Growing Giving in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania

It is a pleasure to present CAF’s dedicated report into giving cultures across three unique countries in East Africa. This important piece of work was borne of a desire by partners in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to delve deeper into the obstacles and opportunities to grow charitable giving – and in the process understand factors mirrored in so many emerging economies around the world.

Download the report and infographic

Key findings from the research

Infographic of Kenya Uganda and Tanzania

The emerging middle classes in these three countries are giving away roughly a quarter of their earnings each month to help others. In Kenya, this corresponds to 22% of their monthly income, rising to 24% in Tanzania, and 31% in Uganda.
Among those who have supported a formal charity or organisation in the past 12 months, the most common cause was children and young people, with 73% of those surveyed in Kenya, 60% in Tanzania, and 78% in Uganda supporting this.
Around half of survey respondents in Uganda (54%) and Kenya (48%) had supported a faith based organisation. In Tanzania, people are far more likely to have supported a community-based organisation (50%).

Other key findings

Personal attachment and religion are strong drivers for individual giving and faith-based organisations (FBOs) were consistently ranked highest in terms of how positive survey respondents felt about a particular type of organisation.
The lack of understanding of the need for core costs for civil society organisations (CSOs) impacts levels of trust by local populations, affects local ownership of causes and limits the sector in being strategic and sustainable.
Incentives for giving and philanthropy are often limited. They include rules that mean CSOs are not being granted tax-exempt status automatically after having registered to gain charitable status.