Not-for-profit marketing
How donors
choose a charity.
Most Australians give: 67% gave money in 2024. Among people who don't, 21% say they don't trust charities to use money wisely. Donors are moved by one person more than by statistics, they trust local charities more than distant ones, and when they judge a charity on its own they over-weight overheads. So lead with what a gift does, close to home, and make it easy to check you're real.
Written by Dan Picken, a marketer who checks the sources. Last checked 2 November 2026.Who gives,
and who doesn't.
The World Giving Report found 67% of Australians gave money in 2024, an average of 0.73% of income. Of the people who didn't give, 63% said they couldn't afford it and 21% said they didn't trust charities to use money wisely.
Trust isn't spread evenly. In the same report, 31% rated local charities as very trustworthy, against 14% for international charities. If you work locally, say so early and often.
What donors
want to know.
When the ACNC asked what charities should disclose, people most wanted how donations are used (76%), the proportion spent on the cause (72%) and the outcomes achieved (69%). That research is from 2017, the latest of its kind found, but the three questions haven't changed.
The top reasons Australians give are caring about the cause (54%), helping people less fortunate (41%) and believing they can make a difference (33%). In Equity Trustees research, only 20% named the tax benefit as a key motivator.
The overhead
trap.
In experiments, people shown one charity on its own said they'd give more to the one with low overheads, even when it does less good. Shown two side by side, they shift toward the one that does more. The researchers call this evaluability bias: overhead is easy to judge alone, impact isn't.
So a headline like '92 cents in every dollar goes to programs' plays to the easy measure, and invites the question of what the other 8 cents is. Lead with what the money does, and answer the overhead question plainly when people ask it.
One person,
not a statistic.
In a well-known study, an appeal about one identified child drew an average of US$2.38 of the US$5 they'd just been paid, against US$1.14 for an appeal built on statistics. Adding the statistics to the child's story brought giving down to $1.43.
Impact data isn't useless. A field test found it raised giving among large past donors and lowered it among small ones. Use the story for the many, and the numbers for the few who ask.
Where your money goes
Lead with what
a gift does.
Paste the line your appeal or donate page uses to explain where money goes. It checks for the things that research says help a donor decide.
Score
0 / 4
Make it easy
to check you.
A donor who doesn't trust charities in general can still trust yours, if they can check it in a minute. Put your ABN and a link to your ACNC register entry on the donate page and in the footer. Say plainly if you're a deductible gift recipient, or that you're not. Name the people who run the charity, with photos.
Then show the work. A short yearly report in plain words, with a few numbers and a few people, answers the three things donors most want to know: how money is used, how much reaches the cause, and what changed because of it.
What I see most often
What I see
most often.
- 1
Overhead as the headline
'Only X% goes to admin' as the main message on the donate page.
- 2
No sign of where
A local charity that never says which towns or suburbs it works in.
- 3
Statistics instead of a story
Appeals that open with a national figure and never introduce a person.
- 4
Hard to check
No ABN or ACNC link anywhere, for donors who look before they give.
The honest bit. None of this replaces doing good work and reporting it honestly. The best appeal is a true one, told well, from a charity people can check.
Questions
people ask.
How many Australians donate to charity?
67% gave money in 2024, according to the World Giving Report, giving an average of 0.73% of income.
Why don't people donate?
Most non-donors say they can't afford it. 21% say they don't trust charities to use the money wisely.
Should charities show their admin percentage?
Answer it honestly when asked, but don't lead with it. Judged alone, donors over-weight overheads, which say little about impact.
What makes people give to a charity?
Caring about the cause and believing they can help top the list. Only 20% name tax as a key motivator. A story about one person usually moves people more than statistics.
Related
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