• Up and running after the floods
  When torrential rain hit Cumbria, BT and Openreach engineers braved the storm to restore communications to 40,000 customers.
• Energy saving campaign thrives
  A long-term energy efficiency programme is saving money and cutting carbon emissions.
• The benefits of becoming crafty
  Gardening icon Monty Don is encouraging the nation to try traditional skills and crafts.
• Ethics good enough to eat
  The preference for principled food is spreading even further - to happy pets.
• Carry on giving
  Is charity fatigue setting in, or is the UK still happy to donate hard earned cash to good causes?

Carry on giving

The success of charity appeals like Sports Relief shows the recession-ravaged British public have not been discouraged from showing generosity in supporting a wide range of worthy causes. Here, Better World magazine considers why this might be the case.

Despite many of us having less money in our pockets in recent times, it seems we Britons are still committed to giving money to charity.

A number of recently published reports have shown that, despite the economic downturn, philanthropy remains alive and well in the UK – as it does across the rest o of the world.

One survey, carried out by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) towards the end of last year revealed that the public's engagement with disaster appeals has remained constant throughout the recession with donations remaining buoyant.

Another, from a financial services company, found that three-quarters of people giving money to charity over the past three years (2007 through 2009) said they had given the same amount during 2009. Five per cent said they had actually given more.

Meanwhile, in the United States a report published last year by the Giving USA Foundation reported that giving to charity has remained high among Americans during the economic downturn.

These findings appear to be ratified by the success of the recent Sport Relief event in the UK.

Held on 19 March 2010, the Sport Relief telethon raised a record-breaking £29 million on the night – nearly £10 million more than the previous Sports Relief telethon broadcast in 2008.

But as well as pledging significant amounts of money, the general public wholeheartedly embraced the event through mass participation. On Sunday 21 March more than 165,000 people across the length and breadth of the country took to the streets to take part in the Sport Relief Mile.

Support a cause

So what is behind the public's sustained enthusiasm to support worthy causes when many people have been struggling to make ends meet?

Well, there are a number of potential reasons. One school of thought is that people don't just make donations because they can afford to. They do it because they choose to use their private resources to support what they believe is important.

So, in tougher times individuals may have less money to spend, but all spending decisions become questions of priorities. Altruism remains a priority for lots of people no matter what the economic climate.

 Continues on page 2

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