Research challenges myth about generous poor

Finance | 1 Jul 2007

More rich people than poor people give money to charity, according to a new analysis of giving data by nfpSynergy.

The think tank claims its analysis of the most recent Family Expenditure Survey debunks the commonly-held myth that people in the poorest demographic are actually the most generous. Who gives to Charity? states that those from the poorest 10 per cent of households that do give to charity tend to give a higher proportion than any other group – 3.2 per cent of their income – yet few such families give anything at all – just one in seven of the poorest 10 per cent of households made any donations in the previous month.

And while people in the richest 10 per cent tend to donate just 0.8 per cent of their incomes, many more of them give, with half of the wealthiest 10 per cent saying they had donated in the last month. Of these, the average gift was £60, while the less well-off gave an average of £14.

Joe Saxton, driver of ideas at nfpSynergy and chair of the Institute of Fundraising, said the analysis 'exposes as specious nonsense the often-peddled myth that the poor are the noble savages of the giving world because they give more than rich people. They don’t.'

He added: ‘We can’t paint all poor people as fantastically generous, because only 15 per cent give at all. Of course, this is not surprising – they are poor, after all – but we mustn’t make them out to be the group that is propping up the charitable world.’

Directory: nfpSynergy
Who's Who: Joe Saxton

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.