Giving to charity remains a priority in economic downturn
Howard Lake | 28 May 2010 | News
Most people have not cut the amount they give to charity during the economic downturn. An online survey conducted by JustGiving.com, the UK’s largest online fundraising platform, shows that on average 41% say they give the same amount, with 15% saying they have increased the amount they give.
JustGiving has produced a report based on the most comprehensive online survey of attitudes to charitable giving in the economic downturn. Conducted between January 2009 and February 2010, 17,927 respondents were randomly selected to complete a questionnaire after making a donation to charity on JustGiving.com.
JustGiving’s findings show that people are less likely to cut back on charitable giving than they are on other expenses, even during a recession. People are considering cutting back on money spent on eating out (an average of 73% of survey respondents over a year) and holidays (54%) before lowering the amount they give to charity (34.5%).
However, more people would consider cutting back on giving to charity than gym membership (24%), satellite television, mobile phones and paying into a savings account (only 20% of people in each case). Keeping fit, saving for the future and having the latest mobile phone and television are perhaps seen as more necessary expenses than giving to charity.
The number of respondents giving more to charity increased as the year went on, as did the average donation made on JustGiving.com. This dropped to £27 (including Gift Aid) in May and June 2009, and peaked at £44 in December (typically a strong month for average gifts on JustGiving.com).
Two thirds of people (65.5%) say that they won’t reconsider how much they give to charity in the next three months. Less than 2% of respondents said they might stop giving to charity altogether.
“This is really encouraging news,” says Jonathan Waddingham, digital strategist at JustGiving. “It shows that whilst the economic climate undoubtedly had an impact on donations, most people are no longer looking to cut back on their donations. In fact, a significant minority of donors have increased their gifts, with anecdotal feedback telling us that those who still had money to give felt a responsibility to make up for any shortfall charities are feeling in the downturn.”
ENDS
About JustGiving
JustGiving (www.justgiving.com) is the UK’s largest online fundraising platform and has helped over 11 million people raise over £625 million for over 9,000 charities since 2001. In 2009, JustGiving’s CEO Zarine Kharas was awarded the RSA’s Albert Medal for “democratising fundraising and technology for charities” and JustGiving was awarded the “best use of technology award” at The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 awards.
Press contacts
If you would like:
– a copy of the full report, which puts the survey results in the context of the wider economic climate
– to arrange an interview
– more information on JustGiving,
please contact pr***@ju********.com
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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.