Charity Awareness Monitor

The Charity Awareness Monitor (CAM) is a syndicated awareness tracking service for charities. By pooling their research budgets, participant charities are able to get a more frequent and more detailed insight into the public's awareness of charities than most charity research budgets could afford. In addition, nfpSynergy carries out extra analysis of the data as well as putting the information into a wider social and economic context. The awareness data is collected in nine waves (3 by telephone, and 6 online) of a representative sample of 1,000 adults in mainland Britain. The fieldwork is carried out for nfpSynergy by TNS Services.

What areas are covered within the research?

•    Understanding of how the public see charities
•    Tracking of how the public engage with charities
•    Insight into what donors’ thinking about giving and volunteering
•    Understanding how to communicate or fundraise better
•    Brand awareness levels
•    Detailed awareness measuring of campaigns, initiatives or services
•    Understanding how relationships with government and companies are seen

Specifically the questions include:

General awareness tracking:

Three of the nine waves measures of the following levels of brand awareness;

•    Which charities are at the top of the public’s mind (spontaneous awareness),
•    The brands that lead different sectors of work (semi prompted – “Can you name a charity that works in the area of…”),
•    Prompted awareness of each participant and selected comparators (“Have you heard of…”).
•    Levels of donations and volunteering are also tracked

Engagement & sector intelligence

In six of the nine waves awareness levels of the following can be test;

•    Awareness of charity campaigns or initiatives
•    Awareness of corporate partnerships
•    Recall issues seen and subjects seen, heard or read about
•    Logo recognition

These six waves also gather intelligence on a variety of issues affecting fundraising and communication in the sector such as;

•    Trust and in charities and public bodies
•    Wills and legacies
•    Tax effective giving
•    Charity shops
•    Payroll giving
•    House to house, street, telephone and online giving
•    Direct mail
•    Volunteering information
•    Community involvement and social capital
•    etc

Bespoke questions can also be added to these waves at least once a year on the following areas;

•    Perceptions of what your organisation does
•    Perceptions of issues affecting different sectors of society
•    Statistics for PR or campaigns purposes
•    Understanding of a topic or subject

Timing

•    Awareness waves: general brand awareness is tracked three times a      year - February, June and October

•    Engagement waves: specific awareness questions and various sector intelligence questions are asked in every in January and every other
month thereafter.

Sample

Each wave samples 1,000 members of the public, nationally representative in terms of gender, age, region and social grade. Results can be segmented by these and other demographic characteristics including;

•    Gender, age and social grade
•    Region
•    Working status e.g. part-time, full-time, self-employed, retired
•    Marital status and children in the household
•    Pet ownership
•    Newspaper readership

Current members

We have 47 charities currently taking part, including : Age Concern, Alzheimer's Society, Arthritis Research Campaign, Asthma UK, BUAV, Barnardo's, Blue Cross, British Heart Foundation, Breast Cancer Care, Cancer Research UK, Cats Protection, Christian Aid, CLICSargent, Elizabeth Finn Care, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Help the Aged, IndependentAge, Leonard Cheshire, Macmillan Cancer Support, Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Mencap, Motor Neurone Disease Association, MS Society, National Autistic Society, NDCS, National Trust, NCH, NSPCC, Oxfam, PDSA, Plan UK, RNIB, RNLI, RSPCA, The Salvation Army, Save the Children, The Scout Association, Shelter, Sight Savers International, WaterAid, YMCA and YWCA England & Wales.

The Cost

The cost to participating charities is currently £9,500 (plus VAT) for the full year, consisting of nine waves of data. Charities that subscribe to CAM also receive a discount on our other monitors.

Further information

For a full briefing pack including a detailed proposal, a selection of results from both the telephone and paper waves and a sample questionnaire, please email Patrick Brennan or call on 020 7415 7155. Where appropriate, we can arrange to present the work of the CAM to your communications, fundraising or research teams and discuss your needs.