News

Optimism around payroll giving despite recession

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 16 Apr 2009

Charities are expressing cautious optimism about the future of payroll giving amid a rebrand of the Give As You Earn campaign by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).

A spokesman for CAF told PF  that the organisation has not seen any impact from the recession or rising unemployment figures and participation levels in its payroll scheme – the largest in operation – which remains steady at  445,000 donors.

Charities too, it seems, are resisting panic about payroll giving income. Anne Fisher, payroll giving co-ordinator  for the RNIB and treasurer of the Institute of Fundraising’s special interest group on payroll, told PF that she had negotiated payroll income targets at the same level as last year but added: “It’s logical that it could grow despite the recession.”

She said: “I am still optimistic. Income hasn’t been affected yet,”  but conceded recruitment for the charity has dropped and the nature  of the payroll giving system could mean that any impact on donors  may not be felt for a few months.

In the meantime, however, she said the RNIB had recently seen “excellent” recruitment levels when it approached donors in Northern Ireland as part  of a payroll giving consortium called Northern Ireland Charities Together.

Payroll giving manager for the British Heart Foundation Jane Banks, said she is “very relieved” to have seen a 13 per cent increase in payroll income over recent months, in line with the previous rate of growth.

“We know that we’re going to lose donors,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of donors at high street banks, so clearly once those redundancies happen we’ll lose donors.”

Fisher too expressed concern about the impact of bank staffing and profits, particularly at major payroll giving organisation the Royal Bank of Scotland which presently matches staff contributions pound-for-pound.

However, as the recession has also resulted in fewer donors changing jobs – a major source of attrition for recipient charities – Banks suggests that the donors they lose to redundancies, will be made up for with reduced staff turnover levels.

Sophie Pritchard, chair of the Association of Payroll Giving Organisations, told PF that the APGO's members had "reported no increased levels of cancellations or reduced value of the monthly sign-ups. While redundancies, companies merging and going in to administration will affect ongoing income levels, our experience so far shows that individuals who are still in work will continue to give through the scheme.

"In some ways the recession is having a positive impact on payroll giving. People have more disposable income due to the reduced interest rates and thus smaller mortgage repayments and there seems perhaps to be an increase in philanthropic sentiment."

She added that "a number of members have reported an increase in enquiries from employers in setting up the scheme" and suggested that payroll giving may take centre stage once corporate social responsibility programmes are wound back. 

CAF will launch a new direct marketing campaign for Give As You Earn in May.

Tweet

Directory: Charities Aid Foundation | Institute of Fundraising
Who's Who: Celina Ribeiro