Return on Investment: LarkOwl publishes its Fundraising ROI's 2025 report

LarkOwl has published its Fundraising ROI’s 2025 report. The report analyses the average Return On Investment (ROI) for different types of fundraising in UK charities, based on data from 62 charities collected by LarkOwl in February 2025.

Read Fundraising ROI’s 2025 (LarkOwl)

The overall fundraising ROI for the 62 charities who submitted data was £7.90 raised for every £1 spent, a small decline from £8.61 in 2021. Comparisons with other benchmarks indicate various trends:

NCVO’s Civil Society Almanac reported an average ROI of £4.68 over the past six years.
Charity Benchmarks reported lower returns at £3.50 (2022) and £3.30 (2023).
Larger charities (£1M+ income) saw an ROI decline from £8.07 (2021) to £5.52 (2025), whereas smaller charities (<£1M income) improved from £9.27 (2021) to £11.44 (2025).

ROI by fundraising type:

Trusts & Foundations: £9.20 (down from £10.69 in 2021)
Grants: £20.36 (up from £13.40 in 2021)
Major Donors: £7.23 (down from £8.87 in 2021)
Individual Giving: £5.47 (down from £8.82 in 2021)
Corporate Fundraising: £5.54 (slightly up from £5.42 in 2021)
Community Fundraising: £6.15 (up from £3.79 in 2021)
Events: £2.60 (down from £3.38 in 2021)
Trading Activities: £1.60 (down from £3.22 in 2021)
In Memoriam and Gifts in Wills were excluded due to challenges in calculating ROI within the timeframe

Interesting to note that leadership engagement in fundraising decreased slightly compared to 2021 figures. It is important to interpret the data objectively and within the unique contexts of each charity that submitted information. Thank you to Caroline at LarkOwl for compiling this helpful and important report.

Read Fundraising ROI’s 2025 (LarkOwl)