fundraisers - March 2004

A representative sample of the UK population was asked to identify which of a variety of groups involved with charities was paid or unpaid. The results showed that while the public was right about whether directors and chief executives were paid (around 90% thought they were definitely or probably paid) far less accuracy was seen for trustees and fundraisers (only 8% thought trustees were definitely unpaid and only 6% thought fundraisers were definitely paid). Indeed more thought that trustees are paid than fundraisers.

Share giving - sheer indifference, March 2004

A research report on the use of share giving by charities, a policy introduced in April 2000 which allows individuals to give shares and offset the value of the shares sold against their income tax liability and reduce their capital gains tax liability. This report is the result of research into the ways that charities are using share giving (alongside Gift Aid, covered in a separate report) and their success in promoting it. A questionnaire was mailed to 500 charities in October 2003, yielding 139 respondents.

You can take a Gift Aid Horse to Water... February 2004

A research report on charities' attitudes to Gift Aid and its marketing which shows charities are not making enough of Gift Aid. Questionnaires were sent to over 600 charities ranked by income. 136 completed questionnaires were received. The first report ?Looking a Gift-Aid horse in the mouth ? July 2003? is also available.

The power of dreams, the burden of leadership: Report on the Barclay's "Britain's Most Admired Charity" Survey - October 2003

How should charity chief executives do their job? What are the special responsibilities and skills needed to be an effective leader in the voluntary sector? Where do the ideas and inspiration needed to be an effective leader of a not for profit organisation come from? "The power of dreams, the burden of leadership" is a report disseminating the "Britain's Most Admired Charity" survey data. It concentrates on a number of important issues for any charity that wants to increase its effectiveness including: the key attributes of successful charities; skill and expertise shortages; government initiatives that have impacted (or not impacted) the sector; and the key challenges for effective charities and charity leaders.

Innovation: A roadmap for homeless agencies - October 2003

The "Innovation Roadmap" is designed to guide homelessness and other voluntary organisations towards a culture of more systematic innovation. It provides a sector specific analysis of the innovation process, explaining why it is important, how it can be incorporated into an organisation's culture, and what the barriers are likely to be. It also provides insights about just how innovative the homeless sector is seen to be and highlights a number of inspirational projects which have, in one way or another, challenged the status quo. A general voluntary sector version of this is being released in February 2004.

Payroll Giving: Big Opportunities / Big Obstacles - December 2002

A research report on charities' attitudes to payroll giving and its marketing. Questionnaires were sent to over 600 charities ranked by income. 136 completed questionnaires were received.

Trusted but misunderstood - November 2002

Is the public falling out of love with charities? Those operating within the voluntary sector may feel concerned that today's public are growing increasingly sceptical about charitable activity. As a result, there is much discussion about the need for tighter regulation of charities in order to inspire greater public trust and confidence and therefore future financial success. In order to investigate whether public trust in charities is in fact waning, nfpSynergy has carried out research over the past year based on three different waves of research (using different methodologies and taking place at different times). This paper is a presentation and analysis of those results.

The Future of Homelessness - September 2002

The future is an uncertain place when you are working with a phenomenon that is as complex and changeable as homelessness. This briefing aims to help homeless agencies to understand the significance of the key social, political and economic forces that affect their work so that they may be better prepared for what is to come.

Business with charities: The public's perception of fundraising promotions for charities by companies - August 2002

In February 2002 nfpSynergy carried out research into the public's memory of charity/company tie-ups and their attitudes towards them. The sample of 1,050 people was contacted by random telephone dialling and representative of the UK population by gender, age and social class. The questions asked included:

- Can you think of an occasion when a company has offered to make a donation to a charity cause if you purchased their product?
- Do you think better of a company for making a donation to charity of this kind?
- Do you think a charity should have clear guidelines from whom they will accept donations from, or should they accept donations from anyone?

Virtual Promise - original research conducted 2001 and annually since then

nfpSynergy researched and wrote a report with Horwath Consulting called 'Virtual Promise - Are charities keeping up with the Internet revolution?' It was published as a special supplement for Third Sector magazine and was sent out in February 2001. The research has been repeated and an updated report produced in February 2002. The report is the most comprehensive study yet published in the UK, on the ways in which not for profit organisations are using the Internet. Extensive online and offline research was conducted for the report, including questionnaires from 80 leading charities and interviews with leading industry commentators. The report looks not only at how charities are already using the Internet, but provides guidelines for future development both for individual charities and the voluntary sector as a whole. The report is a vital aid to small and large charities alike in ensuring that they make the most of the Internet.