- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday June 26 2002 10.20 BST
- The Guardian, Wednesday June 26 2002
A national awareness drive launched today to promote charitable giving and volunteering by schoolchildren aims to help charities target the 57% of pupils who say they want to do more for good causes.
The drive, called Giving Nation, is being promoted by the Giving Campaign, the government-backed initiative to raise levels of donation, which is today also unveiling a fresh brand image for the Gift Aid tax-effective giving scheme.
Giving Nation will encourage youngsters aged 11 to 16 to take a more active role in the voluntary sector. It will provide teaching resources to support the new citizenship curriculum starting in secondary schools in September.
An NOP survey for the campaign, carried out among 1,125 secondary pupils, found that 76% currently helped fundraise for charity at their school. However, 57% said they would like to do more.
Giving Nation will provide teachers with free resource packs, including materials and ideas for community involvement lessons. A new website will offer online advice on organising activities, and an annual giving event, to be called G-Week, will be launched in June next year as a focal point for fundraising and volunteering in schools.
The Giving Campaign has sent all 6,000 secondary schools a letter and flyer introducing Giving Nation. Campaign director Amanda Delew hopes the initiative will foster the next generation of charity supporters. "Young people themselves have helped us to formulate materials to stimulate this age group into why getting involved in charity is important," Delew says . "Giving Nation provides a focus for charity in the classroom and could give a boost to fundraising appeals in schools."
Schoolchildren are already a target of several high-profile fundraising campaigns, including Comic Relief and its latest spin-off, Sport Relief, and some parents have criticised the pressure they say has been put on their children to take part.
Delew insists that Giving Nation activities will complement, rather than compete with, existing initiatives. "We're providing a framework for charitable activities that builds on young people's enthusiasm for charity and provides them with ways of getting involved," she says.
The NOP survey found that household-name charities dominated young people's awareness of giving. Oxfam topped the list, with 53% of pupils naming the charity first, followed by the NSPCC, the RSPCA and cancer charities in general - all at around 36%. Comic Relief was named by 19%.
Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising, says that less well-known, or local, charities should work with schools to exploit the potential of Giving Nation. "Charities should use their networks and the 'localness' of the cause to develop links with schools," she says. "Scale and geography can work in their favour."
The rebranding of Gift Aid, which allows charities to reclaim 28p for every £1 given by a taxpayer, is designed to counter low public awareness of the scheme, give fundraisers a recognisable logo to use in their appeals, and to recoup the estimated £200m a year lost from potential reclaims.
A CD-Rom toolkit for fundraisers - including the new logo, a description of the scheme and sample tax declaration - will be launched next month at the Institute of Fundraising's annual convention. The toolkit will be available from the Giving Campaign and a downloadable version will appear on its website.
· Further details of Giving Nation and a summary of survey findings from 020-7930 3154 or at: www.g-nation.co.uk/teachers
