The survey, carried out by Hyundai Motor UK, which has partnered with Stand Up To Cancer to raise funds for game-changing research, polled a total of 2800 adults, with 100 respondents in 28 cities across the UK. The results revealed that Oxford is the UK’s most generous city, with residents donating £405.96 each year through direct debit, followed by residents of London, Cardiff, Birmingham and Manchester who completed the top five.
Looking purely at the percentage of disposable income given to charity each month, it was Birmingham that came out on top, with 10.12%, while Londoners were most generous with their time, volunteering for good causes more than any other city.
Lifetime donations - the key stats
Direct debits account for the majority of donations, with those surveyed giving away an average of £23.04 per month, totalling £16,671 over an average lifetime. Overall, 1.16% generously donate more than £300 per month in direct debits alone, which would see them giving over £210,000 during a typical lifetime.
Just behind
direct debit, was the amount spent at charity shops, with the total spend being more than £8,000 during an average adult lifetime, most choosing to spend their money on clothing and books. There were, however, some more unusual charity shop buys among the respondents, including a bust of William Shakespeare, a Chinese footbath and a home-made ukulele.
Typically, a person in the UK will give £1,831 to collection boxes during their lifetime – around £30 per year – and £2,275 in sponsorship of friends and family for charitable causes. On top of spending their own money, there’s the amount of money that those polled estimated they have raised for charity.
Through marathons and other charitable activities, the respondents had raised an average of £1,263, with an incredible 3.87% of respondents claiming to have raised over £10,000.
UK’s most generous city
As well as giving more to charity through direct debits and sponsorship than any other city in the UK, the average Oxford resident will also spend £162.24 in charity shops per month, estimating that around 8% of their disposable income goes to charity.
When it comes to leaving money in their will, Oxfordians are the second most generous in the country, beaten to the top spot only by those in Brighton. They also finished eighth for the amount they had raised in sponsorship during their lifetime, with £1,462, but were beaten to the top spot by Cardiff.
Residents of the Welsh capital city estimated they had raised an average of £2,122 each during their lives. Cardiff’s impressive fundraising was enough to secure its position as the UK’s third most generous city, just behind Oxford and London but ahead of the fourth most generous, Birmingham and the fifth most generous, Manchester.
While Oxfordians are the most generous with money, Londoners give away more of their free time, estimating they spend about 12% per week volunteering for charity, with Manchester the next highest at 10%.
Positive feedback
The research was commissioned by Hyundai Motor UK, which has launched a brand-new world-first ‘Contactless Car’ for Stand Up To Cancer, allowing people to tap their
contactless device to donate to Stand Up To Cancer.
The Contactless Car – a Hyundai IONIQ all-electric vehicle – follows on from a successful trial carried out by Cancer Research UK as part of the 2016
Stand Up To Cancer campaign, which equipped cash bucket collectors with technology that allowed them to take contactless payments.
Supporter feedback from this trial was overwhelmingly positive, with 25% of income being generated from contactless donations. In fact, one in ten respondents stated that they would be more likely to contribute to charity if they could use contactless payments.
Since May 2017, Hyundai Motor UK has so far raised over £40,000 through Contactless Car donations and employee fundraising. Rachel Carr, head of Stand Up To Cancer, said: “Since Hyundai unveiled its world-first Contactless Car, we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from the public.
So many people have tapped the car to donate and, as Hyundai’s findings show, we know that’s just the tip of the iceberg of how much and how regularly people give. “Stand Up To Cancer is all about driving forward game-changing science that saves lives. And we couldn’t do it without the support of the amazing people who are joining the rebellion against the disease by donating, fundraising and sponsoring our research.”
UK’s most generous cities: the top five
1. Oxford (per individual, average)
Direct debits/ month: £33.83
Collection boxes/ year: £29.24
Spent in charity shops/ month: £13.52
Sponsorship of others/ year: £55.14
Money raised so far: £1,462
Leave money to charity in will: 27.91% yes
2. London (per individual, average)
Direct debits/ month: £29.03
Collection boxes/ year: £32.88
Spent in charity shops/ month: £13.01
Sponsorship of others/ year: £54.35
Money raised so far: £1,172
Leave money to charity in will: 20% yes
3. Cardiff (per individual, average)
Direct debits/ month: £29.68
Collection boxes/ year: £31.42
Spent in charity shops/ month: £11.22
Sponsorship of others/ year: £45.76
Money raised so far: £2,122
Leave money to charity in will: 21% yes
4. Birmingham (per individual, average)
Direct debits/ month: £25.30
Collection boxes/ year: £26.71
Spent in charity shops/ month: £10.75
Sponsorship of others/ year: £32.42
Money raised so far: £1305
Leave money to charity in will: 20% yes
5. Manchester (per individual, average)
Direct debits/ month: £18.24
Collection boxes/ year: £28.11
Spent in charity shops/ month: £11.22
Sponsorship of others/ year: £40.67
Money raised so far: £876
Leave money to charity in will: 19% yes