Fostering a giving culture
Back in 2007, Bill Clinton’s book Giving: How each of us can change the world makes the point that “charitable giving has been democratized as never before, primarily through the Internet, enabling citizens of modest means who share a common concern to amass huge sums of money.” And, predictably for a former head of state, he observes that “regardless of the quality of government, a critical difference is being made by citizens working as individuals, in businesses and through non-governmental nonprofit organisations”.
The culture of giving back in the UK is something this government is working very hard to boost – a more engaged and philanthropic society is less dependent on the state. So the publication of the its Giving White Paper on 24 May is a helpful indicator of how widely the Cabinet Office is thinking in terms of changing attitudes to giving time and money.
But for all the 400 responses and the logic of the ideas, in what has been widely accepted as ‘tangible progress’, how do you change mindsets and personal attitudes in such an adverse economic climate?
Part of the problem is not just the barriers the government is seeking to remove, but something more subtle that has its roots in a ‘British’ reluctance to ask. And those that do ask do sometimes encounter a certain amount of grief. The recent Fundraising Standards Board statistics reported that street fundraising incurred the highest proportion of complaints compared with fundraising volume. Mick Aldridge’s article in the December 2010 issue of Caritas astutely observes that ‘the guilt of no’ and a tendency to ‘shoot the messenger’ is a contributory factor in some of the negative perceptions of face-to-face fundraising. Perhaps publicists like Max Clifford, (a keynote speaker at the forthcoming Institute of Fundraising’s National Convention on 5 July) rather than governments, really hold the secrets of how to move hearts and minds
One of the key areas of the White Paper was the potential of technology to open up new giving opportunities and channels. This is already enabling charities and fundraisers to contextualise the ‘ask’ in a way that makes it both easy to give – and not to give – so there is no sense of guilt. When I was fundraising for the annual Swimathon, I was quite astounded at the generosity of those I had never expected to hear from. However, my friendship is still intact with those I had hoped would donate but chose not to. The other issue was engagement with an individual who was undergoing a personal challenge; something this month’s Viewpoint contributor, Kevin Carey, has demonstrated in his recent Tandem Skydive.
Clinton is right – a culture of giving has got to come from the people and become instinctive in all generations and income brackets. But the right sort of help from the government of the day has got to be something to celebrate.
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from
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