# Survey finds credit crunch affects donations 'only slightly'

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/11/21/survey-finds-credit-crunch-affects-donations-039only-slightly039/
- Published: 2008-11-21T12:26:31+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

A Europe-wide survey by Survey Sampling International (SSI) has found that the credit
crunch affects charitable giving “only slightly”. Three in four consumers still 
donate money or time to charities, with just one in ten consumers saying that they
have stopped giving since the credit crunch and one in five respondents giving less
as a result of economic difficulties.

A quarter of those surveyed said that they donated at least once a month, while 
another 25% gave once a year.

The survey found that the UK was “the most charitable nation” with 77% of respondents
giving money to a good cause, closely followed by Spain (76%) and the Netherlands(
72%).

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In France 66% said they gave money to charities, and in Germany the figure was 61%.

Britons preferred to give by street collecting boxes rather than in response to 
direct mail or email appeals.

Across Europe more than 75% of respondents believed that charities should invest
less in advertising and instead spend the money on their cause. Two thirds of all
respondents stated that advertising did not affect their decision to donate and 
more than 20% said that advertising even puts them off giving altogether.

Celebrity supporters of charities have little impact, according to the survey. Nearly
70% of all respondents said a well known representative would not affect their decision
to donate, with 15% claiming that celebrities would actually put them off giving.

Volker Andresen, European Marketing Director at SSI, said that it was encouraging“
that although people are cutting back on everyday expenditure, Europeans won’t be
scaling down their charitable donations.”

SSI surveyed 1,650 consumers who are members of its OpinionWorld online communities
in the UK (330), Spain (330), Germany (330), France (330) and The Netherlands (330).

www.surveysampling.com

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