Ukraine crisis sparks 32% increase in number of people saying they donated in past week
Melanie May | 16 March 2022 | News
The number of self-reported charity donations has soared by 32% in the last week, according to research, after the Ukrainian conflict led to an outpouring of support across the UK.
About Loyalty’s weekly public research on a sample of 2,000 members of the UK adult population saw those who said they donated to charity increase from 18.6% to 24.6%. Based on there being 50 million adults in the UK, this could mean three million more people donating to charity in the past week.
The rise is the highest number of donations reported by survey responders since About Loyalty started tracking public sentiment two years ago.
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Richard Spencer, Director of About Loyalty, said:
“We have all been deeply moved by the harrowing images and stories coming out of Ukraine on a daily basis.
“The crisis has catalysed a wave of charitability across the UK. We’ve seen more solidarity and increases in altruism and empathy and a surge in charity donations in direct response to the war and the many appeals for support to help the people of Ukraine.”
Spencer believes the increase won’t be just for international charities and predicts a “halo effect” for all charities.
He explained:
“Most charity fundraising programmes are likely to benefit from the heightened solidarity and the simple fact that more people are giving to charity.
“This will be reinforced and underpinned by the steady increases that we’ve seen in altruism, empathy and solidarity more generally.”
The Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal raised over £100 million in its first four days, and over £150 million in the first week of its launch.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.