The document reports on a survey of attitudes towards contributing to society and communities in the UK. It finds that most people are already involved in their communities in some way, such as through local schools or helping neighbors, and there is strong support for the importance of individual contribution. However, people are more motivated to get involved by issues that mean something to them personally and opportunities need to be better communicated by employers to encourage participation.

1. Big Society & Harnessing the Power of the UK
A State of the Nation Survey: Society and attitudes to contributing
– the views of the UK workforce and the role business can play
1

2. What we did
There were 2.3 million registered
businesses in the UK and just over 29
million people in full and part time
employment in the UK in 2010. We wanted
to explore the potential for engaging them
in 'Big Society'. We wanted to understand
the appetite, the potential and the barriers
to engagement.
In October and November 2010, we conducted a
study of individuals’ views on being active in their
local community, or being a part of the ’Big Society’ –
whether acting as part of their employer’s corporate
responsibility programme or on their own initiative as
individuals.
The first step was exploratory qualitative research
which took the form of four discussion groups with
individuals from routine and manual positions
through to senior management. We used these
discussions to tease out the issues and design a wider
online survey of 2,004 members of the British public
that was carried out in November 2010. Results were
weighted to reflect the population as a whole. This
paper outlines the main findings.
Contents:
Summary 3-6
Recommendations 8-9
Findings 11 - 21
February 2011
2

3. Summary
The following is a snapshot of the top line findings:
14 million employees are willing to become involved in activity which benefits society
or the community, provided that their employer is fully committed to helping them make a
difference.
Language
Society seems less relevant and too distant – community is ‘closer to home’ and has
greater resonance.
51% are most interested in making a contribution to community compared to 20%
interested in contributing to society.
‘Charity begins at home’ and wanting to ‘benefit and help local people’ were the drivers.
The feel good factor
Emotional reward is the biggest incentive
67% said ‘Just feeling personally that I am making a difference’ was the single biggest
motivator for making a contribution.
18 – 34 year olds were more motivated by tangible/material benefits.
Support and belief
People believe it's important and for many it's personal
54% think ‘it is important that as an individual, I make a contribution to my local
community’.
54% have a preference for getting involved in something that means a lot to them
personally.
? Q: When it comes to
communicating all things
'big society' - are we taking
the above into account?
3

4. It's a duty - not a nice to do
People believe companies have a duty to engage and help
them get involved too
64% were clear that companies have a duty to give something back to their local
communities.
54% felt that employers also have a duty to make it easy for the employees to give
something back.
49% want their employer to support them in getting involved – but with the caveat that this
activity is for its own ends rather than as marketing activity.
Communicate and engage
Employers are not communicating effectively
31% don’t really know how their company would feel about getting them involved during
work time.
23% said their company does not offer opportunities for them to get involved.
17% believe their organisation would not allow them to.
Only 28% said their company did offer opportunities in work time.
There's a lot more going on than you might think
72% provided a myriad of examples of how they got involved in supporting their local
community/society. The most common themes include:
• 26% with community projects (e.g. helping neighbours or the elderly with things they
may have difficulty with)
• 20% with local schools
• 12% with local hospitals
One size doesn't fit all
People play different roles for different reasons and we need
to take this in to account when we consider engaging people
in supporting society or their local communities.
We found six distinct types of idividual. (See next page)
4

5. Activist (19%)
Typically this is a person who is good at garnering initial support for a given cause
or activity and in making others aware of a particular issue and engaging them in
a cause or activity.
“I like to take a really active role and encourage others to participate even if I am not
leading an initiative myself”
• More likely to be motivated by the emotional reward of feeling personally that they are making a difference
(80%) but with 14% motivated by being publicly recongnised in their local community
Leader (10%)
Typically this is a person who is (and may like to be recognised as) an active facilitator
and organiser of activities, whom others tend to rely on for organisational initiative and
logistical support.
“I tend to take a leadership role, coming up with ideas and organising people myself”
• Most likely of all segments to be motivated by ‘just personally feeling like I am making a difference,’ but like
Activists, some want to be recognised in their local community (14%)
Follower (19%)
Typically this is a person that is aware of the importance of contributing to community,
but needs a catalyst to become motivated and wants to be organised by others to take
part.
“I tend to get involved in organising activities if somebody else is there to lead it”
• Typically employed by larger companies, and more likely to be working part time
Joiner (25%)
Typically, a Joiner lags in taking up a new activity or cause and is more likely to join once a
group has already been established and an activity is underway.
“I tend to get involved in helping out with activities once a group of people have set up
something that I can easily join in with”
• Joiners are less likely than Activists, Leaders or Followers to be involved, currently or recently in activities
that make a contribution to society or their local community. They are most likely to take part in very local
community projects such as helping neighbours
For hire (10%)
This is a person who is not typically an active contributor and may require incentivisation
(mainly social) or peer pressure to inspire them to join and participate.
“I tend to join in only if I am pushed or when friends or colleagues get involved”
• Are more likely to be motivated by some form of formal recognition or the offer of additional benefits
Disinterested (6%)
Typically this is a person who is plagued by apathy and disinterest in contributing to
society/community and would require significant convincing around the benefits and
rationale for doing so.
“I tend not to be interested in joining in with activity that makes a contribution to
my local community”
? Q: When it comes to engagement, are we considering
the roles people play, their motivations and incentives?
For more details see pages 13-14. 5

6. When it comes to Corporate Responsibility (CR)
an emotional and local connection seem key
When challenged as to whether cynicism means
that CR is a ‘bad’ thing, people were reluctant to
agree, but CR didn’t often provide a cause with “Down the line they’ve got their... sinister
which people felt they could ally themselves. They little plan of how they’re going to benefit...
often didn’t connect emotionally. but for now it’s actually benefiting whoever
it is that they’re working with.”
Time, knowledge and emotional Middle management
connection
Despite some cynicism about self-aggrandising
corporate activities; many understood that CR “My company promotes climate change
activities could be beneficial to the recipients. The to local stakeholders, for example, just to
appetite for making a contribution through their bring down the carbon footprint. It gives
employers’ activities was hampered by three main ideas to companies how to actually reduce
factors that did not include cynicism: their carbon footprint by, such as, saving
1 Time pressures of the job itself, as well as busy water from their roofs, you know, using
daily lives products that are recyclable or things like
this. So provide free consultancy advice to
2 A surprising lack of knowledge about the local companies.”
opportunities offered by employers (or a Middle management
straight lack of opportunities)
3 Causes supported by an employer do not
necessarily elicit the emotional connection that
provides the core motivation for employees to “I work for a firm in the City, we’ve had
get involved quite a lot of stick recently for not really
contributing to society and stealing
everyone’s money. We do have a volunteer
scheme. They give us two days to work as
a volunteer to be honest they’re put quite
a lot of in, it’s not just about PR they’ve
actually got people out doing stuff, so it’s
! Q: Are the right
been pretty good.
Skilled manual
opportunities not being
communicated or offered to
employees?
A: It could be as much
about how initiatives are
communicated and supported
as the issue itself.
6

7. Thoughts and
recommendations
7

8. Thoughts and recommendations
Based on the findings, the following outlines what we think are
important issues to consider. It's not exhaustive or detailed - it's a
starting point.
1. Community not Society - Use the right language
Use the language of ‘community’, make issues relevant to individuals and ‘close to home’.
Localising communications is key. Let local leaders and local people tell their stories. People
seem to relate most to the idea of ‘better communities’ not ‘big society’.
2. Get involved
The public believe there is a duty for everyone to contribute(including business). So make it
a priority. Like ‘Fair Trade’ – this will increasingly be important to consumers and employees
alike.
3. Emotional engagement and feel good factor
Engage people in the issues they care about, and ensure they can see the difference their
contribution makes. Facts and figures don’t move head and heart. Communications needs to
focus on the tangible real life benefits. Show not tell.
4. Apply the X and the F factors.
Simon Cowells X Factor ticks the boxes of relevance, emotion and celebration of local people
and their aspirations. The ‘target audience’ watches, laughs, cries, cares and thinks ‘that could
be me or someone I know. I can vote and see the difference’.
F is for ‘fun’ – don’t underestimate its power.
5. Communicate, communicate, communicate
Engage employees in designing your approach. Tell them: what you do, why you do it – the
relevance and the benefits for everyone, how they can get involved, who is doing what and
how you can support them.
6. Acitivists to followers – know your audience
To make a real difference, organisations should understand the motivators for different groups.
They should take a ‘behaviour change’ and engagement approach. For example:
Younger groups want more tangible benefits – so make it worth it.
8

9. For those who want recognition - invest in celebrating success and recognising them –
personally and publically.
For maximum impact develop your strategies according to the audience and their behavioural
profiles. Get the mix right too. Ask yourself: What are the profiles of your employees or the
audiences/population you want to engage? What motivates them, what is local to them and
what reward are they looking for? What skills might they need? See pages 13-14.
For example, based on the profiles we have identified, the following should be considered:
First - you need ‘Activists’ to get things going and build enthusiasm, your ‘Leaders’ to get things
done and bring the ‘Followers’ and ‘Joiners’ with them.
Followers and Joiners make up 44% of the population and could (according to their
typical profiles) play valuable roles in supporting people and initiatives in their immediate
communities.
7. Joiners are untapped potential
Joiners make up 25% of the population and are a largely untapped resource of over 3.5
million people. They are the group least likely to have been engaged in supporting their
community or society. The mixture of full time, part time and the unemployed means there is
flexibility too. They are most likely to get involved in their immediate communities – helping
neighbours and local initiatives. Understanding, engaging and supporting them is important.
Engage them once something is set up and make it easy for them to get involved. They could
play a key role in building supportive and empowered communities.
! One size doesn’t fit all. You need the right mix of
people and skills. As well as understanding how to
motivate people – we need to understand how we
then equip them for the roles they are best suited to.
Do all three and you could have the secret to success.
9

10. Findings
Society and attitudes to contributing
10

11. There’s a lot more going on
than you might think
One of the most encouraging things highlighted by findings from the survey was the extent to
which individuals are already involved in delivering value in their local neighbourhood or
through activities organised by their employer. In the qualitative research, we found that many
do so without thinking of it as community action or getting involved. A surprising number of
people told us initially that they didn’t really get involved ‘in that sort of thing’, but
subsequently talked about running a neighbourhood watch scheme or helping out by coaching
a young football team, for example!
“Well I did the marathon, in that way it’s
helping; I did it for Children with Leukaemia.”
Non-skilled manual
“Well actually, we do like charity dinners at work so say I’d
organised an event and it cost say £30 a ticket, half of that money
would go to the charity. So we’d do the dinner at like cost price
basically but half of the money was going towards that charity
and then they sell the tickets for that.”
Non-skilled manual
“Also, just thinking, I don’t even know if this is on the same lines,
it’s just come into my head, my friend’s baby had a really bad
kidney problem and it wasn’t like a benefit, but we raised a huge
amount of money for her family to get the equipment, so that
was another helping kind of thing.”
Skilled Manual Management
28% claim not to have been involved in
any activity that makes a contribution
to society or the community.
72% provided a myriad of examples of such
activity. The most common activities include:
26%
Being involved in
20%
Being involved in
12%
Getting involved
community projects local schools in local hospitals
Helping neighbours
or the elderly with
things they may have
difficulty with 11

12. Belief in the importance
of getting involved
There was a strong agreement from citizens that individuals should play a part in society and
their local community, and there was support for being involved in an employer’s CSR activity if
there were genuine benefits to be had by the local area.
There were also many who were undecided or ‘neutral’ about how important it was to get
involved, typically, they are those who were younger or working for large companies. Even
those who were undecided or neutral about the importance of getting involved would consider
making a contribution if their employer was to get involved in providing opportunities or offer
paid time off to do work in the community. This is explored later in this document.
‘I think it is important that as an individual, I make a contribution
to my local community’
3% 9% 34% 33% 21%
‘I don’t mind if my voluntary contribution is part of a wider company
marketing activity as long as the main beneficiary is the local community’
4% 10% 38% 32% 16%
Strongly disagree Strongly agree
Base: 2,004 British adults
54% More than half have a preference
for getting involved in something
that means a lot them personally.
69% are happy to be involved with one-off
activities that make a contribution to
society or the community.
12

13. What roles do people play?
Our qualitative research showed that a number of segments were evident when people explained
how and why they got involved in community activity. We then used the survey to test our
hypotheses about the attitudes, motivations and demographic characteristics that defined these
segments, to put some flesh on the bones.
Activist (19%)
Typically this is a person who is good at garnering initial support for a given cause
or activity and in making others aware of a particular issue and engaging them in
a cause or activity.
“I like to take a really active role and encourage others to participate even if I am not
leading an initiative myself”
• More likely to be senior managers or modern professionals whose work involves supervising other
employees
• More likely than average to want to stay involved in ongoing rather than one-off activities undertaken for
their local community
• Like Leaders, Activists are significantly more likely than average to be motivated by the emotional reward
of feeling that they are personally making a difference (80%) but the proportion who are motivated by the
thought of being publicly recognised in their local community (14%) is greater than it is among Followers,
Joiners and those classified as being For Hire
• Are usually involved in local school and community projects, generally supporting younger people in career
ambitions or hobbies
Leader (10%)
Typically this is a person who is (and may like to be recognised as) an active facilitator
and organiser of activities, whom others tend to rely on for organisational initiative and
logistical support.
“I tend to take a leadership role, coming up with ideas and organising people myself”
• More likely than average to be self-employed (29% for Leaders vs. 12% for Activists)
• More likely than other segments to have post-graduate degree or have attained NVQ Level 5 or equivalent
(24%)
• Are most likely to engage in fund raising for big charities or community projects
• Most likely of all segments to be motivated by ‘just personally feeling like I am making a difference,’ but like
Activists, some want to be recognised in their local community (14%) and almost as many strongly agree
that “it is important to me to receive some form of recognition for any voluntary contribution that I make to
society or the community” (13% for Leaders vs. 6% for Activists)
• Think that it is important for everyone to make a contribution to the local community
• More likely than other segments to be aged 65 or over
Follower (19%)
Typically this is a person that is aware of the importance of contributing to society/
community, but needs a catalyst to become motivated and wants to be organised by
others to take part in a given activity or cause.
“I tend to get involved in organising activities if somebody else is there to lead it”
• A predominantly female group (60%) that is somewhat younger than Leaders, Joiners or those classified as
For Hire
• Typically employed by larger companies, and more likely than Leaders or Joiners (but not Activists) to be
working part time; less likely than either Activists or Leaders to supervise other employees at work, but
more likely to do so than Joiners or those classified as For Hire
• Generally, they are only involved with their close community; e.g. helping out neighbours
• Almost equally likely to get involved in one-off activities and ongoing activities, in contrast to Activists and
Leaders who prefer ongoing activities
13

14. Joiner (25%)
Typically, a Joiner lags in taking up a new activity or cause and is more likely to join once a
group has already been established and an activity is underway.
“I tend to get involved in helping out with activities once a group of people have set up
something that I can easily join in with”
• Although most members of this group are in full-time or part-time employment (50% and 18% respectively),
more are unemployed (14%) than in any other group except for the Disinterested (31%)
• At work, Joiners are less likely to supervise other employees than are Activists, Leaders or Followers
• Like Followers, most Joiners are women (56% among Joiners and 60% among Followers)
• Joiners are less likely than Activists, Leaders or Followers to be currently or recently involved in projects and
activities that make a contribution of society or the community; when involved, Joiners are most likely to
take part in very local community projects such as helping neighbours
For hire (10%)
This is a person who is not typically an active contributor and may require incentivisation
(mainly social) or peer pressure to inspire them to join and participate.
“I tend to join in only if I am pushed or when friends or colleagues get involved”
• This group is less inclined than Activists, Leaders, Joiners or Followers to think it is personally important to
make a contribution to the local community or to think that everyone has a duty to make a contribution to
society or the local community
• They are less inclined than other groups, except for the Disinterested, to consider giving up some of their
time to make a voluntary contribution to society or the community
• Are more likely to be motivated by some form of formal recognition or the offer of additional benefits in the
workplace such as time off in lieu of community activity
• Are more ‘as and when’ in terms of contribution and don’t value remaining involved with projects over time
Disinterested (6%)
Typically this is a person who is plagued by apathy and disinterest in contributing to
society/community and would require significant convincing around the benefits and
rationale for doing so.
“I tend not to be interested in joining in with activity that makes a contribution to
my local community”
• Although most of this group is employed, more are unemployed (31%) than in any other group
• Most of the Disinterested who are in work are employed by organisations with 250 employees or more
(61%) and more than any other group, they are highly likely to work for a public sector organisation (72%)
• They don’t believe that making a contribution to society is personally important
• Nor do they believe that UK companies have a duty to give something back to communities or to encourage
employees to contribute
• 75% of the Disinterested say they have not been involved recently in any projects or activities that make a
contribution to society or the community; the most frequently reported exception is giving to a large charity
• For those who are employed, additional benefits in the workplace, such as time off in lieu, would be most
likely to motivate involvement in social or community activities
These figures correspond relatively well with figures reported by TNS-BMRB in October 2010 on
‘What the citizen wants’. They report that a fifth of the population are the ‘community organisers’
that tend to make things happen – this is reflective of our 29% of ‘Activists’ and ‘Leaders’.
The fifth that they report as not typically being involved is also reflective of our ‘disinterested’
and ‘for hire’ categories (16% in total).
! This segmentation starts to help us to identify how
we might engage and motivate different groups more
effectively.
14

15. The question of reward or recognition
is a personal one
But do individuals expect anything in return for their contribution? Can anything be done to
encourage, recognise and reward them for their time?
Emotional connection
Survey data reflected the qualitative discussions. The majority of people (67%) indicated that
the single biggest motivation for making a contribution to society or the community was ‘just
feeling personally like I have made a difference’. Activists and Leaders were particularly likely
to feel this way. In addition, those motivated in this way were more likely than average to include
people who were self-employed or worked part time, as well as those who were over the age of
54 and female.
67% are motivated by feeling they
have made a personal difference.
18-34
year olds
are more motivated by tangible/
material benefits.
There are however, a number of other more tangible options for motivating individuals. Looking
at the segments and demographics, we found that:
• Those who were most likely to be motivated by more tangible and material things were those
in the younger age groups, generally the 18-34 bracket.
• The ‘for hire’ and ‘disinterested’ segments were also more likely to be motivated by something
tangible in return, most typically formal recognition in the form of a certificate or similar, or
additional benefits in the workplace such as time of in lieu of activity.
15

16. ? Which one of the following things would be most likely to motivate
you when contributing to society or the community?
Just feeling personally that I am 67%
making a difference
Getting additional benefits at
my workplace e.g. time of in lieu
12%
Some form of formal recognition,
such as a recognised certificate that is 11%
valued by employers and society alike
A scheme whereby you can build 11%
up ‘credit’ for the work that you do
None of the above 9%
Being publicly recognised 8%
in my local community
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Base: 2,004 British adults
! This highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all model.
Motivation is determined by both demographic and
attitudinal factors. So there is perhaps a need to offer
a variety of routes to involvement, as well as different
schemes for reward and recognition through community
channels and through the workplace.
16

17. And how we talk about getting
involved is important in getting buy-
in from citizens: community is key
When we explored how people talk about society and community, ‘community’ had greater
resonance that ‘community’ when they talked about getting involved and giving something
back.
When we asked people to give us an example of what came to mind when they thought of
making a contribution to society and the community, community activities were much more
personal and established an emotional connection.
Society-focused Community-focused
“In terms of contributing to society, I suppose “ The one you go for is not all sponsored, it’s
I’m like a lot of people, I’m kind of selfish about stuff that’s really relevant like new
really, I don’t really do as much as I should, in planning applications, just people locally
fact I can’t really think of anything I do other sponsoring it because it’s a resource for the
than pay my taxes and bills and things like that.” community.”
Non-skilled Manual Skilled Manual Management
“We have a community hall near my
“Saving lives.” house and I would say have meetings
there and try and have little community
Middle Management
functions like barbecues.”
Middle Management
“I’ve come up with, if you live down
“Contributing towards the law… I don’t by the sea, because I do a lot of fishing
know how to say it, protecting the as well, do the old coastguard, that’s all
innocent?” voluntary, I give quite a bit of money to
Middle Management them… you could always help do the old
Neighbourhood Watch.”
Non-skilled Manual
“We’ve got a patch of land at the back
of where we live, the property developers
want it, we don’t want them to go on it,
so we organise barbecues, bonfires and
coffee mornings for the ladies.”
Junior Management
Our survey findings reflected this
strongly. When asked for examples
of what best represented their ideas
of contributing to both society and to
community, there was a much stronger
appetite for getting involved in work
to benefit the local community than
society as a whole.
17

18. ? Where do you feel you are most interested in making a contribution?
60%
50%
40%
30%
51%
20%
10% 20%
0%
Society Community
Base: 2,004 British adults
Asked why they gave the answers they did, almost half of those who talked about getting
involved in the community gave reasons such as ‘charity begins at home’ and wanting to
‘benefit and help local people’.
! There is a very real sense that the language and sentiment
of community is powerful when used to encourage people
to get involved in formal or informal volunteering.
18

19. What roles should UK businesses
be playing?
Turning to the role of UK businesses, almost two in three (64%) survey respondents were clear
that companies have a duty to give something back to the communities local to where they do
business. This sentiment is strengthened by the fact that over half (54%) felt that employers
also have a duty to make it easy for employees to give something back to the community.
actively agree that they want their employer
49% to support them in getting involved – but
with the caveat that this activity is for its
own ends rather than as marketing activity.
‘UK companies have a duty to give something back to the communities
local to where they do business’
4% 6% 26% 37% 27%
‘Employers have a duty to make it easy for the employees to give something
back’
5% 10% 31% 36% 18%
‘Employers should recognise employees who make a voluntary contribution
to society or the community’
6% 11% 34% 34% 15%
‘I would like my employer to support me in getting involved in society
or community activities but they should not use these activities for
marketing purposes’
6% 11% 34% 34% 15%
Strongly disagree Strongly agree
Base: 1,372 British adults in full or part-time employment
! Our qualitative research highlighted the importance of an organisation
being honest about the fact that CSR activity benefits both the organisation
and the recipients. Employers will need to take this into account when they
organise and communicate opportunities to employees.
19

20. Employers are not communicating
effectively enough about the
opportunities they offer for
contributing to society or the
community, or they simply aren’t
offering them
Another striking finding that reinforces the need to communicate opportunities more effectively.
Almost one employee in every three reported not knowing how his or her company would feel about
the use of work time to make a contribution to society or the community. Of all the options tested,
this was the one that collected most responses. The options that ranked second and third, when
taken together, collected 40 per cent of all responses:
• The company I work for does not offer opportunities to contribute to society or the
community in work time (23%)
• The company I work for would not allow me to contribute to society or the community
in work time (17%)
In contrast, 28 per cent reported that the company they worked for offered opportunities in
work time to make a contribution and actively encouraged employees to do so (13%) or left it to
individuals to decide whether to get involved (15%). Senior managers and administrators were more
likely to state that their employers offers opportunities to get involved.
are not aware of whether their employer
31%
?
would approve of them using work
time to make a contribution to society
or the community.
As an employee, which of the following statements best describes the
opportunities that you have at work to make a contribution to society
or the community outside of your normal, day-to-day duties?
The company I work for offers opportunities
in work time for me to make a contribution 13%
to society or the community and actively
encourages employees to do so
The company I work for offers opportunities in
work time for me to make a contribution to society or 15%
the community although it is up to the individual as to
wether they take these opportunities
The company I work for does not really offer
opportunities in work time for employees to 23%
make a contribution to society or the community
The company I work for would not allow me in
work time to undertake activities that make a 17%
contribution to society or the community
I don’t really know how my company would feel
about me using work time to make a contribution 31%
to society or the community
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
20

21. With enhanced
opportunities and
communication, the
workforce could be a
major player in delivering
value to communities
Perhaps one of the most encouraging findings
was that for those in employment, 48%
agreed that “I would like my employer to
support me in getting involved in society or
community activities, but they should not use
these activities for marketing purposes”
Based on labour market statistics
published in November 2010, this equates
to approximately 14 million employees
who would be willing to become involved
in activity to the benefit of society or the
community, provided that their employer
was fully committed to helping them make a
difference.
21

22. Building social capital, representing social purpose and changing behaviour.
Specialising in: internal and external communications, branding, corporate
responsibility, public affairs, 3rd generation research and engagement, stakeholder
relations, consumer relations to marketing, behaviour change and service design.
Bringing together the best of The Bell Pottinger Group
For more information contact:
Claire Cater
Director brand democracy
brand democracy 6th floor Holborn Gate
+44 (0)20 7861 3869 330 High Holborn
London
ccater@bell-pottinger.co.uk WC1V 7QG
22