London’s poorest boroughs are “the most generous” says The Big Give study
Howard Lake | 29 November 2016 | News
Some of London’s most deprived boroughs are also the areas which show the highest levels of generosity, according to a study of over 18,000 donations to London children’s charities published today by The Big Give and The Childhood Trust.
The boroughs in which people give the most are:
- Tower Hamlets
- Newham
- Hackney
- Haringey
The boroughs in which residents give the least are:
- Richmond
- Wandsworth
- Bromley
Tower Hamlets and Newham experience high proportions of children living in poverty (44% and 38% respectively). Many children in these Boroughs and across the capital are often forced to go hungry especially during the school holidays when there are no free school meals. According to The Childhood Trust, London’s child poverty charity, the problem is getting worse with an estimated 200,000 more children in the capital forecast to be in poverty by 2020. 60% of children experiencing poverty in London live in working households.
The research is based on over 18,000 donations via The Big Give from people in London between 2008 and 2016. It was compared to data on average income of tax payers in the London boroughs. The two organisations looked the mean donation to give an accurate picture of the amount of money being donated and compared this to the mean income for that borough in order to calculate generosity.
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The Big Give Christmas Challenge
The research has been published on the day that 53 London charities that tackle child poverty join other charities raising funds in The Big Give Christmas Challenge. This is the UK’s largest matched giving fundraising campaign for charities.
The Childhood Trust is one of a number of ‘Champions’ which are offering to match the public’s donations to causes taking part in the Christmas Challenge. It is offering £350,000 in matched funding to support projects tackling child poverty in London. It hopes to see over £1.3 million raised for disadvantaged children in London by the 72 hour campaign.
Donations will be doubled from midday on 29th November 2016 until midday on 2nd December, or until match funds have been exhausted, whichever is earliest.
Laurence Guinness, CEO of The Childhood Trust, commented:
“London is the greatest city in the world but with 700,000 children currently living below the poverty line we can all do a bit more, especially the wealthiest of us. Every day children are telling us they haven’t had enough to eat or have warm enough clothes for the winter. The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge gives every Londoner the chance to have their donation doubled by our matched funding. There’s never been a better time to help local children living in poverty.”
The Childhood Trust also runs the Summer Giving matched funding scheme with The Big Give to raise funds for child poverty charities in London.
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.