The world became a less generous place last year – according to a new report from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). In a previously unrevealed trend, the report also shows that giving worldwide appears to be mirroring global economic patterns.
The findings are revealed in CAF’s annual World Giving Index, which is the most comprehensive report on charitable behaviour in the world. It shows that the proportion of people giving money to good causes, volunteering or helping a stranger all fell last year and were also down on 2007.
Analysis of global giving over the past five years shows giving dropped in 2009, the year after the 2008 financial crisis, recovered in 2010, and then fell sharply again in 2011.
Overall the index found that Australia was the most generous country on earth, followed in second place by Ireland. Canada was the third most charitable nation, New Zealand the fourth, and the United States the fifth.
The five next most generous countries were the Netherlands, Indonesia, the UK, Paraguay and Denmark respectively.
Gibson Kerr is currently supporting two schemes for giving through a will – ‘Love the arts, Leave to the arts’, which encourages art lovers to make or amend a basic will free of charge if they leave a legacy to one of the arts charities taking part in the initiative, and the ‘Remember A Charity’ campaign, which is trying to raise the profile of legacy giving around the country.