26% of donors expect to reduce giving this year, says CAF survey
Howard Lake | 4 February 2013 | News
A survey of charity donors for Charities Aid Foundation has revealed that 26% of people who give to charity say that they expect to cut the amount they give over the next 12 months.
Fortunately, charities seem to be nearly last on the list of areas of expenditure to cut back on. The survey respondents were more likely to reduce expenditure on:
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going out for a drink (37%)
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eating out or buying takeaways (36%)
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holidays (32%)
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clothes (31%)
- leisure (cinema, bingo, theatre) (31%)
The only activities that people were less likely to cut than charitable donations were:
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spending on are groceries (17%)
- watching or participating in sport (24%)
Increase in spending?
On the other hand, charities were unlikely to see much of an increase in giving, according to the research. Only 12% of charity donors said that they were likely to increase their charity donations in the next year, the lowest proportion for any type of spending tested.
Paul Rees, Executive Director of CAF, emphasised the positive element of the findings. “Even in tough times," he said, "people are extremely reluctant to cut the generous support they give to for the causes we all care about.
"Britain is one of the most generous nations on earth, but it’s still very worrying that so many people expect to reduce their donations in the next 12 months. If that happens, charities and the causes they support will suffer".
ComRes interviewed 2,013 adults in Great Britain online from 12 to 14 December 2012. Data were weighted to be representative of all GB adults aged 18+.
www.cafonline.org
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.