Four in five British charities expect income from voluntary donations to rise or remain steady over the coming year, according to new research.

And their continental counterparts are even more optimistic. Figures from the latest annual State of the Non-profit Industry (SONI) report suggest that two-fifths of British charities expect donations to rise and another two-fifths predict they will stay the same.

But even these positive results pale in comparison to the optimism of French respondents, 80 per cent of whom expect charitable donations to increase in the year to come.

This expected income boost, however, will be necessary to fund the predicted rise in demand for charity services, with 70 per cent of the UK respondents expecting further pressures on resources.

The greatest hope for increased income was held for online donations, with 54 per cent of UK charities predicting growth in donations from the web. Yet less than a fifth of British charities said the main purpose of their website was for fundraising, with the majority listing marketing the brand as the website’s top function.

Further, while major donors was listed as the top driver of voluntary income for the UK, France and Germany, 21 per cent of UK respondents do not do any major donor fundraising at all.

Telemarketing is the most under-used form of fundraising in the UK, according to SONI, with 67 per cent of respondents reporting that their charity does not use the mechanism.
Investments and legacies.

UK representatives showed faith in legacy values; 37 per cent expected legacy income to rise in the coming year, while nearly half thought it would remain stable. But three-fifths of organisations with investments thought their portfolio may lose value.

And speculation about drastic government spending cuts have not shaken the belief among 30 per cent of the UK respondents who predict that income from government will rise in the short-term, with another 40 per cent expecting that their funding from government will remain stable.
Staffing

In-house fundraising staff have cause for confidence, according to the research.  Just over three-quarters of UK charities expect staff numbers to grow or remain stable, and more than 45 per cent of respondents in France and Italy expect their fundraising staff numbers to have increased by the end of this year. 

The outlook is not so positive for consultants, however, with just 17 per cent of UK charities saying they will increase their use of consultants in 2009. The picture is less gloomy on the continent with more than 50 per cent of French and Italian respondents expecting to use consultants more this year than last. 

The survey polled more than 600 respondents from Italy, France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. The results were unveiled at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands by survey authors Blackbaud and partners the Resource Alliance.

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Widespread optimism for fundraising throughout Europe

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Directory: Blackbaud | Resource Alliance