Survey Variable: Donating

Those respondents who indicated that they donated to at least one type of organisation were asked to estimate roughly how much they donated in total (across all donations to all organisations that they support) in the last year. Those who had indicated that they do not make donations were coded as such (rather than as missing values)[1] in the variable indicating the amount donated and they constitute a plurality of respondents (37.9%). However, as Figure 1 (above, using weighted data) shows, this means that three fifths (62.1%) donate at least some money to at least one organisation over the course of a year. A majority of respondents (54.4%) donate less than £250 per year and almost a fifth (18.9%) are in the lowest value category, donating £24.99 or less per year. Donating £250 or more per year is the preserve of a relatively small minority, with less than one in twelve (7.8%) doing so. There is no need to recode this variable so we can simply observe that donating to causes (be they political parties, trade unions or professional associations, campaign organisations, or charities) is a widespread activity in Great Britain. This means that, although most people donate at relatively modest levels each year, there is a very large amount of money being donated overall.

[1] Though there is one respondent who chose the ‘Don’t know’ option when prompted to complete the question (having tried to skip it), and that case is coded as missing.