Young people and the Intergenerational Divide
The Rev. Ted Baines charity is based on the concept of encouraging generosity BY and FOR the benefit of the next generation.
This is both because we want young people to learn to be generous and also because we feel that is important to support causes which benefit the next generation.
Our charity is based on a unique principle of making each £ given go further. So every £ given achieves up to four things at the same time:
- By encouraging older people to give freely it helps heal the inter-generational divide
- By matched funding we encourage generosity by young people
- By supporting charitable causes chosen by the next generation we empower young people
- Also, as and when the Charity is supported by Christian churches, this provide a means of reconnecting Christian churches with the young people of their church and communities. Read about how churches can start doing this here.
The Inter-generational divide
Much has been written about the intergenerational divide in the UK and we encourage those interested to read about it via the links below.
https://www.ukcbc.ac.uk/intergenerational-divide/
https://socialintegrationappg.org.uk/2019/05/16/launch-of-healing-the-generational-divide-report/
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/advanced/a-new-generational-contract/
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/social-mobility-commission
We see the key problems as being
- The next generation (those born in 1990 and after) are likely to be the first generation for a very long time who are less well-off economically than their parents
- This is due to a combination of job insecurity, student debt, poorer pensions and excessive house price inflation in their parents’ generation
- By contrast, their parents’ generation benefitted from the post-war boom, secure pensions, free university tuition and more job security. House values and investments grew way faster than earnings and so the older generation received a one-off windfall benefit (if they were lucky enough to own a home or have investments) and a secure income in work and then in retirement
- All this means that it is much harder for young people to learn to give since they need to keep most of their money just to live
The Rev. Baines Charity is therefore based as its first principle on encouraging the older generation to give some of their income or “windfall” wealth to help bridge this inter-generational divide, and not just by passing all their money down to their own children. Click here if you would like to help us in this by donating.