The rise of brand consideration towards children’s charities

Olly Wright EVP, Public 01/14/2022

The past 18 months have had a devastating impact on charitable organisations, and many have seen their incomes dramatically impacted by reduced donations from supporters.

This has been further compounded by charities’ limited ability to use established fundraising mechanisms such as charity shops, events, and on-street fundraisers. The result is a sector that is facing significant challenges to their financial resilience, and at a time when many charity services are seeing a dramatic increase in demand.

The number of consumers who, in the last 12-months, considered supporting a young person's charity in the future has seen a 6.5% increase compared to consideration of all other not-for-profit brands.

As the pandemic magnifies inequality and those that are vulnerable, organisations have worked tirelessly to minimise its impact, adapting their strategies to be responsive and engaged with their supporters.

We’ve taken a deep dive into the not-for-profit sector to look at how attitudes towards children’s charities have changed over the past year.

Data from BrandVue, our brand tracking and monitoring platform, highlights a growing trend within the not-for-profit sector of increased brand consideration towards children’s charities during lockdown. The number of consumers who, in the last 12-months, considered supporting a young person’s charity in the future has seen a 6.5% increase compared to consideration of all other not-for-profit brands.

Digging into our data, brand consideration across children’s charities levelled at 24.3% last month (December 2021), whereas consideration for other charities has remained consistent year on year at 17.8%. Additionally, brand consideration for children’s charities saw an increase of 1.6% in the last year. Whilst this percentage change may not seem significant, this represents over half a million people in the UK who would consider supporting a children’s charity over a non-children’s charity in the future.

Notably, young person’s charities accounted for the majority (37.5%) of non-profit organisations who experienced a statistically significant increase in their brand consideration score in the last 12-months. Followed by health and cancer charities (20.8%), whereas non-profits focusing on mental health and domestic violence only made up 8.3% each.

Of the young person’s charities, Children with Cancer UK witnessed the biggest uplift in consideration (+2.7%), followed by BBC Children in Need (+2.6%), and Teenage Cancer Trust (+2.2%). Charities centred on providing support to young vulnerable groups such as YoungMinds (+1.7%) and Childline (+1.5%) also experienced increases in future consideration.

Interestingly, of the above charities, most of the brand consideration in the last 12-months derived from the 16-24 demographic (45.3%), followed by the 35-49 age group (40%), with 60–74-year-olds having the lowest consideration score (35.4%). Moreover, females were 11.1% more likely to support these charities in the future than males.

Conversely, brand consideration for non-children’s charities received the highest percentage from the 50-74 demographic over the same period.

This begs the question, with the UK government’s recent announcement regarding Covid Plan B, which included guidance to work from home, how can non-profits look to increase their brand consideration?

Although we have seen a notable increase in public trust in the sector during the pandemic, brands must understand the relationship between supporters and charities is like a bridge, requiring thoughtful design and regular maintenance.

Non-profit brands that consumers associated with being ‘Trusted’ and ‘Friendly’ witnessed the greatest increase in consideration in the last 12-months. As was the case with the most considered children’s charities, who were predominantly associated with being ‘Friendly’, ‘Trusted’, and ‘Passionate’. Therefore, charities that integrate these characteristics into their brand image stand a stronger chance of driving consumers to consider supporting the organisation in the new year.

The result is an emotional connection between a charity and its supporters that is highly personal, valued and can last for decades.