I've compiled the following findings this time, hoping some of you will find this information valuable.
- Recommended gift values presented on each hospice website.
- Whether donors are clearly informed of the impact of the gift.
- The method by which gifts are collected (onsite, third-party, etc.).
- The accessibility score of the donation process.
- The website technology used and how up-to-date they are.
So, without further ado, here are the findings.
Average recommended gift value requested by UK Hospices.
It's just £15. That's a terrible statistic for supporting end-of-life care. I can't buy a bucket of chicken for that, and that's a cheap round at the pub these days. I'm not sure what these analogies say about me, but I hope you get the point.
I appreciate that many in this country are struggling financially, but I also see wealth being driven around in abundance (fancy cars, mostly). Let's put this into perspective: if I'm struggling to make ends meet, a £15 donation to my local Hospice is a huge commitment. If I drive around in £50,000 car on my way to Kentucky Fried Chicken, then £15 is neither here nor there.
Anyway, on with the stats.
£3 is the lowest recommended gift value presented on several Hospice websites, including one of the biggest, St Barnabas. £50 is the highest minimum recommended gift value I have observed. Only 2, mind you, one in Glasgow (£8m t/o), the other in Northern Ireland (£4.5m t/o).
Of the 206 websites evaluated, 13% promoted £5 as their recommended gift value. I would wager that once the costs of processing a £5 gift are considered, these Hospices will lose money on those donations.
The good old £10 note.
Sixty-seven hospices choose the old faithful £10 as their front-runner (see rant above). Even at this price point, we must consider the resources required to generate such a relatively small income.
As many of you know from our fundraising fitness reports, 89% of all gifts received to hospices in the UK are for small amounts (£15) and only generate 9.7% of the total income required to remain sustainable.
At this price point, it's only worth taking that donor on IF (and that is a big if) we can nurture, retain, and expand that relationship. Can you deliver an effective retention and stewardship strategy without busting the bank on a £10 donation?
Can you turn that one-time gift of £10 into a £50 a month regular giver? What rate of retention do you need to achieve in order to make this financially viable? Hell, what even is your new donor retention rate?
The lucky dippers
Twenty-eight hospices chose to provide no recommended gift value, leaving it to the supporter to guess a number for their donation amount.
Unbelievably, not one of these hospices presented any value to impact references. There was no way for the user to understand the difference between a 10p donation and a £100 donation. Oh, and by the way, on each of these websites, I could donate just 10p. Madness!
Make from these numbers as you will, but the fact remains that £15 is the average requested donation amount from hospices in the UK, and I think it needs to be much higher to be sustainable.
Gift value referencing on UK hospice websites
Are the people looking at your donation page informed about the difference their gift can make and inspired to give more? Or are they not?
Shockingly, 109 hospices made no reference to impact statements on their donation page. That's 53%. Just let that sink in for a moment.
That's a huge number of people in the middle of an important financial decision who are not being provided with any information or support when trying to understand the positive impact they can make and why they should.
How can a supporter grasp the concept of the value you need to make a difference? What is the supporter buying, and what will it do? How do they know how much they should give?
The average gift value requested by hospices who actively informed the donor about the impact of their gift was £17.58. The average gift value requested by hospices who did not was £12.24.
The average annual income of hospices who did present impact statements is £7.5m t/o. The average of those who don't is £5.6m t/o.
Take what you want from those last two stats, but it seems clear to me that many hospices should inspect their online giving experiences closely.
WordPress, WordPress, blooming WordPress.
65% of hospice websites are hosted on WordPress, the world's favourite blogging software. That's 133 websites out of 206.
Using www.wappalyzer.com I was able to identify the version installed of 91 WordPress hospice websites. Of those 91, 42 were patched to the latest 'secure' version, and 49 were not.
It is important to note that this analysis only covers the core WordPress installation and does not include the third-party plugins and whether they have been updated to the latest version.
In summary, more than half of the WordPress hospice websites we assessed currently need to be patched to the latest version to be considered secure.
When selecting a website platform, it is important to be aware of the security and support cost implications. WordPress relies heavily on third-party plugins to extend its functionality. Each plugin used on your website needs to be monitored for security compliance, which can often be costly to support.
Taking control or off-loading.
Of the 206 websites assessed, 28% are transferring their supporters to someone else to handle the gift and data collection. Enthuse is highly prevalent here, taking tips from your bewildered supporters.
72% of hospice websites were collecting donor data and transactions on their own website, with many using integrated forms from their CRM provider, most notably Blackbaurd, Beacon, and Donofy.
The average annual income of charities relying on third parties to process their gifts is £4.1m t/o. The average annual income of charities processing data and transactions on their own website is £7.1m t/o.
Accessibility
When conducting this research, I used Equal Web's Website Ability Checker (www.equalweb.com) to scan each Hospice's donation page.
Sixty-six donation pages failed WCAG 2.2 compliance by quite some margin (32%). Equal Web was eager to point out that these websites were at medium risk of litigation.
One hundred twenty-two also failed, but only on minor details (59%) and were classed as low-risk. Eighteen ensured their donation page was fully compliant (9%).
Summary
It's fair to say that there is room for improvement. The donation page is a crucial engagement point and must be managed carefully.
Review your donation pages and ask yourself, Can our giving experience be improved? How can the gift value be maximised? How can we extend and enhance our relationship with this donor?
I have observed a few hospices selecting to present specific donation values corresponding to particular outcomes. For example, "£27.36 will help to feed an in patient for the day".
The irregularity of the price stood out and encouraged me to seek understanding rather than a click-and-dash one-night wonder. I think this is something to consider and helps to focus on delivering that promise.
Having a specific target for a gift should also encourage you to reduce the costs associated with processing each gift. Constantly seek ways to maximise the amount of our supporters' money that goes toward delivering that target. Can we keep a promise?
A lot of money and sensitive data are processed each year through hospice websites. I am concerned by the number of third parties involved in facilitating these connections to your donors.
Security needs to remain at the forefront of your priorities for the sake of your brand. A hacked website is the last thing you need the week before a major event. Consider the security compliance costs associated with your website platform. Can you rest assured that your website is secure?
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