• Men, the better-off and the young spearhead growing Scottish desire for charity to stay “at home”
•  “Scottish charities should stress local spend and identity to boost domestic donations”, vies nfpSynergy’s Baker

As the economic lull has worn on, the Scottish public has increasingly felt that charitable donations made north of the border should also be spent there, according to new data out today. 

Scottish males, those from higher social-demographic groups ,25-34-year olds and non-donors have especially driven this more philanthropically insular trend.

These are the latest key findings from leading not-for-profit sector research consultancy nfpSynergy’s Scottish Charity Engagement Monitor (SCEM), which surveys a representative sample of over 1000 16+ year old Scots, online twice-yearly, yielding regular insights into what the Scottish public thinks about a range of charitable and social issues.

Overall (see slide 2), the proportion of Scots claiming they would prefer any charitable donation they made to be spent in Scotland rose from under half (48%) back in April 2007, pre-downturn, to almost 3 in 5 (59%) in Oct 2009.

Groups showing the sharpest rise in propensity for Scottish donations to benefit the Scots have been men (48% April 2007, 60% Oct 2009 -see slide 3); social grade ABs (39% April 2007, 52% Oct 2009 - see attached slide 4) and C1s (44% April 2007, 59% Oct 2009), although C2s and DEs are still more likely to want Scottish charity kept “at home”; 25-34-year olds (48% April 2007, 66% Oct 2009 - see attached slide 5); and non-donors (51% April 2007, 64% Oct 2009 - see attached slide 6).

nfpSynergy’s researcher, Jonathan Baker, said:

 “As economic woes have worn on, and corresponding social need has doubtless increased, the Scottish public has felt ever more strongly that charity begins ‘at home’. This will have come at the expense of money they would previously have preferred spent elsewhere in the UK, or wider internationally. Scottish charities should thus emphasise their local spending on local beneficiaries if they wish to boost domestic donations from the Scottish public. Moreover, a brand which clearly communicates Scottish identity will help a charity better achieve this.

“Naturally, it may well be that Scots choose to override this broadly insular charitable trend when confronted by such an exceptional major overseas disaster as the recent earthquake in Haiti.”

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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.