At manifesto’s recent charity breakfast roundtable, fundraising, digital, and engagement leaders came together to answer one shared question:
How can we unlock growth when capacity is tight, data is messy, and supporter expectations are soaring?
With insight from RNIB and Cancer Research UK, alongside strategic input from manifesto’s team, the event offered clarity, momentum, and actionable ideas for transforming supporter engagement, underpinned by collaboration, AI and marketing technology.
State of the sector: a crossroads, not a crisis
As part of the event, participants completed a maturity self-assessment across five key pillars:
- Audience centricity
- Organisational alignment & skills
- Data unification
- Technology & infrastructure
- AI understanding & adoption
Using a 1–5 scale, the average score was 2.56, placing the sector in the “Developing” phase, between Level 2 (“Aware/Emerging”) and Level 3 (“Cross-functional”).
This paints a clear picture the sector is at a crucial transformation crossroads. Most organisations understand the need for change and are actively working out how to make it happen.
Five key insights and what to do about them
1. The sector is ready to change, but held back by foundations
The lowest scores were in:
- Data unification (2.25)
- Technology & infrastructure (2.35)
Fragmented CRMs, disconnected systems, and over-reliance on manual data exports are holding teams back. One participant shared that despite significant tools in place, their team uses only 42% of their martech’s capabilities, echoing wider sector trends.
Action: Don’t wait for perfect systems. Start with one audience and one journey. Identify what minimal data is needed to create relevance, and test from there.
2. “We stopped aiming for clean. We started aiming for useful.”
Across the room, charities are taking smart, low-lift steps to improve data flow and value:
- Data warehouses that sit above multiple CRMs
- “Golden questions” in journeys to unlock motivations
- Flat file and API automation between CRM, email and content platforms
- Leveraging existing platforms like Dotdigital, Power BI to enable additional capability
Action: Map the supporter data you already have access to. Identify what’s usable, where it flows, and how to make it actionable without a full replatform.
3. Technology doesn’t transform - people do
The third biggest barrier is not tools, it’s culture. The organisational alignment & skills score (2.65) reflected deep, structural blockers:
- Siloed teams and competing priorities
- A “culture of no” from governance boards
- Teams working with unclear goals or mismatched timelines
Sarah Pickersgill, Head of Marketing Transformation at Cancer Research UK shared how their large-scale transformation programme focuses just as much on aligning teams as it does on new systems. Through phased business cases, clear supporter-focused outcomes, and collaborative working groups, they’re driving change at scale, without losing momentum.
One powerful tactic discussed was embedding analytics professionals in agnostic roles. People who sit outside of income or digital teams and help translate insight into action across the organisation.
Action: Build cross-functional squads around one priority outcome. Share ownership, not just responsibilities. Where possible, give your analysts a wider lens, and let them be the bridge between insight and impact.
4. AI is the next frontier - and progress is underway
The average AI maturity score was 2.54, showing that most charities are still in the “experimenting” phase, but momentum is building.
Organisations are starting to:
- Use Microsoft Copilot for internal productivity
- Trial ChatGPT for supporter journey planning and summaries
- Explore embedded AI in platforms like Dotdigital or Adobe
AI isn’t replacing strategy, but it’s reducing the heavy lifting around execution. It’s helping teams do more with less by eliminating friction and speeding up iteration.
Action: Choose one repetitive or insight-heavy task and explore whether AI can help you do it faster or better. Document the outcome, and share learnings to build confidence.
5. The path forward is audience-led and iterative
Nina Walker, Chief Engagement Officer at RNIB offered a standout example of what transformation looks like in practice, and why you don’t need perfection to begin.
Working with manifesto, RNIB:
- Co-created journeys for long-lapsed supporters
- Used synthetic users and real-life video storytelling
- Triggered journeys via simple email tools and survey insight
📈 The results:
- 84% increase in engagement
- 59% rise in open rates
- 13% conversion from a long-lapsed group
- 61% internal uplift in confidence around experience design
But beyond numbers, the real win was emotional:
“Your email shows that you care.”
“I felt seen and supported.”
Action: Start with a group you know you’ve lost touch with. Use tone, personalisation and storytelling to reconnect. Ask one question. Offer one step. Build from there.
What to do next
To help make this actionable, here are five steps you can take this quarter:
- Run an internal maturity mapping exercise: Use the same 1–5 scale across audience, tech, skills, data and AI to identify priorities.
- Build a cross-functional team test around one audience: Create shared OKRs for fundraising, digital, insight and CX, and deliver one small journey together.
- Audit your tech stack for underused potential: What capabilities are being paid for but not used?
- Try a low-risk AI pilot: Experiment with message personalisation, segmentation, or creative concepting.
- Capture and share stories of supporter experience: Use this internally to build buy-in, shift culture, and align teams.
Final thought
The event didn’t promise a blueprint, but it made one thing clear: The future of fundraising belongs to those who collaborate, experiment, and stay audience-first.
You don’t need to be fully transformed to make meaningful progress. You just need to start, and keep going.
If you’re ready to create an actionable strategy to unlock impact, we’re here to help. Email hello@manifesto.co.uk for a chat.