As economic and consumer dynamics change, Australia’s charities are looking for new ways to earn a buck. Andrew Loveridge, Head of Government, Education and Community Business, and Nicole Brasz, Marketing and Fundraising Director at Save the Children, discuss the brave new world of fundraising.

NAB recently hosted a breakfast to share insights from the NAB Charitable Giving Index report. Panellists discuss the impact of the economy on giving, giving trends, and how charities are leveraging data and digital channels.

Giving to charity grew by 2% over the year to February 2015. Growth slowed in most age groups and in all regions. Despite these challenges, the average donation size for all charities increased by $2 over the past year to $336 per donor.

Australians are giving more to charity than ever before, with the average annual donation size for all charities increasing by 3.6 per cent ($11) to $315 per donor. Overall charitable giving growth also continues an upward trend, increasing by 6.4 per cent in the 12 months to August 2014.

Charitable giving grew by more than 8% in the year to February 2014, which is a substantial improvement on the 3.3% rate of growth seen in the previous year. Overall, charitable giving has grown by almost 19% since December 2010.

Donations grew 2.5% (12-month average) in August with an average annual donation of $312 per donor. Giving grew fastest for “Other” (12.8%) and Health & Disability (9.1%) charities, but fell for Humanitarian Services (-3.2%) and Medical Research & Services (-2.4%) charities.

Charitable giving slowed in the year to February 2013 as economic conditions and consumption weakened, and business and consumers became more cautious. The NAB Charitable Giving Index grew by 2.6% (12-month average) in February 2013 – down from 8.3% in the same period one year earlier.

The first NAB Charitable Giving Index shows that charitable giving is growing, despite a softening domestic economy, flat employment growth and persistent consumer cautiousness. NAB and data analytics firm Quantium reviewed donations made by credit card, direct debit, BPAY and EFTPOS