The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)
Today I have laid before Parliament the “Giving” White Paper (Cm 8084). This follows from the “Giving” Green Paper which was published on 29 December 2010 and the consultation which this launched.
We believe that everyone can make a difference. So we want to empower and encourage more people to get involved; support each other and create the change they want to see.
In the “Giving” Green Paper we set out our ambition to work with partners to inspire a step change in giving—both of time and money. We believe that giving is good. It offers benefits for everyone—those giving as well as those receiving. It does not matter how you give, or what you give, mutual support is at the core of a happy, healthy society.
We understand that stimulating social action is not easy or straightforward. Governments have tried in the past but have not succeeded in generating significant increases in giving. We are also conscious that the economic difficulties of the past few years mean we must tread carefully. Many people may be unable or unwilling to give more of their time or money if they feel stretched financially or have little time to spare.
Stimulating giving is a long-term project and we want to take a new approach that uses lessons from previous attempts. In part this is about acknowledging the limits of Government—recognising that social action is not something people can or should be compelled to do. Instead it has to be built from the bottom up through grass-roots organisations and with opportunities to give that appeal to people’s motivations and interests. As we heard repeatedly in responses to our consultation, the autonomy of charities and community groups, and the voluntary nature of giving are vitally important and we are determined not just to respect but encourage this independence.
We believe that there are a range of ways Government can help to make giving easier and more compelling without “interfering” or getting in the way. We want to use a mix of approaches to achieve this: from more “traditional” policy levers such as tax incentives, funding, policy programmes and removing regulatory barriers; to “softer” approaches, such as setting a good example and bringing people and organisations together to share ideas and celebrate success.
In the White Paper we set out three core strands of activity where we want to work with partners to:
1. Make giving as easy as possible;
2. Make giving as compelling as possible;
3. Give better support to those that provide and manage opportunities to give—be they charities, community groups or others.