Jersey charity support driven by personal connections

Monday 22 April 2019

Jersey people are more likely to donate to a charity that supports a cause they have been “personally affected by” as well as preferring to donate to local charities rather than those further afield, research suggests.

These indications come from a survey across the Crown Dependencies which reveals islanders’ charitable habits and was answered by nearly 650 people from Jersey.

The online survey, conducted by Island Global Research – a market research and consultancy company – which conducts studies into people’s lifestyles across Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

63% of Jersey respondents said they “prefer to support local charities, rather than UK or International ones and, when asked what encourages them to donate to charities – the majority of people selected “being personally affected by the charitable cause." 

Pictured: What encourages Crown Dependency residents to donate to charities? (Island Global Research)

Broadly speaking, respondents also said that they have more trust and confidence in local charities in comparison to those based elsewhere. 

Replies to the survey also showed that in Jersey, the most supported type of charity is those relating to Health/Medical (72%), followed by Community causes (60%), then Children’s Services (53%) just one percentage ahead of Animals (52%).

Elsewhere in the survey results, the stats show that 96% of Jersey respondents had made a charitable donation in money, goods or time last year. Of these donations, the survey shows that these donations were most likely taken via one-off donations or charity shops. 

Further to this, 88% of Jersey respondents said charities either make an important or a very important contribution to the island.

Pictured: Jersey's favoured charities are denoted in orange. (Island Global Research)

In the survey’s conclusions, the research group write: “The results are very positive for charities based in the Crown Dependencies, in that they demonstrate considerable good will with overwhelming support for local charities… 

“It is encouraging to see that there is considerable public trust and confidence in local charities, and they are widely recognised as making an important contribution. This is in stark contrast to the UK and international charities."

Having made these observations, the survey’s instigator urged local charities to be “encouraged by the findings, though not complacent”, reminding them to remain “open and transparent” and to build “efforts to share information about the cause and the work they do".