Accessibility Features
Accessibility | Skip to Start of Article | Skip to Search | Skip to Navigation Menu | Skip to Themes | Skip to Regions | Skip to Members Sign InAccessibility Features
Accessibility | Skip to Start of Article | Skip to Search | Skip to Navigation Menu | Skip to Themes | Skip to Regions | Skip to Members Sign In
Total income to the UK’s Top 500 fundraising charities has grown in real terms by 8.6% to £10.9 billion according to Charity Trends 2007, published by the Charities Aid Foundation. This represents a significant rate of growth from the 3.8% seen in the previous financial year, 2004/05.
CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) is the not-for-profit organisation which is committed to effective giving, both in the UK and internationally.
This represents a significant rate of growth from the 3.8% seen in the previous financial year, 2004/05. Total income has grown by triple the rate of both GDP (2.8%) and the Consumer Price Index (2.5%) over the same period.
Expenditure meanwhile, grew by 8%. This growth has been achieved despite the sector employing 1.8% fewer staff and spending 1.9% less on salaries.
Andrew Jones CAF’s Executive Director of External Affairs said:
"The UK’s largest charities represent a major success story in the development of the voluntary sector. Their operating efficiencies, brand strength, sustained income growth, economies of scale and lack of reliance on a single income stream ensure that they retain their positions at the top of the tables in Charity Trends.
"But this success comes with a responsibility: there is a tremendous amount that these charities could be doing to support and enhance the activities of the UK’s smaller charities - collaborations, the sharing of expertise and resources, mergers, sponsorship and joint campaigning.
"In short, these charities need to develop the same sense of social responsibility that we now expect from companies. By working more closely with their smaller counterparts, these charities benefit from the networks and community links enjoyed by smaller groups, lend support to less mainstream areas of charitable activity and benefit from their innovation and niche expertise.
"And above all, they will be able to retain their collateral as charities and the reputational and trust dividends that brings."
Total income is divided among the top 500 charities as:
| % of total | |
|---|---|
| Donations/grants/gifts-in-kind | 38 |
| Fees for goods and services | 34 |
| Fundraising activities | 11 |
| Legacies | 11 |
| Rent and investment | 4 |
| Lottery | 2 |
Donations and grants are up by 5.4% in real terms; legacies are up by 3.2% and rent and investment was up by just 1.5%.
New analysis of the differences between the income of the UK’s 500 largest fundraising charities (with voluntary incomes up to £297 million) with those outside the Top 500 (with voluntary incomes below £2 million), shows that the smaller charities are almost one third more reliant on voluntary income.
Charity Trends is the comprehensive annual update on trends in the resources and expenditure of the UK's major fundraising charities. For the first time CAF has invited comments from leading sector figures including:
Another commentator, Michael Lake, Director General of Help the Aged, said:
"This year’s Charity Trends is as illuminative about our changing and dynamic sector as ever. Total sector income has increased in real terms by 8.6%, an encouraging movement.
"We see a gradual strengthening of the larger charities, but a marginalisation of those smaller organisations that have lost distinctiveness or agility, or lack the capacity to compete.
"There is notable growth in income from commercial activities and service provision under contract and this development is leading to a grouping of charities that are increasingly similar to business organisations."
Footer
NICVA | 61 Duncairn Gardens | Belfast | BT15 2GB
Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action is registered as a company limited by guarantee in Northern Ireland (No 1792) and is registered as a charity for tax purposes with the Inland Revenue