Recent survey: every other adult donates money; the leading charitable cause is medical treatment

Last year, 50.4% of Estonian residents or every other adult donated money to charities as shown in a survey commissioned by I Love to Help – a donation platform celebrating its 15th year of operation. The most popular charitable causes include medical treatment and projects related to Ukraine, as well as protection of animals. Fewer donations are made to social equality initiatives and education.

“Appeals to support the treatment of cancer and rare children's diseases seem to have reached donors, because the survey shows that 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,” said Katrin Arvisto, coordinator of the I Love to Help donation platform and Head of Communication at Good Deed Foundation.

According to Arvisto, donors’ awareness is continuously rising. The survey conducted by Kantar Emor shows that 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,” said Arvisto and added that permanent donors are the ones that give charities stability and confidence to continue with their worth-while projects.

Kärt Kaasik, a leader of the donation environment and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at Swedbank explained that trust for fund-raiser 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 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 that fund-raising is becoming more carefully thought through, while the act of donation is becoming more and more common,” said Kärt Kaasik. Over 15 years, the average sum of a single donation has increased from 3.2 euros (50 kroons in 2008) to 43 euros.

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 Good Deed Foundation and Swedbank, 100 different charitable and advocacy organisations have raised over 4 million euros. Currently, the armastanaidata.ee website features 43 organisations divided in 5 categories: education, healthcare, children, strong society, plus animals and nature preservation. Donations can be made from the biggest banks, and in September, a comfortable donation option was created for the customers of Coop Pank as well.

Back