More People Donating to CSOs, Helping Strangers and Volunteering

Based on data from Gallup’s World View World Poll—conducted in 100+ countries—the 2022 World Giving Index by the Charities Aid Foundation shows positive developments in philanthropy despite the pandemic and its economic impacts. In addition to a breakdown and highlighting of these trends by country, the Index found that in 2021, in the three major areas it monitors:

• 23% of people volunteered, up from 19% in 2020
• 35% report donating to CSOs (the survey’s highest number thus far)
• 62% adults helped someone they didn’t know, the survey’s highest recorded level up from 55% in 2020

The Index also makes the following recommendations to enable cross-border and local giving:

• Governments should regulate CSOs in a fair, consistent, open way
• Giving should be easy and include incentives
• CSOs should ensure good governance and transparency about their impact, engage local communities in decision-making and build on traditional forms of giving
• Civil society should be promoted as an independent voice and CSOs’ right to speak out on important issues affirmed
• International funders should: support infrastructure that can generate
(post-aid) funds for civil society; give locally to improve aid’s accountability and efficiency; and help grantees build ongoing domestic support