A requirement for “ministerial involvement” to secure funding with the UK Aid Match scheme has a negative impact on charity appeals, new research reveals.
A report from Martin Scott, a senior lecturer at the University of East Anglia, also says that the involvement of ministers in funding announcements can “lead to funds being redirected away from where they are needed most”.
It can also result in charities being chosen to receive funds based on the publicity they can offer ministers rather than on merit, according to the report, called Real Aid or Charity-Washing?
The report, published this week, was commissioned to examine inequities in the government’s UK Aid Match funding scheme.
The report cites analysis conducted by the research organisation Development Engagement Lab, which found that among the UK public, “frontline workers and volunteers are the most effective messengers in activating respondents’ intention to make a donation or sign a petition… [whereas] celebrities, businesspeople, and philanthropists have a negative impact for both”.
This means the necessary inclusion of politicians as part of campaigns can lead to lower engagement with the cause, Scott’s report says.
It also suggests this requirement comes from a request by ministers themselves.
UKAM annual review for 2019 said: “The UKAM team has looked at options for further communications and engagement as requested by ministers.”
Scott’s report says: “This raises the possibility that ministers may have requested that they be involved in UKAM communications – not to make the appeals more effective – but to generate favourable publicity for themselves.
“Recent research indicates that using aid spending announcements to ‘advance the personal career of ministers’ is not uncommon within aid bureaucracies but that it can lead to funds being redirected away from where they are needed most.”
It says this pursuit of reputational benefits can be linked “to a reduction in the diversity of issues the UK public is able to direct the UK aid budget towards via UKAM” because charities are not being chosen on merit but instead on the level of publicity they can bring to ministers.
The UK Aid Match scheme is a competitive funding scheme for UK-based non-governmental organisations established in 2010 which matches public donations to appeals for projects designed to reduce poverty and contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.