When the annual drivel of ‘what was the highlight of last year?’ does it’s rounds on the telly, I’m usually pretty keen to make a cup of tea, wash the dishes, clean out that cupboard that’s been waiting three months to be sorted … anything really to avoid wasting an hour of my life. However last night I caught the end of a rather sad round up of the decade.
Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention but it seems that the one thing we will be remembered for in the noughties (don’t get me started on that one!) is our greed and love of spending. If the narration from last night is to be believed, we in the UK are the most greedy of the lot. The next episode (personally, I was shocked they were proposing to share this joy in more that one installment) promised to be as depressing as the last and I for one shall go back to my cupboard dance again before enduring any more of that.
However, whilst the inference from this programme seemed to be that (with the generous gift of hindsight) the downturn in financial circumstances was really just a disaster waiting to happen thanks to our greed prior to said downturn, an article I read yesterday from the civilsociety.co.uk forced me to think about this a little.
The article was reflecting on findings of a study from the ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy. I’m not one for statistics (numbers are not my forte, perhaps why the idea of give 1 brick appeals so much 
) but despite this, one figure did interest me. As you might expect, we tend to spend a little bit more on luxuries such as tasty food and drinks in the lead up to Christmas. No shocks there so far. But I was surprised to learn that when they looked at how much extra we give to good causes during the season of goodwill, it was less than 1%, 17 times less than the extra we spend on alcohol.
Now the purpose of my reflection is not to moan at how hard done by us charities are compared with the drinks industry. What I found fascinating was that as a result of these findings, CivilSociety.co.uk suggested charities were now in a strong position to encourage people to give a donation the equivalent of a pint. We’re already asking people to give a brick (i.e. just £1) so that made me chuckle: Give A Brick and still have change from the price of a pint to buy some milk and a loaf of bread
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: Bigredtomato
January 12, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Excellent idea.
Sadly too many take and not enough give back.
Twitter: GiveABrick
January 12, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Hi Matthew,
I agree with you, especially in the current climate, people seem less keen to give and are trying to just survive by looking after themselves. That’s why we’re give A brick (i.e. just £1) because it’s affordable for the majority.
Thank you for the encouragement
I was exploring your site a couple of days ago to see how best we might employ some of your offline strategies online. Lots of great advice there. I look forward to trying some of it out.
Best wishes,
Eleanor
Eleanor´s last blog ..Top 5 Essential Apps for the iPhone Virgin
First time I’ve stumbled onto your blog, think I may just have to subscribe… It’s an interesting point though, breaking things down into smaller chunks makes it a lot more justifiable for a wider range of people.
You know, even if most charities are ‘give whatever you want’ when you see them on the street.
Twitter: GiveABrick
January 12, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Thanks Heather,
I guess it’s the same principle as when a charity asks you to give ‘just £2 per month.’ The difference is that we’re still so small, we’re heavily reliant on word of mouth and the power of the web. We’re still thrashing out ideas for something to put on youtube
Where in the world are you btw? I went to your site and visited your ‘about me’ too but couldn’t work it out
Eleanor
Eleanor´s last blog ..Do Paypal really like good causes?
One thing I have noticed is that although many people will give if a charity is collecting in a shopping mall, it is only when it is right in front of their noses that they think to give. There is so much *chatter* in our faces that the faint cries of charities gets drowned out by the noise of so many commercial entities vying for our money.
Geoff´s last blog ..Jan 13, Power of Positive Thinking
Twitter: GiveABrick
January 13, 2010 at 11:48 am
Hi Geoff,
Welcome to the site
I agree with you. Often people will give almost because they’re forced to because like you say, it is literally under their nose.
The other problem is that you can’t give to everyone. Every charity is doing an excellent job and is worthwhile. That’s why we’re trying to do things a little differently here and ask everyone to give a small amount. We even asked the Queen to Give A Brick
Having just read your article on goal setting, this is one area we need to work on. I guess if you have a goal it makes it easier to measure success over a given period of time
Thanks again for stopping by and I look forward to seeing you again,
Eleanor
Eleanor´s last blog ..Paypal and the 20p Showdown