Market research services

Charities and not-for-profit organisations face big challenges every day, which is why first-class insights are absolutely essential. At Yarn, our highly experienced researchers can deliver the findings you need to supercharge your fundraising, create even better services and power transformative strategies.

Our Research Clients

Recent Research Projects

Fundraising and donations

We excel at:

  • Figuring out why people donate – or quietly scroll past

  • Trying out different donation messages, appeals and images to see what really lands

  • Spotting new types of donors and what gets them excited to give

  • Working out the sweet spot for suggested donation amounts

  • Checking how donors feel after giving, and whether they’ll come back for more


Marketing and communications

We excel at:

  • Discovering which channels actually work best 

  • Testing campaign ideas, slogans and branding before going all-in

  • Understanding how well people know your charity and what they think of it

  • Tweaking tone of voice and messaging for different audiences (no one-size-fits-all here)

Service design and delivery

We excel at:

  • Listening to beneficiaries to understand what they truly need

  • Checking whether services are doing what they’re meant to do

  • Spotting gaps where people might be falling through the cracks

  • Making services easier, friendlier and less stressful to use

Strategy and planning

We excel at:

  • Keeping an eye on emerging issues and trends before they become urgent

  • Deciding which causes or programmes deserve the most focus

  • Testing demand before launching new initiatives

  • Understanding who else is operating in your space and how your charity fits in

Partner and volunteer management

We excel at:

  • Learning what corporate partners, volunteers and funders expect

  • Finding out what motivates volunteers – and what might put them off

  • Improving how volunteers are recruited, supported and retained

Brand and reputation management

We excel at:

  • Tracking public trust, confidence and credibility

  • Understanding how your charity brand stacks up against others

  • Keeping an eye out for reputational risks and opportunities to shine

Policy, advocacy and impact

We excel at:

  • Collecting evidence to strengthen campaigns and lobbying efforts

  • Exploring public attitudes to key policy issues

  • Clearly showing impact to funders, regulators and government bodies

Digital and innovation

We excel at:

  • Testing websites, apps and donation journeys to remove friction

  • Improving accessibility so no one’s left out

  • Using data to create more personal, meaningful supporter experiences

Audiences we work with



  • Current donors

  • Potential donors

  • Current fundraisers

  • Potential fundraisers 

  • Current legacy givers

  • Potential legacy givers

  • General public

  • People who use your services

  • People who may benefit from your services 

  • Employees at your charity

  • Volunteers

  • Corporate partners

  • Stakeholders from other organisations

  • Children and young people

Our research methods

Qualitative research

Through a range of research, our experts can help you uncover the real stories behind attitudes and behaviours. We’ll explore motivations, emotions and unmet needs to help put your audiences’ voices at the heart of your decisions. 

  • Focus groups 

  • In-depth interviews 

  • Online questionnaires and surveys 

  • Telephone surveys 

  • Usability testing

  • Observation


Quantitative research

We provide solid data-driven insights to help you make confident decisions for your organisation and the people you support. Our trusted research makes it easy to measure awareness, track satisfaction, spot emerging trends and evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns, services and other initiatives.

  • Surveys and questionnaires 

  • A/B testing

  • Longitudinal studies

  • Desk research

  • Analytics / web metrics

  • Structured observations

Interpretation and reporting

For us – and for you – it’s important to remember that listening to people and collecting data are only half the story of market research. 

Careful interpretation and effective reporting are also absolutely critical to ensuring your charity makes the best possible decisions.

That’s why we pride ourselves on first-class analysis and crystal-clear findings so you can quickly understand what research really means to you. 

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