Wales and Cardiff snubbed as Capital of Generosity

We were very surprised to see that on Monday a major Christian development charity will declare Liverpool as "the Capital of Generosity", and advertise widely that Liverpool is the UK's most generous city. Our numbers do not agree and neither does available national data. As we shall see below, the crown rightfully belongs to Wales (or Cardiff), if not London.

We do not doubt that the people of Liverpool are worthy and generous people but we wonder on what basis this claim is made? The most recent regional survey data we can find is 2004 but that seems to show that on the basis of what percentage of people support at least two charities a year the Home Counties (Marlborough in Wiltshire, Pulborough in West Sussex and Amersham in Buckinghamshire) and Scotland (for example Dumbarton) have much stronger claims to the crown. And in absolute terms we are not in much doubt that London with relative wealth and corporate donors contributes far more to charity than Liverpool does.

But with the credit crunch and difficult times has the picture changed? Which regions have dug deep in difficult times to help Aids Orphans and Street Children? Is Liverpool the place where tough times breeds most generosity?

Who helps children alone? Wales gets the crown

Out of interest we have done an analysis by region of individuals who have recently given to help our work for children alone around the world.

The crown is particularly worthy since hard times make the best people more generous to those really worse off, but more careful choosing charities. Both effects help us and over the credit crunch our income has risen sharply (e.g. the first qtr of this year our UK income exceeded the whole year's income in 2006) although economic crisis means the children's need is growing even faster.

But in any case, our first prize goes to Wales (or Cardiff if you want a capital city), the people whose generosity has risen most in tough times, with more new child sponsorships and donations. The North West of England (where Liverpool is) comes near the bottom, around a quarter as generous as the Welsh.

London certainly has the highest figure for charitable giving per head of population and we are deeply indebted to the continued generosity of all our supporters in London. However, quite a high proportion of our income from London is from a small number of very generous donors, and our major donors are concentrated there. London is one of the wealthiest parts of the UK and it is natural that it is so generous.

Wales on the other hand has below average GDP per capita and higher than average unemployment than the UK overall. For a region like this to come in second place ahead of many more prosperous regions on generosity per person is a reflection of the deep generosity of the Welsh. And deserving deep recognition for a willingness to help a child out of a gutter into a proper home even when faced with the uncertainty around us all. As someone who has stood repeatedly in the Millennium Stadium and before that Cardiff Arms Parks awed by the roar of "Bread of Heaven" I could not doubt the spirit of the Welsh, but how impressive it is that it carries into every day generosity in this way.

Andrew Cates, CEO SOS Children