Irish Charity Engagement Monitor

The Irish Charity Engagement Monitor (ICEM) is a new tracking study of attitudes, awareness and perceptions among adults in Ireland. Launched in 2008, it is a way for charities in Ireland to get access to a wealth of public perceptions that would normally be out of reach for any single charity.

How does it work?

The monitor surveys a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults in the Republic of Ireland, by telephone, three times a year. Charities who participate in the monitor form a research syndicate for the purposes of the research. Costs, and results, are shared between all the members of the syndicate.

What are the benefits of regular monitoring of the attitudes of the Irish public?

nfpSynergy already run monitors which track the attitudes of the general public in the UK (our Charity Awareness Monitor) and in Scotland (our Scottish Charity Engagement Monitor). The monitors give charities the chance to find out how they are perceived, gain insight into what the public think of volunteering, campaigning, and donating to charity, and provide a benchmark for charities to measure themselves against. The Irish Charity Engagement Monitor will provide a similar service for all not-for-profit organisations based in, or operating in, Ireland.

Specific benefits include:

o Greater insight into how the general public perceives charities
o The ability to break this data into demographic groups (and by attitudes)
o Evidence to support business cases e.g. investment in communications
o A supply of key performance indicators for senior managers
o Benchmarks against other charities/campaigns 
o Long-term data that can be interrogated
o An opportunity to become more stakeholder-focused and to further imbed a culture of evaluation and measurement
o Critical analysis of success and areas for improvement

The costs of the Irish Charity Engagement Monitor

The cost for each subscriber will be €8,700. Clients who already buy our Charity Awareness Monitor (CAM) will receive a discount.

Timings of the poll

The first poll took place in the spring of 2008. Research takes place three times a year. Each poll has data from 1,000 members of the Irish public.

The package for participants in the poll:

• All the general data from each of the two annual surveys relating to all the charities in the poll.
• Each participant has their name on the list of named charities on the questionnaire.  Each participant can also have the name of a charity of their choice added to the list for comparison purposes.
• An annual opportunity to add an individual question to the questionnaire (at an additional cost), the results of which will be available only to the participant (if they so chose).
• Data tables, a PowerPoint presentation and a written commentary on each piece of research.

What questions will be asked?

These are the types of questions explored in the monitor.

General awareness tracking:

•    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

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

Find out more

If you are interested in hearing more about the Irish Charity Engagement Monitor, please get in touch with us. You can email Brian Garvey at brian.garvey@nfpsynergy.net, or call on 0207 426 8887.