Member News
5th October 2011
If we are to create a society in which it is ingrained in people to give to charity, then we need to start with the young, the minister for civil society has said.
Recounting his first memory of giving to charity, Nicholas Hurd harked back to his school days and a sponsored run.
Speaking at the Charity Question Time at Conservative conference organised by the Charities Aid Foundation, Hurd (whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all MPs), said he grew up seeing the value of helping others first-hand.
In the USA, where levels of giving are much higher, the culture of giving is embedded to a greater level in schools.
Acknowledging the fact that it is much easier to ingrain new habits in the young, than change the habits of the old, Hurd pushed the National Citizen Service as a vitally important way of ingraining giving amongst the young.
Rather than prescribe how young people should be giving, Hurd stressed the importance of allowing young people space, freedom, power and responsibility to let them control the giving process.
In terms of encouraging older people to give more, Hurd said ministers were under "strict instructions from the boss", referring to David Cameron, to put at least one day a year aside to volunteer.
Chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, John Low, raised the idea of ministers leading by example and committing to give one per cent of their income to charity.
Hurd said he already gives one per cent of his income to charity through a Charities Aid Foundation bank account.
Low said we should "rejoice in the giving of rich people" and encourage them to talk openly and come forward about their giving, to encourage and act as a model for others.
He was seconded by Hurd, who said leadership was very important to ensure giving was part of the "country's DNA".
Chair of the meeting, the editor of the Independent, Chris Blackhurst, championed the work of Goldman Sachs, widely credited as the most philanthropic organisation in the country.
Both Low and Hurd agreed on the need for tax incentives and tax breaks to facilitate and encourage giving amongst the wealthy.
Caroline Slocock, the founding director of Civil Exchange, a think-tank set up earlier this year to help government and the civil society work together, questioned whether the government could set up a fund to champion giving to what she termed "unfashionable causes".
Article Comments
When it can be guaranteed that no one is profiting from the charity then I will consider support.
Ray Alley
6th Oct 2011 at 11:13 pm
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