UK charities spend near £400m budget on direct mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

UK charities spend bulk of near £400m advertising budget on direct mail

http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/fundraisi ... irect_mail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

Charities in the UK spent £394m on advertising in 2013 with 61 per cent of the total going on direct mail, according to a new report. .
The research consultancy nfpSynergy analysed charity advertising spend over the past eight years for the briefing, Ad Infinitum, published today.

Last year, charity spending on advertising reached its second highest level of £394.4m, just under the £400m spent in 2011.

Charities represent 2.9 per cent of the advertising market, which was worth almost £14bn in 2013, overtaking its 2006 level for the first time in five year, the research shows. It is forecast to hit £14.7bn this year.

The report shows that the bulk of charities’ advertising budgets are spent on direct mail, £238.9m in 2013, and an average of 69 per cent of total spend since 2006.

Charities spent just 2 per cent of the total on internet ads, which has barely risen since 2006 when it was 1 per cent. This contrasts to the overall advertising market, which is marked by fast-growing spending on digital. Internet advertising across all sectors increased from 16.9 per cent in 2006 to 45.7 per cent last year. It is forecast to reach almost 50 per cent this year.

Spending by charities on TV ads increased to 20 per cent, £77.1m, in 2013, from 7.8 per cent in 2006, £23.2m. Other spending such as radio (3 per cent), press (9 per cent) and outdoor (2 per cent) has barely changed for charities.

Joe Saxton, co-founder of nfpSynergy, said: “What is also interesting is that although charities are increasing their spending on TV, they continue to resist internet advertising when it continues to boom in other sectors. Is this because charities are way behind in terms of technology? Or is internet advertising an extravagant use of money for few benefits and charities are just more frugal?”