“Too soon” to tell if charity cramped by credit crunch
Thursday 12 June 2008
The umbrella organisation representing 13 UK aid agencies has warned it’s too early to say if the credit crunch has impacted on charity donations.
Deputy chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee Kath Hindley said: "We don't believe that the credit crunch has stopped people from giving at this stage. It is too soon to have a retrospective impression of that."
It comes after North-East market research firm NEMS published results of a telephone survey that found exactly half of 542 people questioned agreed their current financial situation had limited their donations to the Burma cyclone appeal.
NEMs director Geoff Siggens highlighted: “We found 31 per cent of those who consider themselves to be regular donors to charity said they expect to donate less in future. It is affecting donors across the board.”
UK donations to Burma have been slower than for the Asian Tsunami appeal in 2004.
Ms Hindley said there are lots of reasons why somebody might give or not: “For the Tsunami just about everybody knew somebody affected or in the region. There were not many British people in Burma and access issues might have made people think twice.”
Cyclone Nargis struck Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta on 2 May 2008 affecting an estimated 2.4m people. The Burmese Junta has been criticised for being slow to accept foreign aid.
The Donkey Sanctuary: seeing is believing
VIDEO: The Donkey Sanctuary got over £20m in donations in 2007. Kyriaki Karadelis went to Devon to find out why
Giving money for nothing is 'old fashioned'
AUDIO: If it's not obvious to donors how their money will be spent, you can't expect them to give you any
'Government gets a good deal from charities'
AUDIO: Body Positive Dorset supports HIV and AIDs sufferers. The charity relies on the government, but their funding's been cut
Providing public services: what the donors don't know
Charities are increasingly being financed by the Government in return for providing public services
The man who keeps 'chuggers' in check
Kyriaki Karadelis catches up with Mick Aldridge from the association that regulates face to face fundraising
Trust me, I'm a charity
The UK’s foremost reason for lacking trust in charities is not knowing where the money’s going, but whether that’s stopped us from giving to them is another matter
Charities 'held together by sticky back plastic'
The UK is concerned about how much charities are spending on administration, but "it's a poor way of judging a charity's effectiveness"
Hair-raising fundraising
Some fundraising practices are unpopular with the general public – not always unpopular enough to warrant making a complaint, but perhaps enough to stop them giving in protestOther stories
It's early days yet, but self-regulation is working for fundraising charities, a spokesperson from the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) has said.
Charities that get a lot of money from bequests will feel the blow of falling house prices, according to the director of a legacy market research project.
Donations to religious organisations could increase if they lose their charitable status, according to a group whose members support ethical living without religion.