The Charities Aid Foundation says the public has faith in charities to reunite communities
People have become more active in their comunities and are more inclined to volunteer following the Brexit referendum.
A poll commissioned by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) found one in four people feel the area they are living in is more divided than it was at the start of the year.
However 40% of those asked said charities could be key to bringing communities back together as they can help heal social divides.
So strong is the faith in charities that 18% – equivalent to roughly 9 million Brits – said they feel more inclined to help out by carrying out volunteering than they were at the beginning of the year.
CAF says the findings prove charities must be encouraged to play a bigger role in healing rifts caused by Brexit.
Its A Stronger Britain: How can charities build a post-Brexit Britain report calls for local and national governments to commission charities to monitor levels of cohesion and threats.
The report states that third sector organisations operating on the ground are well placed to see divisions in communities caused by the referendum firsthand and could help make the process of exiting the EU work better for everyone.
Resources should also be allocated to provide charities with mechanisms to report concerns they have, with an obligation on government to act on those recommendations.
“Making Brexit work for everyone and delivering a strong society will depend on making charities a core part of the UK’s new settlement - John Low, CAF
CAF chief executive John Low said: “Making Brexit work for everyone and delivering a strong society will depend, in no small part, on making charities a core part of the UK’s new settlement,”
“Government should embrace the expertise and influence of charities.
“This means working with them on Brexit policy, continuing to support the work of Britain’s charities at home and abroad and sending a clear message that charities have an important role to play in healing communities and giving people a voice.”
Although CAF's report looked at the Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland as a collective, Volunteer Scotland says the referendum also encouraged people to be more active north of the border.
Alan Stevenson of Volunteer Scotland said the organisation's website, which provides local volunteering opportunities across Scotland, noticed an increase in hits the week following the vote on June 23 compared to the corresponding week the previous year.
It’s not a new phenomenon however. Stevenson says there was a similar increase following Scotland’s independence referendum in September 2014.
He added: “We welcome the Charities Aid Foundation survey which suggests that political and social activity is on the rise.
“This finding appears to be echoed in the most recent Scottish Household Survey for 2015.
“The conclusion drawn that political involvement is then leading to increased volunteering is very interesting and certainly worthy of further examination. Something I’ll be raising with my research colleagues.
“We know that the voluntary sector delivers more local services than ever before.
“We ran a survey a few years ago and spoke to almost 600 charities, we found that more than half were run entirely by volunteers.
“It is little surprise that individuals are turning to local voluntary organisations including charities for support in a time of political uncertainty.”
As well as urging governments to listen to charities more, CAF called on their freedom to advocate to be explicitly protected in the new British Bill of Rights.
The report added: “Enshrining charity advocacy in law would help demonstrate to charities, donors and beneficiaries that the role of charity advocacy is understood as legitimate and important.”
