Posted on 13th December 2007
A new report shows that giving to charity is down. The proportion of the population who gave to charity dropped 3% in 2007, to 54%, whilst the total amount given has also declined 3%, to £9.5bn.
Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), said, “We don’t know yet if this is just a blip, rather than a trend of people becoming less generous to charity… we hope that worries such as increasing debt and rising house prices won’t put people off giving to the causes that need them.”
UK Giving 2007, released by NCVO and the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), also revealed that wealthier people are most likely to donate and to donate the most money, which supports Philanthropy UK’s research. It estimated that 7% of donors represent half of the total amount given. ‘High-level donors’ (defined as those who gave £100 or more in the four weeks leading up to the survey) were more likely to be male, middle-aged (45-64 years) and in a managerial/professional occupation. Dr John Low, Chief Executive of CAF, commented, “Charities are reliant on the increasing generosity of a diminishing number of donors.”
The report also identified gender differences in giving. It said that men appear to give more than women, but that this is distorted by a small number of men who are very generous. In fact, married women are most likely to give, whilst single men are least likely to give and are the least generous.
The report is freely downloadable from both the NCVO and CAF websites.
