A social norm for giving?

As a Labour Party member I had a challenging train journey from Sheffield to London on Tuesday when I read the new Conservative Party Green Paper on Charities and Volunteering. A challenging ride because I found myself in agreement with huge swathes of the document! This is a policy consulation by the Tory Party to ask people to reflect on their ideas for improving the government support for charity and the voluntary sector. For the past few years this sector has become known as the Third Sector, but the Tories are suggesting it be renamed the First Sector.

But the bit of the report that grabbed my attention was the Tories suggestion that if they were in power they want to start a national debate on a "social norm for giving". They argue persusavely that most of us know the "social norm for tipping" is 10% in a restaurant, so most of us add 10% as a tip, because we believe that is what is what others do. There is no such "social norm" for giving. The paper argues that most charity donations in the UK come from a small faithful and generous segment of the population.

Giving to charity in the UK is going down in real terms, and that is not helped by the recession. I welcome anything that raises the profile of giving in our national debate, and encourgaes people to give more.