The latest report* on how much individual charities get through the CFC included striking data about the value of Charitable Choices' guides and website.
In 2014, three large CFC charities ($1 million plus in total donations) that had long been part our guides dropped out. In 2015, all three came back in. This chart shows each charity’s CFC giving totals for 2013-15.
- In 2014, the three went down 33.5% (vs. an overall CFC decline of 7.8%).
- In 2015, they went up 20.6% (vs. an 8% CFC decline). These three charities do little or no other promotion and don’t have national brands.
We saw similar data in 2013, when one of our best clients (multiple listings, display ad, Why Support Your Work? space) also suddenly dropped out of our guides. Food for the Poor’s CFC donations plummeted nearly 25%, a loss of $110,000. The previous year, when it was still part of our guides, its CFC donations went up 6%.
But the data that really caught our attention is what happened to similar charities that also used our guides heavily in 2013. These charities went up, often dramatically. A Child’s Hope Fund went up 109%, or nearly $67,000. Children’s Hunger Relief Fund went up 27%. Children’s Food Fund went up 62%. Donations that used to go to Food for the Poor instead went to these three similar charities.
In 2014, when Food for the Poor came back into our guides with multiple listings but not a display ad, it raised the same amount as in 2013, but during a year when the average charity went down 19.1%. It went from the 59th largest CFC recipient to the 46th largest.
In contrast, Children’s Hunger Relief Fund, which dropped out of our guides in 2014, went down 42%, a loss of nearly $80,000.
Many factors impact how much a charity raises from year to year. Not every charity is going to experience such a dramatic impact in one year. One reason these charities did see a big impact is that all of them had been part of our guides and website for many years. Our report about CFC giving – Measuring the Impact – discusses the factors that impact a charity's year-to-year CFC donations. This said, data like this really makes us feel good about the impact our guides and website are having on charities.
* A MILLION DONORS CHOOSE: Results of the Combined Federal Campaign -- 2013, 2014 & 2015, published by the Workplace Giving Alliance (wg-alliance.org/research.html).