Last year, 50.4 per cent of Estonian residents or every other adult donated money to charities; the most popular charitable causes include medical treatment and projects related to Ukraine, as well as protection of animals.
“Appeals to support the treatment of cancer and rare children’s diseases seem to have reached donors, because the survey shows most donations are made to medical treatment. Projects related to Ukraine also continue drawing action, although the momentum has declined over a year to a year and a half,” Katrin Arvisto, the coordinator of the I Love to Help donation platform – who commissioned the survey – and the head of communication at the Good Deed Foundation, said in a statement.
According to Arvisto, the donors’ awareness is continuously rising. The survey shows 32% of Estonian donors make an informed choice and read up on the specific organisation or project before donating money.
“Over a third of respondents described themselves as permanent donors and some make single donations in addition to their permanent donations,” Arvisto noted, adding that permanent donors are the ones that give charities stability and confidence to continue with their worth-while projects.
The average single donation €43
Kärt Kaasik, a leader of the donation environment, said that trust for a fundraiser plays a crucial role in donation decisions.
“For 15 years, the online environment I Love to Help has brought together strong Estonian charities that take action to resolve various challenges in Estonian society. To make it on the platform, organisations must complete a thorough vetting process, giving the donors a peace of mind that donating via I Love to Help is safe and trustworthy.”
“Based on our experience with the donation environment, we can see fundraising is becoming more carefully thought through, while the act of donation is becoming more and more common,” Kaasik asserted. Over 15 years, the average sum of a single donation has increased from €3.2 (EEK50 in 2008) to €43.
I Love to Help is Estonia’s longest-serving donation environment uniting dozens of hand-selected charitable organisations. On the platform, founded in 2008 by the Good Deed Foundation and Swedbank, 100 different charitable and advocacy organisations have raised over €4 million.
