81% of UK adults gave to tsunami appeals, says CAF
Howard Lake | 31 January 2005 | News
An NOP study, commissioned by Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), has found that a record 81% of adults in the UK say they gave to the tsunami disaster appeals, with just 12% saying they now intended to give less to charity over the next three months.
The survey asked people why they gave: 84% said they gave because they felt deeply affected by events; 64% due to the harrowing images shown by the media; 65% because information on how to give was readily available; and 14% because they had visited one of the regions affected.
Stephen Ainger, CAF’s Chief Executive, commented on the findings: “The challenge to use all, charities, government, companies and individuals – having seen first hand the power of giving – is to continue to transform our local and global community by driving up regular giving in the UK”, he said.
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The report confirmed that technology had a major impact on the way in which people pledged their support. It found that 61% of people who gave online did so for the first time, and 41% of those who used a credit or debit card to give by telephone also did so for the first time. Text messaging was used by 1% of donors, all of whom used it for the first time, according to the survey.
The survey reported that the public made considerable use of the tax-efficient methods of giving in response to the tsunami disaster. Whereas around 33% of donations to charities are made tax-efficiently, “50% of all donations over £25 were given in this way to the aid effort”, notes CAF.
The levels of giving to the tsunami appeal were very high. Half of those surveyed said they had given more in response to the tsunami than to any other cause in the past year: nearly 70% said they had given more to this appeal than to any previous disaster.
The key question for many charities is how the disaster appeal will affect donations they might receive this year. When asked about their plans over the next three months, 12% of respondents said that they will have more to give in future, 65% said they will still have the same amount to give to other charities, and 11% said their donation to the tsunami appeal was instead of their usual donation. Only abou 12% said that they now intended to give less.
The research was drawn from a survey carried out for CAF during 14 to 16 January 2005 by NOP World Consumer, on a sample of 1000 adults in Great Britain aged over 15.
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.