U.K. Charity Direct Debit Cancellations Highest Ever in August

Rapidata will be tracking and monitoring cancellation figures as the year progresses. We would also call on charities that may have experienced marked changes in donation cancellations over the past few months to contact us with their experiences.”
Rapidata Charity Direct Debit Tracking, April – August 2011
April May June July August
2010 2.89% 2.80% 3.21% 3.22% 3.49%
2011 2.44% 4.10% 3.87% 3.91% 4.58%

Q1 2011 saw reasonably low cancellation rates with April at 2.44% (down from 2010 2.89%). In May we saw a significant increase in cancellation figures compared to last year and a rate that mirrored those seen in 2008 and 2009 during the depths of recession. The giving landscape offered no obvious explanation for this increase, either from current, political or economic affairs, nor from any one specific charity’s activity or campaign; cancellations increased across the board. With no single indicator Rapidata suspected the jump in cancellations to be an anomaly, just a blip for May.

June (3.87%) and July’s (3.91%) cancellation rates were lower, not exceeding 4%, but both were still much higher rates than expected for this time of year and through consecutive months. For the last four months rates have followed the shape of the annual Cancellation Cycle but at a full percentage point higher than this time last year, reflecting an economic shift since Q1 2011.

The cancellation cycle for 2010/11 (up to and including March ’11) closely followed the pre-recession pattern of cancellations and was far removed from the sky-high pattern seen at the height of the recession in 2008/09. During the second half of 2009, cancellation rates had already dropped dramatically from their recessionary high, and the figures for 2010/11 showed that cancellation rates continued on this downward trend throughout the rest of 2010 and into 2011. The first quarter of 2011, started on trend, showed a slightly higher than expected peak for February but fell again in March to a positive low rate heading into quarter two.