UK: Charities not investing ethically loose support from the public

The majority (83%) of the general public would be less likely or unwilling to give to a charity if they found out it was not investing ethically, according to new research released  by the EIRIS Foundation.

The GFK NOP poll of 2,000 UK adults found that 52% of the general public would be unwilling to give to charities that are investing in a way that is against their objectives, and a further 31% would be less likely to give.

Almost all (91%) of those surveyed agreed that charities should be investing their money in an ethically or socially responsible way. This highlights a mis-match between public expectations and the number of charities actually investing ethically – a 2006 study by ACCA found that just 55% of large UK charities had an ethical investment policy.

 

Public support for ethical investment has increased significantly since a NOP survey for the Charities Aid Foundation. In 2001 over 40% of the public said that they would prefer to support charities which invest ethically and a further 14% said that they were only prepared to support charities investing in this way.

Peter Webster, Executive Director of EIRIS, said “Ethical investment is something which each of the UK’s 25,000 charities that have investments should be taking very seriously. It provides charities with real opportunities to further rather than counter their aims. If all the £56 billion of UK charity investments was invested ethically this would send a powerful message to companies in terms of social, environmental and ethical corporate behaviour.”

www.eiris.org