Have we hit the charity limit?

CHRISTMAS is a big time of the year for charities. According to the Government’s Cabinet Office, 85 per cent of people gave on average £40 to charity last Christmas.

So it is worrying that there are signs of public irritation with the techniques the big charities use to persuade us to give more.

People get fed up of the army of attractive, smiling young “chuggers” dressed in fluorescent tabards, enticing us to sign up to direct debits in the street, and of the constant stream of direct-marketing letters on the doorstep.

And even when you do give regularly, the phone calls keep coming. They all start with the line "this call isn’t about asking you to give more money", but by the end, it is.

Pester power can be destructive – because when consumers get fed up, they stop buying. Could it be the same with giving too? Recent research by New Philanthropy Capital shows that 36 per cent of people have only low levels of trust in big charities. Charity Commission research shows that trust in smaller local charities is higher. Of those people who have a clear view, 58 per cent trust small local charities more than big nationals.

But this doesn’t necessarily benefit them financially.

At one time charities provided the icing on a big government public spending cake. That’s changing. Great chunks of the cake are being eaten away by cuts. And it looks like this will accelerate – judging by announcements made in the Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement. There’s only so much that charities can do to fill the gap. This is because resources of money from grants or gifts, ideas on how to make things better, and people’s freely given time are all finite commodities.

Government often claims that there is a huge reservoir of untapped potential when it talks about volunteering. That’s probably not true. There is growth in some areas, such as the help young people give.

But their contribution, while hugely valuable, can be ephemeral.

Older people, especially women, are still the mainstay of the army of volunteers – but many work longer than they used to. After retirement, older people increasingly find that their first priority is grandparenting – giving essential support to hard-pressed working couples or single parents.

It’s not all about responsibility, though. Life transitions have changed. Baby Boomers want to have fun nowadays; many of them have a busy social life, can afford to travel and have expensive hobbies.

There’s another worry: many affluent older people, who are already full to the brim with social capital, pursue charitable causes that pull resources away from areas of intense need. In academic circles, there’s a lot of talk about "charity deserts" in areas which have suffered recurrent economic blows over the years – but this might be misleading.

Research from the Northern Rock Foundation Third Sector Trends study, which has been running since 2008, shows that poorer areas have terrific local charities which tailor their services to meet the needs of those who are struggling. The worry is that they’ll not be able to cope with demand as the impact of Government policies, such as Universal Credit, really kick in.

The last thing these charities need is more competition on the block – and, arguably, they could do with a bit more of the icing from the cake of public giving coming in their direction rather than being absorbed by charities in richer areas. It’s an incendiary argument, but one that needs to be addressed.

Let’s keep things in proportion, though. The research I have been doing, with my colleague, Professor Fred Robinson, does not paint a picture of impending doom for the charitable sector. Around about 70 per cent of charities have maintained about the same level of income over the last few years and around ten to 15 per cent have had rising income.

But behind the headline figures we find variations. Middle income local charities have definitely been struggling more. And those charities working in badly deprived areas are struggling the most: only 22 per cent of medium sized charities in richer areas had significantly falling income in 2013-14 compared with a third of similar charities in poorer areas.

Some of the big grant giving bodies, such as Lloyds Bank Foundation, recognise that this is a problem and are now focusing their efforts on those charities working in poorer areas that really make a difference. Others need to follow their lead by recognising that such charities don’t have access to the kinds of gifts and endowments that many charities in richer areas can rely upon.

It’s a big worry that public discontent with some of the big nationals might have the knock-on effect of dissuading people from giving their money or time to local charities that are doing great front-line work for the most needy.

And even if public trust holds up, there’s a concern that local organisations won’t have their voices heard in a social marketplace where big charity brands dominate.

Tony Chapman is a Professorial Fellow at St Chad’s College, Durham University.