Determinants of Low Income People's Decisions to Give to Charity

This work in progress paper outlines a study currently being completed into the charity donation behaviour of a sample of financially poor people residing in three inner-London Boroughs that exhibit some of the highest levels of social deprivation in Western Europe. It examines whether several variables known to affect (i) levels of charity giving, and (ii) choices of types of charity supported among the UK public as a whole also influence the donation behaviour of the financially poor. Additionally the investigation explores the degree to which a participant's sense of affinity with other poor people and the degree to which the individual believes that the poor are unfairly treated by society at large exert significant impacts.