Charities may lose out on direct debit donations because of the financial situation, according to a new poll.

A survey from G2 Data Dynamics found that 31% of consumers would cut direct debit donations to charity if they need to reduce outgoings, while fewer consumers would reduce other regular monthly outgoings such as regular saving (28%), insurance policies (25%), mobile phone subscriptions (10%) and pension contributions (4%).

However, the poll also revealed that consumers are more likely to cut irregular spending than charitable donations. Around 60% of those polled said they would no longer spend money on eating-out in restaurants, and a similar number said they would cut holiday plans in the short-term.

A recent YouGov poll had similar findings.  It suggested that more people would cut back on a wide variety of spending, including clothes, eating-out, trips to the cinema and home improvements than would reduce their charitable donations.

Alan Thorpe, commercial and operations director at G2 Data Dynamics, said, “Consumers are clearly making tough choices in the face of global financial uncertainty …. There are some harsh warnings here for brands and organisations - particularly in the travel, charity and leisure sectors - and they would do well to look again at their customer databases to make sure they do all they can to avoid being the first on people’s chopping blocks.”

• Read Philanthropy UK’s recent article on the potential impact of the credit crunch on charitable giving.