Giving is down by 11 per cent in a year

Fundraising | Tania Mason | 23 Sep 2009

Donations to UK charities have plummeted by 11 per cent in the last year to £9.9bn, according to UK Giving 2009, the annual survey of giving habits carried out by Charities Aid Foundation and the NCVO.

The drop, measuring £700,000 in absolute terms and £1.3bn in real terms, was calculated after polling 3,316 UK adults between June and October 2008 and in February 2009.

The fall is largely the result of people giving less, rather than less people giving. The number of people who donate to charity each month fell by just 2 per cent to 54 per cent of the population.

Medical research remains the most popular cause but religious causes still receive the most, taking 15 per cent of all donations. Cash is still the most common method of giving, though the use of regular giving methods is increasing.

More women are donors (58 per cent versus 49 per cent of men), and while men give larger amounts on average, women aged 16 to 24 are much more generous than their male counterparts, giving an averge of £16 against £7.

The average donation amount was £31 per donor per month, down from £33 in 2007/8. But this figure is not a very good representation as averages are distorted by small numbers of very large gifts from wealthy benefactors. A more accurate figure is the median monthly donation, which at £10 per donor was down by £1 since a year ago.

According to the report, “a small drop in the mean monthly donation, but no change to the median amount, suggests that much of the fall in giving is due to a reduction in the size of larger donations.

“Overall it seems that people are still trying to give what they can, but are able to afford less than in the previous year.

“Our findings indicate that after adjusting for inflation, people are giving the same amount as they did in 2006/7.”

Just two in five donors gift aid their donations, meaning around £750m still goes unclaimed by charities.

Directory: Charities Aid Foundation | National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Who's Who: Tania Mason

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.