Giving Tuesday: Reasons to Give

Giving to charity can seem like something other people do, or something that costs a lot, or something that demands more commitment than you can give. But donating to York St John is easy and for everybody to do. This Giving Tuesday, we’re sharing five reasons to donate to our Alumni-funded scholarships.

1. Giving makes you feel good – it’s science!

Donating to charity makes you feel good, no matter how much you donate, or how frequently. You’ve probably said ‘this is my good deed of the day’, but did you know that giving to charity makes you feel better than spending the same amount on yourself?

For example, if you spend £5 a month on hot drinks at work (and we know how easy it is to spend more) and you give £5 a month to charity, which would make you feel better? Phrased differently, which would have a more positive impact on you? The hot drinks you let go cold because you were busy, or the knowledge your money is helping others? You can find out more about the science behind this in this short article from Utah State University.

Enjoying the feeling of donating to charity, or else enjoying knowing that you’ve made a difference because you donated to charity, is an important factor in why people donate. Research from the Charities Aid Foundation found that 42% of the 700 people they surveyed agreed that the enjoyment they receive from donating to charity was a key reason why they donate.

2. Help students continue their course

Every student is different, and each has their own unique set of circumstances when they apply for our scholarships, but all of them are students who want to succeed in their studies, and in their careers. Our scholarships help students to continue their studies by helping their financial situation.

Students apply for our scholarships because they are struggling financially whilst they’re studying. Our scholarships help them afford both university and life essentials. We know that students might use their scholarship money to buy a new laptop to run course software. But, we also know the importance of being able to afford to socialise when you move to a new city, alone.

Unsuccessful scholarship applicants are nearly twice as likely to not complete their course compared to students who received a scholarship.

From that statistic alone, it’s clear the difference a scholarship makes to students, a difference you can help create.

3. Our scholarships make a real difference

In the past 11 years, you’ve donated nearly £100,000 towards our scholarship fund. Thanks to your generosity, we have funded over 130 scholarships. The difference these scholarships have made to their recipients is immense. For some students, their scholarship helped them continue their studies when they otherwise would have dropped out due to financial concerns.

Our scholarships have helped:

• New parents finish their studies by paying for childcare
• Students to afford frequent trips home to spend time with terminally ill parents
• Students to buy a new laptop so they can access all their course content*
• Enabled countless small moments to happen

Whether a scholarship has helped students afford a sports club to make new friends and continue doing the sport they love, or helped them budget for their flat Christmas dinner, your donations have already helped 130 students continue and enjoy their studies at York St John.

* Students have course content hosted online, including lecture slides, reading lists and course texts. Some courses also require students to use software that can only be run on newer computers and laptops. All students have to submit elements of their degree online, including essays, reports and digital projects. If students can’t access things at home because their laptop or computer is too old, their learning is limited to what they can do in the library.

4. A little goes a long way

You might think that donating money is only worthwhile when you can donate large sums, but every donation helps our students. We’re happy when you donate monthly, quarterly, annually or just a one-off when you can afford it. Donating a little is always better than not donating at all, and we appreciate every penny and every pound donated.

Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves

• For the cost of one tall Caffe Latte at Starbucks (£2.25) a month, you’d contribute £27 a year towards our alumni-funded scholarships, which could help a student buy:
  • Some of their reading list or
  • Home essentials like a duvet, pillows or mattress protector, or
  • Some work clothes for their part-time job and work placements
• For the cost of a monthly Spotify membership (£9.99) you’d contribute £119.88 towards our scholarships each year, which could help a student buy:
  • A new 3 year railcard to help them get cheaper fares, and quite a few train journeys too, or
  • Several weeks of food, or
  • Most if not all of their reading list
• For the cost of a typical Friday-night takeaway (£25.00) a month, you’d contribute £300 a year to our scholarship fund, which could help a student pay for:
  • Their entire reading list, plenty of stationery and a new pair of glasses with plenty left over, or
  • A passport and a discounted course-based trip abroad to help enhance their cultural capital, or
  • A deposit for their second or third year rented accommodation

5. It encourages others to do the same

When we donate to charity and mention it in passing, it encourages others to do the same. By normalising charity giving, it makes it easier to talk about which causes mean the most to us and how we support them. If we talk about giving to charity with younger people, it also passes down the idea of generosity and community – two things that are important to our message at York St John.

My earliest memory of giving to a charity must be from when I was around three or four years old. We were in Tesco for the weekly big shop and there was someone stood with a bucket and a guide dog. As a child I didn’t understand what they were fundraising for; I just wanted the stickers they were handing out!

But as the years went on, it became commonplace. If there was someone stood there with a bucket or a box, Mum would give me a pound to put in and I’d get a new sticker for my coat. In November, Mum probably donated the most for all the poppies that always fell off!

Now as an adult, I’m struck with the same impulse when I see a donations bucket. These days it involves far more digging about in my purse, or donating online if I only have a few pence change on me. But even without the poppy or the sticker stuck to my coat, the feeling of having done good remains.

Jess, Alumni Communications and Philanthropy Assistant

We don’t stand in supermarkets, and we don’t have any stickers to hand out. But donating to our scholarship fund will still give you that feel-good feeling. Whether you mention it in passing or post about your donation online, normalising donating to charity will only boost your feel-good feeling, encourage others to donate, and boost our scholarship fund!

+1 Find out more and Give Today

You can find out more about our scholarships on our website. We also posted a blog earlier this month with more information on why students might apply for a scholarship, and what they might spend that money on. You can read the blog, including quotes from recent recipients here.

If you would like to donate to our scholarship fund and help disadvantaged students continue their education, you can do so on our JustGiving page. Please email alumni@yorksj.ac.uk if you have any questions.

If you’re not in a position to donate today, why not sign up for Easy Fundraising instead? When you shop online using Easy Fundraising and select us as your charity of choice, we receive a small donation to our scholarship fund at no cost to you. It works like a cashback app – neither us or Easy Fundraising know what you buy or what card you used, we just get your donation from the shopping you were already going to do. Find out more on our new scholarship cause page.