STRICT EMBARGO - WEDS 12/11/08

Public put off more by how a charity spends its money than how it raises it

• Top public charitable gripes: amount actually going to causes, and amount spent on admin

• Public least perturbed by charities campaigning for change

• “Sector must reassure public that income reaches causes and that costs are relatively low and necessary,” vies Saxton

The public is more put off by how a charity spends its income than how it generates it - according to new research out today (see attached summary slides).

3 in 5 (61%) of people questioned are worried about the amount that actually goes to a cause and half (51%) are anxious about the amount spent on admin - ahead of other top-five charitable gripes, more relating to fundraising methods: telephone calls at home (45%), collectors’ persistence (44%) and door-to-door collections (39%).

Leading not for profit sector think tank and research consultancy nfpSynergy’s Charity Awareness Monitor has tracked a representative sample of 1000 16+ year olds throughout mainland Britain for the past decade, uncovering donors’ attitudes and habits as well as what they think of charities’ fundraising strategies and tactics.

Conversely, “charities campaigning for change” (3%) and “not being contacted or updated” (6%) are regarded as the least off-putting charitable activities by the public.

Only 3% of the public say that there is nothing, on a wide-ranging pallet of suggestions, that they find off-putting about charities.

nfpSynergy’s Driver of Ideas, Joe Saxton, said:

“Even negative feedback is a positive boon, if heeded. These latest findings should not only prompt charities to focus ever more on clearly presenting their fundraising tactics as necessary and effective - even if, on occasion, irritating. The data should also, perhaps even more crucially, induce them to reassure the public that donations and other sources of income do largely end up directly helping causes - admin costs being relatively low, and necessary, for the smooth running of any effective voluntary organisation. Otherwise, the public are less likely to give money or engage in other ways. Fundraisers have made progress with the creation of the Fundraising Standards Board and the Institute of Fundraising's codes of practice. But the rest of the sector can act too, clarifying how funds raised are actually spent.”

Recent research conducted by nfpSynergy also found that the public dramatically overestimate charities’ admin and fundraising costs, with them falsely believe that, on average, over a third (35%) of a charity’s income actually goes on fundraising and a shocking 40% on admin, when true figures for average-sized charities are likely to be far lower than this.

Click here to see the charts from this research.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS: To interview nfpSynergy’s Joe Saxton about the significance of these latest findings or further analysis into what worries who about charities, please contact:

Adrian Gillan, T: 0207 6 22 99 11; M: 0774 086 7215; E: adrian@gillanmedia.com

Notes to editors:

· nfpSynergy

nfpSynergy (www.nfpsynergy.net) is the UK’s only think-tank and research consultancy dedicated to the charity sector and not for profit issues. It provides ideas, insights and information to help voluntary and community organisations thrive in an ever-changing world. Regularly harvesting the social and charity-related views of public and parliament, media and business - not to mention not for profit organisations themselves - nfpSynergy has a vast and ever-growing knowledge pool from which to extract and deliver insights.

· Joe Saxton

As well as being Driver of Ideas at nfpSynergy – the leading not for profit sector think tank and research consultancy he founded back in 2002 - Joe Saxton was until recently chair (2005-2008) at the Institute of Fundraising; and is currently chair at student environment and development campaign group, People & Planet, as well as chair of CharityComms, the new professional body for not for profit communicators.

Named by The Guardian (2003) as one of the 100 most influential people vis-à-vis UK social policy, Joe was voted the most influential person in UK fundraising by Professional Fundraising magazine in 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008. The Evening Standard named him one of the 1000 most influential people in London in both 2007 and 2008. In 2008 he was also named as one of PR Week’s 500 most influential people in the UK communications sector.