Augmented reality, artificial intelligence and new communications channels will all shape mass participation fundraising over the next decade, according to a new report from the mass participation events agency Massive.
The Ten Years of the Massive Top 25 report, released today, acknowledges that many charities will struggle to match the private sector in leveraging these technologies to improve customer experiences due to limited resources.
But it says charities must keep their eyes open to what others are doing.
“Be open to finding new ways of reaching and engaging your audiences and be ready to test new technologies when the time is right for your charity,” it advises.
The report says that Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK and Movember were the three charities to have appeared most frequently over the past 10 years in Massive’s annual list of the top 25 voluntary sector mass-participation events, appearing 49, 45 and 18 times in the list, respectively.
It notes that cancer charities have the greatest foothold in the market, accounting for one-third of such events every year, while it says walking and social events have been the top two most popular event types over the past decade.
The report predicts that charities will need to deliver better digital experiences for their mass participation events in the coming years due to high expectations from supporters for a “quick, easy and seamless experience”, and says it will be more important than ever for data to be used to personalise communications.
“If event participants are monthly donors, legacy pledgers or volunteers, it’s important to recognise this,” the report recommends.
“Participants expect you to know everything they have done for your charity. Showing that you understand and value them will boost engagement and year-over-year retention.”
The report also predicts that the trend will continue for charities to build meaningful connections with supporters in the face of rising acquisition costs, rather than relying on algorithms.
“This shift from a reliance on low-cost digital acquisition to community-building is a reminder of the huge value of mass participation events,” it says.
The report references the “rocky years” experienced by mass participation fundraisers during the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in slower acquisition and decreasing profitability for many.
It urges fundraisers to keep justifying investment in this area of fundraising by including the non-financial benefits of the events in their metrics for success.
The report comes a month after Massive’s latest Top 25 revealed that the top three mass events in 2022 were CRUK’s Race for Life, Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and Movember’s annual European campaign.