# One in eight Britons don’t give anything to charity

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/04/18/one-eight-britons-dont-give-anything-charity/
- Published: 2014-04-18T07:10:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Almost one in eight British adults do not give any money to charity and don’t intend
to start in the next year, new market research conducted for the [Charities Aid Foundation](https://www.cafonline.orghttp://)
has found. But in the north of England, it’s **nearly one out of every five** who
are not charity donors.

The survey of 2,045 adults, conducted by [ComRes](http://www.comres.co.uk) in January,
found that **13% of people “do not currently spend” on charitable giving and have
no plans to do so**, with the **18% of people in the north of the country who don’t
give** being significantly higher than in other regions. ‘Significantly’ in research
terms means that the difference in the figures cannot be accounted for by chance
variations in the dataset, meaning that it is a genuine or ‘significant’ difference.

Of the **87% who do donate to charity**, most, **56%, plan to keep their giving 
at the same level** as last year, while **18% plan to cut back** on their charitable
giving. Just **8% are budgeting for an increase**.

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Eleven per cent of southerners say they plan to increase their giving over the coming
12 months, significantly more that the 6% of northerners. However the proportions
of people who plan to cut back this year are fairly constant across the regions.
And while **16% of northerners** say they’ll decrease their charitable giving compared
to **19% of southerners**, the difference was not significant

A third (**31%**) of those who said they would increase their giving say this is
because they expect their financial situation to improve. **Twenty-one per cent 
say they plan to give more because they were asked by a charity**. However, the 
numbers are too small to be able to draw any conclusions about regional differences
in how people respond to fundraising asks.

 

### **No differences between men and women**

There are no significant difference between the giving intentions of men and women.
But people under 34 are significantly more likely to say they will increase their
giving and significantly less likely to say they will decrease it compared to those
who are 35 and over.

Previous studies have found that the percentage of Britons who gave something to
charity at least once a year have reached the 90s. The commonly accepted figure 
that [around only 55-60 per cent](http://data.ncvo.org.uk/a/almanac12/what-are-the-main-trends-in-charitable-giving/)
of Britons give to charity comes from CAF/NCVO’s annual UK Giving report/Civil Society
Almanac. But this refers to the number of people who donated during the research
period, which is typically one month to six weeks. The [World Giving Index](https://www.cafonline.org/media-office/press-releases/2013/world-giving-index-2013.aspx)
published in December 2013 put the number of Britons who donate in a typical month
at 76%.

 

### **‘More likely to cut back drinking than charity donations’**

ComRes’s research for CAF also examined people’s spending intentions on things such
as holidays, clothes and nights out. CAF concludes that people are “reluctant” to
cut back on their charitable giving, being more likely to say that they will decrease
their spending on takeaways (**30%**) and going out for a drink (**25%**) than on
charity donations (**18%**).

John Low, Chief Executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, said:

> “It is encouraging that so many people are planning to maintain or increase their
> charitable giving this year.
> “Although there are glimmers of hope in the economy, many of us don’t feel any
> the richer for it and this is particularly true outside of London and the South
> East. It’s clear from our findings there is a North-South divide in the economic
> recovery, reflected in people’s attitudes to charitable giving.”

 

_[British piggy bank](http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-177859826/stock-photo-ceramic-piggy-bank-with-painting-of-national-flag-united-kingdom.html)
by Micha Klootwijk on Shutterstock.com_

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