Clerical Medical: Average Brit donates thousands to charity

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Clerical Medical: Average Brit donates thousands to charity

Tue 28th Mar 2006

According to a new survey from Clerical Medical the average British person contributes £13,000 to charity in their lifetime.

Annually, the report revealed that individual donations topped £200 in money made up through fundraising, sponsorship and direct contributions.

Clerical Medical surveyed 3,000 people and based on the results, the UK population gives £8 billion per year, with direct debiting being the favourite way for people to offer funding, accounting for £9,200 of an average person's lifetime charity donations.

Around £700 will be given to charity boxes in a typical person's life and £766 will be given to good causes through various sponsorships.

"We really are a generous nation as £13,000 is quite a chunk of our personal money. When it is worked out on a national basis the figure is absolutely staggering and we have a lot to be proud of," said John Hiew, managing director of Clerical Medical.

Over half of British people are likely to donate more money following a disaster, while 43 per cent of Brits state that they are more likely to contribute money when they have been touched by a personal incident.

Only two out of ten people living in Britain think they are generous people, while two-thirds think the donations they make are of an average level, according to the Clerical Medical survey.

Clerical Medical specialises in providing investments, pensions and life assurance and is part of the Halifax Bank of Scotland group, with total group assets of over £509 billion.