How Donors Choose Charities

This is the first full-length report to be published by the UK’s new Centre for Giving and Philanthropy. Based on interviews with committed donors, it explores how people define charity, what they think about charitable beneficiaries, and how they choose between the tens of thousands of charitable organisations that seek their support. It concludes that, despite widespread assumptions that need is the primary driver of charitable donations, four non-needs-based factors influence giving decisions: donors’ tastes, personal experiences, perceptions of charities’ competence and a desire for personal impact.