By John Nickson, author of Giving is Good For You: Why Britain Should Be Bothered and Give More
“Christmas means ITV” was a self -promotional puff I recall from television in the nineteen seventies that prompts a more important question: is CHRISTMAS good for us? Christmas may be good for publishers but is a hellish time for most people I know. I agree with Tolstoy who might have said: “All happy family Christmases resemble one another, every unhappy family Christmas is unhappy after its own fashion.”
I am not a puritan. Although I am an atheist and my childhood was unhappy, I have a celebratory temperament that rejoices in good food, wine and, in particular, music. I have to confess to believing that God does have all the best tunes. Wherever I am, I have to go inside a church.
I am, however, repelled by the ghastliness of Christmas, the banal advertising and all the tat we have to endure for weeks before Christmas Day with its unwanted presents and legacy of boredom, dyspepsia and fat. But worst of all, is the conversion of Christmas into a festival of consumerism, encouraging a belief that, apart from birthdays, giving is something you do only at Christmas.
By not giving regularly, we are denying ourselves. Giving really is good for us and can be fun. Giving is what we are supposed to do. We are naturally selfish but altruism has also given us an evolutionary advantage. Just as the need to eat and have sex are rewarded with pleasurable feelings, so giving makes us feel good. We are social animals who thrive when we collaborate and care for each other. We started being philanthropic long before Christmas was invented. In the foreword to my book, Robert Winston says that the remains of pre-hominids living in France 700,000 years ago suggest that they chewed food for those who had lost their teeth and who would otherwise have starved.
After thirty years as a professional fundraiser, donor and charity trustee, I believe that humanity is in danger of losing the plot. In the nineteenth century, when the Victorians invented the modern Christmas, most of us in all classes were philanthropic. There was, of course, no welfare state and I have no wish to go back to a Dickensian time when people were born and died on the streets. However, we have lost as well as gained since then and what we seem to be losing is commitment to those we don’t know.
There has been a colossal increase in personal wealth in the last thirty years with the largest share of national income going to the richest 10%. Inequality is growing and is proved to lead to more dysfunctional, violent and unhealthy societies at great cost to us all, including the rich. Meanwhile, almost half of us give nothing to charity and the richest give proportionately less than the poor. Despite unprecedented personal wealth in Britain, charitable giving fell by up to 20% between 2011 and 2012.
I decided to write a book to encourage the mean to follow the example of the generous. I was encouraged to do so by some of Britain’s most generous benefactors . So it was that I approached Biteback Publishing in the summer of 2012, full of passion and moral fervor. Sam Carter, commissioning editor, invited me to talk at him for ten minutes and after due consultation with his colleagues, I was invited to write Giving Is Good For You. The stark question I had to ask myself was this: was I correct in my belief that giving is not only good for us but that the motivation to give is deep rooted in the human psyche and that by giving we can redeem ourselves and transform our lives? By wishing to follow the example of Richard Wagner, whose operas are obsessed with redemption, was I biting off more than I could chew?
I decided to go on the road to find out. I needn’t have worried. I talked to nearly 80 benefactors and those who work for charities and was overwhelmed by the response. I haven’t quite managed to match Wagner’s achievement but those I interviewed were truly inspirational, the heroes and heroines of our age because they refuse to be daunted by the scale of the problems facing us. They are determined to seek solutions by supporting the most vulnerable, the homeless, the young unemployed, those denied human rights, enabling the most disadvantaged to enjoy high quality education, pioneering medical research as well as investing in higher education and the arts for the benefit of us all.
Everyone I met told me that giving has transformed their lives, whether they were funding a refuge and re-education for sex workers in Newcastle, giving a million year to support the young unemployed in Yorkshire or funding research into poverty and what could improve the lives of slum dwellers in Bangladesh.
I also learned that philanthropy is for everyone, including the old woman who sticks a pound coin onto a piece of cardboard every month and sends it to The Passage, a charity for the homeless in Westminster.
I can be shameless about promoting my book because I am giving my royalties away. If you are looking for a book that could change your life, please read Giving Is Good For You. Even better, send a copy to anyone you who know who is rich and uncharitable. One of the interviewees in my book knows Boris Johnson who has recently championed greed and envy. She is sending him a copy for Christmas so that he can find out how little the very rich give and what those who do give think of those who do not give. He may be surprised. And so might you.
Happy New Year!
(Giving is Good For You by John Nickson is on offer for one day only as part of our Advent Calendar offers. Get your copy today, and don’t forget to make the most of our remaining 12 offers)
