Face-to-face & telemarketing driving donor acquisition in Spain

Regular giver numbers and average annual donation size continue to rise in Spain, with charities continuing to rely on traditional supporter recruitment methods, according to a study from Asociación Española de Fundraising (AEFr).

16 NGOs participated in the Spanish fundraising association’s study, reporting a total of 4.41 million regular donors and 768.000 one-off donors in 2019. This is an increase from 2017’s figures of 3.98m regular donors and 588.000 one off donors.

The report also found that average annual donation values have risen €5, from €133 in 2017 to €137.90 for regular givers, with people remaining regular supporters for longer. AEFr’s figures show an average lifetime of 8.5 years: a slight rise on the previous year’s figures of 8.4 years.

The majority of supporters are still recruited via traditional acquisition channels, mainly by face-to-face at 39%, followed by telemarketing (35%) and mail (6%). Web accounts for just under 5% of new supporter recruitment, while SMS accounts for 0.5%.

And, while regular supporter numbers rose, cancellations also rose a further 0.3%, with 36% of those ending their support blaming economic pressures.

Fernando Morón, AEFr director, commented:

“The rise in the average annual contribution made by regular givers, according to the 16 NGOs analysed, is proof that the Spanish citizen supports the work of the organisations and that they are increasing their commitment. However, what is worrying is the lack of new channels bringing supporters to NGOs with F2F and telemarketing still the main channels used.”