• Charity not high up wish-list of what people say constitutes “the meaning of Christmas”
• “Charities cannot take Christmas for granted but season still affords opportunity to cut through tinsel and tug at hearts”, says nfpSynergy’s Saxton

 The “Season of Goodwill” affords a mixed Santa’s sack for British charities, according to research out today. Whilst (slide 3) 1 in 5 (20%) Brits say they tend to give more to charities at Christmas, a similar number (17%) also claim they find it harder to give to good causes.

Half (49%) of people say they “usually buy charity Christmas cards”; almost a third (31%) say they are “more likely to buy a product that makes a donation to charity at Christmas”; 29% say they “hear more about charities at Christmas”; a sixth (17%) say they are “more likely to visit a charity shop at Christmas”; and 1 in 10 (11%) claim they “buy charity gifts for family and friends at Christmas”.

However - after the likes of spending time with family and friends; or enjoying resting, food, booze, carols and telly (slide 4) – charity-related factors come relatively low down people’s wish-list of what Christmas most means to them: only 6% citing “buying something from a charity”, 3% “giving money to charities” and 1% “volunteering for charities” respectively. 16% still say Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus 

The survey, by leading not-for-profit sector research consultancy nfpSynergy, asked a representative sample of 1000 16+ year olds (Dec 2011) throughout mainland Britain what Christmas most means to them, and how the supposed ‘Season of Goodwill’ impacts on their charitable habits. Parallel comparative in-depth research was also carried out amongst a representative sample of over 1000 11-25 year old Brits (Nov 2011).

A disproportionately high number of young people appear (slide 4) to associate Christmas with “getting time off school or work” (25%) and with “receiving presents” (22%).

nfpSynergy’s Driver of Ideas, Joe Saxton, comments:

“Charities cannot take Christmas for granted. Almost as many people say they find it harder to give as say they are more likely to give to charity at Christmas. As Sir Cliff will have us all know, charities at Christmas time must compete with mistletoe and wine, children singing and logs on the fire – not to mention much-loved in-laws, ruthless bargain hunting and soapy cliffhangers! That all said, ‘bar humbug’, one must surely concede that the ‘Season of Goodwill’ still affords opportunities of Dickensian proportions for those charities that work hard to cut through all the sherry and tinsel, to tug at merry hearts.”

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MEDIA COMMENT: To interview nfpSynergy’s Joe Saxton about these findings, please contact him direct on 07976 329 212 or joe.saxton@nfpsynergy.net; or, alternatively, contact Adrian Gillan (0774 086 7215; E: adrian@gillanmedia.com) for further assistance.

Note to editors:

nfpSynergy (www.nfpsynergy.net) is the UK’s only research consultancy dedicated to the charity sector and not-for-profit issues. It provides ideas, insights and information to help voluntary and community organisations thrive in an ever-changing world. Regularly harvesting the social and charity-related views of public and parliament, media and business - not to mention not for profit organisations themselves - nfpSynergy has a vast and ever-growing knowledge pool from which to extract and deliver insights.