New research finds nonprofits must invest in digital as new Zealanders expect a more connected experience

07 September 2021 - Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealanders believe nonprofits (NFPs) will play a crucial role in rebuilding lives, communities and society as a whole, post COVID-19 (87 per cent). The public have expressed their desire to help organisations in their mission to get the country back on track, but research released today has found NFPs need to be able to communicate more effectively to fully leverage this support.

The research by YouGov, in partnership with Salesforce, surveyed 514 New Zealanders to gain insight into their views, attitudes and behaviours when it comes to NFPs; to better understand the current state of the sector and what is needed to help it in the future.

The survey revealed, New Zealanders contribute a massive 46.3 million days in time to NFP’s each year. Due to the pandemic, 34 per cent who usually volunteer their time to NFPs spent less time volunteering in 2020, but more than one third plan to give more time and money to benevolent organisations in the year ahead.

Despite this, NFP supporters have highlighted roadblocks to making this commitment, with 69 per cent flagging challenges when trying to engage with and offer their support to organisations. Most commonly these challenges were identified as;

• Lack of detailed information about specific volunteering opportunities (36 per cent)
• Lack of information about who to contact (35 per cent)
• Out-of-date or no information on organisation websites about volunteering (25 per cent)
• Being passed around to different people once they make contact (22 per cent).

In a survey of nearly 7,000 charities by Finz and Giving Architects, the results showed that during the pandemic, 5 per cent had enough cash for less than two weeks’ operating costs. Up to 12 per cent were at risk within a month, and 37 per cent at risk within three months. One of the biggest hurdles for 2020 was cancellation of physical events and fundraisers. To combat some of the hurdles of the COVID-19 the NFP sector accelerated their shift to digital, with most organisations significantly increasing their use of tech in the past 12 months.

The research by YouGov found more than half of those surveyed said NFPs would do better with volunteers if they established an online community and engaged with them more.

Other key findings:

• More government and corporate support: Almost two in three (64 per cent) New Zealanders believe the government should do more to support nonprofit organisations. 72 per cent believe large corporations should also be doing more to help. More than half (51 per cent) of working New Zealanders said they would volunteer more if their employer organised opportunities or time off for volunteering.
• Positive experiences: The majority (81 per cent) of New Zealanders who have volunteered time with NFPs say that their most recent volunteering experience was a positive one and just 1 per cent claim their most recent volunteering experience was negative.
• Communication preferences: New Zealanders most preferred method of communications from NFP organisations is email (56 per cent). This was followed by social media (10 per cent), traditional mail (7 per cent), text message / SMS (5 per cent) and phone call (2 per cent).

Commentary on the report:

• “Now is the time to capture the increased awareness and motivation for people to give back to their communities. Reaching people both online and in-person increases the scope and ease for not-for-profits to increase volunteer engagement and drive fundraising activities,” said Andrew Hill, Regional Vice President of Non-Profit & Education, Salesforce.org.

About Salesforce

Salesforce.org is a social impact centre of Salesforce. We build powerful technology for, and with, our community of nonprofit, educational and philanthropic organisations to help them operate effectively, raise funds and connect.

In a world where digital-first is no longer a choice, our Nonprofit, Education and Philanthropy Clouds enable organisations to increase digital engagement, create a single source of truth, and generate actionable insights. Technology helps build resilience, maximise social impact, and build a better world. Together, we can close the gap between the impact created today, and the potential for impact in the future.

About YouGov

YouGov is an international research and data analytics group. Our mission is to supply a continuous stream of accurate data into what the world thinks, so that organisations can better serve the communities that sustain them. Each day, our highly engaged proprietary global panel of over 15 million registered members provides us with thousands of data points on consumer opinions, attitudes and behaviour. We combine this continuous stream of data with our research expertise to provide insights that enable intelligent decision-making and informed conversations. With operations in the UK, North America, Mainland Europe, the Nordics, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, YouGov has one of the world’s largest research networks.

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