2022 saw more donors but fewer regular donations in Spain

An additional one million Spaniards gave money to nonprofits in 2022, finds a new study by the Spanish Fundraising Association (Asociación Española de Fundraising, AEFr).

The 1,200-person study, a collaboration with data provider Kantar, shows that 39% of the country or 15.9 million Spaniards made a donation during 2022. While this is one million more than in the previous version of the report (in 2020), AEFr says that Spain is still behind countries including France, Germany and the UK, where the equivalent figure is greater than 50%.

Nearly a quarter (22%) of the Spaniards who gave money in 2022 did so through a monthly, quarterly or other regular donation – a number which has dropped from 24% in 2020.

AEFr’s report also shows that of those who did not donate to a cause in the past year, 13% intend to do so in the next six months.

It finds that face-to-face fundraising was the primary method of recruitment in 2022, accounting for 19% of new donors. Other successful sources of new donors were online (16%), and events (14%).

The most important causes for those surveyed this year are children (53%), the elderly (49%) and those with ill health (45%) ­­– the same top three as in 2020 and 2018. The number of respondents citing the environment has dropped from 39% last time around, to 35% this year. As for specific events, the war in Ukraine, the 2021 volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands, and the Covid-19 pandemic were also popular causes.

Concerns for the future

Of those who did not donate, 39% said they couldn’t afford it, 36% said it was because of distrust towards nonprofits, and 9% said they had other priorities. 7% said they supported the sector in other ways, a further 7% said they thought donating was the responsibility of others, and 1% said they didn’t think donating was necessary.

Even among those who did donate in 2022, there are signs in the study that the nonprofit sector’s reputation and relevance in Spain is declining slightly. In response to this, AEFr president Glòria Oliver says it is important for fundraisers to “continue to educate [the public] in order to make clear the value which the third sector brings to society”.

The data also shows that the average age of Spanish donors is 49, leading Oliver to highlight the importance of increasing efforts to engage younger people to in the work of the sector.

The findings are available on AEFr’s website.