Fewer Britons giving to charity, study says, with donations down by £1.4bn, reports the Guardian.
The article gives cost of living pressure as the main reason for the decline in giving. Commenters in this thread on the UKPolitics subreddit also mention invasive chuggers and the fact people tend not to have cash on them these days.
The article itself continues,
Peter Grant, an expert in philanthropy at Bayes Business School, said the decline in giving also reflected a more polarised society. “Culture war” attacks mounted by rightwing politicians and media on voluntary organisations such as RNLI and the National Trust had undermined the wider legitimacy of charities among some donors.
Maybe, but far from being the victims of “attacks mounted by rightwing politicians and media”, a lot of charities seem to have been eager to volunteer for the front lines of the culture wars.
This excerpt comes from the section of the website of Oxfam International headed “What We Do”:
3. Center decolonial and feminist practice in our organization
Decolonization is intrinsic to achieving gender justice for all. Our sector comes from an extractive colonial history – hetero-patriarchal and racist in nature. Neocolonial dynamics continue to shape our sector’s work and approaches. We will evolve into an organization that centers decolonial and feminist practice by building on our principles and initiatives to deeply integrate them into every aspect of our work.
There speaks a soldier of the culture wars. How long did they expect to keep waving their banners without anyone noticing that they had picked a side?
I believe that Oxfam does still occasionally do the “help suffering people in emergencies” thing that most of those who buy from or volunteer to work in their charity shops think is their main purpose. That’s my excuse for buying that nice scarf I saw in their window the other day, anyway. But I wonder what proportion of what I paid for that scarf went to pay the salaries of the sort of people who write “hetero-patriarchal” with a straight face. And writing guff about “neocolonial dynamics” is actually one of the less bad things some of Oxfam’s paid staff have got up to over the last few years, as can be seen by reading some of the many previous Samizdata posts about Oxfam at this link.
Oxfam is a political organization first.
““Culture war” attacks mounted by rightwing politicians and media on voluntary organisations such as RNLI”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-68490291
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13120787/RNLI-rebellion-volunteers-quit-row-bullying-anti-English-racism-rescuers-tiny-inflatable-boat-holds-eight.html
But of course it’s “right wing” attacks.
WTF’s “center” ?
A close friend of my wife died of cancer just over a year ago. Toward the end of her life she received exceptional care from a local hospice. They now get the majority of my charitable donations. I am very reluctant to give to any charities nowadays unless I can be sure that they don’t do more harm than good. Any that get taxpayers money are discounted immediately as they are already picking my pocket.
Oxfam are a vile organisation. The quoted passage really is nonsensical gibberish. Anyway, isn’t it a kind of colonialism telling Johnny Foreigner how to treat women? They seem to have the whole thing backwards.