PUBLIC KEEN FOR BIG BEN BONG MONEY TO GO TO CHARITY
SAYS NEW POLLING
30 January 2020
A vast majority of people in the UK would rather see money raised to bong the bells of Big Ben marking Brexit to go to charity instead.
A new survey from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) shows that more than seven in 10 (73%) of us agree the money should go to charity, with nearly eight in 10 (77%) of us disagreeing when asked if the appeal was a good use of funds.
The UK will officially leave the EU this Friday 31st of January at 11pm and a crowdfunding campaign to raise £500,000 to ring Big Ben to mark the occasion raised £272,000 before being halted.
In the end, the campaign group decided to donate the money raised to veterans’ charity Help for Heroes.
Caroline Mallan of CAF comments: “This is a great example of how supportive the public is when it comes to the role of charities in our society. The British people are overwhelmingly happy to see the money raised for Big Ben being spent instead on helping veterans and military families.”
The role charities can play to help heal divisions in society was borne out in earlier research by CAF, which found that almost 7 in 10 (68%) of people felt that charities play an important role in society and more than 4 in 10 (43%) felt they could improve community cohesion.
Notes to editors:
For more information please contact:
Press office direct line (24 hours): 03000 123 286
Press office email: media@cafonline.org
George Young, gyoung@cafonline.org
Office: 03000 123 715 / Mobile: 07969 296 646
About CAF
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,107 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between the 16th and 28th January 2020. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 16+). The numbers included are based on the UK’s population of those aged 16+ being 53 million.
CAF exists to make giving go further, so that more lives and communities around the world can be transformed.
CAF is a charity and a champion for better giving, and for over 90 years has helped donors, companies, charities and social organisations make a bigger impact. Through CAF Bank, it offers simple and straightforward day-to-day banking, designed exclusively for charities.
We are CAF and we make giving count.
www.cafonline.org