The evidence you need to make confident fundraising decisions
Are you under pressure to explain performance, justify investment or show trustees where growth will come from?
Charity Benchmarks reveals what’s really driving income, costs and supporter behaviour – so you can back your strategy with hard evidence.
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8+ years in the market
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£1bn+ income analysed annually
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3 bespoke reports + online portal
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Delivered by Open × Sequoia
• 8+ years in the market • £1bn+ income analysed annually • 3 bespoke reports + online portal • Delivered by Open × Sequoia
Trusted by UK charities
What is it?
Charity Benchmarks reveals the real drivers behind fundraising performance. Built from detailed financial and performance data, and combined with interviews and a sector survey, it shows exactly how your programme compares – and where your next opportunity lies.
As a participant, you’ll get
A detailed report benchmarking your results against the average
Five year and quarterly data to show both short-term and long-term trends
Volume, cost, staffing and ROI data across the full portfolio
An ‘Individual Giving Deep Dive’ showing KPIs across products and channels
Qualitative insight on culture, confidence levels and governance
Analysis of market context, trends and strategy from sector leaders
A secure online portal where you can create and export your own analysis
Who’s it for?
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Heads of IG
Compare detailed channel and product performance data including volumes, value, CPA and retention.
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Fundraising Directors
Understand your fundraising portfolio, identify areas for development and make a better case for investment.
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CEOs
See your fundraising programme in a sector context and get a better understanding of sustainability and risk.
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Trustees
Get robust, independent insight to help you assess strategy and performance – and make better decisions.
The benefits of
Charity Benchmarks
Better
decisions
See where you’re over-performing, where to improve, and where to diversify – with evidence.
Smarter investment cases
Back your budget bids with hard data that wins support from leadership and trustees.
Stronger
leadership
Confident, long-term planning grounded in what’s really happening across the sector.
Charity Benchmarks in action
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Alzheimer’s Society: Insight to drive growth
The data showed that warm raffles and lottery weren’t performing as well as expected relative to the wider market. This led to a focus on both programmes, the implementation of a testing plan for new raffle approaches and a successful overhaul of the organisation’s Lottery offer.
“Benchmarks data was a key part of our review of our portfolio and our plans for future growth.”
Karen Suter, Head of Individual Giving -
Marie Curie: Embedding insight in planning
For five years, Charity Benchmarks has supported Marie Curie’s annual planning – comparing performance with the sector, testing assumptions and prioritising resources. It provided evidence for extra investment in digital fundraising and identified areas to scale back.
“Charity Benchmarks helps us create cases for investment, challenge our own performance and respond to challenges from senior stakeholders.”
Mark Lumby, Head of Fundraising Analysis & Insight
How is Charity Benchmarks different?
| Charity Benchmarks | Free sector surveys | |
|---|---|---|
| Topline sector summary | ✔ | ✔ |
| Your results benchmarked | ✔ | ✘ |
| Revenues, costs & KPIs by product | ✔ | ✘ |
| Annual snapshot | ✔ | ✔ |
| 5 year trends | ✔ | ✘ |
| Quarterly breakdown | ✔ | ✘ |
| Qualitative market analysis | ✔ | ✘ |
| Insight from senior sector leaders | ✔ | ✘ |
| Online analysis portal | ✔ | ✘ |
FAQs
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Charity Benchmarks is designed for medium to large UK charities who want a strategic view of how their fundraising programmes compare to the wider market. If your total income isn’t in the millions then the value may be limited – but you can still attend our free webinars and access an abbreviated report.
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Three in-depth outputs: a sector-level report, a bespoke benchmark, and an Individual Giving Deep Dive. You’ll also get access to an online portal to cut and visualise your data.
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We run to a calendar year. Each February we send a proforma for the previous 12 months of financial and performance data. You can provide transactional data for us to crunch, or supply results only. We also capture survey insight and may request a senior interview.
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It’s not a quick job – because robust benchmarking needs robust data. We only ask for information you’d expect to find in management accounts, and our team supports you throughout.
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£4,950 per year, with discounts for early registration and multi-year packages.
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Yes! We present sector-level findings at an exclusive participant webinar. For individual organisations, we tailor sessions to your priorities rather than taking a broad approach.
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Charity Benchmarks is delivered by Open – the UK’s leading strategic and creative fundraising agency. Data analysis is undertaken by our partner Sequoia – a specialist data agency with significant experience in the sector.
Free resources
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Download a sample report
See the depth and clarity of the bespoke output.
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Latest sector summary
A free, abbreviated view of key market trends.
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Watch the latest webinar
A summary of the insights and analysis from last year.
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See the proforma
Understand what data we’ll ask for and why.
Book a 15‑minute intro
Tell us about your organisation and we’ll show you how Charity Benchmarks can help. Use the form or email liz.black@opencreates.com
