New research unveiled as ‘big six’ energy bosses pay revealed
Research released today shows that an outstanding 97% of Scots believe that service providers don’t do enough for charity
Polling by the Smiley Charity Film Awards has discovered a sour opinion among Scots towards the charitable action of UK utilities, phone, gas and electric providers.
The study shows that 42% of Scots believe that UK businesses don’t do enough for charity and this is raised to an outstanding 97% when considering just service providers.
This comes among recent findings that executives and senior employees of the ‘big six’ gas and electric companies (British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, npower, ScottishPower and SSE) received nearly £60 million in salaries and bonuses last year.
Amid alarming rises in energy costs and an increasingly dim economic climate, energy providers are being called on to take action against astronomic salaries and now adding fuel to the fire, their lack of charitable action.
In terms of motivation for supporting a charity, polling found that the wider cause comes before the specific charity, as 68% of Scots are motivated to support charities if they care about the cause in general, compared to 55% who support if that specific charity does valuable work.
On the other end of the spectrum, local businesses were seen a lot more positively among the Scottish public in terms of charitable support and action, with 18% believing that they are doing enough for charity.
Supermarkets were also high in public opinion, with 34% believing that they do enough for charity.
Undertaken by the Smiley Charity Film Awards, an annual initiative undertaken by the Smiley Movement, the recent polling sought to delve deeper into public opinion and behaviour around charity giving.
The study brought to light a huge amount of insightful data that not only demands attention and change but also informs charities on how best to engage with consumers.
On looking at how we choose to support charities, the research found that 71% of Scots would choose to give monetary donations, versus 22% choosing volunteering. This disparity is 6% wider in Scotland than it is across the whole of the UK.
