Being active in your community leads to being more generous in giving to charity

People who know their neighbours by name are among those most likely to give to charity, says think tank, nfpSynergy

People who are actively involved in their communities are significantly more likely to donate to charity, according to research published this week.

Not-for-profit think tank nfpSynergy found wide differences between responses from donors and non-donors to questions about their community engagement.

Forty per cent of donors said they were involved with local clubs, societies or associations, compared with only 23 per cent of non-donors - and donors, the study found, were almost twice as likely as non-donors to worship regularly.

Joe Saxton, co-founder of nfpSynergy, said: "The findings provide a potentially lucrative tool enabling fundraisers to identify likely donors based on indicators of social capital."

He said charities could ask softer, less intrusive questions to see if people would make likely donors.

Angela Cluff, deputy director of fundraising consultancy The Management Centre, said she was not surprised by the findings but suspected the link between giving and participation in less formal activities, such as playing sport or socialising, was "looser".

She also suggested that charities ask people on their donor lists to become volunteers. "It is easier to get people to do more for you than to get people to do something for you for the first time," she said.

NfpSynergy talked to 1,000 adults in November last year for its Charity Awareness Monitor survey, which is conducted annually.

From Third Sector

Just another way that being neighbourly improves everyone's life

http://www.nfpsynergy.net/