More donations from the public fundraising domain

Financial donations from private individuals and institutions help pay for the growth of the Swiss registry of blood stem cell donors. Donations in 2023 totalled CHF 1,323,451.

No funding for the registration of new donors is provided to Swiss Transfusion SRC in connection with its mandate from the Swiss government: Swiss Transfusion SRC has to raise the money to pay for this itself. The necessary outlay is largely covered by donations from private and institutional donors.

In 2023, private and institutional donors donated a combined total of CHF 1,323,451, which is 5.3 per cent below the total for 2022 (CHF 1,397,697). Of this, almost 80 per cent came from private individuals, associations and companies; the other 20 per cent came from institutional donors.

Gratifying increase in donations in response to direct mail marketing

Swiss Transfusion SRC has the good fortune of being able to rely on a large circle of donors and benefactors who are stalwart supporters of blood stem cell donations. In 2023, they donated a total of CHF 1,080,451. This represents a 6.7 per cent increase in public fundraising revenue compared to 2022 (CHF 1,007,697).

A total of 2,309 new benefactor agreements were signed in 2023, which amounts to an increase of almost 55 per cent compared to 2022 (1,048). This brought the total number of active benefactor agreements up to 7,314 at the end of 2023. The renewal rate for benefactor agreements in 2023 was a solid 87 per cent (2022: 79 per cent). The proportion of total fundraising revenue coming in from the benefactor programme has been increasing steadily: from 13.1 per cent in the year of its launch, 2020, to 29.8 in 2022. In the year under report, benefactors contributed 36 per cent of the total revenue from fundraising.

Appeals for financial donations addressed to various groups (direct marketing) generated CHF 338,879 in revenue (2022: CHF 303,617). This 10.4 per cent increase was the result of the additional revenue in response to the mailing of charitable donation receipts, telephone marketing and a slightly increased revenue from the spring mailing. A further CHF 124,098 came in as individual or event-related donations, deaths and birthdays are examples of events associated with this type of donation, others might be donations from businesses. We were also privileged to receive a total of CHF 77,591 in the form of bequests and an inheritance. CHF 17,265 in revenue was generated by benefit and charity events held on behalf of blood stem cell donation in 2023 (2022: CHF 74,311). The substantial decrease was due to the fact that fewer benefits were held on behalf of blood donation. Moreover, the number of fundraising drives launched on the peer-to-peer donation site “Inspire Now” was also significantly lower in 2022.

Fewer people contributing towards the costs of their registration

At CHF 119,206, the total amount contributed voluntarily by newly registering donors fell short of the previous year’s total once again (2022 CHF 133,242). This is primarily because the percentage of people contributing towards the costs of their registration dropped once again, down to 17.1 per cent (2022: 20 per cent). The average amount of these contributions, CHF 80.22, is also down slightly from the 2022 average (CHF 81.85).

Foundations and lottery funds

Income from institutional fundraising, which is to say, contributions from foundations, charitable funds and lottery funds, amounted to CHF 243,000 in 2023 – and thus fell a significant 38 per cent below the 2022 level (around CHF 390,000). This is due to the general weakness of years like 2023, when no money is received from lottery funds, and to the expansion and increasing professionalisation of institutional fundraising by non-profit organisations in recent years. Moreover, the recovery of the interest rate environment is proceeding only at slow pace, meaning that the higher interest rates are not yet resulting in increased distributions from foundations.