Over a third of people are more likely to donate to a charity with sustainable investments, according to a new survey, but this proportion has declined over the past two years.
In response to a survey of over 4,000 adults, produced by Yonder for Cancer Research UK, 36% said they would be more likely to donate to charities that “invest funds in environmental sustainability”, down from 45% two years earlier.
Other charitable behaviours, such as likelihood to fundraise (22%, down from 28%), take part in an event (26%, down from 28%) and volunteer (23%, down from 26%) based on environmental sustainability investments also dropped.
A report, based on the research conducted in December, states: “The change likely reflects shifting priorities rather than declining belief, with cost-of-living concerns competing for attention.
“The positive effect has weakened since 2023, especially for donations, potentially as cost‑of‑living pressures reshape consumer priorities.”
Most respondents (52%) said charities should consider sustainability but focus primarily on their core purpose.
Just 5% of people said charities should not spend resources on environmental sustainability.
Meanwhile, 12% of respondents said they had noticed charity communications about sustainability, indicating an information gap.
Varied results across big charities
Environmental sustainability was more of a draw by supporters of certain charities.
Macmillan, RSPCA, Dogs Trust and RNLI supporters, surveyed as part of the research, were either “aligned or ahead of the total general public” in their giving after hearing that their charity sustainably invests.
At Versus Arthritis, 51% of supporters were more likely to donate compared with just 5% who said they were less likely to give.
Similarly at RSPCA, 42% were more likely to donate, compared to 6% who were less likely to do so.
For the largest proportion of supporters at all charities, however, hearing that their charity invests funds sustainably had no effect on their willingness to donate.
This ranged from 43% of supporters at Versus Arthritis to 56% at Macmillan Cancer Support who remained ambivalent.
More generally, living sustainably was still ranked as important to the majority of respondents, 71%, but this has dipped since 2023 by two percentage points.
There was also a fall in the percentage of people who “completely agreed that climate change required urgent action” from 23% in 2021 to 15% in 2025.
“With cost-of-living pressures high, some people view climate policy as competing with their own financial wellbeing,” the report says.
“As a result, attitudes to sustainability have become more pragmatic.”
UK consumer prices increased by more than 20% in the three years to May 2024, government data shows, higher than Germany, the US and France.
