Briefing Notes

A decade of donations in the UK. Tom McKenzie and Cathy Pharoah update some of the figures for giving trends to 2011, as analysed in earlier CGAP Briefing Notes on seasonal and regional variation in charitable donations. Briefing Note 11: A decade of donations in the UK: household gifts to charity, 2001-11 (pdf).

Give or take a few billion Tom McKenzie discusses two main annual sources of information on charitable donations in the UK. He argues that while both sources can be used to chart longer term trends in giving, annual estimates from them are insufficiently precise for measuring year-on-year change. Briefing Note 10: Give or take a few billion: the wide confidence intervals around annual estimates of charitable donations in the UK (pdf)

Giving Bibliography CGAP has prepared this extensive bibliography on the measurement of giving and on planned giving, drawing on sources available through its current research. It is not intended to be fully comprehensive, but a working document which should provide a useful starting point for researchers. It will be updated and extended as more material becomes available. Read Planned Giving and Measurement of Giving – a Bibliography of Research References (pdf). If you would like to suggest additions to the Bibliography, please send reference details to Rachel or Margo.

Corporate Giving Catherine Walker, Cathy Pharoah, Marina Marmolejo and Denise Lillya present research by CGAP and DSC on trends in corporate giving. This new analysis of corporate giving data focuses specifically on the ways in which UK-listed companies currently support the communities in which they operate. Briefing Note 9: UK corporate citizenship in the 21st century (pdf)

Co-producing research Tobias Jung, Jenny Harrow and Cathy Pharoah summarise the CGAP roundtable discussion held as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. Academics and third sector practitioners came together to share their experiences of co-producing research and to consider the benefits and challenges that joint academic-voluntary sector research presents to both sides. Briefing Note 8: Co-producing research: working together or falling apart? (pdf)

How generous is the UK? Tom McKenzie and Cathy Pharoah consider relative levels of generosity in the UK. They draw on 31 years of the national Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) to look at the connection between household budgets and donations to charity. Briefing Note 7: How generous is the UK? Charitable giving in the context of household spending (pdf)

Regional Giving Trends. Tom McKenzie and Cathy Pharoah present results from a comparison of patterns and trends in giving by UK region and country, to form a regional picture of UK giving. The study examines data on over 50,000 households pooled from eight years of the national Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF). The report considers how far charitable giving varies across the regions, how important income is in explaining differences and how trends in charitable giving at the regional level compare with other forms of giving. Briefing Note 6: UK household giving - new results on regional trends 2001-08 (pdf)

Gift Aid Tom McKenzie and Cathy Pharoah produced a new Briefing Note for the EAPG Roundtable on 14 July 2010. They explore how gift aid works, how much is claimed by charities and whether they could be claiming more, and consider the impact of ending transitional relief. Briefing Note 5: Gift Aid – Reform or Inform? (pdf)

Sharing Difficult Questions. Jenny Harrow and Cathy Pharoah summarise the outcomes of a CGAP seminar held as part of the ESRC’s annual Festival of Social Science. The seminar united fundraisers and researchers to explore the challenges they face in their relationships with donors or interviewees when asking questions to obtain donations or information. Briefing Note 4: How do you ask difficult questions? Shared challenges and practice amongst fundraisers and researchers (pdf).

Seasonal Patterns. Charities require a regular income throughout the year to fund their programmes. But do levels of giving remain constant, or are they affected by seasonal factors? Briefing Note 3: Seasonal patterns in household giving in the UK (pdf)

Christmas Giving. Cathy Pharoah and Tom McKenzie examine data from the national Expenditure and Food Survey to consider whether the extra emphasis on fundraising in the autumn and early winter impacts on donations. Briefing Note 2: Charitable giving by UK households at Christmas (pdf).

Changes in Income Tax. Tom McKenzie and Cathy Pharoah consider how changes to Gift Aid and higher rate tax would effect giving. Briefing Note 1: Thinking through the effects of changes in income-tax relief on giving (pdf).

---