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Strategic Planning for Charities

Almost half of Canadians believe charities play an important role in society, however, just one-quarter of Canadians think charities in Canada act responsibly with the donations they receive.

The Strategic Planning for Charities syndicated study examines Canadians attitudes about the importance of planning, achieving objectives, trust in your organization, and the impact of these attitudes on revenue generation.

What's Covered

Importance of Planning

• Do Canadians think that charities should have a strategic plan for how they intend to achieve their objectives?
• Do Canadians think that your organization has a strong plan to guide its future?
• Do Canadians think your organization is open and transparent?
• Do Canadians think that charities should strive to maintain a certain level of standards by measuring their performance and comparing themselves to benchmarks?
• Do Canadians think that charities that support similar causes should merge together?
• How much have Canadians read, heard or seen about the purposes of the charities they support?
• Do Canadians trust your organization? Do they trust charities in general?

Impact on Revenue Generation

• Has awareness of an organization's strategy positively influenced Canadians willingness to donate?
• Do Canadians think that organizations they've given to in the past 12 months have achieved or gotten closer to achieving their objectives?
• Do Canadians agree that your organization is responsible and efficient with funds?
• Do Canadians agree that the charity must fulfill its purpose before they'll donate or continue to donate?
• Out of every dollar raised, how much do Canadians think should go to the cause, and how much do they think is going towards the cause?
• Does using an external fundraiser have an impact on Canadians' willingness to give?

Add-On to the Study!

Add Your Own Custom Questions

At an additional cost, you may add questions to the survey to address your own specific issues, needs or concerns. The results of these questions are proprietary to your organization and are not shared with other subscribers. Space on the questionnaire is limited, additional questions are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Add Booster Samples

Subscribers may also purchase a booster sample of a group of particular interest (e.g.,GTA or Ontario residents, older women, youth, affluent households, people with a certain disease, etc.). Please contact us to discuss your sampling needs and to get a price estimate.

Talk to Your Donor List

Subscribers may purchase additional interviews to be completed with their donors. This can be done through the use of your donor list.

Deliverables

All subscribers to Strategic Planning for Charities syndicated study receive:

• Tele-consulting with senior Ipsos staff on how to customize the study for your organization (proprietary questions, booster samples)
• Detailed report (PowerPoint)
• In-person presentation of findings (exclusive of travel costs from the GTA)

Core Subscription Costs (excluding taxes)

*The cost of proprietary questions includes analysis.

There is a reduced cost for purchase of multiple reports (e.g., Strategic Planning report + Board Engagement, Governance and Standards report.).

What's a Syndicated Study?

A syndicated study is to research what a car pool is to commuters – it's a shared vehicle with shared costs. In a syndicated study, subscribers share the cost of data collection for the set of core questions. Thus, the report cost is only a fraction of what it would have been if a custom study had been done just for you.

Schedule (2011)*

*The study will proceed only if there is a sufficient number of subscribers.

Research Methodology

Ipsos Reid will conduct a nationally representative online survey of 1,000 adults aged 18 and older. Respondents will be drawn randomly from Ipsos Reid's Online Panel, renowned for its size and quality.

Confidentiality

Information in the core questionnaire is confidential and may not be shared outside your organization. Any public release of client-specific data is subject to the Ipsos Reid Media Release Policy.

About Ipsos Reid's Not-for-Profit Research Team

Alexandra Evershed is a Senior Vice President with Ipsos. She has directed public affairs survey research for clients in the private and public sectors for over a decade, covering off a broad spectrum of issues. Some recent areas of focus have included brand and reputation, donor motivation, and communications research for not-for-profits and charitable organizations.

Heather Alinsangan is a Senior Research Manager with Ipsos. She has extensive experience directing both quantitative and qualitative research projects for not-for-profit, public, and private sector clients. Heather has been the account manager for a national not-for-profit organization in Canada for nearly six years. Throughout this time she has conducted numerous research studies focusing on customer/member satisfaction, advertising and communications testing, and branding research.

About Peacock Philanthropic Counsel

Rob Peacock is a Certified Fund Raising Executive with over twenty-five years of fund raising experience from various philanthropic sectors.

An active volunteer, Rob is Past Chair of the International Development Committee of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and Past Chair of the Canada Council. He recently served for four years on the Executive Committee of the Board for the Ontario Trillium Foundation (a foundation granting over $100 million per year). Rob also sat on the Board of Visitors for the Institute for Charitable Giving in the United States. He has made speaking presentations to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Canadian Association of Gift Planners, the Canadian Council on the Advancement in Education and the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy.