We recently asked our followers on social media what the biggest challenges are that they face as Charities. The answer, at 80% of votes was overwhelmingly “Funding”, followed by “Governance” and “Ability to Plan Long Term” both with 10% of votes.
This is not a surprising result. The last few years have been particularly challenging for charity fundraising, with higher donor expectations and an increased focus on quantifying and reporting impact, cuts to government and local funding streams, and with over 168,000 charities registered in the UK, competition has never been higher.
Throughout the last year we have conducted discovery workshops and meetings with over 50 UK registered charities to identify and really understand the core issues that affect charities sustainability and capacity to plan for their long-term future. We needed this research to ensure we were building a product that responded to these challenges from the very start, and would be providing a solution that was not only needed by the market but delivered in the most accessible and effective way.
This research identified four key challenge areas that we are addressing through Maanch:
A high dependency on short term, one-off grants or contracts
Funding from central and local government has decreased and cuts to local contracts continue. This is absorbed through staff and infrastructure limitations, increasing pressure on finding alternative income.
Our solution is to enable Receivers to diversify income streams by leveraging technology to connect them to new Funders at scale.
Pressure to demonstrate long-term impact
Businesses recognise the economic prize in aligning themselves with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Philanthropists need long-term impact information to understand the global footprint of their giving.
Maanch connects these Funders to Receivers committed to this new long-term sustainability agenda, demonstrating both the SDG profile and impact score of each project and presenting a globally standardised way to relate causes with global impact.
Increasing demands on reporting and quantifying impact
Funders often require Receivers to communicate and quantify the impact of their funds, and many organisations find this challenging, time intensive, and subjective – especially when dealing with complex beneficiary outcomes.
Our technology uses complex algorithms which automate the impact projections Receivers need to secure funding, and the impact reporting needed by Funders once a project is complete. This technology provides a new lens to showcase projects and an objective metric to quantify impact at a country and global level.
Operational and resource constraints
Significant resource is dedicated to fundraising and time consuming offline grant applications. Online giving increased in the UK in 2017 by 12.1% compared to 2016, and it is expected to keep rising. Charities recognise the need to respond to changing giving trends to access new funding online.
Maanch harnesses technology to help Receivers scale, creating internal efficiencies with automated fundraising and reporting, two of the most resource-heavy areas. The platform is fully optimised for web and mobile, and the search functionality, project information and impact reporting are industry leading for online giving.
Onboarding with Maanch
The fundraising landscape is challenging, with higher donor expectations, increased regulation, cuts to traditional funding streams and a saturated market providing more competition. Our platform was designed as a response to these challenges and we provide a provide a free, easy to use service which enables Receivers to embrace technology and reach new audiences.
For information or to start onboarding with Maanch click here.
