Presentation to the Institute of Fundraising East of England regional conference in October 2013. A brief review of stats is followed by some thoughts about what long-term environmental factors might drive giving.

1. Charitable giving in
Britain
Where now and
what next?
Karl Wilding | NCVO Public Policy
Email: karl.wilding@ncvo.org.uk Twitter: @karlwilding

2. Contents
•
•
•
•
The charitable sector
Trends in charitable giving & philanthropy
Changing attitudes and behaviours
What are giving and philanthropy for?

3. The charitable sector

5. Income and expenditure

6. Counting the Cuts

7. Trends in giving behaviour

8. How much is given in total?
Our survey of individuals
produces an estimate of
£9.3bn
for the year 2011/12
Legacies
£1.8bn
A survey of
philanthropists
produces an
estimate of
£872m
for the year
2008/09
Our survey of
‘general charities’
produces an
estimate of
£8.2b
n
for the year 2009/10

9. 3. What proportion of the population give?
•
•
The proportion of people donating to charitable causes in a typical month has
decreased over the last year, from 58% to 55%.
Giving this year seems to have decreased back to a more typical level; apart from the
dip in 2008/09, the proportion giving was stable at 56% between 2006/07 and
2009/10.

10. 4. How many people give in a typical month?
We estimate it’s…
28.4
million people
•
•
Over half of adults gave in a typical month in 2011/12, equivalent to 28.4 million
donors.
This year the decline in participation (from 55% to 58% in 2010/11) has outweighed the
rate of increase in the adult population.

11. •
•
Mean: £27/ month
Median: £10/ month
5. How much do donors typically give each month?
The median monthly gift to charity in 2011/12 was £10 per donor.
The mean is much higher, at £27/month per donor. That’s because a small number of
donors give some large amounts.

12. Who gives?

13. 6. Why are large donations important?
=
x
£3.7bn
6% of donors give £100 or more, 40% of total giving
x
94% of donors give less than £100, 60% of total giving
=
£5.6bn

14. What about major philanthropists?
Gifts of
£1m+ were
worth
£872m
for the year
2009/10
•
•
Research by Beth Breeze of Kent University estimates that 80 major gifts
from individual philanthropists worth an additional £872m in 2009/10 .
This fell from 100 gifts worth a collective £1.0bn in 2008/09

15. The civic core

16. What causes do people give to?
Proportion of
donors giving and
proportion of total
amount donated by
cause, 2010/11
Source: NCVO/CAF
http://data.ncvo-vol.org.uk/a12q35

17. What will shape future giving?
Trends in [donor] demographics, attitudes and
behaviours

18. The Older Old
• 1985 to 2010 number aged 85 & over doubled from
0.7 million to 1.4 million (from 1% to 2% of
population)
PROJECTION – By 2035:
• Number 85 & over will be 2.5 times larger than in
2010, reaching 3.5 million (5% of population)
• People 65 and over = 23% population (now 17%)
Source: ONS 2012

20. Donor attitudes (BSAS 2003)
• Investors: £10+/month
• believe that there is quite a
lot of poverty in Britain
today, and they are
• more likely than Bystanders
or Contributors ascribe
poverty to social injustice

21. Views on poverty (BSAS 2003)
Bystanders
54
Contributors
58
Investors
61
An inevitable part
of modern life (36)
34
38
35
Laziness or lack
of will power (28)
31
28
13
Because of injustice
in our society (19)
18
16
30
There is quite
a lot of poverty in
Britain (57)

22. Changing attitudes: donors, buyers or investors?
• Some evidence of a marketisation of charitable
giving
• Shift from ‘altruistic’ giving to buying/shopping
– Heightened by recession

23. Type of income, 2000/01 – 2009/10 (£ billions)
Source: NCVO/TSRC,
Charity Commission

24. Source: Co-op Ethical Consumerism Report 2010

25. Changing attitudes: donors, buyers or investors?
• Giving as an investment (which
requires a return)
– Philanthrocapitalism
– Impact investing
– Blended Value
• Habits/culture of equity analysis
– Scaling, metrics
• And financial tools
– SIBs, loans (patient capital,
microfinance)

26. Digital natives: children starting secondary school
will be your core fundraisers in 5 years’ time

27. • Smartphone
ownership:
• Adults: 27%
• Teenagers: 47%

28. Conflicting attitudes towards giving & fundraising
• Professionalisation
• Asking: fundraising
methods

29. Negative attitudes towards giving
• Resource allocation: where
most needed?
• Public benefit is not
universally agreed
• Deserving vs undeserving
poor

30. Negative attitudes: giving by the rich

31. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

32. Changing attitudes: what are giving and
philanthropy for in Squeezed Britain?

33. So...
• Charitable impulse remains strong, stable
• Supported by tax and (just) regulatory
environment
• No fatigue: but reliance on a civic core
• What comes after the boomers?
• Main attitudinal change in attitude is shift to
investor mindset
• Tech: innovators dilemma?