93 percent of UK Jews give to charity!

Only seven percent of British Jews do not give to charity, a new report has shown, and strictly Orthodox Jews are the most charitable of all.

The study, by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), found that the overwhelming majority of Jews – 93 percent – give to good causes, compared to a national average of 57 percent.

However, it also found that religious Jews favour Jewish charities and secular Jews favour non-Jewish charities, and said that strictly Orthodox Jews were far more likely to give their money to good causes.

“The Charedi community… whilst being less affluent than the non-Charedi community, is more generous with its money, and more likely to give specifically to Jewish charities,” it says in the report, published this week.

“It highlights the importance of charitable giving to Jewish life and the generosity of the community,” said Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Simon Johnson, one of several lay leaders charged with future-proofing community services. “In particular, the factors that cause people to give will present plenty of guidance for charities as we plan for future services”. It comes after researchers David Graham and Jonathan Boyd sought to determine – for the first time in 18 years – what Jews give, how, why, and to whom. “British Jews remain remarkably charitable by any objective measure,” said Boyd.

 The report reveals that Jews “are more likely to give to most causes, but especially the arts, overseas aid, the elderly, the homeless and to environmental causes,” but are less likely to give to animal and sporting causes.

The authors also found relationships between a British Jew’s age, their Jewish identity, and the likelihood of them giving to a Jewish charity. “Jewish charities benefit far more from older Jewish people than they do from younger members of the community,” they say.

“The greater the proportion [of older people’s giving] is directed towards Jewish charities, and the more likely they are to consider charitable giving to be an important part of their Jewish identity.”