An independent evaluation of Give More, the controversial campaign designed to get people giving more time, energy and money, found it failed in creating a mass movement for charitable giving as it proved “strangely difficult to sell to the voluntary sector”.

Give More was launched in 2012 by the Pears Foundation, which funded the campaign. It was heavily criticised for failing to reach targets and not assessing its monetary impact.

The campaign, which has now ended, aimed to attract 500,000 pledges. It fell very short of its target, only attracting 50,143 pledges on the Give More website. Just under half (44 per cent) of public pledges were monetary, with time being the next popular (35 per cent) action to commit to.

A frank independent evaluation of the two-year campaign by the Directory of Social Change has found one of the biggest hurdles for the campaign was “forming a coalition of the willing” in the voluntary and private sectors.

Some charities viewed the campaign as ‘competition’ for their brand, the analysis says.

Companies were difficult to engage, the report argues, due to a fear of compromise to their corporate reputation because of the campaign’s direct message around giving.

It concludes that the culture of giving in the UK is such that people do not tend to shout about their giving, but are passionate about it. It suggests a campaign attempting to raise the bar on giving needs time to “bed in” and needs to engage people on a personal journey.

Dr Catherine Walker, the report author, wrote: “Being an irritant can sometimes be a good thing.

“While it was hard to gain support from the voluntary sector, several eventually conceded that the campaign reminded them that they could work better together; that they are not generally good at collaboration and could do it more.”

As a legacy Give More is hoping to engage in discussion with umbrella bodies in the sector to explore how the learnings from the campaign can be used to further Give More’s vision.