Giving data from Darujme, not only from the Czech Republic...

What role does speed play in online giving? Why does it make sense to offer higher donation amounts too? And on which day do people donate the least?

Covid, a tornado, a war… The past three years have felt as if no stone was left standing. A lot has changed, including giving. That is one reason why we at Darujme.cz joined forces – and above all data – with our colleagues at Darujme.sk to look at how online giving in the Czech Republic and Slovakia works. What are the trends, and what can we learn (not only) from crises?!

Speed: whoever stops for a moment is already left behind…

We have all heard and read it many times. We all know it! But hand on heart – when something truly unexpected happens, are we ready to act fast? Immediately? Let's set aside the actual help, change or impact we deliver, because that is where we as NGOs usually excel: we are flexible and fast. But are we just as fast in fundraising? And is it actually possible to do “online fundraising” well without speed?

In a word – no! Speed is essential. Just as we need to help as quickly, as well and as efficiently as possible, we need to say so and ask. Data from Darujme.cz, as well as from Darujme.sk, show this very clearly on the example of dozens of campaigns, fundraisers and, above all, the donations themselves made during the Covid waves, the tornado in Moravia or the war in Ukraine.

Minutes, hours, days at most are what counts. A campaign launched a week later, or even three days later, does not stand much of a chance. Generosity and solidarity come naturally to people, to donors. If we ask, and ask in time, people appreciate it and donate. Just as the people we help have needs, so do donors – they want to act, they want to do something and help, they want to support. Right now! So if we ask – and in an emergency often “really just” publish a campaign – and do so immediately, the chances of successful fundraising go up. Yes, there are cases where campaigns were successful even a week “after the disaster”, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Whoever starts early dramatically increases their chance of receiving the donations that will allow them to deal with the situation, the problem, the misfortune, and to help.

This chart shows the donations sent – aid for Ukraine – to campaigns via Darujme.cz in the first month. It clearly demonstrates that the first 3 days are key. The same was true of giving in Slovakia through campaigns and fundraisers on Darujme.sk.

Data from the Czech Republic also offer an interesting comparison when we set aid for Ukraine side by side with aid for the people hit by the tornado in Moravia in 2021.

Extraordinary events always mobilize even those who do not normally donate or who donate in other ways. In the case of aid for Ukraine, data from Darujme.cz and Darujme.sk show that more than half of the donors had never donated through the Darujme platforms before. It is therefore a great responsibility for all of us NGOs to take care of these new donors, let them know what their help made possible and give them that unique relationship between donor and recipient that changes the world. Together!

As a side note, our direct experience from crises shows that the old familiar rule – people give to people – still holds. The seriousness of a situation correlates with the amount of aid and of individual donations, as well as with how long it lasts. In a crisis, people do not stop donating to causes other than the most topical one either – whether it was Covid, the war or the high inflation of recent months, giving keeps growing. If you are wondering whether fundraising and online fundraising can work even in these hard times, believe us: it can, and it does!

Does it make sense to ask for CZK 100, or rather for CZK 10,000?

Both the Czech and the Slovak Darujme are tools made by fundraisers for fundraisers. The look of the “donation widget” and the donation amounts on offer are always fully in the hands of the organization collecting the donations. Our experience of recent years, backed by an analysis of hundreds of thousands of donations across individual organizations and campaigns, gives us an interesting view of how amounts can be set and how much to ask for.

Czech organizations most often set the amounts to CZK 500, CZK 1,000 and then CZK 300. A donation button with an amount of CZK 10,000 is rather a minority and sits well below the 5% mark…

But when we look at how much each of the donation buttons brought in total donations, the picture changes significantly.

You might say that is simple arithmetic, it stands to reason?! We agree! And all we can add is that offering donors the option to give CZK 10,000 simply makes sense. As fundraisers, we should keep in mind that donors do not know our work in detail; they do not know how much they should give or what amount makes sense. To put it simply, merely offering the option of a CZK 10,000 donation will certainly not offend anyone – on the contrary, it can mean a significant impact. Conversely, if we ask and offer buttons of CZK 100 – 200 – 300, we should not be surprised that the majority donates CZK 200 and higher donations are simply absent.

Darujme.sk has had a similar experience, so if we were to give fundraisers a piece of (un)solicited advice, we definitely recommend considering adding the already mentioned CZK 10,000 option to your widget, as well as CZK 2,000 and CZK 5,000. It is an opportunity that pays off.

Christmas is not only a season of peace and quiet, but also of generosity. And on Saturday the online fundraiser should have the day off!
It surprises nobody that December and giving go hand in hand. But when we take a closer look under the lid, i.e. at the number of donations entered and made in December, wonders begin to happen.

The chart clearly shows that giving in December has at least 3 or more “peaks”. That is linked to the campaigns of individual organizations and to how they reach out to donors. But it also proves very clearly that asking only at the beginning of December and never repeating the ask or sending a reminder is a great pity. The 2 weeks before Christmas Eve turn out to be particularly interesting, as do the working days after December 26.

To make it even more interesting, we looked at the average donation amount in December. Data from the past 3 years show that the closer we get to the end of the year – specifically in the last two weeks or so (from December 22) – the average donation grows by more than CZK 200. And in the last days of the year by more than CZK 500. Naturally, as fundraisers we can work with this deliberately in our campaigns. Because asking and thanking is what will work in fundraising forever and ever.

A fundraiser may be a lazy creature – but careful, only on Saturdays! So the question of which day of the week people donate the most has a simple answer: any day, but least of all on Saturday. And that goes for both the Czech and the Slovak lands. Below you will find a chart of giving across the week, with a footnote: please do not be surprised by the Friday “spike” in 2021. On Thursday, June 24, in the evening, a tornado hit villages in Moravia, and last year's data are of course significantly affected by that fact.

Our cause is too complicated, it is hard to get donations for it. Really?

Chin up! We certainly do not claim that fundraising is a walk in the park, but the data from abroad, as well as the Czech and Slovak data, do not confirm that #nobodydonatestothis. We know we are on thin ice here and we suspect more than one fundraiser will argue that helping abandoned animals is the easiest cause of all… But when we compared donations by the cause of campaigns and fundraisers on Darujme.cz since 2019, all causes are represented and none of them “outperforms” the others by any dramatic margin. It turns out that other factors play a role – how the cause is presented and how accessible it is, clarity, topicality, the ability to reach donors, simplicity, change and impact… – rather than merely whether it is about the mentioned help for animals, children at risk or human rights.

We believe the facts above will serve as inspiration for your campaigns and fundraisers. Clearly, not everything will apply to every organization or every type of fundraising. Nevertheless, given the amount of “good” that has passed through Darujme in recent years, we consider the data worth your attention.