The average UK adult gives almost £30,000 in total to charity during their lifetime, according to research. Typically Brits will give £16,671 to charity by direct debit, £1,831 to collection boxes and £2,275 by sponsoring friends, family and colleagues – all during their adult years.
And those polled will also splash out an average of £8,104 on almost 2,400 different charity shop items over the same period.
Quirky charity shop finds include a bust of William Shakespeare, a kimono, a CD signed by Sting and an autographed edition of David Beckham's autobiography.
Commissioned by Hyundai who have teamed up with Stand Up To Cancer to create a contactless car, the research of 2,800 UK adults also found half give up their free time to volunteer for good causes.
Rachel Carr, head of Stand Up To Cancer, said: "Since Hyundai unveiled its world-first Contactless Car, we've been overwhelmed by the positive response from the public. So many people have tapped the car to donate and, as Hyundai's findings show, we know that's just the tip of the iceberg of how much and how regularly people give.
"Stand Up To Cancer is all about driving forward game-changing science that saves lives. And we couldn't do it without the support of the amazing people who are joining the rebellion against the disease by donating, fundraising and sponsoring our research."
On average the Brits contribute six per cent of their disposal income to charity and those that volunteer give up about the same proportion of their free time for important causes. It also emerged respondents will typically raise £1,263 for charity themselves by participating in activities such as fun runs and coffee mornings.
And three quarters visit charity shops at least once a month – 1,700 times over the course of their adult lifetime.
The most common way people typically give money to charity is through collection boxes – with over half doing this. While four in ten contribute to charitable causes by sponsoring friends, family and work colleagues, and a third purchase consumer items which see a percentage of the profits going to charity.
Almost two thirds of respondents typically select the gift aid option when donating to charity and over half have contributed to a website such as Just Giving.
A fifth of the population said they plan to leave money in their will to charity when they pass away.
And one in ten said they would contribute more money to charity if they could do it using contactless payments.
The research, which was carried out by OnePoll, also looked at how charitable Britain's cities are. And Oxford is among the most generous, with its population giving more money to charity through direct debits than any other city in the UK.
