Volunteering and charitable giving; how Marchwood IFA helps
Volunteering and charitable giving; how Marchwood IFA helps
The World Giving Index – is the UK a charitable country?
The World Giving Index is produced by The Charities Aid Foundation (CFA). The index rates 140 countries against three indices: helping a stranger, volunteering time and donating money. This year only half of what the CFA classifies as developed nations were in the top 20. For the first time Indonesia took the top place; with New Zealand and Australia being in the top three. The UK took sixth place moving five places up the index since 2017; and resting just one place behind Ireland which is in fifth place.
Indonesia indexes as follows: 53% of residents said that they had volunteered, 46% claimed to have helped a stranger and 78% said that they donated to charity. The Charities Aid Foundation believes that the Rohingya crisis in 2017 contributed to Myanmar’s fall to ninth place; which left room for Indonesia to take the top spot. Six of this year’s top 20 are in Europe. Half of the CFA top giving countries are classified by the United Nations as developed countries. In the UK 33% volunteered, 63% helped somebody and 68% donated money to charity.
Marchwood IFA supporting local sports clubs and Snowdrop
In keeping with the UK’s giving nature here at Marchwood IFA we support local sports clubs and charities. The team at Marchwood IFA dedicate over 300 hours per annum in sports coaching for Chichester Cricket Club Juniors, Chichester Hockey Club Juniors; and Chichester Rugby Football Club Juniors. We also sponsor sports equipment, sports kit and sports clubs to raise funds and reduce the cost of participating for young people.
Our chosen charity of four years’ is the Sussex Snowdrop Trust; a local Chichester-based sick children’s charity Snowdrop.
Help and care is provided to sick children and their families in the home by Snowdrop. Currently there are 76 Snowdrop children that have life-shortening illnesses. The Sussex Snowdrop Trust was set up to provide care for children in the home. There are five Nurses and a Counsellor working on the Snowdrop team. In many cases families want to learn how to use medical equipment, such as nasal gastric tubes for feeding, and need the support of a qualified nurse. Having a sick child can also put a strain on the family’s time; medical carers are able to give parents, guardians and siblings a much-needed break.
Approximately £350,000 is spent annually on direct family care, which includes paying the wages of the Snowdrop Care at Home Team. Very often a family member may have to give up work to free up time to care for a sick child, which means that financial help is needed. Caring for a sick child and getting to hospital can be very costly. By way of example a return taxi fare to Great Ormond Street for a bone marrow or a kidney transplant costs over £160. Parents travel thousands of miles to take their children to hospital; Snowdrop has Family Volunteers who take families to and from appointments in their own cars to ease this burden. Snowdrop has bereavement counsellors and continues to grow expertise in this area.
If you would like to make a donation to the Sussex Snowdrop Trust please click here.
If you would like any advice on critical or serious illness policies, many of which offer automatic children’s cover payable as a lump-sum please contact MarchwoodI FA on 01243 532 635 to arrange a consultation.
As ever we would advise you to speak to an Independent Financial Advisor about your finances. We have specialists that are able to discuss specific options with you.
To discuss Life, serious illness and income protection insurances (to protect a debt such as a mortgage or to make sure that your family is well looked after financially after the death of a parent/partner) or equity release to help you plan for income in retirement please ask to speak to Hamish Gairns.
To discuss mortgages & insurances please ask to speak to James Mayne.
To discuss retirement and investment plans with us please ask to speak to Richard Smith.