What do the momentous social changes around the world mean for the future of giving? Adam Pickering is researching what might be needed to unleash giving by the growing global middle class.

We are living through a time of monumental social change with the worlds global middle classes set to grow by 165 per cent (according to OECD figures) by 2030 and with the vast majority of that growth expected to occur in the developing world.

For all of us involved in promoting giving, that opens up a historic opportunity. Despite weak economic performances in much of the developed world we must not lose sight of this wider global trend.

Yesterday the Charities Aid Foundation launched a paper outlining a concept for a project we are calling Future World Giving. If the expanding middle class grow to give to the same extent as people here in the UK, giving could rise to $224bn a year (£146bn) by 2030.

That just shows the vast potential of a world where the benefits of philanthropic giving are valued by all and where governments, civil society and citizens are able to identify what actions to take to get society giving.

The rapid economic growth in the developing world may see the emergence of higher rates of charitable giving in those countries. But in the absence of good comparative guidance on how to nurture both domestic and cross-border  giving avoidable mistakes could be made and opportunities missed,  preventing philanthropy from reaching its potential. Those of us who see  philanthropy as crucial, not just for addressing need but also for enhancing community cohesion and wellbeing, should be thinking about how we can help emerging economies to future-proof their philanthropic development.  

Central to the concept of the Future World Giving project is the idea of measurement and comparison. We know from our experience of publishing the World Giving Index, the world’s largest survey of philanthropic engagement, that benchmarking charitable performance can have a positive influence. For example the Malaysian government Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek cited his country’s low ranking for volunteering in establishing the 1Malaysia Corps, an umbrella body for volunteer organisations.

But while ranking engagement in philanthropy helps to identify the need for improvement, it does not suggest a corresponding solution. By creating a framework of recommended actions for governments, the Future World Giving project will enable politicians and activists alike to assess how conducive the conditions for philanthropy in their country are and what needs to be done to improve them. By separating these recommendations into tiers the Future World Giving Framework will create standards to aim for and definitive actions to be taken to achieve them.

On 26 February we launched the project at a parliamentary event, chaired by the minister for civil society, Nick Hurd and attended by Parliamentarians, academics and civil society representatives. We invited attendees to give us feedback on our project and received a lot of support for the concept. Attendees also gave us some very valuable advice and guidance which we will be taking into account as we continue to develop the project.

Indeed, the success of the Future World Giving project will depend, perhaps more than any other CAF project to date, on how effective we are at engaging philanthropy experts, donors and civil society practitioners around the world. We will need to take advantage of the fact that we are an international organisation by engaging our offices in Brazil, the USA, South Africa, Bulgaria, Russia, Singapore, Australia and India but we will also need to engage in wider international networks to ensure our work is as representative as possible.

Over the coming year we will hold three thematic events in the UK (and in some of our international office locations) and publish three reports in which will establish clear recommendations for governments to facilitate sustainable philanthropic growth. These recommendations will form the content for the Future World Giving Framework which will accompany the World Giving Index 2013.

This is an exciting and ambitious project. The prize is the prospect that rapid economic development could lead to a new golden age in global philanthropy.

Adam Pickering is international policy officer at the Charities Aid Foundation.