See below for what the Foundation is doing to help build "Big Society" in Buckinghamshire
News
Survey highlights need for more local giving
The 2011 Local Giving Index results show that, on average, an adult resident of Buckinghamshire gives £196 per annum to charity, of which just 36% (or £70 per person) is given to local charities. 41% of donations are given to national charities and 23% to international causes.
The research was undertaken in September on behalf of the Community Foundation by Bucks-based SPA Future Thinking (formerly Maven Research). The research was funded by Bucks Strategic Partnership Board and involved 500 respondents completing an 8 minute online survey.
"Buckinghamshire may be the 3rd wealthiest county in the UK, but there are pockets of real poverty in both our urban and rural areas which local community groups desperately need financial support to help tackle," says Richard Dickson, Director of Buckinghamshire Community Foundation. "Our job at the Foundation is to help local people realise the often unseen needs on their doorstep and to encourage them to be as generous as possible to support the excellent work of the huge number of charities in the county."
Commenting on the Local Giving research, Jade Blades from the Bucks-based charity Street Dreams said "Donations are vital to our work. Street Dreams works amongst young people in all parts of Buckinghamshire, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to give them hope and practical life skills for the future. We've got little marketing budget to promote ourselves and our plan is eventually to make ourselves self-sufficient. In the meantime we couldn't do what we do without regular financial giving from local people, businesses, schools and trusts."
The Local Giving Index research also showed that 84% of respondents said that they expected their total charitable giving to increase or at least remain the same in the next twelve months. The Community Foundation plans to repeat the research in late 2012 as part of its 'Think Local. Give Local' initiative to monitor the extent of changes in giving by local people, especially to measure how their giving to support local charities has increased.
This survey was highlighted on BBC Oxford TV News on 21st October 2011
