Direct Debit charity donation cancellations in 2015 remained low despite the sector being hit by a series of charity fundraising scandals

Cancellations of Direct Debits to charities in 2015 were slightly up on the year before but still lower than any other years since 2003.

Despite the charity sector being rocked by a series of fundraising scandals last year, just 2.89% of people cancelled a Direct Debit donation.

Rapiata’s Charity Direct Debit Tracking report 2016 also revealed that January this year saw the lowest cancellation rate for a single month ever.

Despite the fundraising crisis last year, donors did not respond by cancelling their regular gifts in their droves - Professor Adrian Sargeant

Direct Debit is now the second most used method for making charity donations after cash. Around a third of all charity donations in the UK are made by Direct Debit.

Scott Gray, managing director of Rapidata, said: “We should not underestimate the strength of the public’s connection with the charities they choose to support.”

“At the same time, the last year has shown fundraising it cannot rest on its laurels and the key findings of this report remind us that retaining and nurturing supporters has never been more important.”

The full report shows the calendar years of 2014 and 2015 were the lowest years for annual average Direct Debit cancellation levels since records began in 2003.

While record lows for cancellations were achieved in 2014 (at just 2.67%), 2015 was the next lowest on record.

Professor Adrian Sargeant, University of Plymouth Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, said: “Despite the fundraising crisis last year, donors did not respond by cancelling their regular gifts in their droves. This is exactly the kind of evidence we should be using to inform policy decisions.”