Time for fundraisers to fall back in love with cash? Here are seven reasons why.

Over the years we’ve had many discussions with clients on the role of ‘cash asks’ to inspire new support for charities, especially in relation to DRTV. We’ve always supported the long-term, lifetime value focus on regular giving which has been a mantra for most supporter recruitment for many years. And rightly so. But has this been at the expense of ignoring a particular audience that has the potential to give, and to give generously? Not everyone wants to set up a direct debit and so by only focusing on this we may be excluding a large audience that want to support your cause but in a way that suits them.

We suspect that some of the sector may be a little guilty of ignoring the potential of cash givers when in fact, alongside regular givers, they can be an important part of your mix.

We’ve seen some really strong results in cash-focused campaigns on TV and digital this year and will be running more tests over the Christmas period. There is also a wealth of data insight to back up the importance of cash.

Along with our partners at Wood For Trees we’ve put together 7 reasons why it’s time to fall back in love with cash:

1. Instant ROI:
   Depending on the ask and cause, you can expect anything from 0.4 right up to positive ROIs. We have seen many cash-positive recruitment campaigns this year. Even at the lower end of this scale the results will soon turn positive due to the other reasons listed below.

2. Cashflow (v RG):
   We would also expect the returns to be quicker. Average cash donations can be between £40-£60: so the equivalent of a year’s RG donation is given up front … and with no attrition to factor in over the first year. The above probably would not happen with low cash PSMS but is more likely with a non-PSMS ask where prompt amounts can be higher depending on your cause.

3. ROI with RG follow-up (telephone):
   You can add between 0.15–0.3 to your ROI by following up with a conversion call to RG.

4. Lifetime Value:
   We would expect at least 15–30% of cash givers to give again to a warm appeal in their first year, and this often can be higher. On top of this, cash givers are often more likely to respond to “other asks” (raffle/warm appeals) than regular givers. Longer term this will build to positive contributions and help sustain your appeal programmes in the future.

5. Rebuild your donor/warm base (following GDPR):
   You will generate between 1.5–3 times the amount of response with a cash ask v. RG. This can mean 1,000s of opted-in names for follow-up/warm appeals as a bi-product of cash asks; volumes that you ordinarily would not get with an RG-only ask

6. Positive impact on Legacies (and HV giving):
   Cash givers tend to be older and often come from a higher socioeconomic group, so make good prospects for legacy giving.
   Some data shows that a legacy is more than twice as likely to come from an occasional cash donor rather than a regular giver.

7. Different audience = widen your support base
   In the UK, we think there are as many as 7 million cash givers we’re not reaching with a regular giving ask. Are you missing these potential supporters?
   The pre-Christmas season of goodwill is a time when people love to make cash gifts. Even though the economic impact of the pandemic is hitting people hard, good people still care. But they may understandably be less willing and able to commit to a regular gift. Overall, we see a case for looking at adding more cash asks alongside your regular giving asks. We can see causes beginning to fall back in love with cash, while the vast majority of supporters may have been smitten all along!

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Source: Legacy Foresight : a legacy is more than twice as likely to come from an occasional cash donor rather than a regular giver (https://www.legacyforesight.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Uncovering-the-invisible-legator-IoF-4-7-2017.pdf)

“Cash often comes second best to regular giving, but the best way to think of it is not as an alternative to regular giving but as an additional offer. It will often engage a different and extra audience to regular giving — and one which can be just as valuable if nurtured correctly” Jon Kelly, Deputy Director, Wood for Trees

We’d love to hear what you think. Is it time to fall back in love with cash?

Bios

Alex Wordsworth is Executive Producer and Senior Strategic Planner at DTV. He has helped create successful DRTV and digital campaigns for many causes around the world.

Jon Kelly, has worked at Wood for Trees for 12 years and now leads the team as Managing Director. Over that time he has focused on helping charities understand and optimise their fundraising programmes using the data at their disposal.