Reading tea leaves, #9: Scottish giving a bit dour, though there is Comic Relief

By: 

Cheryl Chapman

Managing Editor, Philanthropy UK

Tracking the impact of the recession on giving...

We open this column with some disappointing news from north of the Border: the Scottish Charity Engagement Monitor from not-for-profit sector research consultancy nfpSynergy reveals that the number of Scottish people claiming they “donated to charity in the last 6 months” dipped from 79% in April 08 to 71% in April 09, with Scottish males and the middle-aged (35-64 year olds) seemingly fronting the slump.

Whilst middle-aged Scots – traditionally among the most likely donors – have been especially thrifty, 25-34 year-old Scots seem to be the only age group bucking the downward trend, albeit only slightly (75% in April 2009, up from 74% in April 2008).

nfpSynergy’s researcher, Jonathan Baker, concludes: “The recession has made people philanthropically cautious. Anxiety appears especially acute amongst the middle aged – doubtless over jobs, homes and pensions - so charities may need to re-engage with this age group as the economy improves. Encouragingly, the dip in giving does at least seem to have flattened out over the last 6 months.”

But before anyone gets too reductive about the Scottish propensity to be careful with money, Baker says he is expecting to see similar results when the UK wide figures are published shortly.

There is some consoling news however in the follow-up to Rapidata’s first Charity Direct Debit Tracking Report, which caused a stir with the headline that monthly direct debit cancellations had “skyrocketed” since September 2007.  The latest report, hot off the press, shows that monthly direct debit cancellation rates are falling, hitting the lowest figure recorded so far this year, and stabilising.

The cancellation rate for June 2009 was 4.09%, up from 3.18% the prior year.

But according to Rapidata monthly cancellation rates are unlikely to return to pre recession levels during 2009. To do so would require cancellation rates to drop over the summer and autumn whereas, for the past six years, the trend has been for the rate of cancellations to rise over the summer.

Comic Relief’s final fundraising figures paint a picture of a more resilient giving public. A record £80m was donated – a hefty increase on previous events which raised £67m in 2007 and £65m in 2005.
 
Public donations were significantly boosted by fundraising events by celebrities and retail firms, which is a ringing endorsement for…well endorsement!

Kevin Cahill, chief executive of Comic Relief, said: “Even at a time when the British public may have been worrying about their own situation, they came together to make a real difference to those whose lives are even tougher.”

However, another famed philanthropist, Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and chief executive Warren Buffett, didn’t fare quite so well in his fundraising venture this year, despite some furious last-minute activity.  The winner of this year's eBay charity auction to dine with billionaire Buffett stumped up more than $1.68m (£1m) for lunch – slightly lower than last year’s record $2.1m (£1.3m).

Buffett annually auctions off a lunch and donates the proceeds to Glide Foundation, which provides social services to San Francisco's homeless and poor.