It has been revealed by a voucher code website that 42% of Britons have lied about how charitable they are to their friends, family and co-workers to make themselves look better. In addition 67% would also lie on the matter again, whether that was about how much they had raised or what they had done.

The research which can be found here shows that the UK does like to lie about how much money they give to charity, yes they might boast a big aid budget but how much of that actually goes to the good causes! And are they lying about that!! Who knows? However the research, conducted by www.myvouchercodes.co.uk questioned 2,158 people aged over 18 to find out how truthful they were when it came to disclosing their charitable work. They found:

• 45% had lied about much money they had raised (more than they raised)
• 45% had lied about how much money they had donated (more than they in fact donated)
• 32% were not truthful about what they did to raise money for charity
• 37% lied about what charities they donated too
• 23% had lied about why they were raising money
• 17% had lied about volunteering time to a charity/cause when they hadn’t
• 8% also claimed someone else’s charity work as their own

Speaking about the study, Chris Reilly General Manager of MyVoucherCodes:

“Sometimes raising money for charity can bring out a competitive edge in people. This can be good news for charities, however it’s shocking to see people actually lying about how much money they have raised or how much money they have donated. The only people really losing out here are the charities, but some peoples’ egos are certainly being boosted.”

They also asked people, by how much they had exaggerated their donations:

• 35% stated that they had lied to their work colleagues
• 26% had lied to a partner
• 21% had lied to family members
• 17% revealed that they had lied to friends.

In addition only 11% of those surveyed had ever been found out that they had lied about how charitable they were, with 67% stating they would actually lie again.

“I can see how easily a little white lie about how much you donated or made for charity with work colleagues or family members might not seem like a bad thing, especially if it’s a rounded up figure or just a few pounds over. But exaggerating £100s of pounds over is a sure fire way to get noticed and more of a chance of you being sussed out as a liar. And in this age of social media, it wouldn’t take long for the whole world to find out.” Chris Reilly added.

Giving to charity should be about helping others, not helping your won ego!