Fundraising Mix of Cancer Research UK - Case Study Example

Fundraising Mix of Cancer Research UK Introduction Charitable Organisations are a type of business that is a part of Non-Profit Organisations that can run both as publicly as well as privately. A charitable organisation is based on various fields depending on religion, education and other public interest varying with nature (Davis, 2015). The objective of this paper is to highlight a particular organisation that raises funds by means of voluntary donations and spends it for valuable causes. By doing so, the researcher will be able to describe various fundraising sources available to Non-Profit Organisations. In this study, the researcher will look into the fundraising mix of Cancer Research UK with the underlying aim of critically analysing the sources of funds thereby describing their advantages and disadvantages. Company Overview Cancer Research UK is one of the world’s leading charitable organisations that have saved millions of lives through diagnosing and treating cancer. It tries to protect and promote the health of an individual through their research carried out in various fields like nature, causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of various forms of Cancer including the ways for the betterment of this research. The organisation operates in Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Cancer Research UK’s net income for the year 2013-14 is £665,410,600; whereas the company’s net expenditure is £540,260,360 (Charity Commission, 2015). Critical Analysis of Cancer Research UK’s fundraising Mix There are various ways through which the Cancer Research UK raises its funds and which has got certain benefits and drawbacks of fundraising. The study considers each of these issues in details as follows: Fundraising through Legacies Legacy proves to be a great source of income for fundraising by the organisation as it is the most unrestricted income. The organisation has raised around £163 million through legacies during the year 2014 (Cancer Research UK, 2014). This source has benefited a great deal to the organisation. It helps in building and maintaining financial reserves for investing in service development. The fundraising through charity can even improve the risk of Legal Challenge against a will that the beneficiary has paid for using simple safeguards. Gifts to charities are free of inheritance tax (Sargeant, Jay and Lee, 2008). However, there is a disadvantage that these can even encourage complacency and pose problem to other fundraising efforts (Magson and Routley, 2009). It is often felt by the organisation that asking for donation to supporters and beneficiaries would make them feel that their services would be compromised if they did not cooperate. According to the organisation, it is unethical for an organisation to talk to its beneficiaries regarding death (NCVO, 2014). Fundraising through Events Cancer Research UK has generated a fund of around £70m through events (Charity Commission, 2014). It has taken initiative in organizing various events in order to raise sufficient amount of funds and is planning to organize new events in 20 other locations during 2014 (Charity Commission, 2014). The organisation organises various events for fundraising like 5k runs to walk-a-thons to bike rides. People are encouraged to participate in these events in order to raise sufficient amount of funds by collecting registration fees. However, it is also important to note that all such events have got certain benefits as well as challenges. These events generate a lot of revenue for the organisation but it also poses a lot of stress on the organizers of these events. One of the biggest challenges is that it needs a lot of planning and execution and the organisers have to form a committee comprising of internal personnel, volunteers as well as local people (Webber, 2004). Corporate sponsorship is a critical aspect that is always necessary for fundraising. Also the in-kind donations play an important role. Cancer Research UK faces another challenge of fundraising as due to the unpredictable weather issue. A bad weather can destroy the entire event planned for the day. Sometimes more than one event is arranged on a single day that leads to confusion among the supporters as to which event to take part. The other important reason for an event to get ruined is the absence of a celebrity whose promise for participating in the event had attracted thousands of supporters (Magee, 2012). However, all these events have got a huge potential in generating a lot of revenue within a short span of time, but there are times when the income generated is not sufficient to satisfy the cause. One of the other benefits can be considered as organising brand awareness. Cancer Research UK has created a lot of awareness as the fundraisers took initiative in sending emails, messages and through social networking informing people about the events and encouraging them to take part in the noble cause (Guidestar USA, 2012). Fundraising through Direct Giving Fundraising through direct giving activity has continued to benefit this organisation due to the generosity and benevolent behaviour of the supporters. This mode has generated an income of around £123m. Around 1 million donors have generated an income of £100m to their giving channel. Not only do they consider the huge donations but small donations do contribute as well. This type of fundraising involves interacting with the supporters directly and convincing them so that they get interested in donating money (Grande and Vavra, 1994).Direct marketing can be done through various communication channels such as telephone, SMS and emails. It builds a good relationship and provides a lot of pleasure to the supporter as well as the charity (Woods Group, 2015). One of the biggest benefits is that if the relationship between the two is very good then the supporters may even find pleasure in leaving a gift in their will when they die. It is often noted that it is easy to convince the older people especially the senior citizens than the younger generation because the older generation have got a giving ethics inculcated in them and they poses a lot of money as compared to the younger generation. Hence, it is suggested that profitable direct marketing begins with older population (Sargeant, Jay and Lee, 2006). Direct debit also gives a peace of mind to the supporters because they know that their donation will be collected regularly by the organisation and they need not walk to the bank several times for donating. It also gives the organisation an opportunity to update the supporters regarding their fundraising activities and encourage them to increase their donation amount. The supporters are also reassured by the benefits that the charity achieves through their donation (NCVO, 2014) Fundraising through Partnership and volunteer Cancer Research UK has generated around £38m income through partnership and volunteer fundraising (Cancer Research UK, 2014). Over 900 local fundraising groups brought about hundreds of volunteers to generate about £13m altogether (Charity Commission, 2014). The corporate partners of this organisation rose over £9m during the year 2013-14 (Charity Commission, 2014). This sort of fundraising activity is an approach by the senior level volunteers in order to raise sufficient amount of funds. The volunteers satisfy their main objective of raising fund through their networks, high level corporate partnerships as well as organising various fundraising events (Horne, 2000). Volunteers help in finding out issues which affects the charity and their local community as well as the charity partner can be beneficial from a new pool of enthusiastic volunteers who dedicate their work for a noble cause. Corporate partnership benefits the organisation to a greater extent as they provide required funds from marketing and community budgets, brand awareness, awareness through corporate social responsibility, volunteers and generous gifts. However, without appropriate approach they may pose a lot of problems in fundraising (Charity Commission, 2014). Fundraising through donations at shops Cancer Research UK has been beneficial to a larger extent by fundraising through shops. It has generated around £76m of income through retail fundraising (Charity Commission, 2014). In 2014, the shop network has expanded to around 14 new shops increasing the total count to 560 (Charity Commission, 2014). It has also conducted various shop refit programmes to attract donors. These organisations have invested in new retail and stock collection propositions including various donation stations. Charity shops are the most successful sector in fundraising. These vary in terms of size, merchandise mix and professionalism (Horne, 1998). Charity shops has blossomed towns and cities of UK which helps charitable organisations like Cancer Research UK to raise awareness regarding the charity and serves to be a good fundraising medium. It is another way to raise fund for the charitable organisation through online shopping with no extra cost (Parsons, 2004). There are various online shopping websites like Amazon which has the provision that a certain percentage of their income earned goes to the charitable organisation as funds (Bumblebee Conservation Trust, 2015). A shop in a prominent location has the motive to attract the attention of the passersby and it can serve as a good medium for charity. Leaflets and other promotional modes can be displayed and volunteers can be recruited through shops. Some of the most professional charity retailers receive as much money from their trading activities as they do from individual donation (Home, 2000). According to Cancer Research UK, fundraising through shops is the most important medium of fundraising. However, this sort of fundraising have a good probability to cause certain problems to the Cancer Research UK, for example, the smaller shops have got a very little capital and hence they are always at risk due to which they would never choose to go for innovations. The board members and senior management team has a very less tolerance as well as less monetary capital for building a loyal donor base. There is also lack of human capital and inefficient working professional that fails to raise sufficient fund for Cancer Research UK (Charity Commission, 2014). Conclusion Through this study it was seen that the Cancer Research UK, one of the largest fundraising organisation in the United Kingdom, proves to be one of the best research organisations that successfully accumulates finances that are spent for the treatment of Cancer patients. On critically analysing the various aspects of fundraising mix by Cancer Research UK like fundraising through legacies, events, direct giving, shops, partnerships and volunteers it was clear that the organisation face both advantages as well as disadvantages. On the other hand, it was seen that fundraising through legacies generates the highest income to Cancer Research UK. Also it was found that Cancer Research UK has created a lot of brand awareness through organising various events and encouraging a lot of supporters and donors to contribute for this noble cause. After conducting a thorough critical analysis it can be concluded that although Cancer Research UK’s fundraising mix was very effective there are certain flaws relating to fundraising through shops as well as volunteers and partnerships which needs to be dealt with. This is evident from the lower amount of funds accumulated from these fundraising sources. Therefore, the managers of Cancer Research UK can adopt appropriate strategies that are aimed towards approaching shop customers and encouraging more volunteers to donate for a noble cause. Recommendation This study has proved that although Cancer Research UK has been in an advantageous position by raising funds through multiple sources, there are certain drawbacks that should be addressed. In case of fundraising through events managers of Cancer Research UK, they need to ensure that no other important events are organized on the same day and the organisation would be in a better position if it starts planning as early as possible. It would be far better if more volunteers are encouraged in increasing the brand awareness of Cancer Research UK. Also by maintaining a good relationship with the donors, the organisation would be in an advantageous position. This is because by maintaining strong relationship, managers can convince the donors to increase their donation amount. The organisation can hire more volunteers in order to improve their network among various corporations so that the companies can contribute a great deal to this organisation as a part of its corporate social responsibility activities. Cancer Research UK can educate its staff members in order to present the organisation in front of the community in a better way and plan out strategies in order to extend new partnerships. The organisation can plan out various strategies in order to achieve its objectives, after all the better it plans the higher possibility it has to satisfy its mission. Reference List Bumblebee Conservation Trust, 2015. Fundraising. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Cancer Research UK, 2014. Saving lives through research. [pdf] Cancer Research UK. Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Charity Commission, 2014. 1089464 - Cancer Research UK. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Davis, S. S., 2015. What is a Charitable Organisation? [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Grande, C. A. and Vavra, T. G., 1994. Improving direct mail fundraising through segmentation research. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 5(2), pp. 141-158. Horne, S., 1998. Charity Shops in UK. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 26(4), pp.155 – 161 Horne, S., 2000. The charity shop: Purpose and change. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 5(2), pp.113-124. Magee, J., 2012. Challenges and Benefits of Nonprofit Event Fundraising. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Magson, N. and Routley, C., 2009. Using data in legacy fundraising: A practical approach. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 14(4), pp. 333-340. NCVO, 2014. Helping Civil Society Flourish. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Parsons, E., 2004. Charity retailing in the uk: A typology. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 11(1), pp.31-40. Sargeant, A., Jay, E. and Lee, S., 2006. Benchmarking charity performance: returns from direct marketing in fundraising. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 16(1-2), pp.77-94. Sargeant, A., Jay, E. and Lee, S., 2008. The true cost of fundraising: Should donors care?. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 9(4), pp. 340-353. Webber, D., 2004. Understanding charity fundraising events. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 9(2), pp. 122-134. Woods Group, 2015. Direct debit gives charities more control over fundraising. [online] Available at: [Accessed 31 March 2015]. Read More