A record total of £2.4bn in charitable donations were made by the UK’s richest philanthropists last year, according to the latest edition of the Sunday Times Giving List.
Sir Elton John, who founded the Elton John Aids Foundation in 1992, and Harry Potter author JK Rowling topped the list of celebrities who gave more than £1m to charity in 2013, donating £24m and £9.4m respectively.
They were among a record 165 donors who gave away more than £1m to charity last year with 48 giving more than £10m, and 20 donating more than £25m.
The annual Giving List is in its 13th year and provides details of the philanthropic activities of those who feature in the newspaper’s Rich List, which is due to be published in full over the next two weekends.
The Sainsbury family, headed by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, was the biggest giver in this year’s Giving List.
Although the family regularly features in the Giving List top 10, this is the first year it has topped it as both the biggest donors in cash terms and also when measured by the proportion of their wealth given away.
Some £165.3m has been put into their 18 family trusts or been donated by the family in the past 12 months, the survey shows.
According to a study of foundation giving trends, published last week by the Association of Charitable Foundations, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, set up by David Sainsbury, came second in a list of the UK’s top 300 foundations in terms of giving. It gave £144.5m in the year to April 2012.
Other £1m-plus celebrity donors includes the boy band One Direction, which donated just under £2.1m, including £600,000 raised for an anti-bullying campaign in American schools through selling branded notebooks and other merchandise.
The 2010 European Ryder Cup captain Colin Mongomerie raised £3.6m of his £4m target to fund two cancer centres in Scotland in memory of his mother, Elizabeth, who died of lung cancer. His appeal runs in partnership with the charity Maggie’s Centres.
John Low, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, which produces the Giving List in partnership with The Sunday Times, said: “The list is very powerful because it plays an important role in setting expectations and encouraging people to give to the causes we all care about. It is also an invaluable resource for fundraisers, helping to identify some of Britain’s most generous charity donors and the issues they passionately support.
“It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of these major donations to the vital work of charities and to creating a culture in this country where giving is the norm.”
The list is complied using accounts lodged by philanthropists with the Charity Commission, public announcements of gifts and fundraising events, and a survey of donors.
