Whilst a consumer perceptions survey has shown that estate agents are not viewed as generous by the public, the profession donated £13million to good causes in 2013.
They aim to improve on this in 2014 and take the total raised to £14.6million.
Despite this, estate agents were ranked in the bottom three of the survey with only used car dealerships and doctors’ surgeries perceived by the public as less generous.
Energy companies, banks and accountants rank more highly in the minds of the consumer than estate agents when it comes to charitable giving and fundraising activities.
New research by the Estate Agency Foundation (EAF) reveals that over 74% of estate agents involve themselves in fundraising activities and over 59% of estate agency branches give money directly to charity.
Of those branches that do participate in fundraising activities: – 80% of branches get involved in sporting activities:
– 56% of branches are involved in local support activities such as giving to a local charity shop.
– 46% are involved in fundraising days such as cake sales.
– The average annual monetary donation (direct money donated) by an individual estate agency branch is £1,830.
Peter Knight, Chairman of the EAF, commented: “Estate agents have a reputation for being self-interested. In our experience, that is an extremely unfair reputation when we look at the extent of participation in the charitable activities that we set up every year.
“In our survey, 75% of branches questioned participated in a fundraising activity and we aim for an increased participation in 2014.
“Around 80% of agents who do engage in a fundraising activity do some sort of sport whether it is running, a cycle ride or something even more challenging.
“We aim to expand our range of events this year from cooking competitions to snail races, as well as keeping the much loved favourites such as our golf day. We are also planning a series of developments this year that will broaden the Estate Agency Foundation’s horizon.”
