Campaign challenges UK to double charitable giving by 2014
Howard Lake | 23 June 2004 | News
The Giving Campaign is challenging the UK to double charitable giving within the next decade. The Campaign – a national initiative to promote charitable giving in the UK – has seen individual giving rise by more than half a billion pounds during the fixed three year lifetime of the Campaign and is extending this new challenge to the UK within the form of a Blueprint for Giving, (freely available to download from www.givingcampaign.org.uk).
Commenting on the need for increased donations in the UK, Amanda Delew, Director of The Giving Campaign says: “Each year, the UK public gives £7 billion to good causes each year, but with over 180,000 charities and an average monthly donation of only £13, this could be so much higher. But the onus doesn’t only lie with charities and their donors. Businesses, the Government, financial service professionals and the media all have a role to play in making a real difference to giving in the UK.”
Judy Beard, Director of Communications and Fundraising at Macmillan Cancer Relief, adds:
“At Macmillan Cancer Relief we raise around £84 million in voluntary income each year. Each and every day, 741 people are diagnosed with cancer. As the number of people living with cancer rises, so does the need for our cancer care services. The more funds we raise the more we can do to make a real difference to their lives.”
Issued at the closure of the Campaign in June 2004, the Blueprint encourages individuals, charities, Government, businesses, the financial services sector and the media to strive to continue the Campaign’s aim of generating a culture of giving in the UK. The Blueprint establishes a series of targeted initiatives to meet the challenge of doubling donations by 2014, they include:
For individuals:
• Consider charitable donations in relation to affordability, aiming to give around 1.5% of their annual income to charity, working upwards for wealthy people and lower for those that can’t afford it.
• Give in a regular, planned way rather than ad hoc, spontaneous donations
• Donate tax-effectively, making use of schemes such as Gift Aid (boosting the value of each donation by as much as 28%), Payroll Giving and Share Giving.
• Setting up a personal Charitable Trust or a charity bank account such as the CAF Account, through which charitable donations can be structured.
• Speak openly about their charitable donations, not flaunting their generosity but talking about the positives of the experience to encourage friends and family to follow suit.
For charities:
• Engage donors by involving them with charitable activities, recognising the contribution of major donors and being transparent about fundraising costs and services.
• Club together with other charities for the benefit of the sector, combining expertise and capabilities to raise public trust and confidence of charities across the UK.
• Promote the tax reliefs available to donors wherever possible, assigning specific staff with responsibility for monitoring uptake (aiming for 75% of eligible donors using Gift Aid) and ensuring all fundraisers fully understand each method.
• Invest in major gift fundraising, tailoring the fundraising method to the target donor, asking for more from those who can afford it, and developing meaningful relationships with those whose support they seek.
• Involve trustees in the fundraising process, ensuring they understand the methods and review fundraising strategies each year and not being afraid to ask trustees themselves, when soliciting major gifts.
• Influence young people to volunteer and fundraise, aiming to develop a generation of committed charity supporters.
For Chief Executives of public and private organisations:
• Provide leadership of charity in the workplace by giving money, goods and time to good causes.
• Engage employees in workplace giving by promoting Payroll Giving, aiming to achieve a minimum 10% employee participation rate and matching donations where possible.
For Government:
• Review charity tax reliefs to ensure they are as effective and user-friendly as possible and investigate the creation of new tax-effective charitable giving vehicles in the UK.
• Investigate ways to foster more opportunities for planned and tax-effective giving
• Continue to support Giving Nation – a schools-based programme working within the citizenship curriculum to encourage 11-16 year olds to understand and participate in charitable activity.
For the financial services industry and professional advisers:
• Make information and advice on giving an integral part of their work, advising clients about the tax breaks available to donors and prompting them about their gifts.
• Innovate to develop new ways of giving, developing new financial products that facilitate charitable donation (charity financial products).
• Encourage more clients to consider including charitable gifts in their will.
For the media:
• Promote positive stories of philanthropy, making giving as much a part of life on TV, the radio and in newspapers, as it is in real life.
The Blueprint for Giving was based upon the Campaign’s working knowledge and expertise in this area, together with combined input from leaders of the voluntary sector, businesses, Government, media and academia.
The Giving Campaign closes on 30th June 2004, however various projects have future potential and those aspects are being handed over to the relevant organisations that are most closely suited to continue this work, they include:
– Giving Nation – the dynamic youth Campaign that promotes charity in schools – has been transferred to the Citizenship Foundation
– Campaign publications have been taken on by a range of voluntary sector organisations (and will continue to be available at the Campaign website)
– The development of charity financial products and services will be continued beyond the lifetime of the Campaign, driven forward by the Charities Aid Foundation
– The Inland Revenue will maintain the Campaign website at www.givingcampaign.org.uk until March 2005
– The Institute of Fundraising will co-ordinate the annual Debate on giving
– UK Fundraising (www.fundraising.co.uk) will be publishing tax-effective giving information and materials from The Giving Campaign website online
These projects will be monitored by the Council for Charitable Support, co-ordinated by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).
For further information, visit www.givingcampaign.org.uk
– Ends –
Media Enquiries
Lucinda Gould 020 7930 2629 / 07712 045 308
The Giving Campaign lu***********@gi************.uk
Notes to editors
• The Giving Campaign (www.givingcampaign.org.uk)
The Giving Campaign (July 2001 to June 2004) is a partnership between the Government and the charity sector, working to encourage a greater culture of giving in the UK and to raise the overall level of giving in the UK. Working from July 2001 to the end of June 2004, the Campaign has focused on four specific work streams: Targeting Wealthy People, Tax-Effective Giving, Employers and Employees and Young People. The Campaign remains as an online tax-effective giving resource at www.givingcampaign.org.uk.
| BLUEPRINT.pdf | 185.5 KB |
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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.