Commissioned by the Institute of Philanthropy, the research identifies three groups within the population, of which non-givers, whom the institute terms “by-standers”, make up 30%. The remainder can be divided into casual givers or “contributors” (58%), who give between £5 and £120 to charity each year, and committed givers, who give £120 or more to charity per year. Among this latter group, which the institute terms “investors”, nearly a quarter gives more than £500 charity per year.

According to the research, these committed givers are likely to:

• be over 35 years of age
• have completed higher-educated
• adhere to a religion and attend church
• have an income over £56k per annum
• read a daily broadsheet newspaper
• identify with a main political party

Of the three main political parties, Conservative supporters were most likely to give, although the research notes that this finding “may be affected by Conservative supporters being older, wealthier and valuing individual philanthropy above publicly-funded welfare services”. In contrast, “bystanders” are likely to be young, with an income of less than £12,000 and non-religious.

However, although income had a strong influence on the amount that people were likely to give, the research also found that respondents in the £20k – £32k bracket were just as likely to be investors as those in the £32k – £56k bracket (both 14%).

Beth Breeze, deputy director of the Institute for Philanthropy, welcomed the research, saying: "By giving us a greater understanding of people's attitudes to charitable giving, this research points a way to how we might be able to increase funding for charities. It would seem that to convert Bystanders into Contributors and upgrading Contributors to Investors we need to increase awareness of the presence and causes of need, and to show people how they can help."

The research also questioned people about which areas they felt should be left to government or charitable funding. Here, the population differentiated between domestic and international social issues; the former more often being perceived as the responsibility of government, while the latter is more often perceived as a shared responsibility of government and charity.