This week's blog looks at the findings from our latest report on how to measure public giving and some of the pitfalls and challenges in doing so. 

It's Christmas time and as per tradition we're giving away 12 more of our reports. They address key issues like lobbying, fundraising and trust, plus a couple of niche ones like Gift Aid and media spending. Enjoy!

We've been sending out quite a few free reports recently, so we thought we'd put them all in one convenient place. Here's a preview of what's available:

The Politics of Charities

What do the public think about charities having the right to lobby? And what does it mean to MPs and journalists for charities to 'be political'?

Global Digital Fundraising

Global communication has opened up new opportunities to engage with communities and key audiences. So what does this mean for non-profits in different environments?

This is a presentation of our data on the public's opinion about charity spending. We also have a video of this presentation here, presented by Joe Saxton, with some great insight and explanation of what the data means for charities.

In the latest of our focus group series, last month saw us exploring the views and opinions of the Scottish public. Our regular polling and interviews with the people of Scotland provide vital insights to charities working both exclusively in the country, as well as UK-wide organisations looking to better understand this specific audience.

Jo Fischl

Last month, we carried out a focus group discussion with a group of charity donors aged in their 50s to 70s. Charity was an important aspect of their lives; they have given at least £40 to charity in the past month, with some also volunteering time or fundraising to support various charities. Suffice to say, they were passionate about the causes and charities they supported. Today, we’re sharing some of the key themes we noted from our discussion with this group.

With a General Election imminent, the public's attitudes toward charities getting involved in politics have become more of a focus.  The Shelia McKechnie Foundation and nfpResearch wanted to understand how aware the public is of the political work of charities.  We were interested in hearing if people felt charities should be occupying the political space and who they felt should be involved in politics. Our report unpacks our findings on campaigning and activism from nfpIntelligence (our regular general public research focussed on charity sector trends).