The Philanthropy Review has issued a “call-to-action” to businesses, philanthropists and government to adopt proposals which it says will earn charities an additional £2bn by 2015.

It identifies a range of measures which make it easier for people to give, encourage giving and help make giving become a social norm:

To make giving easier, it calls on high-street banks and building societies to offer charity bank accounts to their clients and asks businesses to champion payroll giving and to lead by example.

To encourage giving, it asks for a simplification of tax incentives, which should be equally applied across all asset classes, and the introduction of living legacies.

To help giving become a social norm, it says that ‘giving’ education should be introduced in schools and supported with match funding, while a national campaign should celebrate giving and encourage people to give more.

More from “those who can well afford it”

Thomas Hughes-Hallett, chair of the Review and chief executive of Marie Curie Cancer Care, highlighted the fact that only 56 per cent of British adults currently give to charity in an average month.

He added: “We are particularly keen to see more being given back to society by those who can well afford it. We know that people earning over £200,000 per year give, on average, £2 to charity for every £1,000 that they earn; compare this with an equivalent £90 for every £1,000 amongst their peer group in the United States.
 
“It is also the case that just 4 per cent of the British workforce participates in a payroll giving scheme and less than 1 per cent of UK employers operate an active scheme.  Contrast that with 35 per cent of the workforce who participate in workplace giving in the US.”
 
Matthew Bowcock, a member of the Philanthropy Review Board and chair of the Community Foundation Network, said: “When an individual gives £100 to charity, society benefits from the full value of that gift, whereas when someone pays tax and does not give, society benefits only from the tax paid.

“But the impact of philanthropy is far greater than its pure monetary value. The multiplier effect of millions of people making the same choice to give can, and will, lead to dramatic improvements in society.”

The Review board includes representatives from the Institute of Philanthropy, New Philanthropy Capital, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the NCVO.