Despite record-high inflation and rising interest rates continuing to burn our back pockets, we’re still a charity focused population.

Local charities have been prioritised with roughly half of us having made a one-off donation of money to a local charity and a fifth making regular donations to the same local charity over the last year. We’re most comfortable donating money online through a charity’s webpage, but on-street charity representatives are still trusted and effective.

Community services (e.g., children’s and family services, youth development, food banks, homeless services) and health charities (e.g., patient and family support, medical research, treatment) top the list of where people have donated their time or money in the last year. With a huge reliance on volunteer resource, the emergency services follow closely.

People are still willing to donate money in an economic pinch but the factors that encourage people to donate show how important the use of those funds is. Belief in a charity being financially efficient and having a thorough understanding of how the money will be used are much more important as levers than possible gains in self-worth or in the visibility of giving. These factors are also much more significant than personal experience and feelings of social responsibility.