I’m riding on the Tube when a woman who looks to be about 20, with her blond hair tied in Heidi ringlets, enters the car and addresses the crowd. “I’m a medical student,” she says, “and I’m collecting for Guy’s and St. Thomas Hospital.” She’s wearing blue hospital scrubs, and holding a large bucket that says “GSTH” on it, with a slot for coins. But other than that, there is no way of verifying that she is who she says she is. She’s just as likely to be raising money for her drug habit or cult leader as for medical research. In fact, given that London underground regulations forbid solicitation on the trains, she is almost certainly a scammer.

But I seem to be the lone skeptic in the carriage; all around me, people are reaching into their pockets and pulling out change. In an American subway carriage, you’d expect to see far fewer people giving her their spare change; yet statistically speaking, Americans give a far larger percentage of their income to charity than Brits.
The paradox is explained by the way charity works here. Walk down any busy street, and you will be accosted by representatives of various charities soliciting donations. I’m not just talking about bell-ringing Santa Clauses with change buckets; these are (usually young) people in brightly colored vests who want your bank account details so that they can take donations by direct debit. These paid workers have a style that tends to vary from persistant to aggressive, earning them the nickname “charity muggers”–or “chuggers” for short. Most remarkably, people actually seem willing to give out their account number to complete strangers on street corners. Giving a few coins to a woman in hospital scrubs is, relatively speaking, a low-risk proposition.
Still, it’s a simple fact that donations given to stop somebody from hassling you on the street are likely to be less generous than those given when you’re sitting calmly at home with your budget in front of you. Since more than half of all donations in the UK are given on the spur of the moment, it’s no surprise that the sum total is less.
Another, equally likely explanation is that, in electing to pay higher taxes than Americans–and in thereby providing free health care and decent public housing to all– Brits are simply making their donations in a far more socially cohesive way than Americans.
In any case, what one organization calls “the eccentric nature of British philanthropy” is a common complaint among charitable organizations here. Each year,for example Britons give a total of £13 million to a charity whose sole goal is to care for donkeys. True, it cares for them extremely well; donkeys are given not merely sanctuary but their own specially constructed donkey jackets. But when a donkey sanctuary receives more donations than the country’s largest charity for the elderly, one might be excused for wondering what’s going on. Oddly, in a nation with £13 million to spare for the donkeys, another charity couldn’t raise a mere £160,000 for the hedgehogs. The elderly must have been pleased to know that, if not quite as well appreciated as donkeys, they are at least more beloved than hedgehogs.
Still, it’s nice to live in a country where a man can at least try to donate an elephant to a good cause.