Rapidata have released their mid-year update of their direct debit tracking report.

In short, direct debit cancellations are falling – even though the latest figures are still almost 80% higher than we experienced back in June 2007 (before Northern Rock showed us what was in store for us all).

But with a rate of 4.09% in June we are a long way off the 5.52% we saw in October and 5.63% in January. In fact, as Rapidata point out, we may well be seeing cancellation rates starting to stabilise.

You can see this quite clearly in both the actual rate and in the red dotted trend line on this graph that plots the monthly cancellation rates from way back in April 2003…

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It backs up the findings of Bluefrog’s research into attitudes to giving that were published in April.

The fear and worry that many people felt in the early days of the recession has been replaced by certainty. As a result, we are seeing more evidence of a polarisation in attitudes to giving. Though some donors have decided to stop donating, many supporters now feel confident enough to return to their pre-credit crunch levels of giving. And a significant number are even giving more.

And of course, we must not forget the many record breaking results on warm appeals that we have seen, particularly from those organisations that are recession positive and are able use the down-turn as means to justify increased levels of support – these would be charities working with homeless people and in international development that can, for example, show how exchange rate fluctuations have caused enormous financial difficulties.

Though some people are talking of a double-dip recession, there is a substantial amount of evidence now pointing to better times ahead. And we would do well to remember that if we are not out there making the case for the support of our own particular organisation, there is no way for the newly confident donor to ensure their gifts will come our way.

You can download Rapidata’s full tracking report which includes much more analysis here.