By Cara Sulieman
SCOTS are among the best in the UK at donating time and money to charity.
Around half of all Scots surveyed said they like to help.
London ranked a measly 35 per cent but almost three quarters of Northern Irish say they donate regularly.
The poll, carried out by new charity website Leap Anywhere, also found those north of the border splashed out more when they did give a financial donation.
At £20 a pop, they were only beaten by the monied Londoners who handed over £25 each time.
Too busy or lazy
And the excuses for not volunteering were not exactly original.
Over half those polled said that they were too busy to give their time while one in 10 said they were too lazy.
The lengths that people will try to avoid a donation were also revealed, with most people using a raft of lies to fob off requests.
Nearly a quarter of the UK population have told a Big Issue seller that they had already bought a copy when they hadn’t, and 26 per cent used the same lie on charity workers.
And 66 per cent of the population say they regularly cross the road in a desperate attempt to avoid the dreaded charity muggers.
Button in the charity can
But some of the revelations may raise some eyebrows.
Seven per cent of people admitted that they have haggled over the price in a charity shop and six per cent have placed a button rather than a coin in a collecting can.
Eight per cent of people said that they had something in common with some MPs and claim charity contributions back on their work expenses – an average of £20.45.
The poll was carried out by Leap Anywhere, a new website that launches today and is designed to make volunteering more fun by giving people the opportunity to do things like play ping pong for pandas.
“Quite remarkable”
Malcolm Scovil, founder of Leap Anywhere commented: “Having lived in Fife and London for a number of years, I can see there is a lot of benevolence across the UK although it can sometimes be difficult to get involved in charity.
“These quite remarkable findings show that the reputedly canny Scots are in fact amongst the most generous in the British Isles.
“Leap Anywhere, with the backing of over 100 charities, is the world’s first social platform designed to help people indulge in their leisure activities whilst doing good, thus making giving back much easier for all of us.”
The new website can be found at www.leapanywhere.com.
