Charitable Giving via Plastic Cards Up 18% in UK

Interestingly, whilst more payments to charities are put on debit cards we tend to donate more on credit and charge cards. Last year the total amount donated on credit and charge cards was £639.2 million and £546.9 million on debit cards. One of the reasons for this is that many people donate online and this is one environment where more people prefer to use their credit card instead of a debit card. However, we would expect the gap to narrow in the future as charitable giving on plastic cards follows the overall trends in the market towards debit cards.

Another way of donating to charities is by using an affinity card*. With total spending of £6.7 billion on these cards in 2008 and, on average, 0.25% being the percentage donated to charities, approximately £16.7 million will have been raised through the use of these cards.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications said: “These card figures, showing an 18% increase in charitable giving, tell us an interesting story. Despite the economic downturn it seems there was no let up last year in people’s commitments to charities.

“Over the last few years we have seen more charities offer donors additional ways to pay, particularly with cards, and particularly online - all of which makes donating extremely easy, and unquestionably plays a part in the increase in charity spending on plastic cards.”