# UK Giving report reveals men & young adults least involved in charitable giving

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/05/24/uk-giving-report-reveals-men-young-adults-least-involved-charitable-giving/
- Published: 2016-05-24T08:30:47+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Men are lagging behind women in charitable giving, with less than half volunteering,
donating or sponsoring, according to [Charities Aid Foundation](https://www.cafonline.org/)’
s annual UK Giving report.**

Three out of five women (60%) got involved in some form of charitable behaviour 
in a typical month in 2015, compared with 52% of men.

In terms of age group, young adults are the least motivated by good causes, and 
are the least involved in supporting good causes with less than half doing so in
a typical month (43%). People of pensionable age were nearly twice as likely to 
have given money to charity, with 44% of over 65s having done so in the past month,
compared with 23% of people aged 16 to 24.

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The most popular way for people in the UK to support a charity was by donating money–
done by two in five of us (39%) in a typical month – followed by donating goods (
20%) and sponsoring someone (9%).

The report estimates that Britons donated a total of £9.6 billion to charity in 
2015, suggesting that overall levels of giving may have fallen in the past year.

Other findings include:

 * Four in five people in the UK (79%) got involved in at least one form of charitable
   action in 2015. London and the West Midlands are the only regions where less 
   than three-quarters participated.
 * Children’s charities were the most widely supported (30%), followed by medical
   research (29%) and animals (22%).
 * £14 is the median average charitable donation and cash is still the most common
   way for people to give, accounting for 55% of donations. Those most likely to
   donate are women, middle or upper middle class and aged over 45. Less than half
   of young people aged 16 – 24 (48%) donated to charity last year.
 * Almost half of Britons have donated goods in the past year (46%) with one in 
   five (20%) doing so in a typical month. Women are almost twice as likely to do
   this as men (26% v 14% in a typical month).
 * One in seven people (13%) volunteered for a charity in 2015. Young people are
   the most likely to give their time for free, with 19% of 16-to-24 year olds having
   done so, while one in ten (11%) people aged 65 or over volunteered for a charity.
 * One in three (32%) sponsored someone for charity in 2015. Women are more likely
   to be sponsors but give smaller amounts (£11.38) than men (£15.13) on average.
   People give most to sponsored events for hospitals and hospices, which attract
   an average sponsorship of £34.

CAF chief executive John Low said:

> “Charities need to work harder to motivate men to back good causes and, importantly
> in the long-term, find new and better ways to get people involved in charitable
> giving at every age. Sporting fundraisers and appeals like Movember have gone 
> some way towards getting more men and young people giving, but it is clear that
> more still needs to be done.”

The survey collected information about charitable giving from 4,160 adults aged 
16 and over in the United Kingdom. However, CAF has also announced that from this
month, it will treble the sample size to 12,000 and carry out research on a monthly
rather than quarterly basis in order to gain a more accurate picture of charitable
giving throughout the year.

You can [download CAF’s UK Giving Report 2015](https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2016-publications/uk-giving-report-2015)
in PDF.
 

## UK Giving Report in 60 seconds

 * **[Neil Heslop appointed next CEO of Charities Aid Foundation](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/06/24/neil-heslop-appointed-next-ceo-of-charities-aid-foundation/)(
   24 June 2020)**