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CAF WALES GIVING 2019

Our first ever Wales Giving report provides unique insight into charitable giving in Wales.

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Read CAF Wales Giving 2019; Detailed findings 2

Detailed findings part 2

Here we reveal the total amount of money donated to charity in Wales in 2018, and discuss the typical amount given. We look at the most popular types of charity donated to, and how people give. Our research also reveals how people are being asked to give and crucially, their trust in charity.

Total amount of giving

An estimated £454 million was donated to charity by those living in Wales in 2018. This compares to a total UK figure of £10.1 billion over the same period. The level in Wales therefore accounts for around 4.5% of overall individual giving across the UK.

It is important to note that the Wales Giving estimate for total giving is calculated from reported giving, as re-called and relayed by individual survey participants, and so is subject to respondent reliability, as well as other considerations that apply to all surveys based on a sample of a population rather than a census.

Typical amount given

The median(1) monthly amount given by a donor within Wales in 2018, either donating or sponsoring in the last four weeks, was £15, while the mean amount given was £36. These are both below the figures for the UK as a whole, where the median(2) was £20 and the mean was £45.

This means that although similar numbers of people are giving in Wales as across the UK as a whole, people in Wales are giving lower amounts. This is likely to be, at least in part, due to lower levels of average salary in Wales compared to the UK as a whole (£509 median gross weekly earnings for full time employees vs. a UK average of £569 in 2018).

(1)Median = middle value of all amounts given by individuals. (2)Mean = average amount given across all individuals.

What people donate to

When people were asked which cause area they had given to in the last four weeks, the top five causes are medical research 30%, animal welfare 29%, children and young people 23%, homelessness, shelters and refuges 20%, and overseas aid and disaster relief 16%.

Figure 3: Which of the following causes did you donate to?

Base: All adults 16+ who have donated to a charity in the the last 4 weeks (n=444)

Most and least popular causes

Four cause areas all received 20% or above in support in 2018: medical research (30%), animal welfare (29%), children and young people (23%, homeless people, housing and refuge shelters in the UK (20%). There was then a drop off to the fifth largest cause, with 16% having donated to overseas aid and disaster relief.

The least popular causes given to by those in Wales are sports and recreation (1%), arts (1%), schools, colleges, universities and other education (5%) and elderly people (6%). This again is a similar pattern to the UK as a whole.

Who gives to what?

Animal welfare charities are the most popular cause for women to give to in Wales (37% vs. 19% men), seeing similar figures to the UK as a whole (31% women vs. 20% men).

Whilst there are relatively few demographic differences in terms of who gives to what causes across Wales, those aged 65+ are more likely to give to medical research, with 39% of 65+ year olds giving compared to a low of 22% of 25–44 year olds and 30% on average.

How people give

Those who had donated were asked how they gave money to charity and what method they preferred. Giving using cash is the most common way of giving money to charity, with just under three fifths (58%) doing so within Wales in 2018. This is slightly higher than the UK average of 53% and may account for the lower level of Gift Aid use in Wales.

Giving through buying a raffle or lottery ticket (42%) and buying goods (40%) are popular methods of giving in Wales.
Just under a third of people (31%) opted to give via direct debit/standing order
just under a quarter (23%) gave at a fundraising event
Credit card (5%), cheques (5%) and payroll giving (2%) are the least favoured methods of giving

Being asked to give

Regardless of their giving behaviour, people were questioned on how they had been asked to give to charity in the last four weeks.

Approached on the street (35%)
Television (28%)
Online (24%)

Unlike the UK as a whole, direct mail (23%) did not make the top three.

Although ‘on the street’ was the most common way to be asked overall, there were some demographic differences within Wales. Younger people are most likely to claim to have been asked to give online, with a third of 16–24 year olds (33%) claiming this, compared to 19% of those aged 65+ and 21% of those aged 45–64. Direct mail was the most likely way those aged 65+ claimed to have been asked (33% compared to 23% overall).

Trust in charities

Trust in charities has been discussed over the last few years, with a number of reports claiming that trust in institutions is at an all time low. In 2018, just under half (49%) of people within Wales either ‘strongly’ or ‘tend to’ agree that charities are trustworthy. This figure is similar to the UK overall figure of 48%.

There are some fluctuations in trust over the course of the year in Wales (due to low base sizes c.100 per month these are not significant findings) from a low of 40% seeing charities as trustworthy in March to highs of 53% in November and December, the months when giving levels were also at their highest.

< Detailed findings part 1

Download our CAF Wales Giving 2019 print ready .pdf

Our research method

CAF has been producing the UK Giving report since 2004, and has been tracking giving in the UK for several decades. In that time, there have been a number of changes to how the study is conducted in terms of approach and questions asked.

During 2016 the UK Giving survey transitioned from a quarterly face to face survey with 1,000 responses each time to a monthly survey with 1,000 responses conducted online. We’ve now been reporting on this new boosted sample size for three years. This monthly approach enables us to level out seasonal effects as well as those established spikes in charitable giving that occur around particular high-profile events or as a result of humanitarian disasters or specific appeals. This has enabled us to produce additional analysis and produce our CAF Scotland Giving and CAF Wales Giving reports.

Further information on the detail of transitioning the survey to this approach can be found in CAF UK Giving 2017.