Donor
acquisition.

Most Australian charities find new donors through a handful of channels, and each brings a different kind of donor. Someone who sponsors a friend in the City2Surf is giving to their friend. Someone who signs up to monthly giving with a fundraiser outside Central Station has made a decision about you. Treating those two people the same is how acquisition budgets get wasted.

The table is how the main channels usually compare. The Ad Grants page and social ads page cover the digital ones in detail.

A first gift tells you a channel can find people. A second gift tells you it found the right ones. In the US, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project's data for 2025 put overall donor retention at 43.3%, across 15,102 organisations, and that figure covers every donor, not just new ones. I couldn't find a comparable published figure for Australian charities, so the honest answer is to measure your own.

Some channels lose money on the first gift by design, and that's fine if the second and third gifts arrive. Face-to-face monthly giving usually works this way. Others look cheap on day one and never pay back because almost nobody gives again. Put your channels side by side below.

Peer-to-peer is where many charities find most of their new names, and Raisely found it drove the biggest increase in unique donors. The catch is that those donors gave because someone they know asked. The charity has to introduce itself afterwards, quickly, or the gift stays a one-off favour.

So thank them as the charity within a few days, separately from the fundraiser's thanks. Tell them one specific thing their gift did. Invite them to something small that isn't another ask: a story, a site visit, an event near them. Check what your fundraising platform's donation form let them agree to. If it didn't ask whether they wanted to hear from your charity, your next message relies on the exemption, so make it count.

Email, SMS and instant messages: the ACMA lists registered charities among organisations that can send marketing messages without consent, provided the message includes the charity's contact details. The ACMA's summary says registered charities, and the Spam Act itself says a charity or charitable institution, promoting its own goods or services. A sports club, a community group or a social enterprise that isn't a charity has no exemption and needs consent like any business. If you're not on the ACNC register, get advice before relying on it.

Phone: the Do Not Call Register Act treats calls authorised by a government body or a registered charity as designated calls, so registered numbers can be called. The ACMA says exempt callers still follow the rules: calling hours that stop at 8pm on weekdays and 5pm on Saturdays, with Sundays and national public holidays off limits, identify themselves, explain why they're calling and end the call if asked. Charities over $3 million turnover are also covered by APP 7, which the OAIC says applies to their calls, including a simple way to opt out and saying where they got someone's details if asked.

NSW: since 1 April 2026, the National Fundraising Principles apply to every organisation that holds a fundraising authority in NSW, covering honesty, donor protection, respectful communication and the use of third-party fundraisers. Other states differ, and using paid fundraisers can bring the Australian Consumer Law in too: the fundraising rules page covers both, state by state.

The practical rule: the exemptions let you make first contact. They don't make it wise to keep contacting people who have said no. Honour every opt-out across every channel, even where the law doesn't strictly require it, because a complaint costs more than a lost name.