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Door-to-door attrition falls and street steady

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 23 Jun 2010

Charities could be facing the best year on record for doorstep-recruited donor retention and street fundraising attrition figures have remained stable according to the latest figures on face-to-face attrition.

The level of attrition at the five-month point for donors recruited at the door in 2009 was lower than in previous years, prompting projections that annual attrition will come in at between 44 and 45 per cent, compared to up to 50 per cent in the previous six years of the Donor Attrition and Retention Survey (DARS).

“We’re predicting door 2009 campaigns could have the best retention levels on record,” said DARS co-author Rupert Tappin at the unveiling of the report at yesterday's Public Fundraising Regulatory Association AGM.

Annual street fundraising attrition for 2009 is expected to end up at 53 per cent, lower than the 58 per cent projected but in line with 2008 figures, according to the results of DARS 2010.

Projecting five-year attrition rates, the DARS authors expect that 2006 street campaigns will record 84 per cent attrition, dropping to 77 per cent for 2009 campaigns. Door campaigns conducted in 2009 are predicted to have attrition levels of between 60 and 72 per cent, down from the 85 per cent projected for donors recruited at the doorstep in 2006.

Charities’ ability to improve or steady donor retention despite the economic uncertainty was attributed to improved stewardship by DARS Tappin and Quarriers’ head of fundraising Morag Fleming.

“The recession has certainly caused us problems, but perhaps they are not as bad as we might have feared,” said Fleming. “However, that is probably because street fundraising is experiencing the same improvement in donor care and stewardship that has lead to improved doorstep attrition levels and so this is offsetting the worst effects of the recession.”

Meanwhile, the report showed that for the first time on record in-house teams outperformed agency teams on the street, reporting three-month attrition levels at 24 per cent against the average agency figure of 30 per cent.

A fall in gift aid take up meant that the average value of gifts by doorstep-recruited donors fell to £9.72 from £9.88 in 2006. The average donation value on the street also experienced a small uptick last year, rising to £8.71.

This year's survey was based on responses from 27 charities for campaigns run in 2006-2009.

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Who's Who: Rupert Tappin | Morag Fleming