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2016 was a pivotal year for Australian Face-to-Face fundraising. Allegations of sham contracting were rife. Unions were circling. The NSW Government was taking a close look at the channel. Behaviours associated with a high-pressure sales culture were dominating the conversation. We did not know it yet, but retention rates were also about to fall off a cliff. Ten years is a long time in fundraising. What has changed? In the last decade, Fundraising Partners has been at the hea

One of the biggest mistakes charities can make with Regular Giving is treating it like a short-term acquisition campaign rather than a long-term investment strategy. The latest Australian benchmarking data shows just how heavily Regular Giving programs rely on long-term supporters. Donors who have been giving for five years or more now represent the majority of Regular Giving income across the sector. That should fundamentally reshape how organisations think about performance

As acquisition costs continue rising across the sector, many charities are spending enormous amounts of time searching for completely new supporters while overlooking one of the strongest opportunities they already have access to. Existing donors. Supporters who already know and trust an organisation can be more likely to become long-term Regular Givers than cold audiences encountering a charity for the first time. The latest reporting from The Benchmarking Project continues

There is a growing assumption across parts of the sector that Face to Face fundraising is becoming less important. Digital growth and changing donor behaviour have led some organisations to question whether the channel still has a long-term future. The data tells a different story. In 2024, Face to Face recruitment still accounted for 84% of all new Regular Giving donors across the Australian sector. No other acquisition channel currently comes close to producing the same sca