Friday 27 May 2011

NEW WHITE PAPER AIMED AT ENCOURAGING PHILANTHROPY AND GIVING

New measures by the government aim to kick-start a spirit of philanthropy and volunteering, sadly however, they are unlikely to have much of an impact on the arts....


A £10m Social Action Fund, £700,000 for Philanthropy UK and a £30m investment to help charities access more effective local support all form part of the Government’s White Paper on Giving. The paper commits a total investment of £40m to volunteering and social action over the next two years, alongside an £80m investment in Community First, which both aim to make giving “easier and more compelling”. Although the British public currently give more than £10bn a year to charity, the paper notes that “the giving of both time and money has flat-lined, and some in the voluntary sector warn of decline”. It states that “people want to do more, and could do more. There are still too many things that get in the way”, and pledges to work towards removing some of these barriers. By reducing Criminal Records Bureau checks and the Vetting and Barring Scheme to “common-sense levels”, the paper hopes to encourage people to volunteer their time.



There are new measures to encourage people to give money, too, including major changes to Gift Aid: online filing, allowing charities to thank major donors more generously, and enabling a Gift Aid-style payment on small cash donations. The paper also says that inheritance tax will be reduced to 36% for those leaving 10% or more of their estate to charity, and reveals that The Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs and the DCMS will be conducting a consultation to look into the feasibility of encouraging donations of works of art to the nation in return for a tax reduction. Other concrete changes are the creation of a philanthropy committee to review candidates for honours, and supporting payroll giving with a major campaign. The paper notes that “stimulating social action is not easy or straightforward”, but states an aim to develop a social norm of payroll giving.

Philip Spedding, International Business Consultant for Arts & Business and member of The Charity Tax Group, told AP: “The steps outlined in the Government White paper are probably good for developing philanthropy in the UK but are unlikely to have much of an impact on the arts. The paper mainly focuses on encouraging volunteering and creating mechanisms to develop mass low level giving (by phone, by atm et al). The trouble is that arts fundraising and, to a degree, arts volunteering, tend to work to different models than those used by the wider charity sector. On the plus side, the paragraph on the gift of works of art underlines the serious approach the government are taking on this.”


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