UK charitable support steadfast in face of cost-of-living crisis

The deputy chief executive of international development and relief charity Human Appeal Owais Khan reports how the UK public are not letting the chill of the cost of living dim their charitable spirit…

As a humanitarian aid organisation, our work is always driven by a desire to assist the most vulnerable communities around the world, matched by a sense of duty to support those who need it most.

The capacity to sustain this aid relief both domestically and around the world, most recently the flooding emergency in Pakistan and shortly, our annual UK winter Wrap Up campaign. Both overseas and domestic programmes rely heavily on charitable donations from the public, even as financial pressures due to the cost-of-living crisis continue to mount.

To gain a more accurate picture of the current climate surrounding charitable giving over the coming months in light of economic factors, we conducted extensive research with respondents from all four nations of the UK, which yielded fascinating results for the third sector.

While the cost-of-living crisis has placed financial strain on families and communities across the UK, it would appear that the intentions of donors towards charitable organisations has been least affected: only 19 per cent of respondents state that they would cut back charity donations as a 'voluntary' expenditure. Equally, some 86 per cent of respondents continue to support charities since the start of the pandemic via regular donations, such as direct debits, with 79 per cent of these doing so on a monthly basis. The most commonly supported charities are those offering medical support, which make up over a fifth of all donations (22 per cent) and receive the highest levels of support from the 55-64 demographic, who make up 30 per cent of total donations within this category.

Further findings from the research reveal that among almost a third of respondents (29 per cent), the most common reason to support a charity stems from personal experience or relevance, followed closely by a belief that a charity is well-run and that donations go directly to its beneficiaries (27 per cent). Moreover, some 34 per cent believe that children and families require the most urgent support through their donations. Given that charities which offer medical support receive the highest levels of donations, it seems that the lasting effects of the pandemic alongside the increasing number of humanitarian crises abroad which gain heavy coverage in the media, have led to more and more people to support charities which provide vital medical aid.

As regards faith-based organisations, the results of the research were equally surprising. In the UK currently, some 53 per cent of respondents support a faith-based charity, a statistic most prevalent among younger generations – 46 per cent and 41 per cent of those in the 18-24 and 25-34 demographics respectively.

This suggests that for donors, the cause of an organisation is of higher importance than any particular belief system it may ascribe to, a hypothesis which is supported by one fifth of our respondents who stated that they don't make note of a charity's religious leanings when donating. On a larger scale, whether in the UK or abroad, faith-based organisations are increasing their foothold in charitable contributions: some 40 per cent claimed that they consider the role of faith-based charities to become more important in the coming months given pressures facing modern UK communities, while 44 per cent of participants see the role of faith-based charities increasing the world over.

For the Muslim community specifically, it's clear that faith plays a significant role when it comes to charitable support, with some 80 per cent knowingly having supported a faith-based charity, and some 60 per cent claiming to be more likely to support a cause if it were based on their own faith, in comparison to 41 per cent of Christians and 48 per cent of all our respondents. That said, regardless of their stated faith, almost half (48 per cent) of Muslim respondents admit that they expect their levels of charity support to increase in 2022, which suggests that there is a deep affiliation between the Muslim faith and charitable acts. Overall, the research shows that while it's true that many of our respondents actively support organisations aligned with their particular faith, charitable support is predominantly motivated by the good that these organisations deliver, as opposed to any religious association they may have.

Even as financial pressures impact the majority of the country, this research demonstrates the extent to which the UK is a deeply charitable nation.

For the team at Human Appeal and indeed other organisations whose work provides vital aid to some of the world's most vulnerable communities both in the UK and internationally, the findings of this research serve as a source of encouragement.

As a faith-based but not faith-specific organisation, it's reassuring to understand the motivations behind financial support for charities which transcend religious leaning or belief and focus instead on the cause of an organisation itself or the problems they are trying to address.

Ahead of the winter months as our teams begin to plan our yearly domestic campaigns against the backdrop of the ongoing cost of living crisis, this study should ease concerns of charitable organisations who rely on the public's continued kind and generous support. It's only through this consideration that our critical operations around the world to support those most in need are able to continue, and these findings speak not only to the third sector, but equally to the unwavering altruism of the UK during even the most difficult of periods.

One thousand people, a UK nationally representative sample, took part in the poll, which was conducted by Sapio Research.