A survey of more than 28,500 people in the UK, conducted for New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), has revealed that over 60 per cent give less than £50 a year to charity, but charities could unlock £665m more by communicating better.

A scoping survey was undertaken to identify 3,000 donors to inform NPC’s Money for Good report, published today. It simultaneously found that only 39 per cent of the 28,500 surveyed give £50 or more to charity annually.

Fewer than half of those who do give £50 or more to charity annually believe you should give to charity if you can afford to, the in-depth Money for Good study revealed. Dan Corry, chief executive of NPC said this low level of expectation is “a shock” and added that “we need to dig into why this is”. Non-donation is a relatively unstudied area, the report expands, calling for further research by charity sector bodies, perhaps in collaboration with the government.

The report found that the average annual donation among those who give £50 or more is £303. But there is great potential to increase this figure. The sector could increase giving by £665m  - a supplement of almost nine times as much as Comic Relief made in 2011 - by improving communication on impact and how donations are used, the study advises. This would provide a total increase in giving of around 11 per cent.

Of the mainstream donors, where income is less that £150,000, 20 per cent said they would give more to the same charities if those charities did a better job in the areas the donor cared about. Mainstream donors said they would give an average of £155 more, providing a potential boost of £596m. Some 34 per cent of high-income donors, with a household income over £150,000, would give an average of £603 more, providing an additional £68m for the sector. Faith-based donors in the high-income bracket would increase their donation by the most, at £1,871.

Donors also revealed a willingness to switch their support to charities which perform better in the areas they care about, with 17 per cent of mainstream donors and 19 per cent of high-income donors willing to do so. This represents a potential shift of £3.3bn of charitable funds.

Barriers to giving

A further survey was undertaken with non-donors (classified as those who give under £50 per year), to identify what prevents their giving. For 60 per cent of mainstream non-donors financial reasons were identified as the cause, compared to 16 per cent of high-income non-donors. Distrust of charities was the biggest barrier to donation by those in the high-income bracket, with 25 per cent of high-income citing this reason, compared to 12 per cent of mainstream non-donors. Indifference was blamed by 13 per cent of high income and 3 per cent of mainstream non-donors.

Asked what would encourage donations from non-donors, 62 per cent with a mainstream income would give if they believed their donation would make a real difference, 48 per cent would give if asked by a peer to donate and 22 per cent said receiving thanks for donation would encourage a donation.  

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