New report shows Christmas charitable donations dwarfed by spending on alcohol

By: 

Cheryl Chapman

Managing Editor, Philanthropy UK

The amount donors give to charity appeals at Christmas is small beer compared to their spending on alcohol over the festive period according to a new report from the Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (CGAP) published in late December 2009.

The analysis of seasonal patterns in giving to charity, using data from the national Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), leads the report’s co-author Cathy Pharoah to conclude Christmas appeals are not as impactful as they could be.

“The report shows that those aged 20-35, and over 65 are more likely to give spontaneously than the middle age group, contrary to findings in other reports. With that in mind charity appeals that are on the street where young people are, catching the wave of Christmas spending that is occurring, may do better,” says Pharoah.

The report Does Christmas Hamper Charitable Giving reveals charitable giving increases slightly as more people give, but fares badly compared with increased spending on drinks at Christmas.

According to the report, average UK household spending tends to rise by 13% or £64 per household per week in December compared with the rest of the year. Of that £6.39, a tenth of the average extra spending and nearly seventeen times the extra donations to charity, goes on alcohol.

The average weekly amount donated to charity does appear to rise in December compared to the rest of the year, from £2.03 (Jan-Nov) to £2.41. While this represents a 19% increase it equates to 0.6% of the increased household expenditure. The increase in donations is mainly because more people are giving rather than because people are giving larger amounts: there is a 5% increase in the proportion of UK households making a donation to charity in December compared to any other month in the year

 “Any observable seasonal rise in donations is dwarfed by increases in spending on the presents and cash gifts we make to others. Cash gifts more than double and spending on presents more than triple in December compared with the rest of the year,” the report says.

“These figures show that we are not as generous to charities at Christmas as we are to others. We increase our spending to ‘eat, drink and be merry’ at Christmas much more than to support good causes.”
 
The report further suggests “there may be potential for charities to encourage people to switch a little more of their spending towards donations and give a pint of beer (or the sterling equivalent) to charity during the festive period.”

Pharoah adds that charities that join forces with producers of alcoholic beverages such as Age Concern, the National Trust and WWF also stand to benefit particularly well at Christmas.