People who ‘give’ make better communities: summary and implications

The prosocial qualities of the civic sector can be evaluated by ‘giving’ flows. Using UK data, this book affirms that a person’s willingness to give is not only influenced by social cohesion, it also helps to generate social cohesion. Reacting to the needs and interests of others brings communities together, building positive relationships and enabling people to work together more effectively. Most of our welfare measures fail to capture these relational assets, focusing instead on individualistic indicators such as ‘how good I feel’ or ‘how much money I have’, but for thriving communities we need to ask ourselves what we give as well as what we get. We need to affirm behaviours which draw people together, adjusting policy as we learn which interventions foster and which depress the inclination to give.