Quantcast
Channel: Liberal Democrat Voice » david blunkett
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Baroness Tyler writes… A strong charitable sector is at the heart of a fairer society

0
0

A lot of people are talking about what the challenge of creating a stronger economy and a fairer society means in practical terms. I’m going to focus here on the latter. As well as implementing key Lib Dem policies such as the Pupil Premium ,raising the tax-free personal allowance, making childcare more affordable and introducing the new single tier state pension, it’s important we recognise the role charities and voluntary organisations play in helping people going through difficult times as part of a broader approach to social justice. This country has a proud history of charitable activity to make sure that support is there when people are facing a tough time and need somewhere to turn and a helping hand. We all benefit from a strong charitable sector that gives people a chance to help their fellow citizens.

Of course charities themselves have not been immune from the tough economic climate and the impact of austerity. Indeed many charities faced with declining income from the public purse, donations and other forms of fundraising are having to completely rethink their own business models or risk going to the wall. We have just been reminded through Comic Relief and Red Nose day how amazingly generous the public are, even during a time of declining living standards. Some interesting research published last year by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) pointed to some new trends, particularly how charities are becoming increasingly reliant on donations from older people. Their study found that charities now get more than half of their donations from the over-60s, and that under-30s are now giving proportionately less than half as much as they did just 40 years ago. Now there are some very good reasons for this when you consider how tough it is for so many young people to get a toe-hold in either the jobs or the housing market, the costs of starting a family and the impact of paying off student loans and other debts.

It’s important that we try to understand these trends and what lies behind to help ensure that charities are placed onto a firm financial footing. That’s why I have agreed to serve as Co-Chair of CAF’s cross-party Parliamentary Inquiry on Growing Giving, which will be investigating the opportunities that exist for a person to engage with charity throughout their life. The Inquiry is Chaired by David Blunkett and the Conservative MP Andrew Percy is the other co chair so it’s a cross party undertaking.The Inquiry will have three main strands: Growing Up Giving, which will look at young people; Giving At Work, which will deal with working adults; and Going On Giving, which will focus on retired people. It will examine topics such as lifetime giving and will examine ways in which to harness young people’s natural enthusiasm to help others both through fundraising and volunteering.

I’m sure that the vast majority of people recognise the importance of charities and want to do what they can to support them, but for some people there are barriers that are preventing them from turning their charitable aspirations into action. The first stage of the inquiry will be focusing on young people. There’s no doubt that many young people are incredibly generous, and polling by CAF has discovered that junior school children are already giving £20m a year to charity. With more than half of young people believing that helping others is more important than helping themselves, it’s clear that today’s children are already charitable and committed to giving to the causes they care about.

However as CAF’s research has found, something appears to be preventing them from continuing when they enter adulthood. Of course people struggle to give when their financial life is difficult. But we need to look at what charities can do to encourage younger people to interact with them, and that includes investigating how the power of social media can be used, what roles exist for young people to become trustees of charities, and how charities can work with schools to promote the work that they do.

We’ll be taking evidence from experts to get a better understanding of how charities already engage with young people, and how this interaction can be improved to ensure that we try and tackle generational trends in giving.

Besides as we all know giving – either time or money – to charity isn’t a mere transaction: it’s about showing that you care about others and want to make a difference. I think that a strong charitable sector is at the very heart of the fairer society that Liberal Democrats are committed to creating.

* Claire Tyler, Baroness Tyler of Enfield, has been in the House of Lords since 2011, taking an active role in the areas of health and social care, welfare reform, social mobility, well-being, children and family policy, machinery of government and the voluntary sector.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images