City must give more to charity

Despite its high-profile efforts to help charities and support good causes, Europe's wealthiest financial district is perceived as uncaring.

On the eve of an estimated £7billion being distributed to bankers and traders, the City's "Scrooge" reputation will alarm its senior figures. The results came in a YouGovStone poll commissioned for the latest Evening Standard London Influentials Debate tonight, entitled "Should the City give more to good causes?" The poll surveyed a total of 772 influential business leaders including chief executives, managing directors and other top City managers.

Asked "is the City generous enough in donating to good causes?" only four per cent said "definitely" and 19 per cent "probably". But 62 per cent said "definitely not" or "probably not".

The City gives an estimated £1.1billion a year in corporate donations to good causes, yet 80 per cent said it should give more. More than a third of influentials said City workers should give up part of their bonuses to charity and more than one in eight said this should be at least 10 per cent, raising £700 million this year. There was also support for US-style programmes to involve well-paid workers in helping the less well-off. Half those questioned said City workers should take time off to mentor teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds. Lord Mayor David Lewis, a main figure at the City of London Corporation, said: "Giving to help others is a vital part of what it means to be a citizen and I, and many others in the City, have always contributed.

"Giving money, however, is not enough - the real gift has to be in time and personal engagement as well. The hidden story is how more and more City workers are adding value to the communities around us in thousands of imaginative and sustainable ways."

Fiona Rawes, director of Heart of the City, a corporation-funded charity which provides support and advice to businesses on how to help charities, said: "City firms are actually very good, not just in the volume of what they do but in the quality, sustainability and care with which they do it."

The Evening Standard London Influential Debate takes place at the Tate Modern from 6.30pm. The panellists are Arpad Busson, Lord Griffiths, Will Self, Camila Batmanghelidjh and John Studzinski with City editor Chris Blackhurst in the chair.

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