Is Britain becoming less charitable?

As people up and down the country don red noses for Comic Relief, charities are warning that the culture of giving in the UK is starting to wane.

A new report from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) found that just 55% of the UK population gave to charity last year, down from 69% a decade ago. So there are now around six million fewer donors supporting charities. Within the figures, there are starker declines in those supporting overseas aid and also among those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis.

The report comes as “consumer spending fell for the first time in five years, while inflation remained stubbornly above the Bank of England’s target”, said The Telegraph. Taken together, these shifts have led CAF to describe Britain’s culture of giving as “increasingly fragile”.

What did the commentators say?

Unquestionably the public “feel less financially secure than they did 10 years ago”, said CAF’s James Moore. But it is also true that “focusing solely on the finances is an overly simple interpretation of the issue”.

After affordability, the second most common reason for not giving is trust. Almost 20% of non-donors say they do not trust charities to use their money wisely and a further 9% say they have not found a cause that sufficiently interests them.

CAF “is right to highlight mounting scepticism and distrust as problems”, said The Guardian in an editorial. The finding that people who don’t trust charities are also less likely to be positive about their neighbourhoods “suggests an overlap with broader issues of low social engagement and morale”.

While stronger oversight would help tackle “the sector’s governance issues” that have contributed to the distrust, “there is no simple administrative fix for charities’ financial woes”. It is possible that “an economic upturn will deliver a boost”, but the sector “also needs to find new ways to appeal to people”.

Young people could show the way as charity shops have thrived, inspired by second-hand fashion websites such as Vinted and Depop. Save the Children’s retail sales rose 3% last year, helped by a surge in December when the charity took 11% more than the same month a year before.

“Platforms like eBay, Vinted and Depop have helped grow interest in second-hand shopping, which is positive for the whole reuse sector,” said Allison Swaine-Hughes, chief commercial officer at British Heart Foundation.

The public’s reluctance to donate to overseas aid causes – in 2016, about 19% of donors supported disaster relief or overseas aid charities; now that figure is 11% – is reflected in the government’s approach to overseas aid itself. Proportionately, the UK’s cuts to core international development spending are now deeper than those in the US, said Ian Mitchell and Sam Hughes on the Center for Global Development.

“The conclusion is uncomfortable: Britain is retreating further and cutting deeper than America,” said Adrian Lovett on Devex. “That matters for our standing in the world.” For two decades, the UK “prided itself on punching above its weight in global health, girls’ education, and humanitarian response”, but instead, today, “we look increasingly weak and isolated”.

What next?

Reviving a broad culture of generosity matters far beyond the future of charities, Mark Greer, chief executive of CAF, told The Guardian. “We need to revive that culture of giving and ensure it remains widespread” as it “matters for the fabric of British society”. “Civil society thriving makes the country a better place to live, to work, and to enjoy our culture.”