Earlier this year, the Charities Aid Foundation released their annual report, UK Giving, looking into charitable giving in the UK for the year 2013/14. The organization surveys a large number of people throughout the year, gathering an impressive and wide range of statistics about donations made to charities. The report is quick to recognize that the UK has a notable record when it comes to charitable donations, stating; “Whilst the economy has been lashed by storms sweeping from around the world, the uncertainty of rock bottom interest rates and pressure on household incomes, giving to charity is something to which the British public remains steadfastly committed.” The total amount of money given to charities in the UK in 2014 was £10.6 billion.
The report found that, in general, the older population is more likely to give. Asking whether the participant had donated in the last four weeks, 48% of people aged over 65 said yes. This is compared to just 26% of 16-24 year olds. The percentage of donators increases in line with the increase of age brackets: 39% of 25-44 year olds, and 44% of 45-66 year olds said they had donated within the last four weeks. More women donated money to charity (43%) than men (38%). Just under half of all men (48%) said they had not taken part in any kind of charitable giving within the last four weeks. This includes actions such as volunteering for a charity, sponsoring somebody, signing a petition, participating in a local consultation or protest, as well as donating money directly.
The most popular cause given to, with 33% of all donors, is medical research. It has been in this position every year since the first UK Giving report in 2004/05. 30% of donors gave to children’s charities, and 25% gave to hospitals and hospices. The least popular causes were schools, sports and the arts with 6%, 4% and 2% respectively. Interestingly, religious causes raised the most amount of money – 14% of the total – whilst only receiving donations from 12% of people. Medical research received only 13% of the total amount of money raised, even with almost three times as many people contributing. It seems that religious based charities rely on a smaller amount of people, who are willing to give more, compared to other causes that rely on a far larger amount of small donations.
The study also looked at how people give. The most common way people donate is through cash donations, with 55% of donors using this method. This far more popular than the second placed method, direct debit, which is at 30%. Technology based methods are lower down the list – text message donations at 11%, and online donations at 15% – but these are sure to increase in the coming years, as they are more popular with the younger age ranges: 13% of 16-24s donated via text, compared with just 3% of over 65s.
These are just a number of the statistics and analysis found in UK Giving 2014 by the Charities Aid Foundation. Check out the full report here:
https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf-ukgiving2014
