Charitable Giving in Northern Ireland 2005

Research carried out by NICVA found that people in Northern Ireland are generous in their donations to charity, with more than nine out of ten people making donations averaging £12.76 per month.

In today’s consumer driven society we demand cost-effectiveness, yet we often are not aware what happens to the money we give through charitable donations. Research carried out by NICVA provides a detailed insight into the profile of donors and giving patterns in Northern Ireland.

The average monthly donation in Northern Ireland is £12.76 per person (including donations made in places of worship). In today’s volatile funding environment, this money is very important to the sector. The process of an individual donating to charity is an emotional one. Individuals subconsciously decide which charities they deem worthy and unworthy. Individuals usually donate because of feelings of compassion. This explains why there is usually an upsurge in giving after a disaster is reported in the media. However the media spotlight varies and issues do not remain in its glare for very long. Furthermore we do not need to look beyond our own cities and towns to find people in real need. These people rely on the support of various voluntary and community organisations in many aspects of their lives.

It is important to analyse how much we support those who do not always have the glare of the media to illuminate their needs. Association is one of the strongest motivating factors; if we can associate with a cause we are more inclined to financially support its work. In addition, a number of religious organisations urge individuals to help the less fortunate. The combination of these value judgements explains why medical research charities and religious organisations attract the most donor support in Northern Ireland.

Donors and donations: who gives what?

• Amongst women there is a slightly greater propensity to give than compared to men (95% of women give compared to 93% of men). The average donation made by men was £13.70 compared with £12.08 for women.
• Those aged 25 to 34 are most likely of all the age groups to make donations. However individuals aged over 65 give the highest average donations (£14.72 compared to the lowest average donation of £8.28 made by 16 to 24 year olds).
• Individuals who earn between £26,000 and £30,000 are more inclined to give to charity than any of the other income groups. This group also makes the highest average donation (£17.84).
• Individuals in the lowest income bracket donate 2.3% of their annual income to charity compared to 0.3% of annual income donated to charity by those individuals in the highest income bracket.

How do people give and to what cause?

Spontaneous giving is the most popular form of giving. This form of giving is characterised by methods where the individual is approached and asked for a donation, such as door to door or street collections. 62.1% of all individuals gave charitable donations via these methods. However the yield is relatively low, with an average donation of £8.91 (excluding cash donations made at places of worship).

Planned giving is used by a small minority of the population, with only 7.8% of the population using payroll giving which yields an average donation of £10.68 per month. Share giving is only used by 0.6% of individuals and the average donation made was £15.40.

The two most popular causes that draw the widest support are medical research (22.1% of the population) and religious organisations (15.9% of the population).

Almost one in every ten individuals who made donations to a charitable cause did not notice the cause.

Less than a quarter (23.7%) of all charitable donations were gift aided. This equates to approximately £44 million that the sector could receive if all donations were gift aided.

Despite changes by the government in 2000 to encourage planned giving through a number of tax incentives, the full potential of tax effective giving is not being realised. A key challenge for the sector in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK is to make better use of planned, tax-efficient giving.

How much to give?

The survey of charitable giving in Northern Ireland has revealed the majority of donations made are relatively small. This is a reflection of the popularity of spontaneous forms of giving that usually yield small amounts in the form of spare change. Elite givers are defined as individuals who give £50 or more to charity per month. These larger average donations are usually associated with planned forms of giving. Within Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK planned giving takes second place to more traditional, spontaneous methods. Given the characteristics of spontaneous giving the number of elite givers is always going to be low if this form of giving perpetuates.

Nearly two-thirds of all donations made are £10 or under (63.2%). Despite this large number of donations made at this level the actual amount in terms of total donations this represents is relatively small (only 23.6%). At the other end of the scale only 2.3% of those individuals surveyed gave an average donation of £50 or more. However their donation represents 15.5% of the total amount donated.

More information

For further information on this research contact the Research team on 028 9087 7777.