Generous Brits donate thousands to charity
Published: March 28, 2006
Britons are extremely generous when it comes to donating money to charity, a new study has found.
According to research by financial services firm Clerical Medical, the average Briton will give almost £13,000 away to good causes over a lifetime, with total charity donations expected to top £8 billion this year.
Yet despite this, just 20 per cent of the 3,000 people polled believe Britons are generous, with two-thirds rating us as merely average givers.
Clerical Medical managing director John Hiew feels that we are being unduly harsh on ourselves, suggesting that the UK should be proud of its strong charitable traditions.
“We really are a generous nation as £13,000 is quite a chunk of our personal money. When it is worked out on a national basis the figure is absolutely staggering, and we have a lot to be proud of,” Mr Hiew said.
“However we mustn’t be complacent about this as unfortunately there are always going to be causes and events and charities that require our help and aid.”
The study found that Britons donate most money to charity via direct debit, with the average person paying £9,263 to good causes directly out of their bank accounts.
Charity shops are also a popular way to donate, with shoppers spending £23 a year in search of a bargain which will also help out those in need.
However, Britons are less generous when it comes to being hassled for donations, with researchers finding most people distinctly unreceptive to the pleas of telephone campaigners or to so-called ‘chuggers’, charity street workers who patrol the nation’s high street in increasingly large numbers.
People are expected to give just £137.34 as a result of the work of these street campaigners over the cause of their lifetimes.
Brits are most likely to give in response to a major natural disaster, with over 50 per cent of donors moved to act in the aftermath of occurrences such as the Asian tsunami.
One in three givers are moved to act because a friend or relative had been affected by an affliction or disaster.track
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