2018-10-19
Thousands of Greens supporters recently took time out to respond to our 2018 Supporter Survey – and with the numbers now crunched, we share the results.
By Susan Griffiths-Sussems
Thank you to the 2,343 people who responded to our 2018 Supporter Survey. We have been sifting through the results, and can now report back ...
The big issue
It will come as no surprise that climate change remains the number one issue that you want to see us working hard on:
In fact, our respondents told us that climate change is the one issue that they feel most passionate about.
We asked people if they thought they could influence change on this issue, and 55 percent said yes, 33 percent said maybe, and 12 percent said no. Looking through the individual responses, there are some wonderful words of inspiration:
“Don't get angry/anxious; get active! Divest, lobby, protest against destructive economic growth and progression.”
"If I didn't think I could make a difference I wouldn't be a member."
"If not me, who? If not now, when? Every tiny constructive act/word makes a positive difference."
"Standing with others, sharing information widely, joining community energy and sustainability groups, saving energy and reducing personal waste."
Strategic plan
You may also remember back in 2016, Greens from all over the country took part in the development of the Greens Strategic Plan.
Work continues in this space, and this survey has been an excellent opportunity to revisit the goals that have been identified in this plan.
Here is how our respondents ranked our strategic goals in order if importance:
Staying informed
We were also interested to know where you get your news:
ABC and SBS were in front for television news (67 percent), while for radio it’s 56 percent for ABC Radio. It’s interesting to note that Facebook (45 percent) is ahead of newspapers at 43 percent. This is especially interesting given our campaign team's decision to focus more in future on digital campaigns over television and print media.
The Guardian (52 percent) and ABC Online (44 percent) are massively ahead of news.com.au (8 percent), indicating that our supporters are not great fans of Rupert Murdoch’s version of news! Go figure.
Fifteen percent of you indicated ‘other’ sources for news, and these included Crikey, Al Jazeera, Google, local media, NITV, ABC News app and Buzzfeed. One person said ‘Mum and Dad’. 💚
Motivations
What motivates you to support the Greens? Well, there are many – noting that people could select all responses that applied to them. But the most popular responses relate to parliament, legislation, and political pressure.
Member based activity, such as having a say in policy and access to training, are at the other end of the scale.
Giving to the Greens
We also asked questions about regular donations, and gifts in wills. The information we collected will help us grow these areas of fundraising.
These two sources of income are critical to our capacity to keep our organisation growing and to run effective election campaigns because, as you know, we do not accept donations from vested interests, and we are certainly not in the pockets of corporate donors.
Currently, 844 people make regular donations on a monthly basis to the party. This totals an impressive $339,023 per year! (But still only a small contribution to keeping our lights on in all offices across the country.)
In response to our questions about gifts in wills, three percent of you have already remembered the Greens in your wills and nine percent intend to do so.
Eleven percent of you asked for more information about making this special contribution to the work of the party. If we haven’t been in touch already, we soon will be. Stay tuned, too, for more news about our gifts in wills program, EverGreen.
So that’s it for 2018! Thank you so much for your participation.
Susan Griffiths-Sussems is the Australian Greens' National Fundraising Coordinator.