UK’s charitable giving intentions remain high - survey

Over three quarters of UK adults expect to donate to charity in 2015 at an average of £110 per person, new research has found.

The study by Consumer Intelligence for Cambridge & Counties bank found 14 per cent of people expected to give more to charity this year. However, 4 per cent of the 1,040 adults surveyed have cancelled all their donations for 2015, and a further 15 per cent of people are reducing their charity donations.

On a regional basis, people in the South East were most likely to have given to charities last year, with 81 per cent of those surveyed having donated. The top five regions by proportion of donors were the South West at 80 per cent, West Midlands on 79 per cent, London at 78 per cent, and the East Midlands where 77 per cent of respondents donated to charity last year.

Those in the West Midlands had the highest average level of donation to charities of any part of the UK at £151 per person. London was second with £138 per person, followed by the South West with £111, the East Midlands at £110, and the South East with £105.

Cambridge & Counties Bank, jointly owned by Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund and University of Cambridge college Trinity Hall, did however warn that charities should take care to ensure the return they achieve on their cash deposits is as high as it can be.

The bank’s research found 24 per cent of cash deposit accounts targeted at charities pay a rate of 0.1 per cent gross AER or less on balances of £50,000, and just 8 per cent are paying 1.5 per cent gross AER or more.

“It’s great to see so many people digging deep to support good causes and it’s no surprise that the UK is one of the top ten most charitable countries in the world,” Cambridge & Counties Bank CEO Mike Kirsopp said. “Charities face a continuous battle to keep their heads above water. The economy may be improving but for many conditions remain tough and they are focused on belt tightening. It’s vital that charities shop around for accounts that are going to pay them a consistently attractive return.”

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