Wood For Trees releases first annual state of the sector report

Wood For Trees is releasing its first annual State of the Sector report, delving in to the current charity landscape across the UK in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State of the Sector was compiled using real market data from Wood For Trees’ InsightHub Benchmarking reports. It provides valuable insight into a number of key areas, including the impact of COVID-19 on fundraising activities and associated income, the impact of change on both product and channel, and shifts in subscriber profiles, behaviours, and recruitment.

The not-for-profit sector has been one of the hardest hit by social distancing measures with many of the usual approaches to fundraising, such as direct face-to-face dialogue and large scale events prohibited.

State of the Sector benchmarks will enable not-for-profit organisations to better contextualise and understand their own pandemic performance. This will help charities to implement data-driven decision making processes and make more informed, intelligent, and smarter choices.

Jon Kelly, Managing Director of Wood For Trees says, “Considering the obvious and very difficult circumstances of 2020 and the restrictions on some fundraising channels, the results of the annual report show a better picture than might have been expected. While we know that there are certainly winners and losers across the sector, and this by no means lessens the harsh circumstances facing many great organisations and causes, it does show that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and a reason for hope and optimism.

“Income has taken a fall, but within the overall context it is clear to see a strong performance across one-off giving and community based fundraising, and certainly some new trends that fundraisers can build on.”

Charities and not-for-profit organisations hoping to learn more about comparing their own products and channels against real market data can register now for an informative webinar hosted by Kelly and Product Manager Josh Hopkins. The live digital event will explain the results of the report in greater detail, and provide charities with any assistance they need in viewing their own performance results in the context of recent sector trends. The event is intended to help organisations spot emerging trends within their own fields and quantify results against the sector. There will also be a dedicated Q&A session, with an opportunity to ask any questions relating to the report.