More Scots want their charitable donations to be spent within Scotland, potentially creating a shortfall in the rest of the UK, according to the latest research.

A study released today finds that the proportion of Scottish adults who prefer that the money they donate to charity is used within Scotland has risen from 48 per cent before the recession (in April 2007), to 59 per cent in October 2009.

Jonathan Baker, a researcher at nfpSynergy which produced the Scottish Charity Engagement Monitor, said that “This will have come at the expense of money they would previously have preferred spent elsewhere in the UK or internationally.”

Men and people in the higher socio-economic bands showed the greatest shifts towards Scotland-focused giving, the nfpSynergy Scottish Charity Engagement Monitor found.

Baker attributed the trend towards focusing on local problems to the economic downturn. “As economic woes have worn on, and corresponding social need has doubtless increased, the Scottish public has felt ever more strongly that charity begins ‘at home’,” he said.

He added that Scottish charities should play on their national identity to attract more donations from patriotic Scots.