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How does brand love manifest among charities?

Rachel Ditchfield Director 19/05/2022

BrandVue's Most Loved Charity Brands 2022

Love can serve as a vehicle to increase both financial and in-kind support for a specific charity and improve its key brand metrics.

Only charities that succeed in creating an emotional bond, can cut through the noise.

Whilst we have seen the top three most loved charities remain the same over the last year in BrandVue’s Most Loved Charity Brands reports, with an amplified public focus on people’s health due to the pandemic, we have seen a significant increase in love towards health and wellbeing charities, especially those focused on children – BBC Children in Need, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Despite the fact that consumers who love the top charities in each category are on average nearly six times (5.6x) more likely to have supported them in the past year, compared to people with a lower affinity, the support rate amongst people who love a specific, often a smaller charity is much higher. It is nearly sevenfold for The Trussell Trust (6.8x), and over tenfold for both Islamic Relief (10.8x) and Freedom for Torture (12.2x), compared to those who are less passionate about these charities.

Furthermore, people who love any of the top three charities are three times more likely to understand the charities and their cause or mission (76%) than those who are more lukewarm towards these charities (25%).

Alongside having an understanding, trust is a necessary ingredient for establishing a healthy relationship with a charity – and we see that loved charities are significantly more trusted by the public. Data from BrandVue reveals that an average of 85% of respondents who love the top three most-loved charities also trust them. This share is over four times higher compared to people with lower affinity (20%).

The public consider having trust in a charity that they love to be as important as believing a charity to be caring. They also value other brand attributes such as being passionate, committed, and friendly when considering a charity that they love. Whilst for those over 55, it is also important for a charity to be established and honest, compared to those under 55 who like a brand to be inspiring and credible.

Love is also the force which deepens support for a specific charity and turns their relationship into a long-lasting one. This logic can be demonstrated in patterns of engagement with various channels of a charity. People who love the top three charities are more likely to have engaged with almost all tested channels of engagement in the past 12 months.

Engagement through a number of different channels has a strong correlation with loyalty, including financial donations (both individual and regular), word-of-mouth and endorsement on social media, purchase of branded merchandising and volunteering, and engagement with charity shops.

Monetary forms of support are a crucial element that help ensure longevity of a charity. Whilst we have seen an increased pressure on personal finances over the last 12 months, the overall proportion of people who say that they have made an individual or regular donation has remained static, opting instead to increase items donated to a charity shop or a food bank or make a fundraising donation. Year-on-year, individual donations to health and children’s charities by those who love the brand have increased by 88% and 17%, respectively.

Equally important is the power of word of mouth: the propensity to take on the role of an informal brand ambassador, positively promoting the charity, grows by +18% amongst those who love the top three charities, increasing to 20% amongst the top three loved health charities and 24% amongst the top three loved children’s charities.

Inspiring love among the general public is in the interest of each charity that operates in a saturated sector and competes with other organisations for supporters. With an abundance of organisations and causes clamouring for their attention, people need a compass to navigate this increasingly complex sector. Only charities that succeed in creating an emotional bond, can cut through the noise. This anchor point is love.

BrandVue’s Most Loved Charity Brands 2022

Within the report we reveal the UK’s most loved charity brands, and the leaders within nine categories: animal welfare, healthcare, children & family, social justice, humanitarian & international aid, environmental protection, disability, armed forces and mental health.

These rankings are based on 60,000 interviews collected over the past year, through Savanta’s market intelligence platform BrandVue Charities: the largest and most comprehensive brand, audience and supporter tracking engine in the market.

Download the report here to see the full list of the Top 100 Most Loved Charity Brands and find out what it means for a supporter to be ‘in love’ with your brand.

 

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