How to fight charity fatigue
charity sector, has sounded a warning about donor fatigue. She worries about duplication, noting that ‘‘unless it’s a small family run charitable trust, then they all need offices, a manager, photocopier and they all need phones and there are no economies of scale’’.
With the total number of charities growing by almost 1000 a year, we are witnessing charity creep and the resulting donor fatigue and cynicism. Think how many door-knockers, street canvassers, postal appeals and online prompts you have endured in the past month.
Russell said those factors were driving people to online fundraising sites like Givealittle and Every Day Hero. Like other digital disruptors, such sites seem to offer the promise of a more efficient way, where you can see your money going directly to the affected parties. But the immediate emotional hit that provides comes at an unseen cost: You may be helping one needy family, but a donation to a larger, more systemic charity may well do more for a greater number of people, by addressing root causes of illness or injustice.
Charity creep is not confined to the mushrooming numbers of charities working in the same space. There have also been examples throughout the country where charitable organisations are raising funds for civic facilities, such as libraries and hospitals. Once upon a time, the outfitting of a new public library would have been considered the responsibility of the library’s owner, the city council, funded by ratepayers. Similarly, the funding of medical buildings would once have been considered the domain of the taxpayer, under the auspices of health boards.
Donating to these types of campaigns is laudable and does much to improve civic wellbeing. But should such facilities move from the must-have of a publicfunded entity to the nice-to-have of private charity, subject to the fickleness of popularity? The increased competition for charitable giving increases the need for donors to do their own homework about how wellmanaged their donated funds are and how much impact they will have.
It would be helpful if in the name of transparency, Charities Services could find a way to rate charities on what proportion of their income goes to front line services and how much to admin. And asking your chosen charity how much they collaborate with other charities in their sector could be a useful guide to where their priorities lie.