Charity investments rose in value by just over 10 per cent in the last 12 months, and by 2.8 per cent in the first half of 2014, according to figures released by market analysts State Street.

State Street's WM Charity Fund Monitor is based on a survey of most major charity investment managers, and uses investment data to the end of May 2014, and estimated figures for June.

According to the data, the best performing asset class was property, which rose in value by 17 per cent over the last 12 months, followed by UK equities, which returned 13.1 per cent.

However, cash returned only 0.4 per cent over the last 12 months.

Annualised returns over the last three years were 7.9 per cent.