Who gives? Del Boy or Sex and the City’s Carrie? More poor people than rich give to charity

Howard Lake | 26 June 2004 | Newswire

• Tagged with:
• Giving/Philanthropy
• Research / statistics
• The Giving Campaign

Headline findings:

• Giving is most prevalent amongst people who live in council accommodation, and least prevalent amongst high earners and affluent households
  
• London is the least charitable region in the UK
  
• The most charitable towns are Sunderland, Blackpool and Motherwell

New Experian research, commissioned by The Giving Campaign – a national initiative that has been working to promote charitable giving across the UK, reveals that poorer people more frequently give to charity than the rich.

The research has found that charitable giving is most prevalent amongst those who live in council houses, and least prevalent amongst high earners and affluent households.  Furthermore, there is a clear north / south divide between areas where charitable giving is rife (in the north) and where it is less common (in the south). 

The following table emphasises the inverse correlation between giving and wealth.

The average wealth within the 10 most charitable towns – where giving is most prevalent – is significantly lower than the national average.

In contrast, the 10 towns with the lowest number of donors have an average wealth of twice the national average. The three wealthiest towns are amongst the 10 towns with the fewest donors in the UK. (See Notes to Editors for more regional data).

Experian has developed a postcode based consumer classification system called UK Mosaic which divides the UK population into 11 groups, containing 61 different types.  Using these criteria, the following list shows how prevalent giving is amongst the following stereotypes.


Individuals most likely to give to charity:

1. Municipal Dependency – Often living in council housing earning a low rate of income, unemployed or retired.  Few people within this group have significant savings.

2. Twilight Subsistence -With the support of housing and social services departments, this group relies entirely on state benefits for their income and have a low level of savings and income.

3. Blue Collar Enterprises – Mainly living on council estates, this is an enterprising group of self-reliant individuals, many of whom have become homeowners.

Individuals least likely to give to charity:

1. Symbols of Success – As successful, higher rate taxpayers, these individuals have substantial equity, expensive leisure interests and live in spacious, fashionable housing.

2. Urban Intelligence  – Typically well-educated, stylish young professionals with no children, this group tend to live in inner city areas. Many have high disposable incomes.

3. Rural Isolation – Living deep in the small rural communities where farming remains a key occupation, this group tend to have low disposable incomes, but high value, illiquid assets.

The Giving Campaign has been working to encourage people to consider their charitable giving in relation to their overall income and wealth and is challenging the UK to double donations over the next decade.  Amanda Delew, Director of The Giving Campaign, says:

“It is staggering to think that, although the better-off have more money than ever before, it is the poorer people in society who are giving their money away to good causes.  While there are many wealthy people who do give to charity, often very generously, there are too many who aren’t.  I’d like to see people across the UK working to generate a culture of giving, where it is natural for people – particularly the wealthy – to give generously towards the good causes they care about.”

This news comes at the closure of The Giving Campaign (ending 30 June 2004) and is accompanied by the launch of the Campaign’s ‘Blueprint’ for charitable giving, in which the UK public is challenged to double charitable donations, as a percentage of GDP, by 2014.  Currently, 70% of people in the UK give to charity, giving an average of 0.7% GDP to charity.

For further information, visit www.givingcampaign.org.uk

– Ends –

Media Enquiries
Lucinda Gould    
The Giving Campaign
lu***********@gi************.uk

Notes to editors

· The Giving Campaign (www.givingcampaign.org.uk)

The Giving Campaign is a partnership between the Government and the charity sector, working to encourage a greater culture of giving in the UK and to raise the overall level of giving in the UK. Working from July 2001 to the end of June 2004, the Campaign has focused on four specific work streams: Targeting Wealthy People, Tax-Effective Giving, Employers and Employees and Young People.  The Campaign remains as an online tax-effective giving resource at www.givingcampaign.org.uk

· Experian (www.experian.com)

Experian is a global leader in providing information solutions to organisations and consumers.  Experian works with more than 40,000 clients across diverse industries, including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, insurance, retail and catalogue, automotive, manufacturing, leisure, utilities, property, e-commerce and government.  Experian is a subsidiary of GUS plc and has headquarters in Nottingham, UK, and Costa Mesa, California.  Its 13,000 people support clients in more than 60 countries.  Annual sales exceed £1.2 billion.

The word ‘Experian’ is a registered trademark in the EU and other countries and is owned by Experian Ltd and/or its associated companies.

·
Regional
Breakdown of data

*The wealthiest 10 towns are shaded in the table above

Giving Rank: No. 1 is the region where the highest proportion of inhabitants give to charity, no. 114 is the region with the lowest proportion of donors Wealth Rank: No. 1 is the region where the inhabitants are most wealthy, no. 114 is the region whose inhabitants are least wealthy Giving Index:  Indices of over 100 show an over-representation of
donors compared to the national average.  Indices lower than 100 show an under-representation of donors compared to the national average . For example, Sunderland with a giving index of 120, means that people in Sunderland are 20% more likely to donate to charity in comparison to the national average.  

Wealth Index: Indices of over 100 show a higher proportion of wealthy people than the national average, indices lower than 100 show a lower proportion of wealthy people.  For example, Sunderland with a wealth index of 32, is
less wealthy than the national average.

[1] Analysis of Experian’s Canvasse Lifestyle Survey (842,707 respondents, 2001) in May 2004.

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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.