International Day of Charity
Posted in: Days to Remember 31st July 2022
September 5th is the
International Day of Charity.
We’re a modest lot, here at Valley Northern.
We’re not ones to shout too loudly (if at all) about our charitable endeavours, but giving to charity is something that we’ve always done since the birth of the company, motivated not by publicity, but by doing the right thing for our wider community. September 5th is the International Day of Charity, a good opportunity then to publicise the day, take a look at giving in general and share our giving ethos.
The International Day of Charity is an initiative set up by the United Nations with the objective of mobilising people and organisations around the world to help others through volunteering and philanthropic activity. This international day is now in its tenth year and hopefully this blog and others like it will help to spread the word and the joy of giving.
The joy of giving?
Yes, you did read that right, it’s a joy. We’re hard-wired to do it, it’s just that some have never had the opportunity (or inclination) to do it. The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) have done the scientific research on giving. They have found that the knowledge that you’re helping others is hugely empowering and that, in turn, can make you feel happier and more fulfilled. People who are in a position to help, finding people/animals/other causes who are in need of help, makes the world go round. Giving is, of course, a selfless act, but let’s be honest, it makes us feel good, too. It really is true that it’s better to give than to receive.
The date of 5th September, by the way, was chosen as it was the date that Mother Teresa died in 1997. During her lifetime Mother Teresa became famous as the nun who dedicated her life to caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta. That’s a hard act to follow, of course, but we can all do our bit.
We need each other.
None of us are solo acts, one reason humanity is the most successful species to ever walk the earth is because we’re inter-dependant, we need each other. Our societies are built on giving and co-operation is at the heart of human lives and society. We need our neighbours, our neighbours need us and we thrive in community.
In 2020 an incredible £11.3 billion was given by organisations and people to good causes in the UK … but there’s a problem, and some say that the pandemic has played its part. Whilst the amount given to charity is still on the increase the number of people giving is actually shrinking. Givers are giving more but the pool is shrinking, in straightened times people tighten their belts, maybe they feel that the little bit they can do won’t make a difference.
£11.3 billion is a staggering amount but that’s just £14 per month per head of the UK population (I find a calculator useful in times like this but it also serves to remind us that our seemingly little contribution isn’t really that little – if you raised £168 in a charitable endeavour over an entire year it would put you, per capita, in the top half of the table).
What's the most popular act of charity?
But it’s not all about hard cash. CAF says that by far the most popular world-wide act of charity is ‘helping a stranger’. They have estimated that there are 1.9 billion random acts of kindness to strangers every month worldwide. In other words, 27% of the entire population of the world helped a total stranger last month and in a year that’s 22.8 billion random acts of kindness each year and those kinds of numbers really do add up. (22.8 billion acts of kindness to a stranger each year means that, on average, every one of us helps 3 strangers per year – we’re compelled to do it, it’s what makes us human.)
Another interesting thing to note from CAF is that people will give more when it’s made even easier for them to do so. The Australian government, for example, has more policies in place to encourage giving than many other national governments … and the stats are now in - Australia is officially the most generous country on earth with two thirds of Australians giving money each month whilst a third volunteer their time (the UK is in a highly creditable 8th position world-wide, you might like to know).
Charitable giving by companies
It seems to be on the decline from a peak in 2013, according to a recent report by CAF, who looked into the giving habits of companies in the FTSE 100. If this is true for companies across the board then it’s a concerning development, but we did notice one piece of rather heart-warming news. The report shows that most donations were made by a minority of companies, with pharmaceutical companies accounting for a huge 55 per cent of all donations (most of those donations were in-kind supplies of materials, drugs and healthcare). We’re proud, of course, to be a part of those statistics. Our business is to facilitate the pharmaceutical trade, we supply the bags, the bottles and the necessary consumables to make it all run smoothly, and so we’re happy that the wider industry engages in giving at levels much higher than any other.
Valley Northern has a caring ethic. We give a proportion of our profits to several charities each year and the company was founded (and is run) on Christian values. Oliver Pittock, Managing Director told me ‘We are Christians and want to live our faith and we believe we should give to those in need. It is part of our company values, ‘Hassle free because we care’… (This is the proof we care). Kind and True … this is just an example of it.’
These values are signed up to and enthusiastically observed and championed throughout the team. By turning up to work each day, staff at Valley Northern are doing their bit. Oliver continued ‘They know they are not just lining someone else’s pocket, profits are shared and given away. They are helping the community at large by working here.’
That’s our attitude to charitable giving and that’s the ethos of Valley Northern.
How about you?
If you, or your business, feels that it could do more then there’s lots of resources online to help you to make some decisions. Have a think about causes that may be close to your heart. You may have a specific charity in mind that inspires you or you may have heard about a local charity that needs all the help it can get. If you need a bit of extra help in deciding the way forward, you might like to do the quiz on the Charities Aid Foundation website ‘What type of philanthropist are you? https://www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving/plan-your-giving/charity-giving-survey
Harry, our company mascot, always sums up our attitude to business, community and charity rather well.
We really do ‘give a monkeys’.
