Charity donor: 'We will give the same but charities will get less'

"We're not going to give less. We're going to give the same, but the charities are going to receive less. The Government are really taking the money off the charities." Lord Harris of Peckham, Chairman of Carpetright And Charity Donor.

Lord Harris of Peckham,  branded the move “stupid”.   

Charities have said that the Government’s aggressive rhetoric would be interpreted as an attack on all giving at a time when many organisations are already struggling to cope with cutbacks in state funding.

Unicef, the children’s charity, said that the government’s approach was already hampering urgent efforts to raise funds for a million children facing food shortages in West Africa.
Sir Nicholas Hytner, artistic director National Theatre, said the plans made “no sense” and that he had already received a call from a wealthy individual who was seriously reconsidering a £250,000 donation.
According to recent estimates, gifts from philanthropists accounted for more than 15 per cent of the £10.6 billion donated to charity in Britain in 2010.
Currently, higher-rate taxpayers donating to a charity can reclaim more than half of the tax. From April, the maximum will be £50,000 per year, or 25 per cent of the individual’s income.




Lord Harris of Peckham, the founder of the Carpetright chain who has set up a series of academy schools, said he would give less money away as a result and Sir Tom Hunter, who has given more than £50 million to good causes, branded the move “stupid”.
Andast night, Dame Stephanie Shirley, who runs a group called Ambassadors for Philanthropy and has herself given away £60million, accused the Government of "a cack–handed assault on philanthropic giving". Dame Shirley said the charity sector stood to lose "hundreds of millions of pounds a year".

In an open letter to Mr Cameron, she said: "These plans are already discouraging major giving, with donors informing charities privately of their intention to put on hold plans to give five-, six- or even seven-figure sums. "They will, if enacted, significantly hamper the work of many charities, large and small, as almost half of all giving comes from just 7 per cent of donors."