Participation in fundraising events such as charity bike rides or triathlons grew by 8 per cent over the past year, according to new research by the online donations platform JustGiving.
The Event Fundraising Monitor: What’s Next for Events? was published today by JustGiving and the Active Network, which provides event-management software.
It says that since 2007 the number of fundraising events such as cycle rides or triathlons has increased sevenfold and participant numbers have doubled.
The figures are based on a survey about fundraising habits, carried out in September among 467 charities and 900 fundraisers that had recently used JustGiving. Researchers also used fundraising participation data based on an analysis of JustGiving’s fundraising pages over the past five years.
A spokeswoman for JustGiving said that the number of people taking part in events in the year to September 2013 had increased by 8 per cent compared with the previous year.
According to the report, Team GB’s cycling and triathlon successes at the London 2012 Olympics were a factor in the increase.
In 2012, £17m was raised through 8,000 charity cycling events, a 17 per cent increase on the 2011 figure.
And the number of people participating in charity triathlons has grown by 21 per cent between 2011 and 2013, the report says.
Cycling has become the third most popular type of event after running and walking. Running accounts for 77 per cent of event fundraising.
Charles Wells, chief marketing officer at JustGiving, said: "The common thread among all of the events showing growth is that they each give their fundraisers unique stories to share online, generating great reasons for each participant to share his or her fundraising with their network.
"Not only that, but they help charities reach new supporters and drive sign-ups for future events – about 40 per cent of our fundraisers among those surveyed tell us that since they’ve started fundraising, a friend or family member has got involved too."