UK charities lead the way in Europe in running virtual fundraisers amid Covid-19

UK charities are more likely to have run virtual fundraising events due to the Covid-19 pandemic than their counterparts across Europe.

The findings have emerged in a European Fundraising Association and Salesforce.org report into the impact of the pandemic on European charity sectors.

This found that the use of virtual and online fundraising events was much more widespread in the UK (58%) than in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and France.

However, the UK is lagging behind other European nations in other areas of digital communication and fundraising.

Social media use is highest among charities in the Netherlands, 87% compared to 75% overall.

Meanwhile web-based fundraising is most popular in Germany and the Netherlands.

Crowdfunding has yet to take off in the UK, used by just 6% of charities, compared to more than a quarter (28%) of voluntary sector organisations in Spain and around a fifth (19%) of Italian charities.

Phone text is used by one in five charities in Italy, compared to just 8% in France.

Almost 800 charity representatives across Europe were surveyed.

Since the pandemic struck, nonprofits have ramped up their use of digital to raise funds, engage with supporters and deliver services, the report found.

More than half of respondents have found new ways to deliver services, with an increase in those being offered online.