A person’s political allegiance has only minor bearing on their volunteering and donation habits, new research has found.

There is minimal to no difference between participation rates in volunteering and giving among supporters of the three main parties – at around 79 per cent and 22 per cent respectively - but the types of causes supported does vary across the political spectrum.

Research by nfpSynergy found that Liberal Democrat voters are more likely to donate to environmental, animals and youth charities, and show below-average rates of support for hospices and old age charities. Meanwhile, Tories are more likely to donate to hospices, but less likely to give to youth causes, social welfare and homelessness organisations. Labour voters tend to favour old age charities, as well as health and disability groups.

Regardless of their political stripes, however, party loyalists were more philanthropic than those surveyed who said they did not support any party, only 70 per cent of whom had given.

Rebecca Molyneux, a researcher at nfpSynergy, said: “The forthcoming party conference season could well prove the ideal opportunity for supporters – not to mention charities - to press individual parties over guaranteeing and securing policy commitments to the specific causes they most care about. This may well engender some especially colourful tensions between coalition ‘partners’.”