Setting new trends

Finance | Ian Allsop | 1 Jul 2005

The total income of the top 500 fundraising charities grew 3 per cent in real terms in 2003-04 to £9.1 billion, according to new research.

Charity Trends 2005 published by CAF reveals that growth was not evenly distributed. The dominant position of the top charities was consolidated, with the same six charities coming top of the table as in the previous year; Cancer Research UK, National Trust, Oxfam, British Heart Foundation, RNLI and the Salvation Army. The report states that: 'These results yield a picture of a widening income gap between the larger and smaller fundraising charities.'

Other findings include that charitable expenditure grew by 5 per cent, slightly above income growth, with fundraising and management/administration costs maintaining all time low levels of 12 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. The voluntary donated income of the top 500 showed a slowdown in annual growth to 2.9 per cent, compared with 7.5 per cent the previous year. The report suggests that this decline is particularly worrying because it continues a long-term five-year decline in the growth rates of voluntary income. Legacy income fell by 1.8 per cent.

There was a fall in voluntary income of 7 per cent to international charities, possibly caused by the terrorist fears raised by the war in Iraq and the closure of some of the international aid agencies. In spite of this, international charities remain the UK's most popular cause, and those in the top 500 attracted £625 million.

Encouragingly, the report finds that strong growth in tax efficient giving undoubtedly reflects the investment which many charities have been making in better systems for their donor databases, with details of tax-status and permission to gift aid. The amount of tax repaid to charities through gift aid grew by £74 million on the previous year, to £586 million.

Total donations through gift aid (unadjusted for inflation)

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