Justin Welby announced his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury in November 2024, following criticism of his response to child sex abuse in the church. The following month, he made a speech which angered abuse victims for its “frivolous” tone and “disturbing” message, before formally leaving his role in early January 2025.

Archbishops of Canterbury have for many years also held the role of honorary president – which is not an executive or trustee position – of The Children’s Society. The children and young people’s charity is legally known as The Church of England Children’s Society, and was founded nearly 150 years ago with the church’s backing.

A few days before Christmas 2024, the charity announced on X (formerly Twitter) and on LinkedIn that it was rejecting a donation offered by Welby, “after careful consideration”. The value of the donation has not been made public. In an accompanying statement, the charity’s chief executive Mark Russell said:

“The Children’s Society is deeply committed to supporting the survivors of abuse… and this means that accepting this donation would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work.

“We believe that there is an urgent need for the Church of England to reset its approach to safeguarding and continue to create a safer Church and safer spaces for young people, protected by real accountability.” 

A response from the Archbishop said that he “respects” the decision, and commended the charity for its “tireless work”.

The vast majority of responses the charity’s LinkedIn post, including several comments by other UK charity leaders, were supportive of the charity’s decision. Responses on X were more mixed, with one commenting:

“Extremely sad and surprised to see this, as a longstanding supporter of the Children’s Society.”

Miriam Cates, who until last year was a Member of Party for the Conservative Party, wrote in the online magazine Premier Christianity that she felt the decision was “wrong” but nonetheless “understandable”. She said:

“Some may criticise the decision to turn away a financial gift that could help hundreds of needy children. But in many peoples’ eyes, the CofE has become synonymous with poor safeguarding practice. In today’s outrage-fuelled, frenzied media environment, the Children’s Society has taken an understandable position.”

These findings come from DFRV’s latest Deutscher Spendenmonitor (Germany Donation Monitor), which is based on a 5,000-person survey.

The data show that 56% of Christians and 55% of Muslims in the country give to charity, compared to 46% of those with no religion. It also shows that 69% of Christians with assets in excess of €100,000 are donors, compared to 54% of those with no religion in the same financial position.

There is also a much higher rate of volunteering among Christians (45%) and Muslims (52%) than among non-believers (32%).

Overall, 40% of the population volunteers, the Spendenmonitor finds, and the rate is higher (50%) among those who are donors.

Most generations had more donors than volunteers, the study says, with the exception of Generation Z (the youngest group in the survey), of whom 30% volunteer and 19% donate.

DFRV advisory board member Professor Tom Neukirchen said that the shrinking number of churchgoers and long-term decline in baptism created a headache for the country’s various Christian aid organisations, who would now be increasingly competing for resources. He suggests that these charities need to “find the right fundraising approach for non-religious people around the age of 40”.

Neukirchen also suggested that charities should not be afraid of asking volunteers to donate money in addition to their time.

A UK survey earlier this year found that British Muslims gave more than four times as much money to charity each year than the rest of the country, according to Civil Society.

Picture by Julia M Cameron on Pixabay