High net worth donors may be getting increasingly strategic, but more still cite personal connections as an influence on their giving than any other factor, according to a new study. 

For all the talk about impact reporting and strategic philanthropy, a new survey of wealthy donors has found that personal connections remain the most important of factors swaying giving decisions.

Seven out of ten of the philanthropists and business leaders surveyed by high-end volunteering charity Pilotlight said that having a personal connection to a charity was behind their decisions to donate.

This was more than those who said a ‘charity’s work’ was a key factor behind a donation; 60 per cent cited this as a factor.

Pilotlight took this as evidence that donors want more impact reporting from charities. “It’s also important they are told how their donations contributes to the charity and makes an eve bigger difference,” said chief executive Fiona Halton.

This finding regarding the importance of personal links, the result of a survey of more than 160 people in England and Wales, matches up with the general sentiment of qualitative research done by University of Kent researcher Dr Beth Breeze.

Research by Dr Breeze, released in early 2010, found “personal preferences” followed by “personal connection” were the two strongest factors when donors were selecting which charities to give to. She found that many donors said they supported “things that happen to appeal to me” or are “nearer to my heart”, as well as creating ‘philanthropic autobiographies’ in which they associate charities with warm or significant memories.

The new report, released late last month by Pilotlight, found that while many of those individuals it surveyed engage with philanthropy in a strategic and thoughtful way, just three in ten said the broader funding crisis facing charities impacted on their giving.

Donors acknowledge impact of fundraising

But while many people believe an innate emotional or philanthropic impulse to be behind their giving, a significant minority (27 per cent) in the Pilotlight survey said that a fundraising campaign had impacted on their decision.

Engagement with charities also proved to have many benefits for the philanthropists themselves. Sixty per cent said they volunteered with charities such as Pilotlight for their own professional learning and development, and the same proportion felt their existing skills could be used to benefit charities. Just shy of three-quarters had an improved appreciation of the work of charitable organisations after engaging with them and 40 per cent said they had donated more as a result of a volunteer engagement with a charity like Pilotlight.