John Healey MP commends The Giving Campaign
Speaking at a closing reception for The Giving Campaign at the Treasury on Wednesday 18th May, John Healey MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, commended the role of the Campaign in working to promote charitable giving in the UK.
He said: “The Government wants to see a stronger culture of giving in the UK and The Giving Campaign has played a significant role in laying the foundations for this to develop. The Giving Campaign has done a great deal in its 3-year life by bringing charities, businesses and Government together to achieve a common goal. ‘Giving Nation’ for schools, higher levels of Payroll Giving and raising the profile of charitable giving are all legacies the Campaign can be proud of, and which will continue to bring benefits in the future.”
Since launch in July 2001, The Giving Campaign has been working to raise the overall level of giving in the UK, focusing on four specific work streams: Targeting Wealthy People, Tax-Effective Giving, Employers and Employees and Young People. Nearing the end of its fixed term (July 2001 – June 2004), the Campaign is publishing a Review of activity achieved during this time.
Highlights include:
– Launched a new brand for Gift Aid, now being used by 60% of charities
– Media partnership with The Sunday Times, securing the inclusion of charitable giving within the Rich List 2002-2004
– Researched and publicised the market for charity financial products
– Partnered with HSBC, HBOS, Zurich Financial Services and the Co-operative Bank to incorporate charitable giving within their advisory services
– Distributed leaflets about tax-effective giving to 3 million higher rate taxpayers
– Produced and distributed tax-effective giving guides to over 20,000 fundraisers and 10,000 trustees, training given to more than 1,000 charities across the UK
– Distributed Payroll Giving toolkit for businesses to around 15,000 SMEs and 4,000 large companies
– Issued challenge to large companies to aim for a 10% Payroll Giving employee participation rate, 40 companies have now committed to this target
– Launched Giving Nation (www.g-nation.co.uk), a schools-based programme promoting charity to young people (aged 11-16), the resource pack is now present in more than half (3,300) of secondary schools in the UK
– G-Week – an annual Giving Week to celebrate young people’s charitable activities
– Achieved annual national newspaper coverage worth around £1 million in advertising expenditure
– Commissioned a range of research projects and published 8 research reports
– Online tax-effective giving resource centre (www.givingcampaign.org.uk), now receiving around 6,000 hits per day
Speaking at the event, Lord Joel Joffe, Chair of The Giving Campaign, announced that one further publication – A Blueprint for Giving – will be
produced in June 2004, pulling together research and experience from the last three years and mapping out the way forward for charitable giving in the UK.
The Campaign is scheduled to close on 30th June 2004, but a number of projects have future potential and those aspects are being handed over to the relevant organisations that are most closely suited to continue this work, they are:
– Giving Nation – the dynamic youth Campaign that promotes charity in schools – has been transferred to Citizenship Foundation
– The Directory of Social Change has adopted the Campaign’s tax-effective
giving training programme
– The development of charity financial products and services will be continued beyond the lifetime of the Campaign, driven forward by Charities Aid Foundation
– UK Fundraising (www.fundraising.co.uk) will be publishing tax-effective giving information and materials from The Giving Campaign website online
– The Inland Revenue will maintain the Campaign website at www.givingcampaign.org.uk until March 2005
For further information, visit
www.givingcampaign.org.uk
– Ends –
Media Enquiries
Lucinda Gould 020 7930 2629 / 07712 045 308
The Giving Campaign [email protected]
Notes to editors
· The Giving Campaign (www.givingcampaign.org.uk)
The Giving Campaign has been established to encourage a culture of giving and to increase the amount of money given to UK charities. The Campaign has Government and voluntary sector support for its aim to increase charitable giving in the UK.
campaign_review.pdf | 743.9 KB |
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