Today, Friday 15 March 2013 is Red Nose Day - one of the biggest fundraising appeals in the UK, and one of the most popular. It has an impressive record, raising £74.3m in 2011 to change lives in the UK and Africa.
We like to think of ourselves as a generous nation in the UK - especially with the success of our national fundraising appeals like Red Nose Day and Children in Need. There is a lot of visible giving in this country, from high-street charity shops to fun runs and sponsored stunts. But actually, the culture of giving in the UK is not as strong as we think.
New research by charity think tank NPC explores why people give, where they give, what they give to, how much they give, and how they go about it. One of the most fascinating findings in this Money for Good UK report is around this idea of a giving culture. The majority do not feel a strong sense of duty to give. We surveyed those who had given over £50 to charity in the past year - four in ten people in the UK. Of this group, just 47% think people should donate to charity even if they have the means to do so. Some 44% don't think people should feel any obligation to donate, and when you mention the idea of committing to give away a certain proportion of your income, the majority of respondents balk at the idea, with only 15% willing to state a percentage at all. At a time when the state is doing less and less and civil society is being asked to step up to the plate it seems like our public are not quite getting there.
So what should we do? First, we need to get donors who are already engaged to give more, and to give more regularly. Second, we need to encourage those who don't donate, to get the giving habit.
Government efforts to encourage more giving tend to focus on tax incentives and making the act of donating easier. But our research showed that existing donors are pretty satisfied in these areas. What would make them increase their giving is more evidence that their money makes a difference.
The report, which is based on an Ipsos MORI survey of 3,000 UK donors and a series of interviews, shows that a significant number of donors aren't satisfied with the way charities communicate with them about where their money goes and what it achieves. This is important, and shows that donors do care about the impact of their giving--something which is encouraging for us at NPC, where our aim is to help make the charity sector more effective. If donors care enough about where their money is going, and make decisions about where to donate based on the difference a charity can prove that it makes, it provides a pretty strong incentive for charities to get better at assessing and talking about their impact.
Our research suggests that UK donors could potentially give nine times more than the total raised by last year's Red Nose Day per year, if charities were better at talking about how their donations are spent, and how they make an impact. That's a potential and very valuable £665m which could be unlocked. Amongst those that don't donate, 62% say they would give if they felt their donation would make a difference; another incentive for charities to get better at talking about their impact.
Red Nose Day does a lot to promote giving in the UK, showcasing the amazing work of hundreds of charities, making giving a national activity and providing high-profile role models. But changing the culture of giving in the UK is a big job, and there's a role for all kinds of people and organisations - including the professors and experts in 'nudge' and behavioural economics. It wont be easy, but to create a more cohesive society in times of fiscal constraint, it is a task well worth pursuing.