1. Changing attitudes
to charitable giving
Living in Squeezed
Britain
Karl Wilding | NCVO Policy & Research
E karl.wilding@ncvo-vol.org.uk T @karlwilding T 020 75202478

2. Contents
• Trends in charitable giving & philanthropy
• Changing attitudes and behaviours
• Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for?

3. Trends in giving behaviour

4. How much is given in total?
Legacies Our survey of
‘general charities’
Our survey of individuals £1.8bn produces an
produces an estimate of estimate of
£11.0bn A survey of
philanthropists
produces an
£8.2bn
for the year 2009/10
for the year 2010/11 estimate of
£872m
for the year
2008/09

5. The proportion of adults giving to charity and the total annual
amount donated, inflation adjusted, 2004/05 – 2010/11 (£
billions, %)
Source: NCVO/ CAF

6. How much do donors typically give each month?
Median: £12/ month
Mean: £31/ month

7. Who gives?

8. Why large donations are important
x = £5.0bn
8% of donors…give £100 or more…almost half of total giving
x = £5.6bn
92% of donors…give less than £100/month…just over half of total giving

9. What about major philanthropists?
Gifts of £1m+
were worth
£872m
for the year
2009/10
• Research by Beth Breeze of Kent University estimates that 80 major gifts from
individual philanthropists worth an additional £872m in 2009/10.
• This fell from 100 gifts worth a collective £1.0bn in 2008/09

10. The civic core
Source: TSRC

11. What causes do people give to?
Proportion of
donors giving and
proportion of total
amount donated by
cause, 2010/11
Source: NCVO/CAF

12. Trends in [donor] attitudes and behaviours

13. Donor attitudes (BSAS 2003)
• Investors: £10+/month
• believe that there is quite a
lot of poverty in Britain
today, and they are
• more likely than Bystanders
or Contributors ascribe
poverty to social injustice
http://instituteforphilanthropy.org/cms/pages/documents/Who_Are_The_Givers.pdf

14. Views on poverty (BSAS 2003)
Bystanders Contributors Investors
There is quite 54 58 61
a lot of poverty in
Britain (57)
An inevitable part 34 38 35
of modern life (36)
Laziness or lack 31 28 13
of will power (28)
Because of injustice 18 16 30
in our society (19)
http://instituteforphilanthropy.org/cms/pages/documents/Who_Are_The_Givers.pdf

15. Changing attitudes: donors, buyers or investors?
• Some evidence of a marketisation of charitable giving
• Shift from ‘altruistic’ giving to buying/shopping
– Heightened by recession

16. Type of income, 2000/01 – 2009/10 (£ billions)
Source: NCVO/TSRC,
Charity Commission

17. Source: Co-op Ethical Consumerism Report 2010

18. Changing attitudes: donors, buyers or investors?
• Giving as an investment (which
requires a return)
– Philanthrocapitalism
– Impact investing
– Blended Value
• Habits/culture of equity analysis
– Scaling, metrics
• And financial tools
– SIBs, loans (patient capital,
microfinance)

19. Changing attitudes? Social justice philanthropy
• Eg Rosenman - Caring to Change: (cf scientific philanthropy)
• Woburn Place Collaborative
• Maytree Foundation
• funding is directed toward organizations advocating the
collective interest of disadvantaged or underrepresented
groups
• belief that poverty is caused by inequitable allocation of
resources and access to power in society and that
disempowered groups should be given the tools to challenge
existing structures as well as a voice in decisions

20. Negative attitudes towards giving
• Professionalisation
• Asking: fundraising
methods

21. Negative attitudes towards giving
• Resource allocation: where
most needed?
• Public benefit is not
universally agreed
• Deserving vs undeserving
poor

23. Negative attitudes: giving by the rich

24. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

25. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

26. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

27. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

28. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

29. So...
• Charitable impulse remains strong
• Supported by tax and regulatory environment
• No fatigue: but reliance on a civic core
• Main change in attitude is shift to investor
mindset
• Giving remains contested: by left and right
• But change in practices too, eg to ABCD and,
hopefully, social justice philanthropy